THE ENCYOLOPJIDIA
OF
/ I f Ä ^\s TZ-i ! !
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c\ V
THE USEFUL ARTS:
COMPRISING
AGRICULTURE,
By the Right Rev. Michael Russell, L.L.D., D.C.L.,
Bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
HORTICULTURE.
By George Don, Esq., F.L.S.
COMMERCE.
By Joseph Lowe, Esq.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
By Nassau William Senior, Esq.,
Professor of Political Economy in the University of Oxford.
CARPENTRY.
By Peter Nicholson, Esq.
FORTIFICATION.
By Major Charles C. Mitchell,
Late Professor of Engineering at the Royal Military Academy,
Woolwich ;
and
Captain Procter,
Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
By George Harvey, Esq., F.R.S., F.R.S.E., F.G.S.
ILLUSTRATED BY ENGRAVINGS.
FORMING A PORTION OF THE ENCYCLOPAIDIA METROPOLITANA.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY JOHN JOSEPH GRIFFIN AND COMPANY,
CHEMICj» I. MUSEUM, 53, BAKER STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE ;
AND RICHARD GRIFFIN AND COMPANY, GLASGOW.
1848.
/ / :i z !
V
X
Î.ONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET.
CONTENTS
of the
ENCYCLOPJIDIA OP THE USEFUL ARTS.
AGRICULTURE. By the Right Rev. M. Russell,
< Page
Introduction ..... Volume VI. 1
Part I. Cultivation of the Soil for Vegetable
Productions.
History of Agriculture . . . . . . . 1 ^
Theory of Agriculture . . . , . . .16
Soil ....... i .. 18
Draining ......... 22
Irrigation ...... i .. 30
Manures ......... 35
Implements of Husbandry ...... 42
On Tillage ^ ^ 44
.L.Di, D.C.L., Bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Drill Sowing , * 46
System of Cropping . - . . . . .48
The Succession or Rotation of Crops . . . . .59
Part IÍ. Rearing of Live Stock.
Division of the Subject ...... 64
Cattle i ........ 65
Sheep ......... 67
Swine ......... 69
The Dairy 70
Leases and Rent .. i .... i 72
HORTICULTURE. By
introduction. Explanations. Operations . . . 87^^
Culinary Vegetable Department ..... 9.5*
Cruciferous Plants . . . . . .95*
Leguminous Plants ...... 100*
Umbelliferous Plants ,....; 102*
Composite Plants ..4.4. 104*
Solanaceous Plants . . . . . . 107*
Alliaceous Plants . . . . 4 .110*
Aspariginous Plants, &c. . . . . * 111*
Hardy Fruit Department . . 4 . ; .112*
Viniferous Fruits . . . . . ó 112*
AmygdalaceoUs or Stone Fruits . . . .113*
eorge Don, Esq., F.L.8.
Rosaceous Fruits. . . i . * .116*
Pomaceous Fruits . . . . . ; 117*
Grossularious Fruits . ; . . 4 . 120*
Ficeous Fruits ....... 122*
Nuts ......... 123*
Forcing Department ....... 123*
Floriculture . ; ..... 145*
Florists' Flowers , . . • . . .151*
Arboriculture . . . • . . . .166*
Arboricultural Catalogue . . . . . .173*
Landscape Gardening 4 .... . 182*
Alphabetical Index . i t . . . .183"
COMMERCE. By Joseph Lowe, Esq.
Historical Sketch of Commerce
Origin of Commerce
Commerce of Greece
Commerce of Carthage and Rome
Commerce of the Middle Ages
Commerce of the Hanse Towns
Commerce of the Netherlands
Improvements in Navigation .
Supply of Gold and Silver from America .
Improved Condition of Agriculturists
Intercourse with America . . .
The Trade of Holland ....
Commerce of England ....
British Trade and Finances during the Administration
of Mr. Pitt . . ... i
British Trade and Finances since the Death of Mr. Pitt
Sources of our High Prices and large Financial Sup¬
plies during the War .
Diminution of Prices since the Peace
Fluctuations in our Trade since the Peace
77 1 Present State of English Commerce .
77
78
80
81
84
85
87
88
91
91
92
93
97
100
101
101
103
Progress and Present State of English Manufactures .
Woollens
Linens . 4
The Cotton Manufacture
Iron and Hardware
The Leather Manufacture
The Silk Manufacture .
Earthenware
Glass Manufacture
Sugar Refinery
Soap-making
Hat-making .
Brewing and Distilling -
Mineral Products . . k
The Shipping of England
Summary of our Imports and Exports
The Precious Metals ; Historical Sketch of their Production
and Of their Influence on Commerce .
Commercial Prospects of England ....
a 2
109
109
109
110
111
113
114
114
116
116
116
116
116
116
117
118
119
121
125
a
it
CONTENTS,
POLITICAL ECONOMY. By Nassau William Senior, Esq., Professor of Political Economy in the
University of Oxford.
Page
Political Economy defined as the Science which treats of
the Nature, the Production, and the Distribution of
Wealth ......... 129
Wealth . . . . . . . . .131
Value ......... 134
Objections to the Definition of Wealth considered . . 137
Statement of the four elementary Propositions of the
Science. . . * . . . ' . . 139
1. General Desire for Wealth .... 139
2. Population ....... 140
3. Production ....... 149
4. Consumption . . . . . . , . 151
Instruments of Production . . . . . .152
1. Labour ........ 152
2. Natural Agents . . . . . .152
3. Abstinence . , , . . . .153
(Capital .........153
Statement of the Advantages derived from the use of
Capital . . . . . . . . .156
1. The Use of Implements . . . . .156
2. The Division of Labour . . . . .159
Productiveness of Labour in Agriculture and Manufactures 162
Distribution of Wealth . . . . . .165
Exchange ........ 168
Price ......... 168
Cost of Production . « . . . . .169
Monopolies . . . . . . . .171
Land . . . . . . • « .172
Pent . . . . . . . . .177
Consequences of the Proposition that Additional labour
when employed in Manufactures is more, and when
employed in Agriculture is lessy eflicient in propor¬
tion :—
1. Different effects of increased demand on the Prices
of Manufactured, and of Raw, Produce . . 178
Page
2. The Different effects of Taxation on the Prices of
Manufactured, and of Raw, Produce . . 179
Relative proportions of Rent, Profit, and Wages . . 182
1. Proportionate amount of Rent . . . . 185
2. Proportionate amounts of Profits and Wages . 187
3. Average rate of Wages . . . . .188
4. Proximate Cause deciding the rate of Wages . 193
Erroneous Opinions . . . . .193
Absenteeism . . . .' . .193
Machinery ...... 196
Population . . . . . .199
Employment . . . . . .199
Productiveness of Labour . . . . . .201
Causes which divert labour from the production of
Commodities for the use of labourers :—
1. Rent ........ 204
2. Taxation ....... 205
3. Profit ........ 206
General rate of Profit . . . . . .206
Average period of advance of Capital . . . . 210
Variations of the Amount of Wages and the rate of
Profits in different employments of Labour and Capital 212
1. Agreeables of Employments . . . .212
2. Facility of learning the business , . . 214
3. Constancy of Employment . . . . 215
4. Trustworthiness . . . . . .216
5. Probability of Success . . . . .216
Inequalities in Wages and Profits occasioned by the
difficulty of transferring Capital and Labour from one
employment to another . . . . . .219
Inequalities of Wages and Profit in different Countries . 221
Table of Contents . , . . . * . .223
CARPENTRY. By Peter Nicholson, Esq.
Definition of the Art of Carpentry .... 229
Various Kinds and Properties of Timber , . . 229
Most Economical Forms of Building .... 231
Wall Timbers ........ 232
Construction of Floors ...... 233
Construction of Partitions ...... 235
Of the Various Kinds of Roofs ..... 236
Principles and Practice of Geometrical operations required
in Working Drawings ...... 239
Applications of Projection in finding the Sections and
Envelopes of Solids . . . . . .246
Application of Cylindric and Conic Surfaces to the Soffits
of Doors and Windows ...... 250
Practical Carpentry:—
Section 1. Junction of Timbers . . . .252
2. Trussing, &c. ..... 255
3. Determination of the Lengths and Angles
of the Timbers of a Roof in every
possible position . . . . 256
4. Ceilings ...... 257
5. Coves ....... 259
6. Cylindro-Cylindric Ceilings . . 261
7. Pendentive Ceilings .... 262
8. Niches ....... 263
Joinery, Definition of the Art ..... 264
Section 1. Hand Rails, &c. ..... 264
2. Hoppers of Mills ..... 266
FORTIFICATION. By Major Charles C. Mitchell, late Professor of Engineering at the Royal Military
Academy, Woolwich ; and Captain Procter, Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
Definition of the Science of Fortification
268
PART I.—History of the Science of Fortification.
Chapter 1. Fortifications of the Ancients . . . 268
2. Fortifications of the Middle Ages . . 276
3. Rise of the Bastion System . . . 279
PART II.—Modern Systems of Fortification.
Chapter 1. General Description of a Modern Front of
Fortification ..... 283
2. Systems of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth
Centuries . . . . . . 284
Chapter 3. Improvements subsequent to the Age of
Vauban and Coëhorn . . .
PART III.—On the Means of Increasing the
Strength of Fortresses.
Chapter 1. Expedients for Increasing the Strength of
Fortresses .....
2. Interior Retrenchments and Counterguards
3. Exterior, Advanced, and Detached Works
4. Inundations . .
5. Defensive Mines ....
6. Casemates .....
288
292
293
294
297""
299
303
CONTENTS.
PART IV.—Description of the Operations of a
Modern Siege ; with respect both to the
Attack and Defence.
Chapter 1. Progress of the Modern Art of Attack.
2. Preparations for a Siege ....
3. Operations of a Siege ....
4. Subterranean Attack and Defence
PART V.—Field Fortification.
Chapter 1. General Principles of this Branch of the Art
Page
304
30.5
307
310
312
2. Single Field-works .....
3. Continued Lines .....
4. Lines with Intervals : Têtes-de-Pont, &c. .
5. Details of Construction ....
6. On the Means of adding to the Strength of
Field-works .....
7. Attack of Field-works . . . ,
Page
313
315
316
319
323
326
Explanation of the chief Technical Terms used in Modern
Fortification ....... 327
NAYAL ARCHITECTURE. By Geoege Harvey, Esq., F.R.S., F.R.S.E., F.G.S.
History of the Naval Power of England
Computation of the Solidity and Surface of Ships .
Equidistant Ordinates .....
Displacement of a Ship .....
Weight of the various Articles comprised in the Hull of
Ship ........
Weight of Masts, Yards, Rigging, &c. .
Weight of different kinds of Timber
On the Centre of Gravity of the Displacement
On the Centres of Gravity of the Solids of Immersion an(
Emersion .......
Stability ........
Instances of Ships Constructed with insufficient Stability
Centre of Gravity of a Ship.....
On Masts ........
329
350
350
351
357
358
359
360
364
366
373
374
377
On the Sails of Ships and on the Centre of Effort of the
Wind on Sails
On the Resistance of Fluids.
On the Stowage of Ships
Rolling, Pitching, and Scending .
On the Arching of Ships
On the Heads and Sterns of Vessels
On Timber for the Navy
Dry Rot and other Sources of Decay
On the Tonnage of Ships .
Seppings's Rules for building and re-building Ships of th
Line, Fifty-gun Ships on two Decks, and Frigates
Commercial Marine of Great Britain .
Numerical Results of Ship-Building
NINETEEN ILLUSTRATIVE ENGRAVINGS.
Agriculture . . Plates 1 and 2.
Carpentry Plates 1 to 6.
Fortification ........ Plates 1 to 5.
Naval Architecture Plates 1 to 6.
ENCYCLOPEDIA METROPOLITANA ;
OR,
' m
UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY OF KNOWLEDGE.
é>efíiníi IBíbtóíom
AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture. From the great interest attached to its operations and
results, Agriculture, at a very early period, began to
attract the attention of Mankind. Even in the rudest
state, wherever the Human Being is found to observe
the institutions of social life, some care is bestowed on the
improvement of the soil, and on the preservation of its
produce. The wandering shepherd, whether in the wilds
of Arabia or in those of the Western continent, has some
favoured spot on which he cultivates the natural grasses,
and exercises his skill in raising such fruits or herbs as
may supply to his household a little variety in their
meals, or a remedy in their sickness. The maintenance
of his herbs, too, during the inclemency of the seasons,
more or less incident to every climate, suggests to him
the manifold advantages which may be derived from
adding to the fertility of the soil; and hence the gradual
transition from the pursuits of a Pastoral society to the
more improved habits of the Agriculturist, who enacts
laws, fixes barriers around the claims of property, and
establishes the grounds of personal rights. For this
reason, Ceres, the Goddess of Agriculture among the
Ancients, was described as the first legislator, (legífera,
0e(7yM,o0opos,) and the Poet accordingly tells us,
Prima Ceres unco glebam dimovit aratro.
Prima dedit fruges alimeniaque miiia terris,
Prima dedit leges, Cereris sunt omnia munus.
It is not surprising that the importance of husbandry
to the comfort and advancement of the Human race
should have led the Mythologists of the East to ascribe
divine honours to those persons by whom its various
processes were originally introduced. We are told that the
Kings of Persia in former days relinquished, once every
month, the pomp of sovereignty, and the dainties of the
Royal table, and partook of the simple fare of the peasant;
preserving thereby the remembrance of the primeval
equality which subsisted among Mankind, and affording
a sensible token of the high estimation in which Agri¬
culture was held by their people. In modern times, a
practice somewhat similar is said to prevail among the
Chinese : the monarch every year, at the commencement
of Spring, divests himself of all the ensigns of Imperial
dignity, puts his hand to the plough, and, offering up a
vol. vi.
solemn sacrifice, prays for a favourable season and an History,
abundant crop. The Jews.
Rural Economy divides itself into two great heads.
First, the cultivation of the soil for vegetable produc¬
tions ; and, secondly, for the rearing of live stock. The
former is more strictly identified with Agriculture pro¬
perly so called, while the latter comprehends the objects
of the breeder, the dairy-man, the shepherd, and even
the butcher. But as the improvement of land, including
the various Arts by which it is rendered more fertile,
applies to the one branch as well as to the other, they
are very naturally considered as constituting one sub¬
ject, united by relations which, resting on their first
principles, extend throughout their minutest details.
It is our intention, therefore, to embrace in the present
Essay both these departments of rural industry; be¬
ginning with a Historical outline of the former as it was
practised among those ancient nations, whose writings
are best known to us.
History of Agriculture,
Although the Hebrew Tribes were in general devoted
to the pursuits of Agriculture, being by their Religion
precluded from commerce with the surrounding States,
we are not supplied with such particulars in regard to
their practice as might lead us to a just view of their
system. The vine and the olive, which, on the calca¬
reous rocks of Palestine, yielded a plentiful return to the
cultivator, occupied, it is probable, more attention than
the corn which grew in the valleys. This last, watered
by the streams which flowed from the neighbouring hills,
or cherished by the former and the latter rain, arrived at a
speedy maturity under the glowing sun of a climate
approaching to the tropical ; and, without the exercise
of much skill or trouble, filled the barn of the husband¬
man with an increase of thirty or even sixty fold. The
plain through which the Jordan carries its stream, en¬
joyed in some degree the benefit conferred upon Egypt
by the Nile ; being partly covered by the annual inunda¬
tion arising from the melting snows of the Syrian moun¬
tains. The septennial rest, too, secured for the land by
the institutes of the Divine Legislator, would contribute
b
2
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture, in no small degree to recruit its powers, and thereby
would supersede, to a certain extent, the means usually
employed for reviving the strength of an exhausted soil.
Its ohscu- But it may be sufficient to observe, that the Literature of
rity. the Jews, occupied with higher objects, has conveyed to
us no record of the manner in which they ploughed and
sowed their fields. We find nothing beyond allusions
to their rural habits and usages. The Prophet Isaiah,
for example, asks, " Doth the ploughman plough all day
to sow ? Doth he open and break the clods of his
ground ? When he hath made plain the face thereof,
doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cum¬
min, and cast in the principal wheat, and the appointed
barley, and the rye in their place ? For his God doth
instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. For the
fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument,
neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin,
but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cum¬
min with a rod. Bread-corn is bruised ; because he will
not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of
his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen."*
Under their It would appear, however, that Agriculture was held
Kings. in high esteem even by their Princes. The Crown-lands
in the time of King David were managed by seven
officers ; one was over the storehouses, one over the
work and tillage of the ground, one over the vineyards
and wine-cellars, one over the olive and oil-stores, and
sycamore plantations, one over the herds, one over the
camels and asses, and one over the flocks.f King Uz-
ziah, too, built towers in the desert, and digged many
wells ; for he had much cattle both in the low country
and in the plains ; husbandmen also and vine-dressers
in the mountains, and in Carmel, for he loved hus¬
bandry."! We are informed, moreover, that Elijah found
Elisha in the field with twelve yoke of oxen and himself
with the twelfth. It is well known that both oxen and
asses were used in ploughing ; but Moses forbade the
Jews to yoke an ass with an ox ; their step or progress
being different, and their labours of course unequal.
Division of In the later period of their history, the Hebrews, like
lands. all other nations of long standing, connived at the pos¬
session of large landed estates, although one of their
Prophets denounces a curse against those who join house
to house, and lay field to field, that they may be placed
alone in the midst of the Earth. In the earlier and more
simple times, however, it should seem, that while some
portion of the land was occupied exclusively by indivi¬
duals, the greater part was held in common, or in a
certain rotation, according to a practice not yet wholly
extinct in some districts of Great Britain. This view is
confirmed, not only by the regulations laid down by the
Jewish Legislator as to herds and flocks, but also by the
beautiful story of Ruth, who " came and gleaned in the
field after the reapers, and her hap was to light on a
part of the field—that is, of the common field—belonging
to Boaz."
Of the The Agriculture of the Egyptians and Assyrians
Egyptians
seems to have taken its character from the peculiarities of
rians country which they respectively occupied. The an¬
nual floods which covered their land to a great extent,
saved the labour of tillage, and superseded the use of
those instruments which, in other parts of the World,
were necessary to prepare the soil for receiving the seed.
The depositions left by the water formed so rich a mould.
that the exertions of the husbandman were confined to History,
the structure of dikes, or the excavation of subsidiary Assyrians,
canals. In Egypt the grain sown in the month bf
November was generally found ripe about the end of ^ ^ ^
March ; and during the remainder of the season, pulse
followed the grain, and the fruits were succeeded by new
flowers. In seconding the liberality of Nature, Man was
industrious, and the duty of Agriculture was enforced
by various maxims of Religion. The care of tillage, as
well as of all other momentous concerns, was originally
under the inspection of the Sacerdotal Families, who had
of old taught the people how to drain the marshes of the
Delta ; the smaller mouths of the Nile long bearing the
most evident marks of the patient labour which had been
necessary to open and keep them clear. Aristotle
assures his readers that all the inferior channels by
which the river finds itswav to the Mediterranean were,
XGtpoTrotrjra, the work of men's hands.*
The Euphrates performed nearly the same service to irrigation
the plains of Mesopotamia which the Nile rendered to neglected
the valley of Egypt. The Persians, however, originally ^7
accustomed to a hilly country, viewed with contempt the
magnificent works raised by the Assyrians for directing
the current of the river ; and the Agriculture and wealth
of the Country, accordingly, very soon fell into decay.
Alexander, whose attention was directed to every species Restored by
of useful industry, repaired the reservoirs and canals, Alexander,
which he saw to be indispensable in a region where all
is desert that cannot be duly supplied with moisture, and
where all is exuberant fertilitv that can be flooded and
drained at the proper seasons.f We have already sug¬
gested that the great vale of Palestine was probably
cultivated in a similar manner by its ancient inhabitants ;
and, in confirmation of this opinion, we may quote a
part of the sacred narrative which relates, that Lot
lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan,
that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of
the Lord, like the land of Egypt."!
It is not easy to determine the period at which Agri- Of the
culture assumed a regular form among the Greeks. Greeks.
Before the arrival of Egyptian colonies the cultivation or
the ground might occasionally employ the industry of
scattered families ; but it is manifest that this valuable
Art was not considered as an object of general concern
until a much later period. Cecrops is said to have in¬
duced the roving hunter and the no less migratory keeper
of flocks to relinquish their unsettled mode of life, and
to unite in villages under the character of husbandmen.
Corn, wine, and oil rewarded their useful labours ; and
these productions being acquired by common exertion,
were regarded, as well as the land itself, as a common
property. When a warlike Tribe sallied from their woods
and mountains to take possession of a more fertile ter¬
ritory, the soldiers fought and conquered, not for their
leaders, but for themselves. The fields acquired by their
united valour were considered the inheritance of all who
could follow the national banners ; and who, at the end
of harvest, received their respective shares of the annual
produce for the maintenance of their several households.
It is true that the wisdom or valour of a Chief was
frequently honoured by his Tribe with a valuable allot¬
ment of ground set apart for his particular use. This
was cultivated, however, not by the hands of his martial
* xxviii. 24. &c. f 1 Ckron. xxvii. 25. &c.
! 2 Chron. xxvi. 10.
* Meteorol. lib. i. c. 14. Plin, Hist. Nat. lib. xviii. c, 37.
f Arrian, lib. vii. c, 22. t Genesis, xiii, 10.
AGRICULTURE.
3
Agriculture, associates, who laboured only for the community, but
by the captives taken in war, of whom a considerable
number was always bestowed upon the General.
Traditional Tradition mentions the original production of the
discoveries, olive, the first culture of the vine, and even the first
sowing of corn. The first use of mills for grinding is
also recorded. The preparation of a lasting food from
milk by converting it into cheese, and the domestication
of bees for their honey and wax, were said to have been
made known by Aristaeus who went from the banks of
the river Triton in Africa. So important was this
knowledge esteemed by the rude inhabitants of ancient
Greece, that in return for it they conferred upon him
the honour of being called the son of Apollo, the God of
Science ; the herdsmen and rustic maidens among whom
he had been educated, were, in like manner, raised in
imagination to a rank far above that of Human nature,
while he himself was at length pronounced to be im¬
mortal.^
It is remarked by Cicero, that Hesiod in his Poem on
Husbandry makes no mention of manure ; but Homer
expressly speaks of dunging land, as well as of ploughing,
sowing, reaping corn, and mowing grass. The culture
of the vine, toó, was well understood at the same period,
and the making of wine was carried through the several
Incidental processes with much attention and skill. This is evi-
notices by dent from various circumstances mentioned by the
Homer. Poet, and particularly from the age to which wines were
kept. Nestor produced some at a sacrifice eleven years
old. In the Gardens of Alcinous, the vine is a principal
feature taken by itself, while the olive is found only in
the orchard with the apple, the pear, the pomegranate,
and the fig. Pasturage in all Countries has usually
preceded tillage, and we find, accordingly, that in the
time/of Homer, flocks and herds constituted the princi¬
pal fund of wealth. Cattle were even the ordinary mea¬
sure of value in the exchange of commodities. The
golden armour of Glaucus, for example, is described as
being worth a hundred oxen ; the brazen accoutre¬
ments of Dio med are estimated at nine ; the tripod
which was given as the first prize for wrestling at the
funeral of Patroclus was valued at twelve oxen ; while
the female slave, the second prize, was accounted only
equal to four. When again Eumaeus, in the Odyssey,
wished to convey an idea of the opulence of Ulysses, he
tells neither of the extent of his lands, nor the quantity
of his movables, but of his herds and flocks only.
Commerce, as we might expect to find at that early
period, was carried on almost entirely by barter. In the
Iliad, for instance, there is mention made of a supply
of wine being brought by sea to the Grecian camp ;
where, says the Poet, it was bought by some with
brass, by some with iron, by some with hides, by some
with cattle, and by others with slaves.t
Imple- We need scarcely add, that at a period so remote, the
ments. implements of husbandry were extremely imperfect ;
the plough itself, the most useful of them all, being
composed entirely of wood. The Greeks employed in
the time of Hesiod the invention of shears for depriving
the sheep of their wool ; having formerly waited the
season of its annual separation by Nature. Barley was
the principal produce of their fields, and furnished the
♦ Justin, lib. ii. c. 6. Plato, de Leg, lib. vi. Pausan, lib. iii. c.
20. Died. Sic lib. iv. c. 83. Pindar. Pyth. 9.
I J/mi/, lib. xiv. V. 286, lib. xxiii. v. 702. Oi/ys, lib. xiv, v. 100.
Il'md libj vii. V. 467,
ordinary food both of men and of horses. The inven- History,
tion of mills was unknown, and the grain underwent The Greeks,
several tedious operations in order to facilitate the bruis-
ing of it between two large stones with the hand.
Xenophon has bequeathed to posterity some remarks Dangers of
on the state of Agriculture in his native Country. He Northern
admits that, in most parts of Greece, soil and climate ^i^ure ac"'
did much for the cultivator : but it is not concealed that, cording to
amid the ravages of war and sedition, the exertions of Xenophon.
Art were hasty and unsystematical. He has, in fact,
drawn a very unfavourable picture of the life of a hus¬
bandman in two of its largest and most fruitful Pro¬
vinces. It occurs in the description of an entertain¬
ment given by the officers of the Cyreian army, while
encamped near Cotyora, to the ministers of Corylas,
Prince of Paphlagonia. Among both Greeks and Bar¬
barians, as among the Eastern nations at this day, the
meal was commonly succeeded by dances and panto¬
mimes. After one of these movements, performed to
the sound of the flute by two Thracians as targeteers,
some jEnians and Magnetes, people of the Thessalian
borders, stepped forward, and in the full armour of the
phalanx exhibited the dance called the Carpsean. The
manner of it, says Xenophon, was this : " While the
pantomimic dance was proceeding to the music of the
flute, one advances as a husbandman. Grounding his
arms, he sows and drives his oxen, often looking round
as if in fear. Another approaches as a robber. The hus¬
bandman seeing him runs to his arms, and a combat
ensues. The robber prevails, binds the Agriculturist,
and drives oflT thé cattle. Then the dance is varied ;
the husbandman is victorious, binds the robber's hands
behind him, yokes him with the oxen, and drives off
altogether."^
In Laconia and Attica, as well as some other parts of Less peril-
Southern Greece, the situation of the cultivator was «"«hi
unquestionably less unfortunate. It was not at all
times necessary for the ploughman to carry arms, while
he and his cattle were sufficiently protected from at least
the solitary robber. Yet, if we consider the state of the
Country at large, we shall hardly wonder if the notices
on Agriculture, left by the Greeks of the Republican
times, are not among the most valuable of their writings.
There is an expression in Hesiod,—whose Poem, Hcsiod's re-
on the JVorks and Bays, is, perhaps, the most complete mark on
Treatise that has come down to us on thé Agriculture ploughing
of ancient Greece—which helps to explain a pas¬
sage in the Gospel not generally nor sufficiently under¬
stood ; " He that putteth his hand to the plough and illustrates
looketh back, is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven." Scripture.
Describing the character of a good ploughman, the
Ascraean remarks, that he must not let his eye wander
about, nor be absent in mind, but be careful that he
may cut a straight furrow, and not sow the same twice.f
The imperfect instrument called a plough in those days
required incessant attention, being guided with only one
hand ; and it is not improbable that, in some parts of
the Country, it was the practice to deposit the seed in
the furrow with the other hand, while the process of
ploughing was going on. In this case a vigilant eye
would be still more indispensable.
If there be any deficiency in the writings of the Of the Ro-
Greeks on the subject of Agriculture, there is an ample mans,
compensation to be found in those of the Romans. In
^ Anah. iih. vi. sub initio.
fii. 441.
B 2
4
AGRICULTURE.
Causes of
Roman su
periority.
Mode of
farming
lands.
Agriculture, the Works of Cato, Varro, Virgil, Columella, Pliny, and
Palladius, we possess all the information which might
be required either to gratify curiosity or to aid the His¬
tory of an important Art ; and as it has been remarked,
instead of schemes produced by a lively imagination,
which we receive but too frequently from authors of
genius unacquainted with the practice of Agriculture,
we have good reason to believe that they deliver in their
volumes a genuine account of the most approved usages,
of which they themselves had experienced the utility.
It is asserted, too, that if in the theory of their profession
the Roman cultivators were inferior to the Moderns,
they were greatly superior to our best improvers in
attention to circumstances, in exactness of execution,
and in economical management.*
In the first Ages of the Commonwealth the lands were
occupied and cultivated by the proprietors themselves,
men accustomed to the activity and precision of military
life ; and as this state of things continued four or five
centuries, it was probably the chief cause of the Agricul¬
tural eminence of the Romans. An observation made
by Pliny confirms this supposition ; for he assures us
that his Countrymen, in early times, ploughed their
fields with the same diligence that they pitched their
camps, and sowed their corn with the same care that
they arranged their armies in the day of battle. After¬
wards, when Rome extended her conquests, and ac¬
quired large territories, individuals became owners of
wide domains, the culture of which fell into inferior
hands. Such estates were either committed to the
management of responsible servants, who had under
them a great number of slaves, or let out to farmers,
who occupied a portion of the soil on certain conditions
and for a limited period. Generally speaking, the stock
on the farm belonged to the landlord, and the cultivator
received only a specific portion of the produce in return
for his labour and superintendence. In reference to this
position, the latter was called 'politor or polintor^ the
dresser of the soil ; while, from being in a kind of co¬
partnership with his superior, and receiving a share of
the produce, he was sometimes denominated
Cato has recorded that, in the best land, the politor
obtained the ninth basket ; in the second kind of land,
he got the eighth ; in the third description he received
the seventh ; and in a still inferior, he was remunerated
by being allowed to retain the fifth.
The Coloni, or farmers properly so called, seem to
have paid rents for their ground in a manner nearly
similar to that which is observed among ourselves. The
directions given by Columella to a landlord concerning
the mode of treating that class of men are curious as
well as important, and not altogether inapplicable at the
present day. He ought, says he, to conduct himself
towards his tenants with gentleness, should show him¬
self not difficult to please, and be more solicitous to
exact culture than rent, because this is less severe, and,
upon the whole, more advantageous. For when a field
is carefully cultivated, it for the most part brings profit,
never loss, except when assaulted by a storm or pillagers.
Neither should the landlord be very tenacious of his
right in every thing to which the farmer is bound, par¬
ticularly as to days of payment, and demanding the wood
and other small things which he is obliged to furnish, the
care of which is greater trouble than expense to the
rustics. Nor is every penalty in our power to be exacted.
Columella's
instructions
to landlords.
for our ancestors were of opinion that the rigour of the History,
law is the greatest oppression. On the other hand the The Ro-
landlord ought not to be entirely negligent in this
matter ; because it is certainly true what Alpheus the
usurer was wont to say, that " good debts become bad
ones by not being called for.''*
The servants employed in Roman Agriculture were Agricultu-
either freemen or slaves. When the proprietor lived on servants,
the farm and directed its culture, these were, of course,
under his own management ; in other cases there was
an overseer to whom all the labourers were subordinate.
This agent was generally a person who had received
some education, although Columella thinks that he
might transact business very well without the use of
letters ; and Cornelius Celsus adds, that the illiterate
bailiff is to be preferred, because he will bring money to
his master offener than his book, since being ignorant
of figures, he will be the less capable to contrive accounts
and the more afraid to trust others. As far as we can Price of la-'
compare prices in ancient and modern times, it does not
appear that Agricultural labour was cheap among the
Romans, even when they employed the hands of slaves.
In the days of Cato, the price of a slave was about ¿^50 ;
in those of Columella, it had risen to £60 ; being the
value of eight acres of good land. An expert vine¬
dresser cost £66, 13s. 4id., and a ploughman about the
same sum. The interest of money at that period was
6 per cent. ; therefore in estimating the expense of farm-
labour, the work of a slave, being a perishable com¬
modity, ought to be rated at not less than 12 per cent,
on his purchase money. Hence one who cost ¿^60
must be charged at £7. 4s, yearly, besides his clothing
and maintenance.t
Of all Agricultural operations, the Romans attached Ploughing
the greatest importance to ploughing. What, says
Cato, is the best culture of land ? Good ploughing.
What is the next best? Ploughing. What is the third ?
The application of manure. In the strong loamy soils
of Italy the maxim of this sage Agriculturist could not
be applied too extensively, because the richness of such
land required to be excited into energy rather than to
have its powers increased. In most cases a crop and a
year's fallow succeeded each other ; although when
manure could be obtained, two crops or more were taken
in succession ; and in certain fertile districts described
by Pliny as favourable for barley, a crop was raised
every year. In fallowing, the lands were first ploughed
after the crop was removed, generally in August ; they
were again cross-ploughed in Spring, and at least a
third time before sowing. In other cases, however,
there were no limits to this operation ; the object being,
as Theophrastus observes, " to let the earth feel the
cold of Winter and the heat of Summer; to invert the
soil and render it free, light, and clear of weeds, so that
it might afford a full supply of nourishment to the
plants."î
The Roman authors lay great stress on the use of Manuring
proper manure. Pliny reminds his readers that in
Homer an old King is represented as spreading dung on
his fields with his own hands. Augeas, a personage too
of Royal station, is said to have been the first among
the Greeks who discovered this method of aiding the
* Dickson, Husbandry of the Ancients^ vol, i, p, 16.
* Columel, lib. i. c. 7.
f Ibid, lib, i. c. 8,
f Theoph, de cans. Plant, lib, lii, c, 25. Cato, c. 61. Quid est
agrum bene colere ? bene arare. Quid secundum ? arare. Quid
tertium ? stercorare. See also Pliny, book xviii c, 19.
AGRICULTURE
5
Mixture of
soils.
Agriculture, resources of land. In Italy, where Hercules is reported
to have divulged the secret, a lasting fame was conferred
by his subjects upon King Stercutius for communicating
the invention to the practical husbandman. On this
head the ancient farmers on the Tiber and the Po had
the merit of setting an example to future Ages, which
cannot be too closely followed. They were so sensible
of the advantage arising from manuring their grounds,
that they were most assiduous in collecting every material
which seemed proper for the purpose. Besides the usual
resources supplied by the stable and fold, they gathered
ashes, shrubs, stubble, burned the branches of trees, and
even heaped together different kinds of earth. "You
may make manure,'' says Cato, " of lupines, bean-stalks,
chaff, holm, and oak-leaves. From the corn-fields pull
out dwarf alder, hemlock, and all the tall grass and
reeds in the willow plantations, and lay them below the
sheep and cows." " I am not ignorant," says Colu¬
mella, " that there are some farms in the country on
which neither the dung of cattle nor of birds is to be
procured ; and yet, even in such places, he is a slothful
cultivator who can find no manure. He may collect
any kind of leaves, the cuttings of briers, and the rakings
of highways, and mix them with the cleanings of the
court-yard."^
But the Ancients were not only very diligent in the
use of every animal and vegetable substance which
might minister to the improvement of their lands, they
also, as we are informed by Theophrastus, were wont to
mix together earths of different qualities, light with
heavy, fat with lean, and, in short, all those which dis¬
played any contrariety in their nature. This mixture,
he adds, not only supplies what is wanting in point of
depth, but also renders the soil with which another is
mingled much more powerful ; so that what is worn out,
being mixed with any fertile kind of earth, begins again
to carry crops, as if renewed ; and what is naturally bar¬
ren, such as clay, is rendered fruitful by the addition of
ingredients possessing an opposite quality. In fact, this
mixture, when judiciously made, is considered a com¬
plete substitute for manure. The people of Megara,
besides adopting the process now described, were wont
to trench their fields every fifth or sixth year ; and dig¬
ging as deep as the rain is understood to penetrate, they
brought the bottom of their soil to the top ; it being a
maxim with them that the particles of earth proper for
the nourishment of plants, are always carried down¬
wards as far as the surface water descends.f
Marl was known to the earlier authors of Rome, but
was not used in Italy. It is mentioned by Pliny as occur¬
ring in Britain and Gaul, and is described by him as
being like the kernels in animal bodies which are ener¬
vated by fatness. It was employed, he subjoins, as a
manure by the Greeks, " for what is there which they
have not tried?" Varro relates that, when he marched
an army to the Rhine in Transalpine Gaul, he passed
through Countries where he saw the fields manured with
a white fossil clay, which must have been either marl
or chalk.
Sowing was performed with the hand from a basket,
as in modern times ; the hand, as Pliny remarks, moving
with the step, and always with the right foot. The corn
and leguminous seeds were covered with the plough,
Marl.
Sowing.
Cato, c. 37. Plin. Iltsf. iVaL lib. xvii. c. 9. Colum. lib. ii.
c. 15.
f Colum. lib. ii. c. 16. Theoph. lib. iii. c. 25.
and sometimes so as to rise in drills ; the smaller seeds History,
were earthed with the hoe and rake. ^ke Ro-
Varro mentions three modes of conducting the opera- mans,
tion of reaping, which, in order to avoid the hazard
attending boisterous weather, the best authors recom- Reaping
mended to be done before the crops were fully ripened.
The first method was to cut close to the ground 'with
hooks ; the second was to cut off the ears with a curved
stick having a saw attached ; and the third was to cut
the stalks in the middle, leaving the lower part, or
stubble, to be gathered afterwards. To these modes
Pliny adds that of pulling up by the roots ; and remarks
generally, that where they cover their houses with straw,
they cut high to preserve this of as great a length as
possible, but that where fodder is scarce they cut low
with the view of securing an addition to their forage.
A reaping-machine, used in the plains of Gaul, is de- By Ma-
scribed by Palladius in the following terms. The Gauls, chinery.
says he, " use this quick way of reaping, and without
reapers cut large fields with one ox in a single day.
For this purpose a machine is made supported upon
two wheels ; the surface has boards erected at the side,
which sloping outwards, make a wider space above.
The board on the fore part is lower than the others ;
upon it there are a great many small teeth, set in a row,
answering to the height of the corn, and turned upwards
at the ends. At the back part of the machine two short
shafts are fixed, like the poles of a litter ; to these an ox
is yoked with his head to the machine, and the yoke
and traces likewise turned the contrary way. When
this piece of mechanism is pushed through the standing
corn, all the ears are enclosed by the teeth, and heaped
up in the hollow part of it, being cut off from the straw
which is left behind, the driver setting it higher or lower
as he finds it necessary ; and thus by a few goings and
returnings, the whole field is reaped. The machine does
very well in plain smooth lands, and in all places where
the straw is not considered of any value." A conjectural
delineation of this instrument is given by Lasteyrie,
in his Work entitled Collection des Machines» (See
fig-
The Romans, says Mr. Loudon, did not bind their Carrying,
corn into sheaves as is customary in Northern climates.
When cut it was in general carried directly to the area
to be thrashed, or if the ears only were cropped, they
were sent in baskets to the barn. Among the Jews,
Egyptians, and Greeks, the corn was bound in sheaves ;
or at least some kinds were so treated, as we learn from
the story of Ruth, who gleaned " among the sheaves
from Joseph's dream in which his " sheaf arose and
from the harvest represented by Homer on one of the
compartments of Achilles's shield.^
Threshing was performed in the area or threshing- Threshing
floor, which was a circular piece of ground, fifty or sixty
feet in diameter, with a smooth, hard surface. The floor,
indeed, was generally made of wrought clay mixed with
the lees of oil, which increased its tenacity ; sometimes
it was even paved. It was usually selected in the neigh¬
bourhood of the nuhilarium or barn, in order that, when
a sudden shower happened during the process of thresh¬
ing, the ears might be removed thither out of the reach
of damage. The corn being spread over this surface, a
foot or two in thickness, was beaten out either by the
hoofs of cattle, or by dragging over it a machine com¬
posed of wood and iron, and surmounted by a consider-
* Encyclopœdia of Agriculture^ p. 26.
6
A G II I C U L T I RE.
Supersti¬
tions.
Agriculture, able weight. Occasionally rods or Hails were used for
the same purpose, while the Indian corn,/ar, or maize,
was picked with the hand, or pressed through a small
mill.
Winnow- The produce of the threshing-floor was winnowed or
ing. purified from the husks and chaff by being thrown from
one part of the barn to another across a current of wind.
The instrument used for this end was a kind of shovel
called ventilahrum ; and to supply the absence of wind
it was customary to substitute an implement called van-
nus, the origin, perhaps, of the modern and much more
complex machine denominated fanners.
Ignorance It is remarkable that, in regard to the practical know-
of Theory, ledge of Agriculture, the Romans were very little inferior
to the most intelligent among husbandmen in our own
days. They were indeed extremely deficient in point of
Science, being unable to give a reason for their^best esta¬
blished usages which did not terminate in simple expe¬
rience or accident. They knew nothing of Chemistry or
Physiology, were unacquainted with the analysis of soils
or manures, and were especially ignorant of those prin¬
ciples in Mechanics which determine the strength of
materials, and the application of force. Again, in ac¬
counting for many of the most ordinary phenomena of
Nature, they had recourse to supernatural and imaginary
causes. In the rude periods of Society, Good and Evil
Spirits are supposed to take a concern in every thing ;
and hence the absurd superstitions of the Egyptians,
and the equally whimsical ceremonies of the Greeks, to
procure their favour or avert their malign influence.
Hesiod, accordingly, considered it of not more impor¬
tance to describe what works were to be done, than to
point out the lucky days for their performance. Homer,
Aristotle, Theophrastus, and all the Greek authors, are
more or less tinctured with this belief, so prevalent in
the darker Ages of remote antiquity. Nor were the
Romans in this respect less enthralled than the ingenious
People from whom they borrowed the most valuable
part of their knowledge. The empire of superstition
extended over all their undertakings, and none more
completely than the important pursuits of Agriculture.
In some cases Imagination seized the reins which
should never be taken out of the hands of Reason and
Experience ; and hence both Virgil and Pliny venture
upon statements in regard to heterogeneous grafting, the
spontaneous generation and transmutation of plants, the
influence of lunar days, and the impregnation of
animals by certain winds, which every Physiologist
knows to be altogether inconsistent with the laws of
Nature.
Progress, It is a question of curiosity rather than of Scientific
importance, to determine how much Agriculture owed
to the Romans, and to v/hat extent they improved upon
the usages of the Greeks and Egyptians. As the
writers of Italy refer in most cases to authors who
flourished at an earlier period among their neighbours
beyond the Adriatic, it is probable that the leading
principles of the Art were borrowed from Greece. But
there can be no doubt that the progress of the Roman
arms in Helvetia, Germany, and Britain extended the
knowledge of tillage among barbarous Tribes by whom
it was formerly unknown or neglected. The conquerors
imposed a tribute of corn on the vanquished Provinces,
which compelled the natives to cultivate the soil. Large
fleets sailed from the shores of Britain laden with grain
for the Imperial stores in various parts of their exten¬
sive dominions. Egypt, too, with Sicily and Africa,
contributed immensely to feed the armies and luxurious
citizens of the proud Republic, until at length, by a just
retribution, she found herself at the mercy of the very
Countries which she had subdued. Agriculture which
flourished abroad decayed gradually at home. The
great men in Rome, trusting to their revenue from the
Provinces, neglected the improvement of their estates in
Italy ; and while their lands became less productive, they
insisted upon higher rents. The farmer, sinking under
broken spirits and a diminishing capital, imitated his
landlord in idleness and rapacity. The Civil wars which
ensued, the tyranny of the Emperors, and at length the
removal of the seat of Government to Constantinople,
paved the way for the Northern invaders, and conse¬
quently for the downfal of Agriculture, and of every
useful or elegant Art.
In regard to implements for the uses of husbandry,
the Romans possessed several, of which neither the form
nor the purpose is now distinctly known. We find
mentioned in their Agricultural authors the aratrum^ the
irpex, or urpex^ the crates, the rustrum, the hidens, the
securis, the dolabra, the ligo, the pala, the satculum, the
marra. By the first, as every one knows, is meant the
plough, of which it appears there were varieties among
the cultivators of ancient Italy. The other instruments,
in their order, correspond to a weeder or breaker, a
harrow, a rake, a toothed hoe, an axe or pruning-hook,
a mattock, a spade, a small shovel, a hand-hoe, a scraper
or Dutch hoe. In some cases these are only approxi¬
mations ; for we find no small difficulty in reconciling
the descriptions of the several authors who have written
on the rural economy of the Ancients, as well as in
comparing the instruments they delineate to the more
artificial tools of modern times.^
As the plough is the most important of all Agricul¬
tural machines, we may be indulged in a few details
respecting its form, more especially as Virgil, the Prince
of Roman Poets, has not disdained to supply us with
some particulars in regard to its construction.
Continuo in silvis magnâ viflexa domatur
In hurim, et eurvi formara accipit ulmus aratri.
Huic a stuye, pedes, temo protenius, in octo /
Binœ aures, duplici aptantur dentalia dorso.
Cœditur et tilia ante jugo levis, aliaque fagus,
Stivaque quce currus a ter go torqueat irnos ;
Et, suspensa focis explorât robora fumus.
Geor. i. V. 169.
Young elms with easy force in copses bow,
Fit for the figure of the crooked plough.
Of eight feet long a fastened beam prepare :
On either side the head produce an ear,
And sink a socket for the shining share.
Of beech the plough-tail and the bending yoke,
Of softer linden hardened in the smoke.
Dryden.
It is asserted in a Work entitled ihc Husbandry of the
Ancients, that the Romans had all the different kinds of
ploughs that we have at present in Europe, though
perhaps not so exactly constructed. " They had ploughs
without mould-boards, and ploughs with mould-boards ;
they had ploughs without coulters, and ploughs with
History,
The Ro¬
mans.
and decline
of Roman
Agriculture«
Imple¬
ments.
The
plough.
* These, says the author of the Georgias, are the rural arras,
without which crops can neither be sown nor reaped.
Queis sine, nec potuere seri, nec surgere, messes :
Vomis, et inßexi primum grave rohur aratri,
Tardaque Eleusinœ Matris volventia plausiva,
Trihulaque, traheœque, et iniquo pondere rasiri,
Virgœ prœtera Celei vilisque suppellex,
Ai'huteœ crates, et mvstica vannus lacchi. lib. i, 164.
AGRICULTURE,
7
Day obser
vations.
Agiiculture. coulters ; they had ploughs without wheels, and ploughs
with wheels; they had broad pointed shares, and
narrow-pointed shares ; they even had what I have not
yet met with amongst the Moderns, shares not only with
sharp sides and points, but also with high raised cutting
tops. Were we well acquainted with the construction
of all these, perhaps it would be found that the improve¬
ments made by the Moderns in this article, are not so
great as many persons are apt to imagine " (See fig. 2,
3, 4.)
We have already alluded to the superstitions of the
Ancients in respect to fortunate and unfortunate, and the
extent to which those feelings were admitted in the pro¬
cesses of Agriculture. This is one instance among
many wherein we discover a striking contrast between
the practical good sense of a great People, and their
speculative absurdity in matters of belief. Virgil, for
example, in the very middle of his precepts for sowing,
planting, manuring, weeding, and reaping, inserts the
following admonition for the use of the Italian peasants.
Ipsa dies alios alio dedit ordine Luna
Felices operum : qumtam fuge ; pallidus OrcuSj
Eumenidesque satœ : tum partu Terra nefando
Cœumque lapetumque create scevumque Typho'ta,
Et conjuratos cœlum rescindere fratres.
^ 5ÎÎ ^ *
Séptima post decimam felix^ et ponere vxtem^
Et prensos domitare hoves, et licia telœ
Addere : nona fug œ melior, contraria furiis.
Geor. i. V. 276.
The luck}^ days in each revolving moon
For labour choose ; the fifth be sure to shun :
That gave the Furies and pale Pluto birth.
And arm'd against the skies the Sons of Earth.
# is ^ #
The seventh is next the tenth the best to join
Young oxen to the yoke, and plant the vine.
The ninth is good for travel, bad for theft.
Dryden.
Omens of Amid the indications of the weather, too, as depending
weather. upon the aspect of the heavenly bodies, the same delight¬
ful author mingles his political regrets and superstitions.
The beauty of the verse will excuse us in the eye of
every reader of taste for this concluding extract from the
Agricultural Poem of Virgil.
Sol tibi signa dahit : Soletruquis dicere falsum
Audeat llle eiiam cœcos instare tumultus
Sœpe monetj fraudemque et operta tumescere helluj
llle etiam exstincto miseratus Cœsare Romam ¡
Quum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texii^
Impiaque œternam timuerunt sœcula noctem
lib. i. V. 463.
The sun reveals the secrets of the sky ;
And who dares give the source of light the lie ?
The change of empires often he declares,
Fierce tumults, hidden treasons, open wars.
He first the fate of Csesar did foretell.
And pitied Rome when Rome in Cœsar fell j
In iron clouds concealed the public light.
And impious mortals feared eternal night.
Dryden.
The decline of the Roman power was accompanied with
the neglect of Agriculture in almost all the Countries which
Italy, had submitted to the arms of the Commonwealth. Little
is known of the condition of this Art in Italy during the
long period of twelve hundred years, as it was not till
the beginning of the XlVth century that any Work ap¬
peared on that important branch of industry. About
the era now specified, a Treatise entitled Ruralium
Commodorum was written by Crescentio, a Senator
of Bologna, and afterwards published in 1471. He
History.
Italy.
France.
was soon followed by several of his Countrymen, among
whom Tatti, Stephano, Augustino Gallo, Sansovino,
Lauro, and Torelli, deserve to be mentioned with ap¬
plause. From some records, however, which have
escaped the ravages of time, it appears that irrigation
was practised nearly two centuries before the earliest of
the dates now mentioned. The Monks of Chiaravalle
had set an example in this species of improvement, and
had become so celebrated in quality of hydraulic engi¬
neers as to be employed by the Emperor Frederic I.
The volume of Crescentio is, in great part, a compilation
from the older Roman authors, such as Cato, Varro,
and Pliny; but being illustrated with figures, is valuable
because it enables us to form some notion of the imple¬
ments then in use. The plough is drawn by only one
ox ; but other kinds, which must have been drawn by
two, and even by four, are described at some length.
The Political troubles which so long agitated the fine
Provinces Southward of the Alps, prevented them from
profiting by the « revival of the Arts in other parts of
Europe ; and hence, at the present day, although Italy
can boast of a rich soil and a favourable climate, her
inhabitants have no where entitled themselves to the
reputation of being good farmers.*
Prance, too, overrun by the Northern Barbarians, or France,
by the Tribes of native Germans hardly more civilized,
was long doomed to witness the decline of that pursuit
upon the success of which the prosperity of all others is
more or less suspended. In the Xllth century, the care
bestowed by some leading Churchmen upon the produce
of the soil was rewarded by a considerable melioration
in the state of the peasantry, as well as in the value of
lands. Four hundred years later, the first Agricultural
Work produced in France made its appearance, under
the title of Les Moyens de devenir riche, composed by
Bernard de Pallisy, a potter, who is said to have writ¬
ten on various other subjects. Under the auspicious
reign of Henry IV. great exertions were made for the
improvement of the Country in general, amidst which
the interests of rural economy were not forgotten. Sully
asserts, in his Memoirs, that, in his time, France
abounded with corn, grain, pulse, wine, cider, flax,
hemp, salt, wood, oil, drugs for dyeing, cattle great and
small, and every thing else, whether necessary or con¬
venient for life, both for home consumption and expor¬
tation.
Great changes for the better were made in France
during the last century. The celebrated Economists
created a taste for the Art, and Agricultural Societies were
every where established under the sanction of the Go¬
vernment. Those of Paris, Lyons, Amiens, and Bour-
deaux distinguished themselves by the publication of some
valuable Memoirs, The name of Buifon, too, gave repu¬
tation to this study, and various other writers contributed
to make it popular. Chaptal informs us that essential
improvements have been introduced since the Revolution.
Crops of every kind, says he, cover the soil ; numerous
and robust animals are employed in labouring it, and
they also enrich it by their manure. The country po¬
pulation are lodged in commodious houses, decently
clothed, and abundantly nourished with wholesome
food. We are not however to suppose, he observes, that
the Agriculture of France has arrived at perfection ;
much still remains to be done ; new plans of improve¬
ment should be more generally introduced; and a
* Loudon, p. 34. Harte, Essays on Husbandry,
8
agriculture.
Agriculture, greater quantity of live stuck is wanted for every Pro-
vince, except two or three, which abound in natural
meadows Few domains have more than half the requi¬
site number of labouring cattle ; the necessary conse¬
quence of which is a deficiency of labour, of manure,
and of crop. The only mode of remedying these evils
is to multiply the artificial pastures, and increase the
cultivation of plants destined for forage. The rich inha¬
bitants of France have already adopted these principles;
but they have not not yet found their way among the
lowest class of cultivators. According to M. Dupin,
four-fifths of the peasantry of France are proprietors of
land, which they cultivate themselves ; and although
Knowledge is rapidly advancing, they are still very
ignorant. It is readily admitted, too, that France is
still miserably deficient in the better kind of Agricultural
instruments.
Germany. As Germany had not shared so extensively as some
other European Countries in the civilization diffused by
the Romans, the reaction occasioned by the desolating
wars of the IVth and Vth centuries was less deeply felt
in the Provinces beyond the Rhine. Accordingly, it is
not till the beginning of the XVIth century that we can
discover any symptom o-f Agricultural advancement
among the numerous Nations which extend from the
borders of France to the shores of the Baltic. The
earliest Work on Husbandry, by a German author, is
the Treatise De Re Rustica^ by Conrad us Heresbachius,
published about the year 1576. It is composed in
the form of Dialogue, and contains an outline of the
opinions and precepts delivered by the Ancients, from
Hesiod down to Pliny ; being, in fact, an Essay
compiled from the literary materials of former Ages,
rather than a Treatise on the Art as it appeared before
his eyes, or which was meant to improve either its theory
or practice.
Britain. In relation to Britain, although it is certain that
Agriculture was not wholly unknown before the Roman
invasion, it is difficult to say when it was first introduced,
or how far it had then advanced. Both the Greeks and
Phoenicians visited this Island long before the Legions
landed on its shores with a view to conquest ; but as
their visits were only transient, and for the sake of trade,
it is uncertain whether they took the trouble to instruct
the natives how to cultivate the soil. It is more pro¬
bable that the knowledge of this important Art was
brought hither by some of those Colonies which are
known to have passed over from the coast of Gaul.
These emigrants having been employed in Agriculture
in their own Country, pursued the same employment in
their new settlements. This was the opinion of Caesar.
" The sea-coasts,'* he observed, " are inhabited by Colo¬
nies from Belgium, which, having established themselves
in Britain, began to cultivate the land."^
Introduc- Agriculture, we may therefore presume, was little
tion of known in this island till about a hundred and fifty
gricuîéure. yg^rs before the beginning of the Christian Era, when
great multitudes of Celtic Gauls, being expelled from
their native seats between the Rhine and the Seine by
the German Belgœ^ took shelter in the South of Eng¬
land, where they formed several small States. These
communities received reinforcements from time to time
from the same coasts, whose inhabitants were then
called Belgœ^ and practised husbandry ; a way of life
which they were encouraged to pursue in Britain by the
De Bell, Gall, lib, v. c. 12.
fertility of the soil, which produced all kinds of grain in History,
great plenty and perfection. If we could depend on the Germany,
testimony of Geoffry of Monmouth, we should be led to Britain,
think that Agriculture had been greatly prized in this
Country several Ages before the period abovementioned,
for he acquaints us that, by one of the laws of Dunwallo
Molmutius—who is said to have reigned over all Britain
about five centuries before the birth of Christ—it was
declared that the ploughs of the husbandmen, as well
as the Temples of the Gods, should be held as sanctu¬
aries to such criminals as fled to them for protection.^
But this is thought to be only one of the many fables
related by that author, the law to which he alludes being
of a much later date : and upon the whole the truth
seems to be that, though Agriculture might be practised
a little by a few of the more ancient Britons, yet it was
chiefly introduced by the Belgic Gauls, about a century
before the first Roman in^iasion, and almost wholly
confined to them till after that event.
Very few of the peculiar practices of the most ancient Early ma-
British husbandmen are preserved in History. It ap- nures.
pears that they were not unacquainted with the use of
manures, for renewing and increasing the fertility of
their grounds ; and that, besides those which were
common to other Countries, they had one peculiar to
themselves and the Gauls. This was marl, which we Mori,
have already noticed in the quotation from Pliny. The
same writer, after describing different kinds of that
substance, remarks, " of those which are esteemed the
richest, the white ones are most valued, and of these
there are several species. First, one which hath a most
sharp and piquant taste ; another kind is the white
chalky marl, much used by silversmiths : for this they
are sometimes obliged to sink shafts one hundred feet
deep, when they find the vein spreading broader, as in
other mines. It is this kind of marl which is most used
in Britain. Its effects are found to continue eighty
years ; and no man was ever known to have manured
the same field wdth this marl twice in his lifetime."t
It is highly probable that lime was also employed Lime,
for the same purpose by our remote ancestors, be¬
cause we know with certainty that it was so used in
Gaul, from whence the knowledge of it might easily be
conveyed. •
The instruments and method of ploughing, sowing,
and reaping in this Country were no doubt the same as
among the Gauls from whom they were derived ; and
these probably were not very different from such as
were used in Italy during the times of which the prac¬
tice is so fully described by the Roman writers on
Agriculture. Diodorus Siculus has recorded some Diodorus
remarkable particulars relating to the manner in Siculus.
which the most ancient British husbandmen preserved
their grain, after it was reaped, and prepared it for
use. They cut the ears from the stubble, says he, and
lay them up for preservation in subterraneous caves or
granaries. From thence they relate that, in very remote
times, they used to take a certain quantity of these ears
every day, and having dried and bruised the grains,
made a kind of food of them for immediate eating.J
Though these methods were very slovenly and imperfect,
they were not peculiar to the old Britons, but were
practised by other nations, and some vestiges of them
* Gaulfrid. Monum. lib. ii. c. 12.
f Hist. Nat. lib. xvii. c, 8.
I Lib. V.
AGRICULTURE.
9
AgHculture.
Encourage¬
ment given
by the
Romans to
British
Agricul¬
ture.
Obscurity
of its pro¬
gress«
were remaining not long ago in the Western Isles of
Scotland.*
As soon as the Romans had attained a firm establish¬
ment in Britain, Agriculture began to be improved and
extended ; it being an Art in which that renowned peo¬
ple greatly delighted, and which they encouraged in all
the Provinces of their Empire. When, according to
Cato, his Countrymen designed to bestow the highest
praise on a good man, they used to say, " he under¬
stands Agriculture well, and is an excellent husband¬
man ; for this was esteemed among them the greatest
and most honourable character.'' As soon, therefore, as
the soldiers of the Republic had subdued some of the
British States, they endeavoured by various means to
induce their new subjects to cultivate their lands, in
order to render their conquest more valuable. In fact,
the tribute of a certain quantity of corn which they im¬
posed on their vassals, compelled the mass of the people
to apply to Agriculture. The veteran colonists too,
who were not less expert at guiding the plough than
wielding the sword, set before the natives an example
both of the most improved method, and the manifold
advantages of this branch of industry. In short, the
Romans by their power and policy, and more especially
by their superior knowledge, so completely reconciled
the Britons to the cultivation of their lands, that in a
little time this Island became one of the most plentiful
Provinces of the Empire, and not only produced a suffi¬
cient quantity of corn for the support of its own inhabit¬
ants and the Roman troops, but afforded every year a
very great surplus for exportation. This became an
object of so great importance that a fleet of ships was
provided for the particular service of carrying corn from
Albion to granaries on the opposite coasts, whence it
was conveyed into Germany and other Countries for
the use of the armies. We are informed by Ammianus
Marcellinus, that the Emperor Julian having collected
prodigious quantities of timber from the banks of the
Rhine, built a fleet of a hundred ships, larger than
the common barks, which he sent to Britain, in order to
bring corn thence. When it arrived, he sent it up
the Rhine in boats, and furnished the inhabitants of
those towns and Countries which had been plundered by
the enemy with a sufficient quantity to support them
during the Winter, to sow their lands in the Spring,
and to maintain them till next harvest.f
We have sufficient evidence that the knowledge of
husbandry, and indeed of all the other Arts, entered
Britain at the South-Eastern corner, and travelled by slow
and gradual steps towards the North-West; but it is
difficult to trace the progress of these Arts, or to discover
how far they had advanced at any given period. With
regard to Agriculture we are assured by a contem¬
porary author, that in the beginning of the Illd Cen¬
tury, it had not proceeded further than the wall of
Hadrian, In the year 207, when the Emperor Severus
invaded Caledonia, we are told that the natives inha¬
bited uncultivated mountains, or desert marshy plains;
that they had neither walls, towns, nor cultivated lands,
but that they lived on the flesh and milk of their flocks and
herds, or what they got by plunder, or catched in hunting,
or on the fruits of trees." The Maeatae and Caledonians
having been obliged by Severus to yield up a part of
their Country to the Romans, that industrious people, in
the course of the Illd Century, built several towns and
* See Martin, p. 204.
VOL. VI.
♦ Jjib. xviii. c. 2.
stations, constructed highways, cut down woods, drained AgricuUu».
marshes, and introduced Agriculture into the country ^
between the walls, many parts of which are very fertile
and fit for tillage. Although they never formed any
large establishment Northward of the wall which joined
the firths of Forth and Clyde, yet many of them, as well
as of the Provincial Britons, retired into Caledonia at
different times, particularly about the end of the Hid
Century, during the heat of the Diocletian Persecution.
It is therefore highly probable that these refugees in¬
structed the people among whom they settled not only
in their Religion, but also in their Arts, and especially
in that of Agriculture. The name which was given to thé
Caledonians of the Eastern coast by those of the Western,
was Cruitnich, which signifies corn-eaters, a convincing
proof that the latter were husbandmen. From other
facts it is clear that in the beginning of the Vth Century
the Scots of the mountains lived partly upon meal ; a kind
of food to which they had been absolute strangers about
two hundred years before, when they were first startled
by the appearance of the Roman Eagles under Severus.
When the Roman power declined in Britain, Agricul- Its decline
ture with the other Arts of civilized life fell into compa-
rative neglect. This was not so much owing, however,
to want of skill in the native husbandmen, as to the fre- Romans,
quent incursions of the Saxons, who had already begun
to enrich themselves with the plunder of the English ;
and who, together with the Scots andPicts from the North,
not only destroyed the fruits of their labours, but also dis¬
turbed them in the exercise of their industry. We need
not be surprised, therefore, that the posterity of the an¬
cient Britons became rather unskilful Agriculturists,
and that they thenceforth applied themselves more to
pasturage, than to the culture of an unprotected soil.
It is clear, notwithstanding, that, even in its most de¬
pressed condition. Agriculture was regarded by them as
worthy of attention in a legal point of view, and hence
was made the object of several characteristic enactments.
They prohibited, for example, the use of horses, mares,
or cows in the plough, and restricted the farmer to cer¬
tain yokes of oxen. Their implements, it is true, were
very slight and inartificial; for it was regulated by
statute that no man should undertake to guide a plough
who could not make one ; and that the driver should be
able to make of twisted willows the harness with which
it was drawn. But simple as these ploughs were, it was
usual for six or eight persons to form themselves into a
Society for fitting out one of them and providing it with
oxen. This is a sufficient proof both of the poverty of
the class of men who occupied land, and of the very
imperfect state of Agriculture among the Britons at the
period in question. If any person laid dung upon a
field, he was allowed by law and the consent of the pro¬
prietor, to use it for one year ; and if the dung was
conveyed thither on a cart and in a certain quantity, he
was allowed the use of the field for three years. If any
man folded his cattle for a whole year upon a piece of
ground belonging to another, with his consent, he was
allowed to cultivate that ground for his own benefit
during the space of four years. All these laws were
evidently meant for the encouragement of Agriculture,
by increasing the quantity and improving the quality of
the arable lands.*
As the Anglo-Saxons derived their origin and man- Despised at
ners from the ancient Germans, who depended for sub- first by the
Anglo-
" ' ~ ■ " Saxons.
* Leges Wallicœ^ p. 208»
c
10
AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture, sistence chiefly on their flocks and herds, it may be in-
ferred that they were not much addicted to Agriculture,
Oil the contrary, these haughty warriors esteemed the
cultivation of the land too ignoble an employment for
themselves, and therefore committed it wholly to their
women and slaves. The Chiefs were even at pains to
contrive laws to prevent their followers from contracting
a taste for Agriculture, lest it should render them less
fond of arms and of warlike expeditions. Hence we
may conclude that the Anglo-Saxons at the time of their
arrival in Britain, were much better warriors than hus¬
bandmen ; and we find, accordingly, that for a con¬
siderable period after they completed their settlement,
their attention was almost exclusively confined to deeds
of arms. It was not until they had no longer any
enemies to plunder, that they found it necessary to
devote some portion of their cares to the improvement
of the land, in order to raise those provisions which it
was no longer possible to procure by the edge of their
swords,
Divisumof In the division of the Country, those of the leaders
lands. obtained the largest shares are said to have sub¬
divided their estates into two parts, which were called
the inlands and the outlands. The inlands were those
which lay contiguous to the mansion of their owner,
which he kept in his own immediate possession, and
cultivated by his slaves for the purpose of supplying pro¬
visions to his family. The outlands were such as lay
at a greater distance from the dwelling of the lord, and
were let to the ceorls or farmers at a moderate rent,
Rents which was generally paid in kind. The owners of land
were not permitted to exact as high a rent from their
tenants as they might have obtained by throwing open
their lands to competition ; the several payments being
fixed by law, according to the number of hides or plough-
lands of which a farm consisted. The reason of this
seems to have been that the first ceorls among the
Anglo-Saxons were freemen and soldiers, who had con¬
tributed by their arms to the conquest of the Country, and
who were therefore entitled to the indulgence just men-
in produce, tioned. By the Laws of Ina, King of the West Saxons,
who flourished at the beginning of the Vlllth Century,
a farm consisting of ten hides or plough-lands was to pay
the following rent, namely, ten casks of honey ; three
hundred loaves of bread ; twelve casks of strong ale ;
thirty casks of small ale ; two oxen ; ten wethers ; ten
geese ; twenty hens ; ten cheeses ; one cask of butter ;
five salmon ; twenty loads of forage ; and one hundred
eels.* In some places these rents were paid in wheat,
rye, oats, malt, flour, hogs, sheep, according to the
nature of the farm or the custom of the country, f
m money There is, however, sufficient evidence that money-rents
were not altogether unknown in England, at this period,
although the other system prevailed much more exten¬
sively. For instance, the greater part of the Crown-
lands was farmed in that manner by ceorls, who paid a
certain quantity of provisions for the support of the
King's household, according to the nature of the grounds
which they occupied. *' We have been informed," says
the author of the Liber Niger Scaccarii, " that in
ancient times our Kings received neither gold nor silver
from their tenants, but only daily provision for the use
of their household ; the officers who were appointed to
manage the King's lands knew very well what quanti¬
ties and what kinds of provisions every tenant was Agriculture,
obliged to pay. This custom continued even after the
Conquest, during the whole reign of William I. ; and I
myself have conversed with several old people who had
seen the Royal tenants paying their rents in several
kinds of provisions at the King's Court."*
In the ancient History of the Church of Ely ^ published Prices
by Dr. Gale, the curious reader will find an account of
several purchases of land which were made by JEthel-
wold, the founder of that church, and by other pious
benefactors, in the reign of Edgar, surnamed the Peace¬
able. By comparing these documents it plainly appears
that the ordinary price of an acre of the best land in that
part of England, in the Xth Century, was sixteen Saxon
pennies, or about four shillings of our money ; a very
trifling sum indeed, not only in comparison with thè
prices of land in our times, but even in comparison with
the prices of other commodities at the same period.
The insecurity of territorial possessions in that rude evince great
Age, not only depressed its value ; it also necessarily
led to the neglect of all the proper means for increasing culture. ^
its produce. The frequent famines which afflicted Eng¬
land, and carried off multitudes of the inhabitants in
those days, afford a further and more melancholy proof of
the wretched state of cultivation. In particular, there
was so great a scarcity of grain in the year 1043, that
a quarter of wheat sold for sixty Saxon pennies, which
contained as much silver as fifteen of our shillings, and
were equal to eight or nine pounds of our present cur¬
rency; a most extravagant price, which must have in¬
volved not only the poor but even those in the middle
ranks of life in extreme distress. In a word, we have
sufficient evidence that England, which in the time of
the Romans was one of the principal granaries of
Europe, was so ill cultivated by the Anglo Saxons, that,
in the most favourable seasons, it yielded only a scanty
provision for its own inhabitants, while, in less pro¬
pitious years, it presented a scene of the most deplorable
scarcity and suffering.f
When such was the state of Agriculture, we may rest Rudeness of
assured that the implements by means of which it was car- implements,
ried on were extremely rude and imperfect. The Saxon
husbandmen performed, indeed, the processes of plough¬
ing, sowing, and harrowing ; but as all these operations
were intrusted to slaves who had little interest in their suc¬
cess, they were executed in a very slovenly and super¬
ficial manner. Their ploughs were very slight, and, like
those of Shetland at a recent period, had but one stilt or
handle. Although water-mills for grinding corn were
well known to the Visigoths in Spain, and to the Lom¬
bards in Italy, the Anglo-Saxons appear to have been
unacquainted with them during the period now under
consideration, and had no better way of converting their
corn into meal than by grinding it in hand-mills, which
were turned by women. By the Laws of Ethelbert,
King of Kent, a severe fine was imposed upon any man
who should debauch tlie King's grinding maid. The Superior
lands belonging to the Monasteries were by far the best
cultivated, because the Secular Canons who possessed
them spent some part of their time in improving the
soil and tending the progress of their crops. Bede, in
his life of Eastawin, the Superior of Wearmouth, tells
us that this Abbot, being a strong man and of a humble
disposition, used to assist his Monks in their rural
* Reliquice Spelrnanianœ, p. 12. Wilkins, Leges Saxon, p. 25.
f Spelman, Gloss, v, Firma,
* Liber Niger J lib. i. c. 7.
f Hist. Britan.a Tho. Gale edit. p. 471.
AGRICULTURE.
II
mans.
Similarity
of imple¬
ments
Agriculture, labours, " sometimes guiding the plough, sometimes win-
nowing corn, and sometimes forming instruments of
husbandry with a hammer on an anvil."*
Improve- Things were greatly improved in relation to Agricul-
ment under ture under the Kings of the Norman race. Immediately
the Nor- after the Conquest, many thousand husbandmen from
the fertile plains of Flanders and Normandy settled in
this Island, obtained estates or farms, and employed the
same methods in the cultivation of them which had proved
so successful in their native Country. The Clergy, too,
and especially the Monks, rivalled the Nobility in the
art of improving the soil. It was in fact so much the
custom for the Regulars of this period to assist in the
labours of the field, especially in seed-time, the hay-
season, and harvest, that the famous à Becket, even after
he was Archbishop of Canterbury, used to sally out with
the inmates of the Convents near which he happened to
reside, and take part with them in all the rural occupa¬
tions of Spring, Summer, and Autumn. The XXIXth
Canon of the General Council of Lateran, held in
II79, affords a further proof that the protection and
encouragement of all concerned in Agriculture were
objects of attention to the Church. It is thereby
decreed, that " all presbyters, clerks, monks, converts,
pilgrims, and peasants, when they are engaged in the
labours of husbandry, shall, together with the cattle in
their ploughs, and the seed which they carry into the
field, enjoy perfect security ; and that all who molest or
interrupt them, if they do not desist when they have been
admonished, shall be excommunicated."t
The implements of husbandry were of the same kind,
in this period, with those which are employed at pre¬
sent, though some of them were much less perfect in
their construction. The plough, for example, had but
one handle or stilt, as it is called, which the ploughman
guided with one hand, while in the other he held an in¬
strument both for cleaning the share and breaking the
clods. The Norman plough had two wheels, and in the
light soil, for which it was constructed, was commonly
drawn by one or at most two oxen ; but in England,
as the land is generally more heavy and tenacious,
a greater number of cattle was necessary. Their carts,
harrows, scythes, sickles, and flails appear, from the
figures of them still remaining, to have been nearly of
the same form as those which are now used. J
Although the various processes of husbandry are in¬
cidentally mentioned by the Writers of that period, it is
nevertheless very difficult to collect from them a distinct
account of the manner in which these operations were
performed. Marl seems to have been the chief manure
in the absence of dung. Summer fallowing of lands
designed for wheat appears to have already become a
common practice of the Anglo-Norman farmers ; for
Giraldus Canibrensis, in his description of Wales, takes
notice of it as a great singularity in the husbandmen of
that Country, "that they ploughed their lands only once
a year, in March or April, in order to sow them with
oats ; but did not like other farmers plough them twice
in the Summer and once in Winter, in order to prepare
them for wheat." In Mr, Strutt's very curious and
valuable Work, we see the figures of several persons en¬
gaged in mowing, reaping, threshing, and winnowing ;
* Wilkias, Leges Saxon, p. 3. Bedse Hist, Abbat. Weremut^
p. 296.
. Chron. Gervas. col. 1400 and 1456.
\ Strutt, Fieio of the Manners^ 8ço, vol. ii. p. 12. vol. 1 ,pl. xxvi.
and of pro¬
cesses to
those in
modern use.
in all which operations there appears to be little that is Agriculture,
singular or at all different from modern practice.
The state of Agriculture in Scotland at the same period Backward-
must have been very imperfect; for in a Parliament held of
at Scone by Alexander II., in the year 1214, it was en- ^ufrin *
acted that such farmers as had four oxen or cows or Scotland,
upwards, should labour their lands by tilling them with
a plough, and should begin to till fifteen days before
Candlemas ; and that such farmers as had not so many
as four oxen, as they could not labour their lands by
tilling, should delve so much with hand and foot as
would produce a sufficient quantity of corn to supply
themselves and their families. But this law was pro¬
bably meant for the Highlands and most uncultivated
parts of the Kingdom ; for, in the same Parliament, a
very severe law was made against those farmers who did
not extirpate a pernicious weed called guilde out of their
lands ; a regulation which seems to indicate a more
advanced state of rural economy.
The next three Centuries present such an alternation Progress
of high and low prices, of famines and of excessive till the
plentifulness, that we cannot arrive at any just conclu- Cen-
sion as to the ordinary state of Agriculture. But there
is reason to believe that, although the progress was slow
and frequently interrupted by war and domestic broils,
there was, on the whole, a considerable advancement.
The importance of having the fields enclosed tad been
very generally admitted. Even " the feeding lands,"
says Sir John Fortescue, " are likewise surrounded with
hedgerows and ditches, planted with trees, which pro¬
tect the flocks and herds from bleak winds, and sultry
heats."* Summer-fallowing for wheat was practised
in the Xlllth Century as much if not more than
it is at present. It was then a kind of rule among
farmers to have one-third of their arable lands in fallow.
In the law book called Fleta^ composed in the reign of
Edward I., very particular directions are given as to the
most proper time and best manner of ploughing and
dressing fallows. The farmer is there instructed to plough
no deeper in Summer than is necessary for destroying
the weeds ; not to lay on his manure till a little before
the last ploughing, which is to be done with a deep and
narrow furrow. Rules are also given for changing and
choosing seed ; for proportioning the quantity ofdifferent
kinds to be sown on an acre, according to the nature of
the soil and the degree of richness ; for collecting and
compounding manures, and accommodating them to the
ground on which they are to be laid ; for determining
the particular times in the course of the year best suited
for sowing the several descriptions of grain ; and, in a
word, for performing every operation in husbandry, at
the best time and in the best manner. In the same Trea¬
tise the duties of the steward, of the bailiff, and of the over¬
seer of a manor, and of all the other persons concerned
in the cultivation of it, are explained at full length, and
with so much good sense that, if they were well per¬
formed, the manor could not be ill cultivated.f
From the middle of the XlVth till towards the end Distractions
of the XVth Century, the unsettled state of the King^ ktter^aïf
dom was extremely unfavourable to the interests of^f^y^^t
Agriculture. The unhappy rustics were not permitted period,
to pursue their toils in peace, but were liable every mo
ment to be called from the plough into the field of bat¬
tle, by a Royal Proclamation or by the mandates of their
* De Laudibus Legum Anglice, c. 24.
t Fleta, lib. ii. c. 72. 76. 78.
G 2
A G R I C G L T U R E.
Ajçricuttiire<
Extension
of pastures.
Invectives
against en¬
closures.
First restrií*.-
tive corn-
law.
A. D.
1463,
own arbitrary lords. Such multitudes of this most use¬
ful order of men actually fell in the course of war» that
hands were wanting for the necessary operations of hus¬
bandry ; a circumstance which led, by very natural
steps, to the high price of labour characteristic of the
period now under consideration. Many laws were made
to reduce wages, to compel persons to assist in thé cul¬
tivation of the land, and to restrain them from following
other occupations. In one of these Statutes it is said
that Noblemen and others were greatly distressed for
want of farm servants ; and therefore it was enacted that
whoever had been employed at the plough or cart, or
any other husbandry work, till he was twelve years of
age, should be compelled to continue in that employ¬
ment during life ; and that none who had not lands or
rents of the value of twenty shillings a year, should be
permitted to put any of their sons apprentices to any
other trade, but should bring them all up to hus¬
bandry.'^^
These severe laws, while they prove the existence of
the evil, are known to have supplied a very inadequate re¬
medy. The scarcity of labourers still continued, and even
increased to so great a degree as to produce a considerable
change in the application and value of landed property.
The Barons, Prelates, and other extensive owners kept
large tracts round their castles, called their demesnes,
which were cultivated either by their villains, or by hired
servants under the direction of bailiffs. But these land¬
holders having diminished the number of their retainers
by a succession of wars, and not being able to obtain
the assistance of Agricultural labour on reasonable
terms, resolved to enclose their lands and convert them
into pasture-grounds. This practice became very general
about the end of the XlVth Century, and occasioned
very loud clamour on the part of those who mistook the
effect of depopulation for its cause.
John Rous of Warwick was a most violent declaimer
against the Nobility and Gentry who enclosed their lands ;
and a considerable part of his History of England con¬
sists of the most bitter invectives against them on that
account. He calls them depopulators, destroyers of vil¬
lages, robbers, tyrants, basilisks, enemies to God and
man ; assuring them at the same time that they would
all go to the devil when they died. This zealous op-
poser of abuses tells us that he presented a petition
against them to the Parliament which met at Coventry
in the year 1459, without obtaining a favourable hear¬
ing, and that several petitions to succeeding Parliaments
were equally unsuccessful. But although this innova¬
tion in the manner of using land was introduced at first
by the scarcity of labourers, it cannot be denied that the
humour of enclosing arable lands for pasture was at
length carried much too far ; and we find, accordingly,
that Parliament, at a somewhat later period, deemed it
expedient to interpose its authority for the purpose of
checking the progress of an evil which threatened the
most alarming consequences.t
It is remarkable that at the epoch in question, al¬
though corn was sometimes very dear, it was also
occasionally very cheap. In 1455, wheat was sold in
certain places so low as one shilling the quarter. But this
cheapness, it has been asserted, was not so much owing
to any improvements in husbandry, as to an extraordinary
importation of wheat from the Continent in order to
procure a supply of English wool. To prevent such ex- Agriculture,
cessive influxes, which threatened the ruin of the farmer
and excited the most violent complaints, a law was
passed, in the year 1463, by which it was provided that
no grain of any kind should be imported when wheat
was below 6s. Sd, rye under 4s., and barley under 3s.
the quarter. These were then considered such high
prices as to call for a supply from foreign parts.^
But the great decrease in the value of land at this Continued
period is the strongest proof of the decline of Agricul- decline of
ture. In the reign of Edward III., there are some ex-
itirti in
amples of land being sold at twenty-five years' purchase, England,
which, it is probable, was not much above the common
price ; whereas in the time of Edward IV., there is the
fullest evidence that land had fallen to a value of less
than one half. And if Agriculture declined in Eng- in Scotland,
land in those days, it was still more neglected in Scot¬
land, as the latter Country suffered even more, in pro¬
portion to its wealth and population, by long and ruinous
wars. The low state of this important Art is manifest
from the laws which were made for its improvement.
By one of these, passed in f424, it is enacted that, " ilk
man of simple estate, that sould be of ressoun labourers,
have either half an ox in the pleuh, or else delve ilk day
vii fute of length and vii on breadth." Another law, in
1457, is thus expressed : " Anent the sawing of quheit,
peis, and beinis, it is sene speidful, that ilk man wend
with a pleug of viii oxen, shall saw at the least ilk year,
ane firlot of quheit, half a firlot of peis, and forty beins,
under the pane of x shillings to the baronne of that land
that he dwells in. And giff the baronne saws not the
said corn in his domainis, he shall pay to the King x
shillings."t
The Peace which followed the union of the Roses
under the family of Tudor was favourable to many of
the Arts, and laid the foundations of that improvement
which has advanced with little interruption until the pre¬
sent day. But Agriculture did not share in the general
benefit. The practice of converting arable land into
pasture still continued during the reign of Henry VII.
Enclosures were multiplied, demesne lands were ex¬
tended, till the farms of most of the husbandmen were
appropriated to the feeding of sheep ; the houses were
demolished or allowed to fall into ruins, while a few
shepherds supplanted the yeomen, and occupied in some
Counties the largest estates with their increasing flocks.
But the cause most detrimental to Agriculture may be False policy
discovered in the restrictions attending the exportation of of exclu-
grain, and the large demand for English wool on the sive en-
Continent. At a former period the exportation of corn had
in certain circumstances been permitted, and its importa- ®
tion regulated by different Statutes ; but by these restric¬
tions a discretionary power to dispense with their main
provisions was committed to the King, and there is reason
to believe that the prerogative was seldom exerted unless
for the encouragement of private monopolies, or for
giving strength to pernicious restraints. It is true that
a law was passed at an early stage of this Monarch's
government, for the future support of those houses of
husbandry to which, within three years, twenty acres of
land had been annexed, and enforced by a penalty of
half the rent until the grounds should be again occupied
and the dwellings rebuilt. But it was not until it be¬
come more profitable to raise com than to feed sheep,
* Statutes 7 Henry IV. ch. xvii.
f J. Rous, Hist. Any. p. 39.120.
* Stow, p. 398. Statutes 3 Edward IV. ch. il.
f Black Acts, fol. 7.
AGRICULTURE.
13
Agriculture, that the plains of England were restored once more to
tillage. The immense flocks of twenty thousand and
upwards, which by a Statute of Henry VIÍI. were pro¬
nounced illegal, gradually gave way before the dominion
of the plough, so soon as the manufacturers of the
Netherlands were compelled or induced to remove their
establishments to Britain.*
Sir A. Fitz- The reign of Henry VIII. is distinguished for the
tobert^ first native Work on Agriculture published in England.
Husbandry aHude to the Book of Husbandry^ written by Sir A.
^ Fitzherbert, one of the Judges of the Common Pleas,
1532. esteemed even at the present day, as well for
the judicious observations which it contains, as for the
liberal spirit with which it is animated. He recommends
draining, clearing, and enclosing a farm, and gives many
good directions for enriching the soil. Lime, marl, and
fallowing'are strongly urged. The landlords are advised
to grant leases to those fanners who will engage to sur¬
round their farms and divide them by hedges into pro¬
per enclosures ; by which operation, he says, " if an acre
of land be worth sixpence before it is enclosed, it will be
worth eightpence when it is enclosed, by reason of the
produces a Compost and dunging of the cattle.'* From the appear-
revival. ance of this book the revival of rural industry in England
may be dated. Fitzherbert's remarks on live stock are ex¬
cellent, and said to be entirely applicable to the business
of grazing in our own times. ** An housbande can not
well thrive by his corne without he have other cattell, nor
by his cattell without corne. And bycause that shepe in
myne opynyon is the mooste profytablest cattell that any
man can have, therefore I purpose to speake fyrst of
shepe " After recording various precepts for ** quyck-
sittinge, dychinge, and hedgeying," and ''for a yonge
gentleman that intendeth to thrive,*' he gives a " pro¬
longe for the wyves occupation." " She must first
make herself and himself somme clothes; and she may
have the lockes of the shepe eyther to make blanketts
and courlettes or bothe." " It is a wyves occupation to
winnowe all maner of comes, to make malte, to washeand
wrynge, to make heye, shere corne, and in time of nede
to help her husbande to fill the mucke wayne or dounge
cart, dryve the ploughe, to loode heye, corne and such
other; and to go or ryde to the market to sell butter,
chese, mylke, egges, chekyns, capons, hennes, pygges,
gese, and all maner of cornes."
HisBooko/ This Treatise was followed by another entitled
Surveying, Survey ing of Lands^ which has likewise added
considerably to our knowledge of rural affairs at that
1539. period. He takes occasion to mention the different
kinds of commons that were then recognised ; de¬
scribes the sundry species of mills which were used for
grinding corn, including also the " quemes that go
with the hand;" delineates the various orders of
tenants down to bondmeii, who in some parts of the
Country were not yet extinct ; and he concludes his
Treatise with an inquiry how to make a township that is
worth twenty marks a year worth twenty pounds. His
views may be learned from the following extract.
" It is undoubted that to every townshyppe that
standeth in tillage in the playne country, there be errable
lands to plowe and sowe, and leyse to tye or tedder
theyr horses and mares upon, and common pasture to
kepe and pasture theyr catell, beestes, and shepe upon ;
and also they have rnedowe grounde to get theyr hey
upon. Than to let it be knone how many acres of
♦ Henry, vol. xii. p. 258.
errable lande every man hath in tyliage, and of the same Agriculture,
acres in every felde to chaunge with his neyghbours, and
to leye them toguyther, and to make hym one severall
close in every feld for his errable lands ; and his leyse
in every felde to laye them togyther in one felde, and to
make one several close for them all. And also another
severall close for his portion of his common pasture, and
also his portion of his medowe in a several close by it-
selfe, and all kept in severall bothe in wynter and somer ;
and every cottager shall have his portion assigned hym
accordyngeto his rente, and then shall nat the ryche man
overpresse the poore man with his cattell ; and every
man may eate his owne close at his pleasure. And un¬
doubted, that heye and strawe that will fynd one beeste
in the house will find two beestes in the close, and better
they shall lyke. For those beestes in the house have
short lieare and thynne, and towards March they will
pylle and be bare ; and therefore they may nat abyde
in the fylde before the heerdraen in wynter tyme for
colde. And those that lye in a close under a heydge
have longe heare and thyck, and they will never pylle
nor be bare ; and by this reason the husbande may kepe
twyse as many catell as he did before.
" This is the cause of this approvment. Nowe every
husbande hath six severall closes, whereof iii be for
corne, the fourthe for his leyse, the fifthe for his corn-
men pastures, and the sixte for his heye ; and in wynter
tyme there is but one occupied with corne, and than hath
the husbande other fyve to occupy till Lente come, and
that he hath his fallowe felde, his leye felde, and his
pasture felde all sommer. And when he hathe mowen
his medowe, than he hath his medowe grounde, soo that
if he hath any weyke catell that wold be amended, or
dyvers maner of catell, he may put them in any close he
wyll, the whych is a grete advantage ; and if all shulde
lye common, than wolde the edyche of the corne feldes,
and the undermath of all the medowes be eaten in x or
xii dayes. And the ryche man that hath moche catell
wold have the advantage, and the poore man can have
no helpe nor relefe in wynter when he hath moste nede;
and if an acre of lande be worthe sixe pens, or it be en¬
closed, it will be worth viii pens whan it is enclosed, by
reason of the compostying and dongying of the catell
that shall go and lye upon it bothe daye and nyghte ;
and if any of his thre closes that he hath for his corne
be worne or waie bare, than he may brake and plowe up
his close that he had for his leyse, or the close that he
had for his com men pasture, or bothe, and sowe them
with corne, and let the other leye for a tyme, and so
shall he have always reish grounde, the whych wyll
beare moche corne with lytel donge; and also he shall
have a grate profyte of the wod in the heydges whan it
is growen ; and not only these profytes and advantages
before said, but he shall save moche more than all these,
for by reason of these closes he shall save mete, drinke,
and wages of a shepeheerde, the wages of the heerdman,
and the wages of the swineherde, the whych may for
tune to be as chargeable as all his holle rent ; and also
his corne shall be better saved from eatinge or destroy-
inge with catell. For doubt ye nat but heerdmen with
their catell, shepeherdes with their shepe, and tieng of
horses and mares, destroyeth moche corne, the which the
heydges wold saue. Feradventure some men wold say
that this shuld be againste the commen weale, bicause
the shepeherdes, heerdmen, and swyneherdes shuld then
be put out of wages. To that it may be answered,
though these occupations be not used, there be as many
14
AGRICULTURE.
Tusser.
Googe.
Sir Hugh
Piatt.
Sir R. Wes¬
ton,
Agriculture, new occupations that were not used before ; as getting
of quicksettes, dyching, heydging, and plashing, the
whych the same men may use and occupy.'*
It will be enough to mention the Five Hundred
Points of Hushandry, by Tusser, published in the year
1562; the Whole Art of Husbandry^ by Googe, which
appeared about sixteen years later ; the Jewell House of
Art and Nature^ by Sir Hugh Piatt, and several other
performances of a similar nature, the object of which was
to enlighten the farmers of the XVIth Century. But
the attention of the reader ought to be more particularly
drawn to a Treatise by Sir Richard Weston, on the Hus-
handry of Brabant and Flanders, for in it may be de¬
tected the seeds of the numerous improvements which
have since been effected iu this Country. Western was Am¬
bassador from England to the Elector Palatine and King
of Bohemia ; and during his residence on the Continent
he became acquainted with the use of clover and pro¬
bably also of turnips, as a valuable species of food for
cattle. His directions for the cultivation of the former,
though objectionable in some points, are yet so good as
to prove that they must have been derived from expe¬
rience. It thrives best, he alleges, " when you sow it on
the worst and barrenest ground, such as the worst of our
heath-land here in England. The ground is to be pared
and burnt, and unslacked lime must be added to the
ashes. It is next to be well ploughed and harrowed,
and about ten pounds of clover seed must be sown upon
an acre, in April or the end of March. If you intend
to preserve seed, then the second crop must be let stand
till it come to a full and dead ripeness ; and you shall
have at the least five bushels per acre. Being once sown
it will last five years ; and then, being ploughed, it will
yield two or three years together, rich crops of wheat,
and after that a crop of grass, with which clover seed is
to be sown again."
To Blythe, who published in the time of the Com¬
monwealth, is due the first hint of a rotation in crops,
or at least of the advantage which may be derived from
alternating clover and turnip with corn on the same
field. All the manures now in use were well known in
his days, especially lime, on which he set a great value
as an ingredient of fertility. A great improvement had
likewise taken place in the implements of husbandry.
A machine is mentioned which ploughed, harrowed,
and sowed at the same time. The following note will
amuse the curious reader. " It is not many years since
the famous city of London petitioned the Parliament of
England against two nuisances or offensive commodities
which were likely to come into great use and esteem ; and
that was Newcastle coal in regard of their stench, and
hops in regard they would spoyle the taste of drink and
endanger the people."
The names of Hartlib, Markham, Mascall, Ray, and
Evelyn are familiar to every reader on Agriculture, or
^ on rural economy at large. The Sylva and Terra, of
the last of these authors, still retain a merited reputation.
In fact, the improvement which took place in the
management of land in this Country, from the reign of
J ames II. down to the middle of the last Century, was
not very great ; and hence the writers on husbandry
between the period of the Revolution and the accession
of George III. are not, generally speaking, superior to
those who published nearly a hundred years before
them. The chief exception to this remark applies to
jethroTuII. Jethro Tull, a gentleman of Berkshire, who introduced
the practice of drilling wheat and other crops, about the
Blythe.
Evelyn.
year 1701, and who, thirty years afterwards, put forth ^ Agriculture
book on Horse-hoeing Husbandly. From an unhappY
tone in his manner of writing, as well as from an undue
degree of opposition to the usages of his day, his Work
made less impression than it ought to have produced in
an Agricultural Country. Hence it was not until 1780
that the present method of drilling and horse-hoeing
turnips was admitted into Northumberland ; at which
time it was borrowed from Scotland, where the farmers
had the merit of first adopting Tull's management of
this valuable root, and whence it made its way but
slowly into the more Southern parts of the Island.
In regard to the Agriculture of North Britain, it has AgricuU
been suspected that the accession of James I. to the ture of
English Crown was unpropitious to it in the first in- Scotland
stance, not only because many of the Nobility followed
their Sovereign, and were thereby led to neglect their
native soil, but also because the increased expenditure
of the landlords in a more wealthy Country give rise to
various exactions on the poor tenants. The residence improved
of Cromwell's army, however. Northward of the Tweed, under the
during several years of the Protectorate, did more than Protector-
counterbalance the evils arising from the absence of a
Court. The soldiers, being chiefly English yeomen,
were necessarily well acquainted with the practice of
husbandry ; and, like the Romans of old, they showed
themselves ready to enlighten the people whom they
had subdued. Hence it has been remarked that the
low country districts were, at the eve of the Restoration,
in a higher state of improvement than they had attained
since the death of Alexander III. In the Counties of Declines
Lanark, Renfrew, Ayr, and Kirkcudbright, the rents of
various estates were higher than they were seventy o^^ation
years afterwards ; a fact which may be accounted for by
a reference to the disturbed condition of the Kingdom
under the last two Monarchs of the Stuart dynasty.
A succession of bad seasons immediately after the Revo¬
lution, increased the distress of the Scottish farmer, which
was still further aggravated by the insurrections of 1715 Gradually
and 1745. After the last of these attempts to restore
, •, 1 /. .1 1 1 1 11 11 /> since 174D.
the exiled family had exhausted the zeal and means of
the Jacobites, the Government of the Country was con¬
solidated, and the sources of her improvement again
opened up. Since that period the husbandry of Scot¬
land has advanced regularly and steadily, so as now to
bear comparison, local circumstances considered, with
that of any Nation in Europe. Since the year 1789 in
particular, when the contest with our American Colonies
was terminated, the interests of Agriculture have been
promoted with astonishing success ; and while the rent-
rolls of proprietors have been doubled, tripled, and even
quadrupled, the condition of the tenants and of the
peasantry in general has been meliorated in a corre¬
sponding degree.
We believe the first Association for the improvement
of rural affairs was formed in Scotland in the year
1723 ; at which time a number of landholders con¬
stituted themselves into a Body, under the title of the
Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture,
The Select Transactions of this fraternity were published
in 1743, and exhibit an accurate acquaintance with the
best modes of conducting the various processes of farm¬
ing at that time pursued in the most enlightened parts
of Europe. This example was followed, at a more
recent date, by the Bath and West of England Society,
and by the Highland Society of Scotland. • The
National Board of Agriculture derived its origin from
iiGRICULTURE.
15
and publi¬
cations.
Recent
state of
Agriculture, similar views : but as such Institutions are usually better
conducted by the voluntary labours of individuals than
by the official Members of Government, the Crown has
for some time withdrawn its patronage. The same
object is perhaps equally well accomplished by the
general circulation of knowledge through the medium
of the Press. The numerous Farmers' Magazines and
Agricultural Journals^ while they attest the interest
which is taken in this important pursuit, make known
over the whole Empire the result of every experiment;
for, it is worthy of remark that, in this branch of indus¬
try, there are neither secrets nor privileged discoverers ;
everyone communicating to another whatever new views
accident or research may have brought to light.
We shall conclude this Historical sketch with an ex¬
tract from a communication to the Quarterly Journal
turrón the Agriculture^ relative to the recent condition of hus-
Continentof bandry on the Continent of Europe. The author, Mr,
Europe. Boswell, had just finished an extensive tour in France,
Holland, Swisserland, Italy, and Spain, and as he
appears to possess a practical knowledge of the subject
on which he writes, his remarks are not without consi¬
derable value. " That the Agriculture of Britain,*' says
he, " is superior to that of the Continent, or indeed, of
the whole World, every one imust admit who knows any
thing of the matter ; but to explain the causes of this
superiority may not be a matter of so easy discovery.
Our climate, at least in Scotland, is bad ; our soil is by
no means uniformly fertile, and there are other causes
which at first sight seem to put a veto on improvement
in the Art of Agriculture ; yet with all these disadvan¬
tages to contend against, it cannot be denied that we
have risen superior to all the World. Of course I make
this broad assertion on the authority of those who have
visited the other quarters of the Globe. For my own
part, it has been ray lot to see a considerable part of
Southern Europe, and comparatively speaking I am safe
in saying that I have never yet seen a well-drawn furrow
or drill by a foreigner. I make use of the word
foreigner, because in visiting Xeres de la Fronteira, iu
the Winter of 1809, I was shown a very beautiful crop
of turnips with drills drawn in the most masterly style ;
but these were found on inquiry to have been made by
East Lothian ploughmen, brought to the Peninsula by
my kind host Mr. Gordon, whose exertions for the im¬
provement of that part of Spain were neither known nor
rightly appreciated by that stupid and tyrannical Govern¬
ment. In making this statement some may set me
down as one of those prejudiced people who in a John
Bull sort of way will not allow any merit to exist out of
this little Island. But I wish it to be clearly understood
that my remark is intended to apply only to the depart¬
ment of Agriculture, or rather to the operations of the
ploughman, for I have frequently seen more beautiful
specimens of spade culture abroad than in our own
Country : this, however, more properly belongs to
Horticulture. On the Continent their implements are
so defective that it is impossible the work can be well
performed ; hence, wherever there is a dense population,
and the petite culture, as the French call it, is followed,
there one commonly finds spade-work exceedingly well
done, particularly where the vine is cultivated ; but the
moment they farm on a large scale it is execrable. I
scarcely know where to say that the Agriculture is the
worst. It seems to be in an inverse ratio of the good¬
ness of the climate and fertility of the soil, that the farm¬
ing is bad. In the States of the Pope, where the soil
and climate cannot be excelled, I think I may say it is Agriculture,
the worst. In all my wanderings, with one solitary '
exception, at Kofwyil near Berne, I may truly say I
have never seen a plough ! A clumsy thing made of a
few pieces of bent wood, fastened together with one or
two hobnails, is used for tilling, and although this im¬
plement varies in form in different Countries, it is every
where equally remote from the plough of this Country,
constructed in the manner which Science points out to
be the best. With such a tool as I have described to
stir the soil, it is almost superfluous to say that the work
more resembles the pastime of a herd-boy, or pigs hunt¬
ing for trumes, than the work of a Norfolk or a Scotch
ploughman. Over a great part of the Continent, the
harrow is an implement not even known. In some
parts of Flanders, on the Rhine, in Prussia, and Ger¬
many, they use what they call a harrow, a small triaur
guiar frame of wood into which are inserted a few wooden
pins. Wretched, however, as it would be esteemed by
our farmers, it is a refinement in Agriculture not known
on the fertile plains of Spain or France, on the wide-
extending Campagna di Roma, or in the farming of
Calabria, where they either plough down the seed, or not
unfrequently cover it by throwing earth upon it with an
implement in form between a hoe and a spade, leaving
the ground, when the operation is finished, in long beds,
such as those in which the gardeners grow onions.
" The best farming on the large scale which I have
seen is in Flanders, near Waterloo, and in the adjoining
part of the Country ; but it is clumsy, and performed
with very defective instruments. In Tuscany the soii
is by far the best cultivated ; but it is generally speak¬
ing in small holdings, and the greatest part is done by
manual labour ; although they also use the plough a
good deal, making the oxen work close to the rows of
vines, which border every field, and which they are
prevented from eating by a slight muzzle of basket-work
hung in their noses. The Tuscan plough is not nearly
so rude as that made use of in many other Countries ;
and the Tuscan Agriculturists are even acquainted with
our method of opening drills, putting in manure, and
then closing them with the plough. Taking you
Northward by a very rapid journey from this part of
Italy to Berne, I shall say a few words respecting
Hofwyil. Here the British Agriculturist, who visits
the farm of M. Fellenberg, is surprised to find not
only all the newest and best improvements in Agricul¬
tural implements, as used in Great Britain, but many
invented by himself, and constructed at Hofwyil, which
surpass in simplicity and beauty the best I have seen at
Holkham. X was particularly pleased with a corn-
driller, which had a dial and index to show the ground
gone over ; thus possessing the double advantage of
showing the work done by the horses, and the quantity
of seed used per acre. This farm is like the most
beautiful garden as to neatness, and being free from
weeds. All that is done by the spade and hoe is capital,
there can be no better work. But if J, who was well
acquainted with the farming of East Lothian, felt the
greatest surprise on first seeing the correctness, I might
say the mathematical precision of the drill-husbandry of
Holkham, what would be the feelings of M. Fellen¬
berg, if he could see and compare that ne plus ultra of
good workmanship with the bungling performance
of his own people, provided as they are with such admi¬
rable tools to work with ?
" There is one feature in the Agriculture of the Con-
16
agriculture
Agriculture, tinerit which oughtto be adverted to. In this Country,
when we read an account of any other part of the World,
and are told that it is all enclosed, we naturally imagine
to ourselves cattle feeding quietly, or corn growing in
separate fields. But how sadly disappointed is the
British traveller to discover the mistake into which he
has been led, and to find that the enclosures, where
there are any, have been formed, not to keep in, but to
keep out cattle. If one of our Countrymen land in
Holland, and behold the beautiful meadows full of the
finest cattle, he is led to think that things are not very
different from what he has been accustomed to at home.
But he must very soon change his opinions, for he
quickly gets into a Country where there is nothing but
the soiling system known or used ; and if he proceed
Southward he will not see another animal in a field,
till, after a journey of hundreds of miles, he reach the
Pontine Marshes between Rome and Naples. In some
places, indeed, they drive them out in the daytime to
pick a few weeds in the lanes, or on the outsides of the
enclosures, which are generally a ditch and a bank of
earth, made very deep, and smoothed with the back of
a spade when the mud is wet; and in some moun¬
tainous districts, such as the Tyrol, one sees herds brows¬
ing on the sides of the steeps, but it is generally at such
a distance that, except to fill up the beauty of the land¬
scape, the sight of them is no way useful to the inquiring
Agriculturist. Sometimes, late in the evening or very
early in the morning, one may, from the window of a
village inn, get a passing view of the kine ; and most
peaceful is the sight, while the varied sound from the
bell, or rather canister, which hangs appended to the
neck of each, forms most appropriate and pastoral
music. But on descending again to the plains, the
soiling plan is once more found to be the only one of
treating live stock ; a method which, however well it
may answer as to gaining dung, is certainly bad for the
cattle ; for I have observed that where the soiling system
is followed, they are universally poor-looking, knock-
kneed creatures of very small size. In Holland and in
the Pontine Marshes, on the contrary, where they feed
on the sward, they are very fine.
" On comparing the Agriculture of the Continent
with that of this Country, we are indeed struck with the
miserable manner in which the operations of the plough
and harrow are conducted ; but the great deficiency is a
total ignorance of what we call green-cropping on the
large scale. It is true that both potatoes and turnips
are used in the different Countries ; but I have never
seen them properly cultivated, and, consequently, never
approaching to a full crop. In Flanders, Prussia,
Germany, and in the Swiss cantons, there is no one
who holds land but grows a portion of potatoes : but
they are planted either by the hand on a flat surface, or
pat in with a spade, so close that, instead of horse-
hoeing, it is wonderful to me how they can get them
hand-hoed ; the consequence of which is that the pota¬
toes never reach the size of a common egg. But the
measure of bad farming is filled up by the rude method
adopted for thrashing out the corn, still making use of
cattle or horses, at least in all the Southern parts of
Europe, to tread it out as we read in the Scriptures."*
Quarterly Journal of Agriculture^ May, 1828. vol. i. p. 189. &c.
Oïl the Theory of Agriculture, Agricultupe,
Although Husbandry is an Art which has been Customary
carried on from the earliest Ages by a greater number of
people than are concerned in any other, yet even at this
advanced period, the speculative Agriculturist may in xheories.
some measure be viewed as remaining without any
fixed principles on which to found his precepts. Instead
of resorting to practice, and thence forming a satisfac¬
tory Theory, writers on Agriculture, in numberless in¬
stances, have amused themselves without instructing
their readers by presenting abstract opinions on this im¬
portant subject ; not reflecting that every kind of Theory
which is not built upon extensive experience, is fallacious
and sometimes positively absurd. According to the
method adopted by these authors, he who argues most
ingeniously must necessarily be regarded as coming
nearest to the Truth ; and his doctrine will, therefore,
be considered as the standard until some other shall
start up, whose eloquence may prove more persuasive,
and whose notions may be held more plausible. This
has been the fate of all Philosophical conclusions on this
subject, since the earliest times. For example, how
numerous and diversified are the sentiments of Theorists
respecting the food of plants ; although it is a certain
fact that the most acute Naturalist can no more account
for the germination of a single grain of corn, than he
can explain the mysterious grounds on which he himself
enjoys a rational existence.^ Without, therefore, stop¬
ping to inquire whether the gaseous substances, oxy¬
gen, hydrogen, in their separate state, or a combination
of them in the form of air and water, or the oxides of
those metallic bases which give rise to the various
earths, constitute the pabulum of the vegetable species,
it may be remarked that the dullest farmer knows suffi¬
ciently that if he drains, cleans, and manures his land in
a proper manner, it will yield him as good a crop as the
soil is constitutionally capable of producing, provided
Physical circumstances, such as heavy rains, excessive
droughts, or furious winds do not prevent Nature from
discharging her usual functions. As we neither have
the command of the essential elements which minister
to vegetation, nor can order the Sun to display his
beams, nor the atmosphere to afford genial gales, nor
the clouds to drop refreshing showers, little benefit
could accrue to the operative husbandman were even
the curtain of Nature drawn aside, and our eyes per¬
mitted to roam at large over a field which may justly be
regarded as forbidden to Man. Under these impressions
we are inclined to consider all abstruse disquisition,
respecting the Chemical properties of Matter, the Physio¬
logy of plants, and the structure of their several organs,
as rather out of place in a Treatise on Practical Agricul¬
ture. Regarded as a Science, indeed, there is no absur¬
dity in connecting it with every other branch of investi¬
gation which has the analysis of matter for its object.
Nay, in a certain sense it might be made to derive light
and assistance from Astronomy, Anatomy, Mechanical
Philosophy, and Pharmacy ; for the cultivator has to
study the seasons, the corporeal qualities of the horse,
the composition of forces in the application of its
strength, and the effect of drugs in repelling its disease.
But it is obvious that similar argument might be used
for the necessity of scientific knowledge in all the other
departments of human industry, inasmuch as every
♦ Brown on Rural Affair s ^ vol. i. p. 69.
AGRICULTURE
17
A.griei\ltiue. Art that is practised, even by the most ignorant opera-
tive, has a dependence more or less remote upon Philo¬
sophical Principles. Besides, Agriculture, above all other
Arts, is founded on experiment, and has uniformly de¬
rived its most important improvements from trials judi¬
ciously made and carefully repeated. The man of
Science, in this case, only follows and discovers, or en¬
deavours to discover, a reason for the successful result
which has been already ascertained ; and, by generalizing
the truth implied in some particular fact, he perhaps aids
the application of it to a greater variety of objects. If
there be any branch of Physical research which has a
peculiar claim to the attention of the Agriculturist, it
may be conceived that this distinction belongs to Che¬
mistry ; the means supplied by which are so efficacious
for analyzing soils, detecting the qualities of manure,
and determining the composition of the vegetable pro¬
ducts. But it is well known that very little reliance can
be placed on the best-conducted Chemical process for
ascertaining the properties of land, or its fitness for par¬
ticular crops. The eye of an experienced farmer is much
more to be relied upon in the selection of a field, than the
report of the ablest Lecturer who ever used a test, or pre¬
sided over a crucible. In many instances it would not
be more hopeless to undertake the estimate of a man's
temper and talents from the weight of his body or the
tint of his complexion, than it is to fix the precise quali¬
ties of the several portions of a farm, by subjecting a
specimen of the soil to the operation of an acid or an alkali.
Causes of We mean it not to be inferred from these observations
the failure that the Principles of Science are inapplicable to the
0Î specula- advancement of Agriculture. On the contrary, we are
satisfied that every step which is gained by the Philoso¬
pher in his acquaintance with the composition and powers
of Matter, whether in its solid or gaseous form, will ulti¬
mately produce an effect in extending the empire of Man
over the elements of Nature, and thereby add to his
wealth and comfort. Our remarks have no other object
than to establish the important maxim, that the labours of
the husbandman are directed by Principles so simple that
his success will never be found impeded by his ignorance
of the refined disquisitions of the Physiologist or Chemist.
For example, were he at a loss to determine the effect of
bone-manure, of rape-cake, of nitre, or of kelp on a
piece of land, he could not have his doubts resolved by
consulting the most learned Work on the Philosophy of
Agriculture ; because the action of these substances de¬
pends entirely on circumstances which cannot be brought
under any general description or reduced to one rule.
The rape-cake might suit one part of the field, and the
nitre might answer better for some other part of it ; and
yet so far as Chemical analysis could proceed in deciding
the question, the soil of the whole would probably be de¬
clared homogeneous and fitted for one system of manage¬
ment. The points \yhich give the distinguishing cha¬
racter to a section of arable ground, must in general be
sought for under the surface. The subsoil has a great
influence in aiding or counteracting the effect of manure,
and in requiring a greater or less quantity of labour ;
perhaps the Geological structure of the surrounding plat¬
form interposes an energy which may assist in defeating
or promoting the intentions of the cultivator ; and the
mineral bodies which lurk in its recesses may contri¬
bute their share also in covering the face of the country
with a plentiful harvest, or in blasting it with sterility.
Hence it is universally admitted that no man is so
unlikely to prosper as a speculative farmer. The failures
VOL. VI.
which have almost constantly ensued among Scientific Agriculture,
projectors, who set at naught the lessons of experience, ^
have created in many parts of the country an undue
prejudice against all change, even when it wears the
aspect of a manifest improvement. To the same
cause must be ascribed the little success which in most
cases attends the processes of gentleman-farming ; for,
besides the greater expense incident to tlie different style
of living among the servants, there is a natural tendency
in every educated mind to promote the Arts by the aid
of experiment.
The safest Theory of Agriculture, therefore, is that which Three safest
comprehends those Principles only which have been Pdncipies.
confirmed by observation and long practice ; such, for
example, as that the soil should be well drained, or kept
free from all superfluous moisture ; secondly, that it
should be kept clean or free from all noxious weeds ; and
thirdly, that it should be kept rich, or in other words,
that every particle of manure which can be collected
ought to be applied, so that it should be retained in a
state capable of yielding good crops.
In the first place, the necessity of preserving the land 1. Draining
in a dry state is so obvious, that few arguments will be
required in support of this preliminary Principle. When
ground is allowed to remain wet, which may be occa¬
sioned by springs in the undersoil, or by rain-water
stagnating on the surface, the earth becomes sour and
thereby extrem#^^y unfavourable to the growth of plants ;
and often in th^ first instance prevents either ploughing
or harrowing from being successfully accomplished.
Under such circumstances the young plants, whether of
corn or grass, appear yellow and sickly, and never
assume that vigorous aspect which they exhibit in fields
properly drained. Besides, manure fails to produce its
wonted effect when the land is drowned by water from
above or from below. In fact, without attention to this
essential operation, neither can arable land be perfectly
managed, nor can good crops be raised. Perhaps the
progress of farming in any particular country may be
more correctly estimated by the care bestowed upon
drainage than by any other mark whatever.
In the second place, the benefit derived from keep- 2.Weeding,
ing the soil free from weeds is equally beyond dispute.
Weeds, it has been remarked, whether annual or peren¬
nial, may be regarded as preferable creditors of the land,
who will reap the first advantage of manure if allowed
to remain in possession; their removal, therefore, forms
an important object of the husbandman's attention. With¬
out detailing in this place the most effectual means for
effecting that purpose, it may be asserted, that in propor¬
tion to the success which follows the use of the means
employed, so will the goodness or badness of the crop
be determined. If the nutritive powers of a field be ex¬
hausted by weeds, or by such plants as the soil naturally
produces, it is impossible that the artificial plants can
prosper. It rarely happens indeed that the natives are
altogether extirpated, even by the most sedulous farmel
but it is true, nevertheless, that upon the smallness ot
their number depends the amount of the return which
{he Earth makes to Man for the toil bestowed upon its
cultivation.
In the third place, the necessity of restoring to the 3. Manur-
land, in the shape of manure, the fertility or powers of ing.
production, drawn from it by a succession of crops, is
acknowledged by every one, except the disciples of
Jethro Tu 11, if there be any of that School now remaining.
Manure, in fact, is the most powerful agent in the hands
D
18
A G R I C U L T ü R E.
Agnculture. of the farmer ; and the attention bestowed upon collecting-,
w preparing, and applying, constitutes an important branch
of the Art which he practises. Perhaps in the practical
details connected with this general Principle, Agricul¬
turists are more deficient than in the duties which re¬
spect the two others ; and here the advantages of Chemical
knowledge will be recognised by many who, on the
whole, are not friendly to its more speculative tenets.*
Obvious In these fundamental Principles we have omitted the
necessity of operations of tillage, because the veriest Savage is aware
tillage. tjjg surface of the ground must be scratched before
the seed is deposited into it. An expert farmer is con¬
vinced that before a piece of land can be expected to put
forth its strength, it must be well pulverized, and ex¬
posed to the action of the sun and air ; but as this is one
of the processes which must be taken for granted, and
belongs rather to the Practice than the Theory of Agri¬
culture, we shall proceed at once to discuss the more im¬
portant parts of the subject on which we have entered, be¬
ginning with a consideration of the different kinds of Soil.
Soil.
Composi- Soil may be defined to be that layer of loose earthy
tioii and matter which constitutes the upper covering of the
formation. Globe, affords a stratum to the roots of innumerable
tribes of vegetables, and supplies them with nourishment
to promote their growth and bring them to maturity.
It consists of the primitive earths which enter into the
composition of the prevailing strata or rocks, from the
disintegration of which it is obviously formed. The
succeeding layer on which the vegetable Soil reposes,
whatever be its nature, whether it be composed of less
coherent or of more solid materials, is usually distin¬
guished by the name of undersoil or subsoil. We have
said that the upper coating, which ministers to vegeta¬
tion, is derived from the decomposed ingredients of the
rocks or strata on which it rests, or of those in the im¬
mediate neighbourhood, the débris of which is conveyed
by means of water. The formation of Soil is, indeed, a
beautiful process carried on by Nature, and is accom¬
plished by the combined influence of moisture and tem¬
perature on the rocky girdle of the Earth, The changes
which take place in this Physical metamorphosis succeed
each other with more or less rapidity, according to the
nature of the rocks and the power of the agents which
operate in their decomposition. In a warm country and
moist climate where vegetation is vigorous, it proceeds
with astonishingcelerity ; but in the colder regions of the
Earth it advances with slower and more progressive steps.
But whatever may be its progress, the hardest rocks, as
well as those of less durable and less coherent materials,
are subject to disintegration and decay, contributing, as
they dissolve, to the formation and increase of Soil.
Progress. Êy observing what is daily taking place around us,
it is not difficult to trace at least the first steps of this
process, by which in the course of Ages the hills are
lowered and the valleys are exalted. A bare rock when
it is uncovered, or a mass of stone which has been lately
dug from the quarry, when fully exposed to the air, soon
loses its fresh appearance and assumes a different aspect.
When this change is investigated it is found that the sur-
%ce of the stone is covered with a thin crust, of a sub¬
stance very different from the stone itself. A closer
inspection shows that this crust is a vegetable production
belonging to the tribe of plants known by the name of
♦ Brown on Rural Affairvol. i. p. 72.
lichens, and supposed, perhaps from ignorance or the Agriculture,
want of means to examine them, to be less perfect than
other plants. The seeds of course are extremely minute,
easily wafted about by the wind, and floating in the
atmosphere attach themselves most readily to those bodies
which are somewhat moist. Porous rocks, which are
most apt to absorb moisture from the Earth or from the
Air, are the first on which lichens make their appearance.
By means of this vegetable covering, a larger portion of
moisture is absorbed, and a smaller portion of what rises
through the rocky substance from the Earth is lost by
evaporation : this affords additional nourishment and
increases the power of vegetation. A thin layer is soon
detached from the surface of the rock and reduced to the
earthy form. The first vegetable productions, in the
change of the seasons, decay ; and hence the first thin
stratum of Soil is formed by the decomposition of the
vegetable matter and the disintegration of part of the
mass of stone in which it was produced. Plants of a
larger size and more vigorous growth, whose seeds
are carried about in the air, find a fit receptacle in this
mixed mass for their vegetation and growth. They
in their turn decay, and contribute a fresh portion of
vegetable substance, while another accession of earthy
particles, derived from the stone, is made to the general
mass, insects and worms which make their abode in the
earth or in plants, in the progressive changes to which
they are subject and in the various stages of their exist¬
ence, deposit animal remains in the places which they
frequent ; and these also serve to increase the quantity of
organized matter in the new Soil. Tracing the operation
of these causes in the production of fertilized earth, we
see the manner in which the surface of the ground is pre¬
pared for the reception of innumerable species of plants.
Every kind of rock even of the hardest and densest How regii'
nature is subject to this change. The purest rock crystal lated«
when exposed to the weather is deprived, in no long
period, of its brilliant lustre and fine polish ; but the ex¬
tent and rapidity of the change, we need not remark,
correspond with the nature of the rocky substance and
the heat and moisture of the climate. In the warmer
regions of the Earth the surface of a bare rock is soon
converted into friable earthy matter, covered with verdure
and clothed with trees ; but in colder climates, as has
been already remarked, the process is slower as well as
more limited. The vegetables which spring up are of
smaller size as well as of more tardy growth, and thus af¬
ford a more scanty contribution to the formation of Soil.
It is obvious from what has been just stated, that the Different
diversity of earthy matters contained in the Soil must modifica-
depend on the constituent parts of the rocks from which
it is derived. Rocks in which the prevailing ingredient
is silicious earth, afford a sandy Soil ; those rocks, again,
in which alumina, or pure clay, predominates, yield a
clayey Soil ; while calcareous earth abounds in the Soil
which is formed of the detrition or decomposition of
limestone rocks. But the Soil formed by this process of
disintegration and Chemical affinity, does not always re¬
main on the spot where it is at first deposited. On the
contrary it is carried by floods from the higher to the
lower grounds, where it is gradually lodged, and on
which, in a succession of Ages, it forms a thick bed.
When the earthy matters are swept away by rivers with
a slow current, they are deposited on their flat banks or
at wide estuaries. In this way some of the richest Soils
have been formed. The fertile lands at the mouth of
the Nile, of the Po, of the Thames, and the Forth pre-
AGRICULTURE.
19
Agriculture, sent examples of this result. Gravelly soil, on the other
hand, draws its origin from those rocks whose lofty
precipices are exposed to the weather; but especially
from such rocks as have many fissures and cavities, and
thereby retain water in their bosoms. This water when
it is near the surface is frozen in Winter, and by its
expansive force when passing into ice, separates and
throws down immense fragments. These masses, broken
in their fall, are reduced to pieces of still smaller magni¬
tude by the current of rivers, or the agitation of lakes
through which they are sometimes carried by the rush
of a mountain stream. In the progress of those changes
which the face of the Earth every where ,exhibits, the
river changes its course, the sea recedes or advances
upon the land, the lake is dried up, and the bank of
gravel becomes dry ground. The seeds of vegetables
fall on its surface, grow up, and decay ; these are suc¬
ceeded by other generations which run the same course ;
a portion of earthy matter is obtained from the stones
on which the vegetable remains are deposited, and,
being mixed with the loose fragments, form at length a
Soil which invites the culture of the husbandman.
Effects pro- A moist climate and v/ater stagnating in low grounds
duced by have a powerful effect in modifying the Soil. In elevated
v/ater. situations the chilling influence of cold permits only
plants of a coarse and hardy character to come to matu¬
rity ; when they die the same causes prevent or retard
their decomposition ; and in such places the Soil consists
of a mass of half-decayed roots and stems of different
species of heath and sedge-grass, with which it is almost
entirely occupied. This is the origin of moorish Soils.
In places, again, where water lodges permanently, a dif¬
ferent race of plants is produced. The bog-moss, or
Sphagnum palustre, first makes its appearance ; a new
race of the same species succeeds ; other species and
plants of a different character find a convenient station
in the floating mass ; and from the accumulation of in¬
numerable generations of various kinds of vegetables in
a state of imperfect decomposition, peaty or mossy Soil
derives its origin.
Occasional Besides the ingredients already mentioned, which may
ingredients be considered as the base of different Soils, other sub-
ofSoil. stances enter into their composition. Some of these
(as magnesia, which is sparingly met with in Soils, and
contain other metallic substances with which they
are impregnated) are understood to have originally
existed in the rocks from the disintegration of which the
land has been formed. Saline minerals, too, which are
sometimes found in cultivated grounds, have the same
origin, though they are occasionally deposited by the
water of springs as it filtrates through the Soil. The
stratum which immediately supports the surface layer in
which vegetables grow, is distinguished, as we have said
above, by the name of subsoil. It sometimes happens
that this undersoil is composed of the rock which fur¬
nished the materials for the Soil itself ; but it more fre¬
quently consists of a bed of gravel, or clay, or sand. A
knowledge of the nature of the subsoil is of no small con¬
sequence in conducting improvements in Agriculture.
It is often the best guide in draining ; and in the opera¬
tion of tillage, when it is within reach of the plough, it
may be avoided or partially turned up, as the ingredients
of which it is composed when mixed with the Soil are
found to be beneficial or otherwise.
Classifica- Hence it appears that Soils may be classed under the
tiou. several heads of clayey, sandy, gravelly, and peaty or
mossy. There is a fifth, which, from its quality, has
been denominated loam, and from its history or origin Agiicultur«
has got the name of alluvial. The principal of these, as
we have already suggested, are from the depositions of
rivers or of the sea, and are generally rich clays fully
impregnated with animal matter in a state of complete
solution. Peat, by good management, has sometimes
been brought to the condition of loam, and rendered ex¬
tremely well suited to the culture of what are called the
tuberous-rooted plants. It is dark in its colour like the
richest vegetable mould, and to the inexperienced eye may
pass as such ; but still, unless greatly corrected in its tex¬
ture by the application of the firmer earths, it is found
upon trial to be porous and loose, too easily saturated with
moisture and too easily freed from it. In this improved
state, however, it will yield bulky crops of oats and barley,
although the quantity of grain does not always correspond
to the weight of the stem or the quantity of the straw.
The simple nomenclature just given is perfectly intel- UseleBsness
ligible to the practical farmer, although, perhaps, in a of a more
Scientific point of view, it might be rendered more com-
plete by adopting the language of the Schools. The
clayey, sandy, gravelly, and peaty soils might be termed
genera, and again divided into species and varieties.
But it is thought better, in the mean time, not to disturb
the ordinary speech of the fields and farm-yard. As our
knowledge of the composition of Soils increases, we may
hope to attain a more scientific nomenclature founded on
that knowledge ; but nothing of this kind that has yet
been attempted can be regarded in the smallest degree
as a substitute for the apparently inartificial divisions of
the practical husbandman. He chiefly regards Soils
with reference to their fertility and the means of culti¬
vating them ; and if they are not classed conformably to
these views, the arrangement will fail in the main pur¬
pose contemplated. Some continental writers of emi¬
nence have adopted a very complex system of terms as
applicable to the different kinds of land'; but they are
such as the practical farmer will at once perceive to
afford no assistance so far as regards the details of his
business. What, for example, should we think of a Soil
said to belong to the class Secondary ; of the Earths
with organic remains ; of the genus Coal ; of the species
Pyritic; of the Yoxieiy Black ; and of the sub-variety
Moist ? Such a nomenclature may amuse in the Study,
but can direct to no useful practice out of it. Some
writers on English Agriculture, more practical than spe¬
culative, have, on the other hand, deviated into an error
not less perplexing than that now alluded to ; for, by an
unnecessary mixture of local descriptions and phrases,
they have rendered their Works almost unintelligible to
those who live beyond the confines of a particular dis¬
trict. They have moreover confounded genera, species,
and varieties. Garden-mould, for instance, is given as a
distinct division of Soil, in the same sense in which clays,
sands, and gravels are said to be so. But garden-mould
is merely loam, which, as has been already observed, is
included in one or other of the classes above-mentioned.
Chalk, too, is described as a separate class. But chalk,
as every one knows, is the subsoil and not the Soil ; and
we may assert that in Countries where this formation
exists, no Soils are to be met with which may not be com¬
prehended in the divisions already given, according as
clay, gravel, or sand predominates in their composition."^
We have said that Soils are principally composed of and animal
the comminuted earths, whiclr form the substance of the matter.
* Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, vol. i. p. 31
D 2
20
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture, rocky masses which are observed to encircle the Globe.
These are silica, alumina, lime, and magnesia, which are
sometimes found in a pure state, but more frequently
combined with acids, alkalis, and oxygen, one of the
component parts of atmospherical air. Vegetable and
animal matter, too, in a state of decomposition, forms
an essential ingredient in all good Soils. The former
exists in very different states, containing a large propor¬
tion of carbonaceous substance, and yielding no vola¬
tile alkali. It is the chief ingredient in peats, and is
abundant in all rich moulds. The state of animal matter
in the Soil is as different as the substances from which
it is obtained. It usually contains less carbonaceous
matter than vegetable substances ; and when exposed to
heat, ammonia or volatile alkali, and carbonic acid. It
is abundant in Soils to which manure has been lately
applied.
Minuter It is evident, therefore, from what has been said re-
distinctions. specting the production of Soils from rocks, that there
must be at least as many varieties of Soil as there are
species of rocks exposed at the surface of the earth. In
fact there are many more. Independently of the changes
produced by cultivation and the exertions of human
labour, other materials of strata have been mixed toge¬
ther and transported from place to place by various great
alterations whicii have occurred in the system of our
Globe, and by the constant operation of water. The
term sandy, however, should not be applied to any Soil
which does not contain seven-eighths of sand* sandy
Soils that effervesce with acids, should be distinguished
by the name of calcareous sandy Soils, to distinguish them
from such as are silicious, and which do not effervesce
with acids. The term clayey should not be applied to
any land which contains less than one-sixth of impalpa¬
ble earthy matter, not considerably effervescing with
acids ; while the word loam should be restricted to Soils
containing at least one-third of impalpable earthy matter
copiously effervescing with acids. A Soil to be con¬
sidered as peaty, ought to contain at least one-half of
vegetable matter. In cases where the earthy part of a
Soil evidently consists of a decomposed matter of one
particular rock, a name derived from the rock may with
propriety be applied to it. Thus, if a fine red .earth be
found immediately above decomposing basalt, it may be
denominated basaltic Soil. If fragments of quartz and
mica be found abundant in the materials of the Soil,
which is often the case, it may be denominated granitic
soil ; and the same principles may be applied to other
like instances.*
Varieties gf " In general," says Sir H. Davy, the Soils the ma-
alluvial terials of which are most various and heterogeneous are
those called alluvial, or which have been formed by the
depositions of rivers ; many of them are extremely fer¬
tile. I have examined some productive alluvial Soils
which have been very different in their composition. A
specimen from the banks of the river Parret in Somerset¬
shire, afforded me eight parts of finely-divided matter,
and one part of silicious sand ; and an analysis of the
former gave the following results :
Parts.
Carbonate of lime 360
Alumina 25
Silica 20
Oxide of iron 8
Vegetable, animal, and saline matter... . 19
" A rich Soil from the neighbourhood of the Avon in Agriculture,
the valley of Evesham, in Worcestershire, afforded me
three-fifths of fine sand, and two-fifths of impalpable
matter. This last consisted of
Parts.
Alumina 35
Silica 41
Carbonate of lime 14
Oxide of iron 3
Vegetable, animal, and saline matter ... 7
" A specimen of good Soil from Teviotdale afforded
five-sixths of fine silicious sand, and one-sixth of impal¬
pable matter ; which consisted of
Parts.
Alumina 41
Silica 42
Carbonate of lime . 4
Oxide of iron 5
Vegetable, animal, and saline matter ... 8
A Soil yielding excellent pasture from the valley of
the Avon near Salisbury, afforded one-eleventh of coarse
silicious sand ; and the finely-divided matter consisted of
Parts.
Alumina 7
Silica 14
Carbonate of lime 63
Oxide of iron 2
Vegetable, animal, and saline matter .. . 14"*
The knowledge acquired by this analytical process Knowledge
of the component parts of Soils, possesses its chief value of Soils
as it suggests the readiest means for the improvement furnishes
of bad land, as well as for the successful management of
that which is good. In ascertaining the composition of
sterile Soils, for instance, any particular ingredient which
is the cause of their unproductiveness will probably
attract the notice of the Agricultural Chemist ; whom in
this case, the farmer should employ exactly on the same
principle as he calls in the Farrier when his horses are
sick, or the Physician when a disease has found its way
into his family. If, for example, in analyzing a portion
of barren Soil, it be found to contain the salt of iron, or
any other acid matter, it may be ameliorated by the
application of quick-lime. A Soil of an apparently good
texture was put into the hands of Sir H. Davy, as re¬
markable for sterility. On examining it he found that it
contained sulphate of iron, and accordingly recommended
the obvious remedy of top-dressing with lime, which
converted the sulphate into a manure. If there be an ex¬
cess of calcareous matter in the Soil, it may be improved
by the application of sand or clay. Soils, again, too
abundant in sand are benefited by the use of clay or
marl or vegetable matter. Peat as a top-dressing has
been found to answer well for correcting the defects of a
light sandy Soil ; while a deficiency of vegetable or
animal matter must be supplied by the richest species of
manures. An excess of vegetable matter, on the other
hand, is to be removed by burning, or to be remedied
by the application of earthy materials. The improve¬
ment of peats, or bogs, or marsh lands must be preceded
by draining ; stagnant water being injurious to all the
nutritive classes of plants. Soft black peats when
drained, are often made productive by the mere applica¬
tion of sand or clay as a top-dressing. When peats are
acid, or contain ferruginous salts, calcareous matter is
absolutely necessary in bringing them into cultivation
♦ Agricultural Chemistnj, p. 184.
Agricultural Chemistry^ p. 186.
AGRICULTURE
21
Agriculture. When they abound in the branches and roots of trees,
or when their surface entirely consists of living vege¬
tables, these must either be removed or destroyed by
burning. In the latter case, their ashes afford earthy
ingredients fitted to improve the texture of the Soil on
which they were formerly an incumbrance. In a word,
the best natural Soils are those of which the materials
have been derived from different strata of rocks ; which
have been most minutely divided by air and water, and
are intimately blended together ; and in improving Soils
artificially the farmer cannot do better than imitate the
processes of Nature. The materials necessary for the
purpose are seldom far distant; coarse sand is often
found immediately on chalk; and beds of sand and
gravel are common below clay. The labour of improv¬
ing the texture and constitution of the Soil is repaid by
a great permanent advantage, for its fertility is thereby
placed on a lasting basis ; and while the annual outlay
is lessened the yearly produce is increased.
Modes of In whatever way a Soil is to be examined, specimens
examining of it should be taken from different parts of the field,
and a few inches below the surface ; and it should be
carefully ascertained whether these portions so selected
possess similar properties. On extensive plains the
whole of the Soil is found to be rather uniform in the
nature and proportion of the ingredients of which it is
composed; but in valleys and near the beds of rivers
which are supplied with the materials of the Soil from
the higher grounds, there is necessarily a greater variety.
One part of the field presents a calcareous Soil, and ano¬
ther a silicious. The specific gravity in all cases is an
indication of the quantity of organized matter which it
contains ; for such matter is most abundant in lighter
Soils. To ascertain the specific gravity of any given
layer of earth, an equal bulk of it and of water may be
introduced into a phial of a determinate capacity. If a
bottle containing four hundred grains of water be half-
filled with that liquid, and if the remaining half be filled
with the Soil to be examined, and if the bottle gain two
hundred grains of weight more than when it is entirely
filled with water, the specific gravity of the Soil is double
that of the water. The colour, feel, and some other
Physical properties of Soils may, to a certain extent,
lead to a knowledge of their composition. For example,
a silicious Soil is rough and hard to the touch, and when
rubbed on glass scratches it. A red or yellow colour
denotes a ferruginous Soil, while softness in general
denotes one that is calcareous.
Influence of The power of absorbing and retaining heat and mois-
tempera- ture seems to be closely connected with fertility of Soil,
ture. Certain Soils are more easily heated than others, and
when brought to the same degree of temperature, cool
more rapidly. Stiff white clay is heated with difficulty,
and from the quantity of moisture which it embodies,
retains the heat but for a short time. A chalky Soil
also is heated with difficulty, but retaining less moisture
the warmth is not so soon expelled. A black Soil in which
soft vegetable matter predominates is most freely heated
by the sun and air. Deeply coloured Soils, and such as
possess a large proportion of carbonaceous and ferrugi¬
nous matter, acquire, when exposed to the sun, a higher
temperature tfian Soils of a paler complexion. A rich
black mould, containing nearly a fourth part of vegeta¬
ble matter, when under the influence of sunshine, had
its temperature raised in the space of an hour from
to 88° of Fahrenheit ; while a chalky soil under a simi¬
lar influence rose only to 69°. The mould being re¬
moved into the shade where the temperature was 62°, Agriculture,
lost in half an hour 15°; whereas the chalk Soil in the
same situation sank only 4°. A cold, fertile Soil and a
cold, barren clay, being previously dried, were heated to
the temperature of 88°, and afterwards exposed to the
air in a place in which the thermometer stood at 57° ; in
half an hour the former lost 9°, while the other was de¬
prived of no more than 6°. An equal portion of the
clay containing moisture was heated to 88°, and then
exposed to a temperature of 55° ; in a quarter of an
hour its heat became equal to that of the room. In con¬
ducting these experiments, which were made by Sir H.
Davy, the Soils were placed in small tin-plate trays, two
inches square and half an inch in depth.^^
The temperature of the Soil, or its power of combin- Of absovp-
ing with and retaining heat, is in all cases greatly modi- tion.
fied by the property it possesses of absorbing moisture ;
and this latter quality depends in a great tneasure on the
degree of comminution to which its parts are reduced ;
for the more they are divided the more active is their
power of absorbency. This property is greater in vege¬
table than in animal substances ; and these last possess
it in a higher degree than compounds of the earths, and
a considerable diversity prevails in the different propor¬
tions of the earths themselves. It has been already sug¬
gested that the fertility of a Soil has a close connection
with its power of drawing moisture from the atmosphere.
Experiments to ascertain the extent of this property can
be easily made, and a very simple method of determin¬
ing the relative productiveness of land is obtained by
them. " I have,'' says Sir H. Davy, " compared the
absorbent powers of many Soils with respect to atmo¬
spheric moisture, and I have always found it greatest in
the most fertile Soils. A thousand parts of a celebrated
Soil from Ormiston, in East Lothian, which contained
more than half its weight of finely divided matter, of
which II parts were carbonate of lime, and 9 parts ve¬
getable matter, when dried at 212°, gained in an hour,
by exposure to air saturated with moisture at temperature
62°, 18 grains.
" 1000 parts of a very fertile Soil from the banks of
the river Parret in Somersetshire, under the same cir¬
cumstances, gained 16 grains.
" 1000 parts of a Soil from Mersey, in Essex, worth
45s. an acre, gained 13 grains.
" 1000 grains of a fine sand from Essex, worth 28s.
an acre, gained 11 grains.
" 1000 of a coarse sand, worth 15s. an acre, gained
only 8 grains.
" 1000 of the soil of Bagshot-heath gained only 3
grains."
Water and the decomposing animal and vegetable
matter existing in the Soil, constitute the true nourish¬
ment of plants ; and as the earthy parts of the Soil are
useful in retaining water so as to supply it in the proper
proportions to the roots, so they are likewise efficacious
in producing the proper distribution of the animal and
vegetable matter to the expanding fibres of the orga¬
nized bodies, or plants, which go in search of it, as their
natural sustenance.
Soils which repose immediately upon a stratum of
rock become much sooner dry by the process of evapo¬
ration than when the subsoil is of clay or marl. The
contiguity of the strata to the superincumbent layer of
earth is supposed to be one of the principal causes of
* Agricultural Chemistry, p. 141, &c.
22
AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture, the remarkable fertility of the land in the humid climate
of Ireland. A subsoil in which clay predominates is
sometimes extremely beneficial to a sandy field in aiding*
its deficient absorbent power, and supplying the moisture
which is lost by the action of the atmosphere and the
process of vegetation ; while, on the other hand, the ex¬
cessive degree of absorbent power in a Soil is often cor¬
rected by a subsoil of a sandy or gravelly nature. In
calcareous Countries, where the surface appears to be a
species of marl, the limestone is only a few inches from
the Soil ; but the contiguity of the rock impairs not its
fertility, although a less absorbent Soil in such circum¬
stances would be rendered sterile. This is finely exem¬
plified in the appearance of the sandstone and limestone
hills in Derbyshire and North Wales during the summer
season ; the grass of the former usually exhibits a brown
and parched aspect, while the latter are clothed with a
rich and beautifully verdant covering.
Leaving all the considerations which respect the im¬
provement of land until we come to the subject of
manures, we shall now proceed to the theory and prac¬
tice of draining ; following herein what we consider the
natural order of events in the improvement and culture
of land. It is obvious, indeed, that to whatever purpose
the Soil is destined, whether pasture or tillage, it is neces¬
sary that it should in the first instance be relieved from
superfluous moisture. Even the temporary stagnation
of water on arable land may interrupt the usual opera¬
tions of the husbandman at the most important season
of the year, while it can hardly fail to '^ounteract his
labours in weeding and manuring, and, in the end, blast
all his hopes of a remunerating crop. The produce of
grass-lands, too, in which water is redundant, is always
coarse and deficient in nutriment; and hence every intel¬
ligent farmer directs his first cares to the draining of his
fields.
Of Draining,
Geological The successful practice of Draining depends in a great
Principles, measure on a proper knowledge of the Geological struc¬
ture of the Earth's surface, or of the various strata of
which the outer crust, so to speak, is composed, as well
as of their relative degrees of porosity, or capability of
admitting the passage of water through them, and like¬
wise of the manner in which water is collected in the
higher grounds and conducted to those of a lower level.
In whatever way the elevations which present them¬
selves on the surface of the Globe were originally formed.
It has been clearly shown, by sinking large pits, or by
opening quarries in the sides of hills, that they are for
the most part composed of beds having an oblique or
slanting direction downwards. Some of these strata,
from their peculiar properties, allow water to percolate
freely through them ; while others, so far from admit¬
ting a passage, force it along their surfaces without pene¬
trating them in any degree, and thereby compel it to
seek an outlet in the grounds below. There, in general,
it is obstructea or dammed up, by meeting with imper¬
vious materials of some kind or other, bv means of
which it is raised into the superincumbent layers, if they
happen to be open or porous, soon rendering them too
wöv for the purposes of Agriculture : but where they are
of a more tenacious and impenetrable quality, they only
become gradually softened by the stagnant water below
them ; by which, however, the surface of the ground is
rendered equally moist and swampy, though somewhat
more slowly than in the former case. It may also be
observed that some of the strata which constitute such Agriculture,
hilly or mountainous tracts are found to be continued
with much greater regularity than others ; those which
are placed nearest to the surface, at the inferior parts of
such elevations, being mostly broken or interrupted be¬
fore they reach the higher parts of them ; while those
which lie deeper or below them at the bottom, show
themselves near the summit. Thus, that stratum which
may lie the third or fourth, or still deeper, at the com¬
mencement of the valley, may form the uppermost layer
at the top of the hill ; an arrangement which may have
been produced partly by the circumstances attending the
original elevation of such mountainous regions, and
partly by the fact that the materials of the exterior strata,
iDeing dissolved by the action of the atmosphere, by suc¬
cessive frosts and rains, have been carried down into
the valleys, and thus left such as were immediately below
them in an exposed condition.*
These elevated strata frequently prove the means of Effects of
rendering the lower grounds wet and swampy; for the diff'eient
general moisture of the atmosphere being condensed in strata,
much greater quantities in such elevated situations,
the water thus formed, as well as that which falls in rain
and sinks through the surface, insinuates itself and thus
passes along among the inferior strata which compose the
sides of such elevations, until its descent is retarded by
some impenetrable substance, such as clay or a very com¬
pact rock. It is there collected in a body, and ultimately
forced to filtrate slowly over it, or to rise to the light,
and to constitute, according to the different circumstances
of the case, swamps or marshes in the contiguous valleys.
The appearances are more commonly oozing springs,
weeping rocks, or sometimes a considerable rivulet
formed by the union of small currents under the ground.
This is obvious from the sudden disappearance of mois¬
ture in some parts of lands, while it stagnates, or remains
till removed by the effect of evaporation, on others ; as
well as from the force of springs being stronger in wet
than in dry weather, breaking out frequently after the
land has been impregnated with much moisture in higher
situations, and as the season becomes drier, ceasing to
flow except at the lower outlets. The force of springs,
or proportion of water which they send forth, depends
likewise in a great measure on the extent of the high
ground on which the moisture is received and detained,
furnishing extensive reservoirs or collections of water by
which they become more amply and regularly supplied.
On this account what are termed bog-springs, or such as
rise in valleys and low grounds, are considerably stronger
and more regular in their discharge, than such as
burst forth on the more elevated situations or sides of
eminences.t
In Draining land the first thing to be considered is the Modes of
source of the wetness ; whether it be surface-water which ascertaining
from some obstruction is not permitted to pass off freelv, soyrees
or whether it be thrown up, as has just been described,
from some of the inferior strata. If a hollow piece of
ground be covered with water, or if it should be only
wet and spongy during great part of the year and even
during the dry season ; and, when this ground has been
for some time retained in pasture, if the common rush
begin to shoot up and thrive on the edges of the wet
spot where the soil is somewhat more solid, and if it
stretch upwards on the sides of the declivity, and more
* Darwin, Phylologia, p. 258. Loudon, p. 691.
f Elkington, Mode of Draining^ P* 15.
AGRICULTURE.
23
Agriculture, particularly to a ^eater height on one side—then the
conclusion is pretty certain that the water proceeds from
the underground strata, from a bed oft gravel or other
porous matter, at some depth under he surface, and
supported by an impervious bed, such as a mass or layer
of clay. If a pit be dug at the upper edge of the place
occupied by the rushes, to the depth of two or three feet
—which must vary according to the thickness of the
different strata and the depth of the porous bed through
which the water filtrates—as soon as the latter stratum
is penetrated the water will rise in the pit, and perhaps
in a short time overflow and run along the surface. But
if a cut, of sufficient dimensions to convey the whole
of the water to the nearest ditch, be made, it is probable
the wet ground will be relieved from the water, the
rushes will disappear, and plants of a very different cha¬
racter take their place. In case no water should appear
in the pit, after digging to a moderate depth, or if it
should not be convenient to penetrate deeper than a foot
and a half or two feet, recourse may be had to the borer
or auger ; an instrument employed for the purpose of
forming a communication with the porous stratum
w^hich contains the water, to the depth of many feet or
fathoms. When the borer reaches the porous stratum
and is withdrawn, the water will be seen to burst up with
considerable force and soon fill the pit ; and if the com¬
munication thus formed continues uninterrupted, the
ground becomes dry, and is quickly rendered fit for all
the purposes of tillage.
Mr.EIking- To Mr. Elkington is usually attributed the merit of
ton's disco^ having invented this process of Draining, the origin of
which is explained by Mr. Johnstone, the author of the
Account of the most approved System of Draining Land,
" In the year 1763, Mr. Elkington was left by his father
the possession of a farm called Princethorp, in the parish
of Stritton-upon-Dunsmore, and County of Warwick.
The soil of this farm was very poor, and in many places
so extremely wet that it had been the cause of rotting
several hundred sheep, which was the first means which
determined him if possible to Drain it, which he began
to do in 1764. The field in which he began was of a wet
clay soil, rendered almost a swamp (and indeed in some
places a shaking-hog') by the springs issuing from a bank
of gravel and sand adjoining it, and overflowing the sur¬
face of the clav. In order to Drain this field, he cut a
trench about four or five feet deep a little below the
upper side of the bog, or where the wetness began to
make its appearance ; and after proceeding so far in this
direction and at this depth, he found that it did not
reach the main body of subjacent water from whence the
evil proceeded. On observing this Mr. Elkington was
at a loss how to proceed. At this time while he was
considering what was next to be done, one of his ser¬
vants accidentally came to the field where the Drain was
making, with an iron crow or bar, which the farmers in
that country use in making holes for fixing their sheep
hurdles. Mr. Elkington having a suspicion that his
Drain was not deep enough, and a desire to know what
kind of strata lay under the bottom of it, took the iron
bar from the servant, and after having forced it down
about four feet below the bottom of the trench, on pull¬
ing it out, to his astonishment, a great quantity of water
burst up through the hole he had thus made, and ran
down the Drain. This at once led him to the knowledge
of wetness being often produced by water confined fur¬
ther below the surface of the ground than it was possible
for the usual depth of Drains to reach, and induced him
to think of applying an auger as a proper instrument in Agricultiire,
such cases. Thus did the discovery originate from
chance, the parent of so many useful Arts Î In this
manner he not only accomplished the Drainage of this
field, which soon rendered it completely sound, but like¬
wise all the other wet ground on his farm."^
The success of this experiment soon extended Mr. His three
Elkington's fame, as a Drainer, throughout the whole
Kingdom. From long practice on grounds of every
variety of character and situation, he acquired a great
facility in judging relative to the nature of the concealed
strata and the sources of the hidden springs. The rules
on which he acted may be reduced to three : first,
finding out the main spring or cause of the evil, with¬
out which nothing effectual could be done ; second,
taking the level of that spring, and ascertaining its
subterraneous bearings, a measure never practised by
any till Mr. Elkington explained the advantages to be
derived from it ; for if the Drain be cut a yard beyond
the line of the spring you can never reach the water that
issues from it, whereas by ascertaining that line, by
means of levelling, you can cut off the spring effectually,
and consequently Drain the land in the cheapest and most
complete manner. And third, making use of the auger
to reach or tap the spring, where the depth of the Drain
is not sufficient for that purpose.
In proceeding according to this method of Draining, Their applh
the neighbouring high grounds are to be examined, to cation
ascertain precisely the nature, composition, and inclina¬
tion of the strata, and their relative position with the
land to be improved ; from which an opinion can be
formed of the nearest point at which the water may be cut
off and discharged by the level of the spring. To obtain
this necessary information, the beds of the nearest
streams, the face of steep banks, pits, wells, and quarries
are to be nicely surveyed. Having discovered the main
spring, the next object is to determine accurately the
line of level in which the Drain is to be conducted. This
is one of the most important parts of the operation, and
requires particular attention. The last part of the opera¬
tion is the application of the auger, which is employed
in all cases where the outlet, or the expense or the diffi¬
culty of execution does not admit the Drain to be cut so
deep as to reach the spring.
The Principles now explained will not, we think, be illusnated.
found difficult in application when all the circumstances
are fully considered. Suppose there is an extensive fiat of
swampy land, lying on the bank of a river, and from an
examination of the appearances it is concluded that the
water is collected from numerous springs, indications of
which are distinctly observed on the declivity of the
adjoining bank wiiich forms the boundary of the bog on
one side ; and suppose at the same time that all the
springs arise along the upper edge of the wet ground,
then, it is very probable, that a single drain conducted
in the direction of these springs will effectually carry off
the redundant water. But let it be supposed further,
that on examining the surface from which the springs
issue, they appear at different levels; that the upper
series of springs is exhausted in the dry season, while
those in the lower part of the declivity continue to flow ;
the conclusion in this case is pretty evident, that the
whole springs are derived from the same source. The
lowest are to be considered as the chief springs, and tiie
line of the Drain accordingly is to be carried in their
* Elkington, Mode of Draining, p. 6.
24
AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture, direction, by which the run of water is completely inter-
cepted. If the Drain were carried in the direction of the
upper line of springs, it would also answer the purpose,
but it would require deeper cutting, and therefore a greater
expense would be incurred ; or the use of the auger
might be required, which by the first method would be
entirely superseded. It is scarcely necessary to add that
extensive bogs or swamps may require subsidiary
trenches in different places to carry off the whole of the
water.
Indications The irregular distribution of the strata of which hills
from the are composed, frequently produces alternate portions of
wet and dry ground on the surface. The general aspect
of the soil, the nature of the plants, and the degree of
wetness which prevails, may, in many cases, indicate the
arrangement of the rocky beds, and hence the proper
direction of the intended Drain. When the stratum is
horizontal or only slightly inclined, all the springs may
derive their water from the same source, and when this
is exhausted the object will be attained. But in cases
where the rock is nearly in a vertical position, and con¬
tains partial collections of water in fissures and cavities,
it is necessary to carry a Drain to each outlet.^
"In many hills composed of alternate strata of rock,
sand, and clay, the surface of the latter is commonly wet
and swampy, while that of the former is dry and pro¬
ductive, and therefore requires as many cuts to Drain it
completely as there are divisions of wet and dry soil.
The highest parts of the hill being for the most part com¬
posed of porous soil, receive the rain-water which
descends through it till it meet some impervious stratum,
as clay, which obstructing its percolation any further
downwards, it then rises to the surface and forces itself
a passage over that impassable stratum. After it has
thus overflowed the upper clay surface, it is immediately
absorbed by the next porous stratum, and descending
into it in like manner as above, it again issues at the
lower side of it, and injures the surface of the next clay
bed as it did that of the first. In this manner, the same
stream will affect the other similar strata of which the
hill is composed, down the whole declivity, and form at
last in the hollow a lake or bog, if there is not a proper
outlet or descent to carry off the water. To Drain a hill
side of this description, it is necessary to begin by
making a trench along the upper side of the uppermost
rushy soil, which will have the effect of cutting off the
highest spring; butas the rain falling on the next porous
soil subsides to the lowest part of it and forms another
spring, a second cut is necessary there to prevent that
water from injuring the surface of the next clay bed.
Thus, similar cuts will be requisite down the descent so
far as the same springs and appearances continue to in¬
jure the ground.t See fig. 4, 5, and 6.
The Drain- The borer used in Draining is nearly similar to that
ing Borer, made use of in searching for coal or other subterraneous
minerals. The auger, shell, or wimble, as it is variously
called, for excavating the earth or strata through which
it passes, is from two and a half to three and a half
inches in diameter ; the hollow part of it one foot four
inches in length, and constructed nearly in the shape of
the wimble used by carpenters. The rods are made in
separate pieces, of four feet long each, which screw into
one another to any assignable length which the depth of
the hole requires.
* Elkington, Mode of Drainingp. 19. &c.
f Ibid^ p. 43.
To judge when to make use of the borer is a difficult Agriculture,
part of the business. Some who have not seen it made
use of in Draining have been led into a mistaken notion, Mode of
both as to the manner of using it, and the purpose for "sing it.
which it is applied. They think that if by boring indis¬
criminately through the ground to be Drained, water is
found near enough the surface to be reached by the Drain,
the proper direction for it is along these holes in which
water has been found ; and thus they make it the first
implement that is used. But a process directly opposite
ought to be followed, and the auger should never be used
until after the Drain is cut ; and then it should be employed
for the purpose of perforating a retentive or impervious
stratum, lying between the bottom of the Drain and the
reservoir or strata containing the spring. The manner
of using it is simply thus : two men above, one on each
side of the Drain, turn it round by means of the wooden
handle ; and when the auger is full they draw it out,
and a man in the bottom of the trench clears out the
earth, assists in pulling it out and directing it into
the hole, and also gives occasional aid in turning with
the iron handle or key, when the depth and length of
rods require additional force to perform the operation.
In one word, the auger may be described as bearing the
same relation to dropsical land that the tapping instru¬
ment in the hand of a surgeon does to a human patient
labouring under anasarca; and in both cases the suc¬
cess of the operator is in proportion to his theoretical
knowledge of the subject, and the extent of his actual
practice.^
The honour of this discovery, although usually con- The invert-
ferred upon Elkington, has not been undisputed. In Aon di&-
Dr. Nugent's Travels through Germany, printed in the '
year 1768, there is an account of a mode of Draining
land on principles in some respects of a similar nature,
not indeed by the use of the auger but by making pits.
And in a publication by Dr. James Anderson, entitled
Essays on Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and bearing
date 1775, the author, after describing a mode of tapping
by sinking small pits, adds, " I have often imagined
that the expense of digging these pits might be saved by
boring a hole through this solid stratum of clay, with a
wimble made on purpose ; but as I have never expe¬
rienced this, I cannot say whether it would answer the
desired end exactly." There seems to be no doubt, how¬
ever, that Mr. Elkington made use of the auger, prior to
the date of either of these publications, or to any hint he
could possibly derive from any Work in the English
Language, though it is probable that as regards boring
the ground for wells, the use of the said instrument was
long known in various Countries, especially in Italy. It
is proper to observe, at the same time, that although Dr.
Anderson's Essays were not published till 1775, the ex
periments which he describes were made in 1764, and
moreover that the account of Mr. Elkington's operations
^ A correspondent of the Quarterly Journal of Agricidture writes
as follows : Boring with augers and digging wells formed the
peculiar features of Elkington's mode of Draining, joined to that of
deep cutting ; but the latter part only of his mode has been care¬
fully preserved and practised, while the former part has been too
much neglected. In one instance of my own in Draining, of which
I have had considerable experience, the digging of a well about
eight feet deep saved the expense of making a Drain two hundred
yards long. Had the well not been attempted at all, that length of
Drain must have been cut along a fall of only twenty inches. The
well terminated in a thick bed of gravel, which easily absorbed all
the water that could possibly have passed through all the Drains
connected with it." No. XIII. p.,82.
AGRICULTURE.
25
Agriculture, was not committed to the Press till the year 1796. The
decision of Parliament, which granted to the latter a re¬
ward of ¿^1000, settled the question in a very important
point ; leaving- nothing but empty honour as the subject
of controversy.^
Surfac® As surface Draining, the second department of this
Draining, branch of husbandry, is conducted on the very obvious
principle of having ditches on the lower sides of a field,
into which the furrows discharge the superfluous mois¬
ture not absorbed by the soil, there will not be occasion
for any lengthened remarks. In extensive flats, how¬
ever, which are covered with water a great part of the
year, a more expensive operation becomes necessary. A
main Drain, conducted from the intended outlet, must be
formed with such a slope and of such a depth as shall
be sufficient to relieve the land from so injurious an in¬
cumbrance. The course of a Drain of this description,
when the inclination of the ground is not perceptible, is
formed by the ordinary process of levelling, and in most
cases by the use of the spirit-level alone. But without
any instrument, those who are familiar with practical
Draining can discover the declivity and the course of the
water even in land which appears nearly flat, by examin¬
ing the ditches when they are almost dry in Summer, and
by observing to what point the leaves of aquatic plants
are directed. When the extent of ground to be freed
from water is considerable, a single Drain ought not
to be held sufficient. In this case branches from differ¬
ent parts of the field uniting with the main Drain
are absolutely necessary; and the number and direc¬
tion of these branches must be determined by the extent
and inequalities of the surface. The subordinate Drains
or branches should form a junction with the main Drain
in the direction of the current, to avoid the danger of
sand or earth accumulating and creating obstructio.ns
when they enter it transversely.
We need scarcely observe that the declivity of the
ground in many cases must regulate the slope of Drains ;
but where the outlet and other circumstances afford an
opportunity for marking its limits, it should neither, on the
one hand, be too great, in which case the sides and bottom
exposed to the rapidity of the current might be apt to
receive injury ; nor, on the other hand, should the in¬
clination of the Drain be too small, by which the current
becomes sluggish and stagnant, and the land is not fully
relieved from water. A similar discretion must be ex¬
ercised in the dimensions of open Drains, as such are
necessarily varied according to the nature of the soil, the
situation, and the quantity of water to be carried off.
The width at the bottom of the Drain must be regulated
by the proportion of water to be discharged ; and it may
be stated as a general rule, that the width at top should
be at least three times greater, to admit of sufficient slope
and solidity to the sides. But in soft and mossy soils
even a larger slope is requisite ; and wherever the Drain
is not meant for a fence as well as a channel for convey¬
ing water, the earthy matters thrown out should not be
left on the sides to form an elevated bank, but spread on
the field or altogether removed. In marshy grounds
where the Drain is also required to be a fence, the soil,
* See Elkingtoii, Mode of Draining^ p. 10, where the following
notice is inserted. " Buffon states that in the city of Modena and
for miles round, whatever part is dug, when we reach the depth of
sixty-three feet, and bore five feet deeper with an auger, the water
springs out with such force that the well is filled in a very short
space of time. The water flows continually, and neither diminishes
nor increases by the rain or droiierht."
VOL. VI.
- which should always be thrown out on the lower side. Agriculture,
should be allov/ed to remain ; and a small parallel cut
may be opened to receive the surface-water from that
side, and to conduct it to a convenient place where it may
be admitted into the larger Drain.
In all cases where there is much risk of surface-water Open
being greatly increased in the time of rain, open Drains Drains,
should always be preferred, to avoid the danger of being
entirely obstructed, a casualty to which covered Drains
are very liable. But as such Drains, constructed in the
usual way, would disfigure an improved field and inter¬
rupt the accustomed operations of tillage, they ought to
have a greater slope, and a greensward should be per¬
mitted to form on their sides. If the direction of the
ridges be parallel to the Drain the cultivation of the field
is uninterrupted ; and when it is in pasture, it presents
no obstacle to the free passage of cattle. But the farmer
should remember that whatever may be the slope of such
Drains, the sides should never be ploughed ; for any
increased flow of water in that event would carry oíF the
loosened soil.
When smooth pasture-ground is subject to the collec- Hollow
tion of surface-water, the evil maybe remedied by means Drains m
of a simple operation with a common plough. Let a
deep furrow be turned up through the hollow parts of
the field where water stagnates, pare off the earth from
the inverted sod, leaving it about three inches thick, and
return it to its natural position. In this way a small
hollow Drain of three or four inches is left in the bottom
of the furrow, which is found sufficient to discharge a
considerable quantity of water. By this easy process a
great extent of Drain can be executed in a short time ;
and when any part is obstructed, it can be repaired at a
small expense. Lands, again, which are appropriated
to woods or plantations, are equally benefited by Drain¬
ing as those devoted to the production of corn crops, or
to the feeding of cattle. For such grounds, open Drains
are by far the most suitable ; for in covered Drains the
roots of the trees, stretching along horizontally, insinuate
themselves among the stones, interrupt at first, and
finally obstruct the progress of the water.
The skill of the Drainer is frequently put to the test Drains in a
when he is called upon to remove the superfluous mois- flat soil
ture from land which is at once flat and possesses a very clayey
retentive or clayey soil. The upper layer of earth being '
porous readily permits the rain to sink through it while
the impervious subsoil prevents it from descending fur¬
ther, and hence the ridges are usually saturated with an
excess of water. Land thus circumstanced is described
by farmers as being wet-hottomed. When the field to be
Drained has only a slight declination or slope from the sides
towards the middle, one Drain cut through the porous su¬
perficial materials into the clay in the lowest part of the
ground may be sufficient to bring off the whole of the
water detained in the porous soil. This effect may like¬
wise be greatly promoted by laying out and forming the
ridges so as to accord with the direction of the land, and
by the use of the plough or spade in removing obstruc¬
tions and deepening the furrows. In such situations,
where the Drain has been formed in this manner, the
water will flow into it through the porous surface-mate-
rials as well as if a number of small trenches were cut
from it to each side, as is the practice in Essex and some
other parts of the country ; but which is often an
unnecessary labour and expense. The Drain made in
the hollow may frequently serve as a division of the
field, in which case it may be open, but in other
w
26
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture, circumstances it may be more proper to have it
covered.
Number of When a field of this description has more than one
cuts. hollow in its surface, it will obviously be requisite to
have more than one main Drain ; but when it is nearly
level or only inclined slightly to one side, a trench or
Drain along the lowest part, and the ridges and furrows
formed accordingly, may be sufficient for effecting its
Drainage. There may, however, be cases, as where a
field is large and very flat, in which some side cuts in the
principal Drain may be necessary, which must be dug a
little into the clay, and as narrow as they can be wrought,
and then filled up with stones or other suitable materials.
What is called the Essex method of Draining in ploughed,
springy lands, where the surface soil is tenacious, is
described by Kent, and consists in substituting small
under Drains for open furrows ; or in some cases having
a small under Drain beneath every second or every third
furrow. These Drains lead to side or fence ditches
where they discharge themselves.
Draining a Where the clay constitutes the surface and the porous
underneath, the injurious stagnant water cannot
possibly get off without the assistance of Drains formed
for the purpose. Soils of this nature are Drained with
difficulty and require a much greater number of trenches
or cuts than those of any other kind, as they must be
marked out and disposed in such a way as to collect and
convey the water every where from the surface ; be¬
cause it can only force itself off into them from above,
being prevented from sinking in through the clay as in
soils of a contrary kind. Where there happen to be
hollows or irregularities in the surface of the land, water
may often be observed to continue standing in them at
a distance of but a few feet from the Drain. In Draining
such lands it will always be necessary in the first place
to make a large or conducting Drain at the lowest part,
or the end of the field, for the purpose of receiving and
conveying away the water collected by the smaller col¬
lateral cuts which it may be necessary to make on each
side of it. Where it suits for the purpose of dividing
the land, this principal Drain may be better open than
covered, as by that means the mouths or outlets of the
different small Drains that come into it may be conve¬
niently examined, and cleared out when necessary.
Coiistnic- The construction of the ridges in such soils so that
tion of they may accord with the declivity is a matter which
ndges. must be carefully kept in view. They should in all such
cases have a degree of elevation or roundness in the
middle, sufficient to afford the water a ready fall into the
furrows, which likewise should have such a depth and
fall, as may take it quickly into the Drains. The ridges,
being well laid up, should have small open Drains
formed in a slanting direction across them in such a
manner as to form communications with one another and
with the furrows ; by which means they are made to
perform the office of Drains ; the water coming upon the
ridges being thus readily conveyed into the furrows
along which it proceeds, till impeded in its course by the
ground or other cause ; it then passes through the open
cross Drains into others where the descent is greater,
and ultimately into the ditch or other passage at the
bottom of the enclosure. The elevation of the ridges
should probably, too, be made greater for the Winter
than the Summer crops, as there must be much more
injurious moisture at the former than the latter season.^
^ Loudon, p. 704. Marshal o?i Laiidtd Property, and Dr. An¬
derson's Treatise on Draininy.
This may be easily accomplished at the time of plough- Agriculture,
ing the land. '
Of the different kinds of Drains used by Agriculturists
we may mention those which are formed of stone, brick,
gravel, cinders, wood, spray, straw, turf, and tile. See
fig. 7 to 13.
The first of these, or the common rubble Drain, is nubble
Y"\rQÍn
formed of rough land-stones of any sort, broken so as
not to exceed two or three inches in diameter. No good
drainer uses stones six or eight inches in diameter in
any part of a rubble Drain, least of all at the bottom.
The point kept in view is to use such small stones at the
bottom as may allow the water a great many channels ;
so that if a few should become impermeable, there should
be many others remaining. The nearer the bottom of a
Drain of this kind approaches to the character of a natural
bed of gravel, the more certain will be the free passage of
the water. Gravel or ashes should be laid on the top of
the stones, on these a thin layer of straw or haulm of any
kind, and the remainder filled up with the surface soil.
The brick Drain is formed in a great variety of ways, Brick
either with common bricks and bats, in imitation of the Brain,
boxed and rubble, or rubble Draining, or of bricks made
on purpose, of which there is great variety.
The gravel or cinder Drain is seldom made deep. Gravel
though if the materials be large they may be made of any Brain,
size. In general they are used in grass-lands ; the sec¬
tion of the Drain being an acute-angled triangle, and
the materials being filled in, the smallest uppermost,
nearly to the surface of the ground.
The wood Drain is of various kinds. Avery sufficient Wood
and durable construction consists of poles or young fir- Brain,
trees stripped of their branches, and laid in the bottom
of the Drain lengthways. They are then covered with the
branches and spray. Another form is that of filling the
Drain with faggot-wood with some straw over. A variety
of this mode is formed by first setting in cross-stakes to
prevent the faggots from sinking ; but they are of no
great use, and often occasion such Drains to fail sooner
than common faggot Drains. In some varieties of this
Drain, brushwood is first laid down at its side, and
formed by willow or other ties into a continuous cable of
ten or twelve inches in diameter, and then rolled in ;
which is said to constitute an excellent Drain with the
least quantity of materials, and to last a longer time
than any of the modes above mentioned. Some cut the
brushwood into lengths of three or four feet, and place
them in a sloping direction, with the root end of the
branch in the bottom of the Drain. Others throw in the
branches at random with little preparation and cover
them with spray, straw, or rushes, and finally the sur¬
face soil.
The spray Drain is generally, like the gravel Drain, Spiay
of small size, and formed like it with an acute-angled Brain,
bottom. In general the spray is trodden firmly in ;
though in some cases it is previously formed into a cable,
as in the brush-wood Drain. Drains of this sort are
much in use in grass-lands, and when the spray of larch
wood, heath, or ling can be got, they are of great
durability.
The straw Drain, where reeds, rushes, and bean-straw Straw
are used, is sometimes made like the spray Drain, by Brain,
pressing the loose materials down or forming a cable ;
but in general the straw is twisted into ropes as big as a
man's leg, by the aid of a machine, and three or more of
these are laid in the bottom of a triangular Drain, with or
without the protection of three turfs ; where some sorts
AGRICULTURE. 27
Agíiculture. of moss» as sphaf^num or lycopodium, can be got^these
Drains are of very great durability.
Tni-f Drain The turf Drain may be made of any convenient
depth, but it musi be at least the breadth of a turf at
bottom. The Drain being dug out, as if it were to be
filled with stones or any ordinary material, the operator
next, with a spade three inches wide, digs a narrow
channel along its centre, clearing it out with the Draining
scoop ; and over this the turfs are laid without any other
preparation or any thing put over them, but the earth
that was excavated. This is found to be very cheap,
and, considering the materials, a surprisingly durable
method of Draining ; answering in pasture-fields espe¬
cially all the purposes that the farmer can expect to
derive from Drains constructed with more labour and at
a much greater expense. They are said frequently to
last twenty years and upwards ; but the period during
which they will continue to prove effectual, must de¬
pend on the nature of the soil and the current of water.
n Cheshire. A mode of turf Draining used in Cheshire is described
as follows : the surface of the ground, in which the Drain
is intended to be cut, is marked out in parallelograms
about the size of bricks on one side, while the opposite
side to the width of nine inches, or that of a common
sod, is left unbroken. These sods are taken out at a
spaders depth, and laid carefully by the side of the Drain
for covers. The other sods, resembling bricks in their
size and shape, are then dug, and laid carefully on the
same side as the sods intended for covers. The Drain is
then sunk to the proper depth, and the stuff taken out
is thrown to the other side. The bottom is levelled with
proper draught for the water, and set with the sods like
bricks, two in height on each side ; these are covered
with the larger sods set obliquely, the grassy sides being
turned downwards.
Wedge The wedge Drain is constructed as follows. When
Drain. the line of Drain is marked out, a sod is cut in the form
of a wedge, the grass side being the narrowest, and the
sods being from twelve to eighteen inches in length.
The Drain is then cut to the depth required, but is con¬
tracted to a very narrow bottom. The sods are then set
in with the grass sides downwards, and pressed as far as
they will go. As the figure of the Drain does not suffer
them to go to the bottom, a cavity is left, which serves
as a water-course ; and the space above is filled with
the earth thrown out. The work is performed by means
of three spades of different sizes. The first may be a com¬
mon spade of moderate breadth with which the surface
clay may be taken off to the depth of eight or ten inches,
or not quite so much if the clay be very strong. The
breadth of the Drain at top may be from a foot to
fifteen inches ; but it never should be less than a foot,
as it is an advantage that the sides should have a con¬
siderable slope ; and the two sides should slope as
equally as possible. Another workman follows the first
with a spade six inches broad at the top, and becoming
narrower towards the point, at which it should not exceed
four inches. The length of the plate of this second
spade should be fourteen inches, and with it a depth of
a foot or fourteen inches can easily be gained. A third
workman, and he should be the most expert, succeeds
the second, and his spade should be four inches broad
at top, only two inches broad at the point, and four¬
teen or fifteen inches in length. With this spade a
good workman can take out at least fifteen inches of
clay. A sort of hoe or scoop, made of a plate of iron,
formed nearly into the shape of a half cylinder of two
inches diameter, and a foot or fourteen inches long, Agriculture,
and fastened at an acute angle of perhaps 70^ to a long
wooden handle, is now employed to scrape out the
bottom of the Drain, and remove any small pieces of
clay that may have fallen into it. The grassy side of the
turfs being turned undermost, they are put down into
the Drain, the workman standing upon them after they
are put in, and pressing them down with his whole
weiiiht till they are firmly wedged between the sloping
sides of the Drain. The ends of the turfs being cut
somewhat obliquely, they overlap each other a little ; and
by this means, although there is a sufficient opening
for the surface-water to get down, nothing else can find
its way. The open space below the turfs ought to be
five or six inches in depth, three inches wide at top,
and an inch and a half or two inches at bottom.''^
The author of the above communication remarks,
that wherever sufficient attention has been paid to keep
the ditches at the ends of the field clear, so as not to
choke up the mouths of the Drains, (a point of great
consequence,) they appear to have succeeded very well,
and he feels confident that wherever the soil is filled for
the purpose, the work properly executed, the Drains of
a sufficient depth, and no improper treatment or neglect
on the part of the farmer, these Drains will answer the
most sanguine expectations. He thinks that they should
never be less than three feet deep, otherwise they are apt
to give way, either from moles getting down into them
in very dry weather, or from the feet of the horses em¬
ployed in ploughing, when the ground is wet, sinking
so far as to injure the turf.
The earth Drain, called also the clay-pipe Drain, is Earth
better calculated for the purpose of conveyed water al- Dram,
ready collected than for drying the soil. A Drain is dug
to the necessary depth, narrow at bottom, in which is laid
a smooth tree or a cylindrical piece of wood, ten or
twelve feet long, six inches in diameter at the one end
and five at the other, having a ring fastened in the
thickest end. After strewing a little sand upon the
upper side of the tree, the clay or toughest part of the
contents of the trench is first thrown in upon it, and
then the remainder, which is firmly trodden down. By
means of the ring and a rope through it, the tree is
drawn out to within a foot or two of the small or hinder
end, and the same operation repeated. A gentleman
who has tried this experiment says, that this clay-pipe
has conducted a small rill of water a considerable way
under ground, for more than twenty years, without any
sign of failing. Pipe Drains of turf are sometimes
formed where the surface soil is a strong clay, as it is
only turfs from such a surface that are sufficiently dura¬
ble. A semicylindrical spade is used to dig the turfs,
and hence the turfs themselves resemble a hollow cylinder
divided in two. The Drains being dug to the proper
depth, one turf is laid in the bottom of it, and another
being placed over, completes the pipe or conduit. The
same sort of pipe Drain has been formed out of solid
beds of clay, and has also served for a time to convey
water.
The tile Drain is used in flat, clayey soils where stones Tile Drain,
are scarce, and where the declivity is small. The tile
fabricated for this purpose is much more concave than
that used for roofing houses, resembling, indeed, the
form of a sugar-loaf or obtuse cone ; and the price,
, according to the size, varies from twenty-four shillings
* Transactions of Highland Society^ vol. vi. p. 568.
E 2
28
AGRICULTURE.
Tile Drain
iiig at Ne¬
ll lerby.
Agriculture, to £S the thousand. In laying out the line of Drains,
where it is intended to cut oif springs, the usual sys¬
tem is followed. Where the removal of surface-water
is the object in view, the natural inequalities, or in¬
dentations on the face of the field, are carefully ex¬
amined, so as to attain the end with as few Drains and
with as much effect as possible. Where very stiff clay
exists, a Drain even in every furrow, or division of ridges,
has been resorted to with much success, and the expense
is not so great as might appear at first sight. In other
cases, where the soil is of a damp, retentive nature,
where the surface is flat and incumbent on a stiff clay,
in which there are no springs, main Drains may be run
in the lowest parts of the land to be dried, and smaller
Drains connected with these, running parallel to each
other at stated distances. This mode, when properly
executed, answers the purpose in view remarkably well.
In the Transactions of the Highland Society there is
an account given of this mode of Draining as practised
on the estate of Netherby in Cumberland, The deepness
has always been suited to the object in view ; Drains
for springs in many cases have been very deep, so as
to cut through the substratum containing the water,
whether that has been gravel or sand ; surface Drainage
for two feet and a half to four feet and a half deep. In
all cases the Drains are cut as narrow as a man can
conveniently work in them, decreasing in width as they
approach the bottom. The tools used are the common
spade, shovel, and pick, or the round-mouthed spades
used in forming canals, which in Cumberland are known
by the name of navigation spades. The Drains being
cut to the required depth, with all the top-soil laid on one
side, and all the subsoil thrown out on the other, a
narrow-mouthed spade, technically called a spit, corre¬
sponding to the breadth of the tile to be used, is then in¬
troduced ; and with this instrument a bed for the course
of the tile is neatly and carefully excavated, the strictest
attention being paid to preserve a fair equality in the
bottom, and a regular descent for the water; while a
frequent use of the spirit-level is most commonly indis¬
pensable. But the mode, of procedure will be distinctly
comprehended by referring to fig. 14.
A, the Drain cut to any required depth. B, the
space for the Draining-tile. C, a bit of slate or broken
tile, on v/hich the tiles rest at their joinings ; a precau¬
tion which may be omitted where the bottom is a very
stiff clay. D, a clean-cut, green turf, the grass side
next the tile, and clapped carefully over it, to prevent the
tile from receiving any damage. E, E, the surface soil,
cut out of the top of the Drain, and put above the turf.
The remainder of the Drain is filled up, if wished, by
the subsoil excavated, or what is more general, this soil
is spread on the adjoining ridges, and the sides of the
Drain are then sloped in by the spade. Straw, furze,
or small brushwood, are sometimes placed next the tiles,
but a clean good turf is preferable. It has in some fev7
cases been the practice at Netherby, when the Drains
happened to be very near the river, and carriage of
course not expensive, immediately after the tiles were
placed, to fill up the Drain with the clean blue stones from
the bed of the Esk, which are here very small, to as great
a depth as was thought necessary, and then to finish off
the Drain in the usual way of closing stone Drains. This
probably makes the best of all Drains ; but with tiles
alone the result has been most i^ratifving on all tlie varie-
ties of soil mentioned, where the Drains are carefully
executed. It has been customary here to use the auger
where the tapping of springs v/as thought neces- Agriculture,
sary."^
Expense of Draining by three-inch tiles. Expense.
Per rood of 2LJteet.
Cutting the Drain, say on average 2 feet 9 inches
deep, laying the tiles on slate or refuse tile,
cutting and laying a turf over the tile, reversing
the surface-soil, and covering in 0«. 4d.
Tiles, 21 to the rood, say at the price paid at Nether))y
for three-inch tiles, 24s. per thousand 0 6^
Carriage of tiles, average distance three miles, three
loads a day, a cart carrying 250, and at 5s. per
day for horse and cart 0 1|
Refuse slate, broken tile, and carriage. 0 0^
Per rood 1 0^
Calculating in the same way, it is found that the ex¬
pense of Draining by four-inch tiles amounts to one
shilling and three-pence halfpenny the rood of twenty-one
feet ; and that a similar process with tiles six inches in
the span will cost one shilling and five pence farthing per
rood ; the cutting in these cases being from four feet and
a half to five feet in depth. But it is added that the
three-inch tiles are decidedly the most useful for ordi¬
nary purposes. The four-inch tiles are able to discharge
a very considerable quantity of water. The six-inch
tiles, unless the spring is very strong, or the Drains of
great length, are not so much used as the two last sorts ;
vwhile eight-inch tiles are seldom or never necessary,
unless in very particular situations.
This mode of Draining answers uncommonly well in Advan-
the clay lands of Essex, where the soil is firm and reten-
tive, and where the superfluous moisture does not issue
from below, as in more porous grounds. We ourselves
are acquainted with a district on the banks of a large
river, where the common method of Draining cannot be
rendered available owing to the low level of the fields,
which has been much improved in its productive quali¬
ties by the use of tile Draining. A small channel is con¬
structed in every furrow, supplied with this artificial
conduit, and covered to the depth of fifteen or eighteen
inches with earth, so as to protect it from the feet of the
horses when engaged in ploughing. If the tile be made
of proper clay and well burnt, it is found to last many
years ; and it is acknowledged by the farmers who have
had recourse to this expedient, that their crops are so
much benefited by it, that they could afford to repeat
the operation every three or four years.
There is a method of pipe Draining which takes its Pearson's
name from Mr. Pearson, and has been described in pipß Drain,
several publications, more especially in the XLVIIth
volume of the Transactions of the Society of Arts. The
ground is first opened by means of a plough, having
what is called a horn share. With four horses, a furrow
nine or ten inches deep by ten inches in width is raised
or taken out. The horns are then removed, the coul¬
ters added, and eight horses attached. This cuts the
soil to an additional depth of ten inches, and it is imme¬
diately removed with narrow spades, and larger or
smaller Draining scoops, as may be required. A second
pair of coulters cuts the soil to the intended depth, in
which case also the earth is taken out by the scoops.
The total depth is now about twenty-six inches, the
width at top ten inches, and at bottom about one inch.
A slide is then dropped to the bottom of the Drain, com¬
mencing at its lowest level so as to work up hill. A
windlass is next placed at the full length of the rope
* Highland Society Essays m Quarterly Journal of Aqriculiure.
No. 6.p. 395.
AGRICULTURE.
29
Its appli¬
cation.
Wheel
Drain.
Agriculture, which is attached to the slide. Clay is next rammed
firmly down on the slide with a heavy rammer,"to the
depth of three or four inches, and the slide is next
pulled forward, leaving a cylindrical Drain, three or four
inches in diameter, according to that of the slide.
This is, in effect, the same as that described above
under the denomination of the earth or clay pipe Drain ;
the mode of forming the excavation and the conduit being
alone different. It is obvious, at the same time, that
the efficacy of this, as well as of the former, depends
entirely on the nature of the soil, and the source of the
moisture which it is the object of either to remove.
Surface-moisture is ' excluded by the very structure of
the Drain ; for no sooner should it penetrate the clay
than the tube would collapse or crumble down. But
if the intention of the farmer extends no further than to
convey water already collected on some particular spot
to a rivulet or main Drain, the contrivance of Mr. Pear¬
son will be found to realize his views at less expense
than any other.
The wheel Drain is the last we shall mention, which,
though like some of the others limited in its application
to particular kinds of land, is yet too ingenious to be passed
over without notice. It is accomplished by means of a
Draining-wheel of cast iron, weighing about four hundred
weight. It is four feet in diameter ; the cutting-edge
or extremity of the circumference of the wheel is half an
inch thick, q,nd increases in thickness towards the centre.
At fifteen inches deep it will cut a Drain half an inch
wide at the bottom, and four inches wide at the top.
The wheel is so placed in a frame that it may be loaded
at pleasure, and made to operate to a greater or less
depth, according to the resistance made by the ground.
It is used in Winter when the soil is soft ; and the
wheel tracts are either immediately filled with straw
ropes, and lightly covered over with earth, or they are
left to crack wider and deeper till the ensuing Summer ;
after which the fissures are filled with ropes of straw or
of twisted twigs, and lightly covered with the most
porous earth that is at hand. In this way, upon grass
or ley lands, hollow Drains, which answer extremely
well, are formed at a trifling expense. It is said that
twelve acres may be fully gone over with this Draining-
wheel in one day, so as to make cuts at all necessary
distances.^
These resources of Art are found availing in a great
number of cases, and have contributed much to the
improvement of land which otherwise would have been
of very little value. Still, in many instances where the
surface is flat, and the soil of a stiff and retentive nature,
all attempts to free the ground from injurious moisture
by means of covered Drains have proved utterly ineffec¬
tual. In most of the central Counties of England, and
in the level plains of Flanders, the land is relieved from
surface-water by forming high and broad ridges of twenty,
thirty, and even forty feet wide, and having the centre
three or four feet more elevated than the furrows. The
beneficial effects of this method of Draining are fully
confirmed by the successful practice of the Flemings ;
for when furrows are kept free from water, the fields are
always dry, and the crops abundant and healthy. But
in some parts of England, from the improper direction
and flatness of the ridges, as well as the shallowness of
the furrows, these good effects have not been obtained ;
for the water, stagnated in all the hollow places, and
* Agriculiural Report of the County of Essex. Loudon, p. 710,
Ri<lges.
rendering them useless, has not only brought some Agriculture
degree of discredit on the method itself, but has also led
to the adoption of other less perfect methods of Draining.
The indiscriminate formation of high ridges has been
justly censured, for in a dry or loamy soil they are both
unnecessary and pernicious ; but when they are well
rounded, not too much raised, and the furrows kept
clear, they afford the most efficacious means of rendering
perfectly dry many fine breadths of land which could not
otherwise be kept under tillage.
A device for relieving a retentive soil from water by Draining in
means of surface-draining, as it is practised in the Carse the Carseof
of Gowrie in Perthshire, seems worthy of being recorded Gowrie.
in this place, more especially as it is the only method
employed in that rich and extensive district. Large
common Drains, traversing the farm in different direc¬
tions, and of sufficient capacity to receive the water con¬
ducted from the fields by the surrounding ditches,
discharge their contents into the river Tay. Every farm
is surrounded or traversed by ditches, so as to suit the
particular situation, all of which are so directed and
arranged as to form a communication with every field
belonging to it. The breadth of these ditches is from
two to four feet at top, and from a foot to a foot and a
half at bottom, and with such a stop as to prevent their
sides from falling in. If the fields be of a uniform level
surface, the common furrows between the ridges, pro¬
vided they have sufficient depth at their extremities,
serve to carry off the redundant water. But in a field
of unequal surface, the last operation, after the sowing
and harrowing are completed, is to draw a furrow with
the plough through all the hollows which lie in such a
direction that it can be guided through them, and thus
form a free communication with any of the furrows
between the ridges, which last act as conductors of the
water to the surrounding ditches. When this furrow is
formed by the plough, it is widened, cleared out, and
dressed with the spade, that the risk of filling up may
be avoided. The width is from six inches to a foot
according to the depth but the breadth of a spade at
bottom is generally found sufficient. It often happens
that hollows or inequalities do not extend across the
whole field, or pass through it in any direction to be
followed by a plough, but are limited to one or two
ridges ; in which case the cut must be performed with
the spade, and a communication effected with the nearest
furrow.
In the same part of the country, it is still the general Head-
practice to have head-ridges at two extremities of the ridges,
field, on which the horses turn in the process of plough¬
ing. These are raised considerably in the middle, and
slope down to a deep furrow on either side ; and hence
the inner furrow, communicating with those of all the
longitudinal ridges, receives their surface-water, and
discharges it by an open Drain, cut through the trans¬
verse or head-ridges just described, into the adjoining
ditches. But it being discovered that the water passes
off more freely when no transverse ridge is formed, a
practice has been adopted of laying the earth uniformly
to the ends of the longitudinal ridges, an operatioñ
which is accomplished by returning on one side with an
empty plough. In this way the depression between the
longitudinal and transverse ridges is avoided, the longi¬
tudinal furrow being carried completely through the
head ridge. Besides this advantage, it has been found,
after a long experience, and the trial of different other
methods, that, by careful ploughing, laying up the land
30
AGRICULTURE.
Tools.
Draining
scoop.
Shovel.
Sod knife.
Spades.
Straw-
twister
Agriculture, equally, and rounding the ridges so skilfully that they
shall be neither too high nor too low, all the surface-
water is easily removed ; and while the summits are not
unduly enriched nor the furrows impoverished, the
whole becomes equally dry and fertile.^
The tools peculiar to Draining are chiefly of the spade
kind. The Draining scoop, already mentioned, is a
crooked instrument made use in some cases for clearing
out the loose materials from the bottoms of Drains. It
is formed of different sizes and breadths, according to
the dimensions of the Drains ; and in working, it is drawn
or pushed along the bottom. See fig. 15.
Draining shovel is another kind of tool employed
for nearly the same purpose as the scoop now described.
It is made vdth a bent or crooked handle ; the edge of the
plate being turned up so as to prevent the fragments of
earth or clay from falling off when lifted from the bottom
of the Drain. See fig. 16.
The Draining sod knife is an implement employed with
great benefit in scoring or cutting out the sward, in the
initiatory process of forming a Drain. Its figure indicates
that it cuts like the coulter of a plough, placed horizon¬
tally, or after the fashion of a Turkish sabre. See fig. 17.
Draining spades are of different sizes in breadth as
well as in length, so as to follow each other, and cut
the Drains narrower and narrower as they approach the
bottom. An upper and a pointed Draining spade are
in general use ; the one for beginning, the other for com¬
pleting the work, while one constructed entirely of wood
is found to answer very well in peat soils. See fig. 18.
The Draining straw-twisting machine is of a very
simple construction, is easily removed, and is very useful
for forming straw into ropes for filling Drains. It con¬
sists of a small wheel, the prolonged axis or spindle of
which terminates in a hook on which the rope is com¬
menced. It is commonly fixed to a portable stand, but
is sometimes attached to a threshing machine. Besides
the use already stated in reference to Drains, it is found
extremely convenient for spinning ropes of straw, rushes,
or hay, to be employed in fastening the thatch or stacks,
or ricks in the barn-yard. See fig. 19.
Irrigation,
Necessity. The fertilizing effect of water is one of those natural
phenomena which force themselves on the observation
of mankind. It is seen, at the first glance, to be abso¬
lutely essential to vegetable life. In those climates
in which evaporation is the greatest. Nature has generally
provided the most plentiful supply of this fluid in rains
and dews. But the rains, in many cases, occurring
only at particular seasons of the year, are insufficient for
the nourishment of plants during the remainder ; and,
hence, the art of the Irrigator becomes necessary to
meet this want, and to secure the means of a more per¬
manent fertility. Without the systematic conveyance
and distribution of water, some of the richest Countries in
the World could not have supported their inhabitants,
and the earliest husbandmen, accordingly, must have
known and practised the cultivation of land by means
Antiquity, of Irrigation. The author of the Book of Ecclesiastes
informs us that he " made gardens and orchards, and
planted trees in them of all kind of fruits ; and that he
made pools of water to water therewith the wood that
♦ Elkington, Mode of Draining, ip. 172. Appendix on Hollow
Draining by Mr. Johnstone, the editor of his book.
bringeth forth the trees.'' In Egypt, where the regular Agriculture,
inundation of the Nile soon taught the natives the value
of this Art, we find it practised on a scale of great mag- Egyi>tian.
nitude ; and hence the canals and vast lakes excavated
by that celebrated people are more praiseworthy monu¬
ments of their genius than all the Temples and Pyramids
with which they have covered a large portion of their
(Country. From the valley of the Nile, it is believed,
the knowledge of Irrigation was extended to the nations
of Europe. The Greeks and Romans, it is manifest, Greek and
were well acquainted with it ; and the Agricultural Roman,
writings of the latter, accordingly, are found to contain
many allusions to the benefits arising from the watering
of land. Rice, which furnishes food to a great part of
the human race, could not, as is well known, be culti¬
vated without a constant supply of water collected by
Art ; and therefore over the vast regions of Central and
Southern Asia, the Irrigation óf the soil from rivers, Asiatic,
brooks, tanks, and wells, is a labour quite indispensable
to the maintenance of a crowded population. Even in
the more Southern Countries of Europe this Art is more European,
or less practised ; water being conveyed in little chan¬
nels to the corn-fields, vineyards, and olive plantations.
The mode of conducting it from the rivers and canals,
and the measuring it out in determinate quantities, ac¬
cording to the wants of the soil, and the nature of the
crop, forms in several districts of Italy a nice part of the
Science of engineering. In Piedmont and the whole
valley of the Po, the water is frequently paid for by the
hour, and the utmost care is shown in economizing so
precious a commodity.
The main object of Irrigation, however, in all the Objects,
intertropical climates, and even in the warmer parts of the
temperate zones, seems to be merely to convey to the
earth that quantity of water which is necessary for the
growth and nourishment of the particular plants which it
is the object of the husbandman to raise. Sometimes,
as in the case of rice, the land must be saturated for
successive months, and, in other circumstances it is
enough if it be merely watered at intervals, during the
periods of greatest evaporation. In all these cases,
indeed, the main purpose is the same, namely, to supply
the deficiency of water in the soil ; and this creates a
remarkable distinction between the Irrigation of the
tropics, and that to which we apply the term in Eng- in England,
land, with relation either to our watered meadows, or
the process which in some districts of the Kingdom is
technically called warping. As to the former of these
it is perfectly certain that the object is not to provide
against a want of moisture in the soil, for the water is
conveyed over the surface at that period of the year, the
months of Winter, when there is an excess rather than a
deficiency of the aqueous fluid in the earth. Nay, it is
held necessary in every well-formed meadow, to drain
the ground very thoroughly of all subterraneous water.
Nor is this the only distinction between the two kinds
of Irrigation. In the one, the water is generally allowed
to stagnate until it shall have saturated the soil ; in the
other, it is never allowed to stagnate, but is maintained
in a constant flow over the surface.
The theory of this curious process has not yet been Uncertainty
satisfactorily explained. That the effect is not pro-
duced by the mere supply of deficient water appears,
as we have just remarked, not only from the period at
which the water is admitted, when in our climate the
ground is saturated with moisture, but also from the
fact that the effect is produced by the current being
AGRICULTURE
31
Agriculture, kept constantly running over the meadow, and not
by being allowed to stagnate and sink down into the
soil. When the water is sufTered to stagnate, there are
produced carices, junci, and other plants of an aquatic
nature ; but when it is kept in motion and drained off
at intervals, there shoot forth the finest grasses peculiar
to the soil and climate. Neither does the fact of the
deposition of mud explain the phenomenon in question,
for, however much such depositions may increase the
effect, it is found that water likewise, without the least
perceptible sediment, may be employed with great
benefit. It has been supposed that the water acts
favourably by maintaining the soil at a higher tempera¬
ture than it would retain if exposed to the direct action
of the atmosphere. Much, however, cannot be ascribed
to this cause in a current so shallow and constant as
that which passes over the watered meadow. It has,
therefore, been suggested that the main effect is pro¬
duced by some Mechanical or Chemical agency, in a
manner still unknown to us, on the plants or the soil.
In these circumstances of doubt and ignorance all that
the irrigator is called to do, is to mark carefully the
effects which are produced, according to the variations
of his practice, to admit the water at the time and for
the periods which experience points out as the best, to
maintain it in a current, and^pt in a stagnant state ;
and above all, to attend to tne rules and precautions
which the most enlightened usage has recommended.
Necessity of We may, therefore, rest satisfied with this practical
experience, conclusion, that as land may be injured by an excess of
moisture, so may it, in certain circumstances, as ex¬
perience has proved, be found deficient in its productive
qualities from the absence of a due proportion of it. In
all Countries Southward of the forty-fifth degree of
latitude, the study of the landholder, as has been already
remarked, is more frequently directed to the means of
procuring aqueous nourishment to his plants than in
conveying away, by drains, the superabundant supply
by which the British Agriculturist is almost constantly
annoyed. The success of the former during the hot
season of the year, depends in no small degree on the
command which he possesses of lakes or rivulets by
means of which he may Irrigate his parched fields, and
restore life to his decaying crops. In this Country the
various processes of Irrigation are applied chiefly to the
improvement of pasture lands, but there are situations
also where a deposition of earthy matter from the water
of a river is esteemed useful for fertilizing a sandy soil ;
on which account we shall treat the subject generally as
applicable to both these departments of Agricultural
economy, tillage and the feeding of cattle in the field or
in the stall.
Quality of quality of the water fittest for this purpose must
the water, be tried by experiment for it is obvious that the benefit is
not derived simply from an increase of moisture, but
more especially, as has been suggested, from the Chemical
properties of the fluid as cooperating with those of the
soil on which it is spread. Let a small portion of land
be floated for a month about the latter end of harvest,
and afterwards for a week or two about the beginning of
Spring. The effects of this easy experiment will appear
on the crop, both in respect of quality and quantity,
while the temperature of the water may be determined
by its power of resisting early frosts, a consideration of
no small consequence in this mode of improving land.
The appearance of the water is not of itself sufficient to
afford a criterion of its properties. Thick muddy rivers,
enriched in their passage through large towns, will be Agriculture,
found to reward the lalf tur of the husbandman ; while
clear Alpine streams, on i le other hand, will chill instead
of fertilizing the soil on which they are detained. With
regard to those waters, again, which are known to flow
through beds of marl, there is reason to believe that
much advantage may be gained from the use of them,
in producing a sweet and rich verdure the most valuable
for pasturage. Warm rivulets, containing a great quan-^
tity of spring water, and resisting early frosts, may be
expected to have the same beneficial tendency. But
mossy waters, darkened by the tincture of peat bogs, are
very unpromising for the purposes of Irrigation ; though
it may be right in some cases to give them a trial, for if
impregnated with marl, or spread upon grounds abound¬
ing with calcareous ingredients, they will be productive
of certain benefit.^
It is observed by Sir H. Davy, that common river sir H.
water generally contains a certain portion of organizable Davy's ro
matter, which is much greater after rains than at other
times ; and which exists in the largest quantity when
the stream arises in a cultivated country. But even in
cases in which the water used for flooding pasture lands
is pure, and free from animal or vegetable substances, it
acts by causing the more equal diffusion of nutritive
matter existing in the land ; and in very cold seasons
it preserves the tender roots and leaves of the grass from
being affected by the frost. Water is of a greater spe¬
cific gravity at 42° of Fahrenheit's scale than at 32°, the
freezing point ; and hence, in a meadow Irrigated dur¬
ing Winter, the water immediately in contact with the
grass is rarely below 40°, a degree of temperature not
at all prejudicial to the living organs of plants. " In
1804,'^ says he, in the month of March, I examined the
temperature in a water-meadow, near Hungerford, in
Berkshire, by a very delicate thermometer. The tem¬
perature of the air at seven in the morning was 29°.
The water was frozen above the grass. The tempera¬
ture of the soil below the water in which the roots of the
grass were fixed was 43°." In general, it is added,
those waters which breed the best fish are the best fitted
for Irrigation. It is, however, a general principle, that
waters containing ferruginous impregnations, though
possessed of fertilizing effects when applied to a calca¬
reous soil, are injurious on such as do not effervesce
with acids ; and that calcareous water, which is known
by the earthy deposits it affords when boiled, is of much
use on silicious lands, or other soils not containing any
remarkable quantity of carbonate of lime.t
To pursue the subject a little more systematically,
we shall consider the effects of Irrigation, as it ap¬
plies to corn lands, and secondly, as it respects those
which are used for pasture, as well as for raising crops
of hay.
1. The process, as applicable to the former, is com- Irrigation
monly called warping, a provincial term, the meaning on corn
of which will be best explained by the description which
follows. In some districts it is justly considered as one ^ D
of the principal means of improvement, adding to the
value and thickness of the soil every time it is repeated.
In fact, a new soil is artificially created by the operation
in question, and generally one much superior in quality
to the surface which it is brought to cover. It is not
indeed in every situation that warping can be used, but
* Brown on Rural Affairs, vol. ii. p. 265.
f Agricultural Chemistry, p. 318.
32
AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture.
Originated
in York¬
shire.
Best
adapted to
low lands.
Fittest sea¬
sons.
Strict defi¬
nition.
Mode of
cperation.
wherever it is practicable it ought to be employed, if the
laud be not already saturated with the elements of ferti¬
lity. The expense, it must be obvious, will vary accord¬
ing to circumstances, but even when at the greatest, it
is not to be compared to the immense benefit which is
thereby conferred upon thin and hungry soils.
It was in Yorkshire that warping originated, and
there it is still carried on to a great extent, especially on
the banks of the Ouse and of the Humber. The former
of these rivers, from the circumstance of receiving into
its bed most of the streams which intersect the Southern
parts of that County, is constantly stored with all sorts
of alluvial matter ; and being kept in motion by the
tide which flows several miles above York, the floating
earths are not allowed to deposit themselves, but are
conveyed by the process of warping over the adjoining
grounds, which for the most part are flat and easily
flooded. Of all others, low land is the most capable of
being improved in this manner ; and while it is enriched
by so simple an expedient, no injury is inflicted upon
such farms as are placed beyond the reach of the benefit.
June, July, and August are considered to be the
best months for warping, on account of their being ge¬
nerally the driest months in the year ; though land may
be warped at any season, provided the weather be not
wet, nor the fresh water in the river very low. When
the season is wet, and the rivers full, the operation of
warping cannot be conveniently executed, as the fresh
water, mixing with the tide, dilutes the current to a
great degree, and consequently renders it incapable of
depositing the same quantity of sediment upon the land
as takes place when the process is performed in fine
weather ; neither is the water got so readily off the irri¬
gated grounds. There is no advantage in warping land
in the Spring, in preference to the Summer, as no crop
can be obtained the year this expedient is adopted ;
for the sediment must have time to consolidate and
dry before the ground can be cultivated with any pros¬
pect of doing good. Warped land is supposed to be
well calculated for producing potatoes, immense crops of
that valuable root being raised on soils so managed,
though naturally of a very inferior order.
From what has been stated, it will be understood that
warp consists of the mud and salts left by the water on
the surface of the fields which have been flooded ; and
that the technical expression warping comprehends all
the processes necessary to aomit the tide water, and to
secure the deposit of its sediment upon the land meant
to be improved. The letting in of fresh water would
not be called warping, but simply flooding. Fresh
water, though useful at proper seasons, would by no
means answer the same purpose as river water stirred
up by the tide ; because it never could furnish a suffi¬
cient sediment for thickening the soil ; neither would
the sediment be of so rich a nature as what is furnished
by tide water.
A complete detail of the different operations in the
process of warping is given in the Agricultural Survey
of the West Riding of Yorkshire: From that Work it
appears that the land to be warped must be banked
against the river whence the supply of water is derived.
The banks are commonly made of earth taken on the
spot, are constructed in a sloping form, and are raised
to such a height as to regulate the admission of water
at the spring-tides. The openings are more or less
numerous, according to the extent of the land to be
warped ; but in general there are only two sluices, the
one called the flood-gate, the other the dough ; the ob- Agriculture,
ject of the first being to admit, while that of the last is v.—
to let off the water gently, during the rise and fall of the
tide in the river. When the spring-tide begins to ebb,
the flood-gate is opened to admit the current, the dough
having been previously shut by the weight of water
brought up the river by the flow. As the tide ebbs
down the river, the weight or pressure of water being
taken from the outside of the dough next the bank, the
tide-water which has been previously admitted by the
flood-gate, opens the dough again, and discharges itselt
slowly but completely through it. The doughs are so
constructed as to let the water run off, between the ebb
of the tide that was admitted and the flow of the next ;
a point to which particular attention is paid, and the
flood-gates are placed so high as to be above the level
of the common tides, and so as to receive the water only
at the springs.
It is not unusual to plant willows on the sloping sides Willow
of the banks, with the view at once of breaking the planting,
force of the stream, and by producing an accumulation
of mud of defending them from the action of the water.
But the experienced husbandman avoids all such plan¬
tations on the top of his banks, knowing that he would
thereby give to the winds a great additional power, and
expose his works to m^h serious damage.
We need not remarlRhat the deposit is made by the Deposit,
ebbing tide, as the rush from the ocean rather checks
the current which comes down loaded with the spoils of
the land from the higher parts of the country. Near
Howden, it is said, one tide will deposit warp to the
depth of an inch ; an effect which is increased or dimi¬
nished according to the distance from the mouth of the
Humber. Cherry Cob Sands were originally gained
from this river by warping, and are supposed to possess
a deposit of alluvial sediment not less than twelve feet
deep. They were ploughed fourteen or sixteen years Subseqiient
before they became fitted for grass seeds ; but now the culture,
greater part of the tract is used for pasture, and yields a
most nutritive herbage. Grass-land, we are assured, is
not warped a second time, until the plants are found
beginning to wear out ; upon which the process is com¬
monly renewed, the water is again admitted, the plough
once more stirs its surface, and a succession of corn crops
are drawn from the renovated soil, before it reverts, as
in the first instance, to the uses of pasture. It is true
that the best mode of cultivating warped lands must
depend principally on the nature of the matter deposited
as well as of the subsoil. In the Code of Agriculture, it
is recommended to sow such grounds with clover, and
to let it lie under that crop for two years, in order that
it may be brought into a fit state for corn. Even though
fallowed, it does not answer to sow land with wheat
immediately after it has been warped ; but after white
or red clover for two years, a good crop of wheat may
generally be relied on. Nor is it proper, says the same
authority, when land is warped, to plant it with pota¬
toes, or to sow it with flax ; being at first of too cold a
nature ; though if the land be not too strong for potatoes,
these crops may answer, after it has been two or three
years under cultivation. In the quality of warped land, we Quality of
need not add, there are most essential differences ; some
is found very strong and some very friable even in the
same field. The portion nearest the sluices and the
general run of the water, is commonly the lightest, owing
to the quantity of sand that is deposited as soon as the
current enters the enclosure ; while that furthest frorn
AGRICULTURE.
33
Agriculture, the river bank is usually the best, as the deposit takes
place lUGre undisturbed, and in much greater abundance.
South of The Irrigation of arable land, as we have repeatedly
France and observed, is universal in warm Countries, and even in
the South of France and Italy. It is laid out in narrow
beds, between which the water is introduced in furrows
during the growth of the crop and absorbed by the soil.
The principal expense of the operation is that of pre¬
paring the ground by throwing the surface into a proper
level. The main run, or carrier, as it is called, is con¬
ducted to the highest part of the field, and all the rest is
easy. In the General Report of the Agriculture of
Scotland^ it is stated, that a field of waste land, which
had been flooded during Winter with stagnant water,
was thereby rendered capable of bearing a plentiful crop
of oats, without the use of any species of manure. But
this process, it has been justly observed, partakes more
of the nature of warping than of simple Irrigation, par¬
ticularly as the latter is practised in India, and in the
Southern parts of Europe, during the course of vegetation.
Subterra- There is a species of Irrigation which is denominated
neous Irri- subterraneous, to distinguish it from that which has just
gation. described. It appears to have been first practised
in Lombardy, and is mentioned by Professor Thouin, in
the Annates du Musée, As its name imports, it consists
in saturating the soil with water from below, and is
effected by surrounding a piece of ground* with an open
drain, and intersecting it by covered channels of smaller
dimensions. If the field is one level, as happens in
most cases where this system is adopted in Italy, nothing
more is necessary than to fill the drain, and to keep it
full till the land has been sufficiently soaked. But if it
lies on a slope, then the lower ends of the smaller drains
must be closely stopped, and^ the water admitted only
into the main one on the upper side ; this last must be
kept full till the land be saturated, when the mouths of
the lower drains may be opened to carry off the super¬
fluous water. The practice is applicable either to pasture
or to arable lands, under a climate more distinguished
for heat than moisture.
In Britain. In our own Country subterraneous Irrigation has been
applied, in a very simple manner, to drained bogs, mo¬
rasses, and fen lands. All that is necessary is to build
a sluice in the lower part of the main drain, where it
leaves the fields to which attention is directed, and in
dry weather to shut this sluice, so as to dam up the
water and throw it back into all the subsidiary drains,
whether covered or uncovered. This method has been
introduced with great advantage in various parts of Scot¬
land, and also in Lincolnshire, where extensive drain¬
ages have lately been accomplished.
Irrigation 2. But in these Northern latitudes, Irrigation is much
of grazing more frequently applied to grazing-grounds than to such
^ as are meant for tillage. For the former, the original
quality of the soil is of little importance ; wherever the
water deposits a good deal of sediment, the natural po¬
verty of the surface being soon fertilized by the enriching
Ingredients with which it is imbedded. This observa¬
tion, it is true, respects the meadows of England more
directly than the artificial pastures of Scotland ; for,
in the latter Country, the streams for the most part de¬
scend from barren hills, and, accordingly, convey hardly
any other deposit than silicious sand and coarse gravel.
The author of the Work entitled Rural Affairs, who
has evidently bestowed much attention on the Irrigation
of various soils, recommends to his readers the follov/-
ing results as the fruit of experience. He has found
VOL. VI.
that perennial red clover prospers in watered meadows, Agriculture,
having a due proportion of marl or lime in the land
itself, or in the water with which it is moistened, while Various
the common broad red clover speedily dies out; lhat
the plants of Holcus lanatus, the soft, vernal, woolly,
meadow grass, prosper in any soft soil, especially if it
be also watered ; that Poa trivialis, the rough-stalked
meadow grass, delights in the soils last mentioned, if
they are possessed of a degree of moisture between loam
and bog; that Cynosurus cristatus, the crested dog-tail
grass, thrives extremely well in watered loams, al¬
though Botanists seem not aware of this fact; that
Anthoxanthum odoratum^ scented vernal grass, will
hardly fail in any watered meadow where it has been
once established, however coarse may be the soil, adding
not only to the bulk and weight of hay, but communi¬
cating the sweetest odour to the whole crop, if made in
dry weather ; that the genus of grasses, called Agrostis,
or bent, furnishes two species which are very good plants
in watered meadows, the Agrostis alba, and the Agrostis
stolonifera- ; that in loams completely broken with the
spade, and then watered, Triticum repens, couch or
quick grass, forms a valuable plant for hay; and that
for soil peat bogs, no plant yields more hay than the
common spratt, the Juncus articulatiis, which in richly
watered meadows comes forward very early, and would
scarcely be known, if mown before feeding, by those
who never saw it cut in proper time.
" All these plants,'' says Mr, Brown, ** are adapted to
furnish a crop of hay, and also to yield a very abundant
pasturage ; but at present they can hardly be obtained
in the seed-shops, excepting perennial red clover, which
is sold under the name of marl grass. A farmer must
have a portion of good grass, or purchase it from others ;
leaving it to stand till the seeds are mostly ripe, and then
taking care to preserve these for sowing in his new
meadow grounds. I have not often met with perennial
rye grass in watered meadows, and am inclined to think
that it does not prosper there ; but as I know that il
will stand for a season or more, it may be soon inter¬
mixed, and will thicken the grass in the mean time."^'
The water should be let on early in the month of Season.
October. The eifects of this watering are very import¬
ant in strengthening the roots and stalks of plants, and
preparing them for vigorous shoots in the Spring ; and
the blades that now rise form a rough coat against
Winter, protecting the more delicate organs of the vege¬
table frame from the severity of that season. It some¬
times happens, also, that by delaying the process too
long early frosts supervene, and very much impede, or
even entirely defeat, the main object of the operation.
If the land be rich, it will generally be found that three
weeks are sufficient for the first turn ; but if it be sour
and coarse, four weeks may be necessary. The verdure
will then be fine, and the soil rich and yielding.
To apply Irrigation judiciously to meadow land, a Method ot
stream of water must be conducted to the surface and conducting
• Will F If
made to flow over it in a constant manner ; it being un¬
derstood that the grounds to be so treated lie upon the
banks of the river from which the supply is to be con¬
veyed, and forming a flat surface, or rather a gently
inclined plane. To the highest part of this inclined
surface, the water is led in what is termed the main con¬
ductor, either by building a wear or dam across the
river where the water is to be taken off, or by bringing
* Brown, On Rural Affairs, vol. ii. p. 263, &c.
34
AGRICULTURE.
Aí^nculture. it by means of a cut from a higher source. In fig. 20,
A represents the main conductor, and B the wear or
dam.
From the main conductor, and as nearly as possible
at right angles to it, are taken off the various feeders,
C, C, C, &c. These consist of small trenches a few inches
in depth, made widest when they issue from the main
conductor, and gradually lessening as they recede from
it. They may be formed at the distance from each other
of forty feet or less, being closer where the soil is stiff
and retentive, and further distant where it is loose and
porous. By this means the water is conveyed to the sur¬
face of the meadow. But as it is necessary that it should
maintain an equal flow over the ground, and so be carried
off as quickly as it is admitted, the main drain D, D is
formed at the lower part of the meadow, and the smaller
drains E, E, E pass in the intervals between the teeders, in
the manner exhibited in the diagram already referred to.
These small drains are of the same dimensions as the
feeders, but are larger where they enter the main drain,
and become gradually smaller as they recede from it.
The main drain conveys the water back to the river
from which it was taken; but in many instances, this
drain becomes, in its turn, the main conductor to another
meadow on a lower level. The water which had floated
the upper meadow being collected in this drain, is carried
off from it by means of feeders in the manner described,
and again collected in a drain below ; and, in this man¬
ner, various meadows are successively irrigated by the
application of the same water. Even where the lower
meadows are nearly on the same level as the higher, it
is still expedient to resort to this repeated collection of
the water in drains ; for, in practice, it is found difficult
to preserve the equal flow of the moisture over a large
breadth of ground.
In order to keep the water as it descends through the
feeders at the necessary level, and to cause it to overflow
the surface, it is interrupted in its progress by what are
termed stops, placed in the feeders. These sometimes
consist of small pieces of plank, each resting on two
little stakes. But offener they are merely sods thrust
into the feeders and occasionally fastened with wooden
pins. It is the province of the person who superintends
the meadows, when floated, to adjust these stops in such
a way as to maintain an equal current over the whole
surface. Further, in order to convey the water quickly
from the feeders to the drains, the face of the meadow is
generally moulded into low ridges, the feeders being on
the top of the ridge and the drain in the hollow, so that
a transverse section would appear, as in fig. 21 ; a
representing the feeder, and b b the drains. In the lan¬
guage of the scientific Irrigator, the interval from 6 to a
is termed Q.pane; and in fig. 20, the space i U which is
left for a carriage way above the main conductor, is
denominated the main pane, and is watered from that
conductor.^
Such is the most perfect form of the watered meadow.
But when the inclination of the plane of the surface is
considerable, a different principle must be adopted as
regards the conveyance and distribution of the water.
In this case the feeders are not carried longitudinally
through the meadow, but across the line of the descent,
in the manner represented in fig. 22. Here the several
feeders are filled as before from the main conductor, but
On grounds
much in¬
clined.
* Stephens, Practical Irrigator. Quarterly Journal of Agricul¬
ture^ No. VI. p. 781.
when they overflow tlieir banks instead of discharging Agricultuia
their water into the smaller drains, they throw it into the
next feeder lower down ; and thus the fluid is conveyed
from feeder to feeder over the entire space of the meadow.
This species of Irrigation is termed catch work ; and, as
it can be applied where the surface is too much inclined
to admit of the flat meadow, it is frequently practicable
where the other is not, and is often combined with it on
the same ground, where thère are swells or considerable
inequalities.
We have remarked above that the process of floating Periods,
generally commences in the month of October, being as
soon as possible after the later grass is consumed, or the
second crop of hay removed. The water is kept in the
ground from fifteen to twenty days at a time. It is then
let off, and the meadow laid pertectly dry during five or
six days, and this process of alternate flooding and
drying is continued generally in the months ofNovember,
December, and January; care being taken to remove
the water whenever it begins to freeze. As the Spring
advances and the grasses shoot forth, the periods of
watering are shortened so that the flooding shall not last
above five or six davs at a time. In the Southern
Counties of England, the meadows are ready for the
reception of stock of all kinds in the middle of March ;
but further to the North, where the grasses do not make
such early progress, Irrigation is usually continued
during the whole month of May. After this it is dis¬
continued for the season, and a crop of hay, sometimes
two, are produced to reward the farmer for his pains.
Flooding is rarely practised during the Summer months,
though the admission of water at that season occasions a
rapid and profuse vegetation. It is suspected that it is
by Summer flooding the fatal disease of rot is intro¬
duced ; and accordingly the experienced Agriculturist
does not permit his sheep to graze on the meadows
which have been covered with water any time between
May and September.
England, it has been remarked, is the natural Country Roman
of the watered meadow ; being perhaps the only onè knowledge
where the practice of the Art is understood and carried I^^i^a-
on as a regular branch of rural labour. There is no
CT'
room to doubt that this branch of knowledge, like many
others, was derived from the Romans. For though in
modern Italy the Irrigation practised seems merely de¬
signed to convey w'ater to the soil, yet from various re¬
marks in the writings of the ancient authors, it would
appear that those illustrious husbandmen were acquainted
with the principles of that more artificial process of
which we now speak. It is well known that a great
preference was given by many of the Romans to the
meadow as compared with corn land, as being more
profitable to the occupier. The maxims of the elder
Cato on this subject, have been handed down to us, and
are often quoted. He speaks frequently of the watered
meadows : Praia irrigua, si aquam habebis, potissi-
mum facifo ; si aquam non habebis, sicca quam plurima
facito. If you have water irrigate as many meadows
as possible ; if you have not water, make as many dry
meadows as you can." Pliny, Columella, and Palla-
dius express themselves to the same effect. But to
whatever skill the citizens of Rome may have attained,
prior to their conquest of Britain, there are circumstances
peculiar to England which have conduced more to its
perfection here than even in Italy, where, in our days at
least, natural meadows are more rare, and where all that
is required to fulfil the highest purposes of the husband
AGRICULTURE.
35
Irrigation
not much
Agriculture, man is to convey a little water, no matter how, to the
parched surface of his fruitful soil. This Country is, in
particular, admirably suited to the production of the
common grasses. These appear in a variety of species
unknown in more Southerly climates, and grow with a
closeness and vigour unparalleled in higher latitudes.
The rivers, too, especially in those Counties most cele¬
brated for this branch of husbandry, are generally turbid,
and, flowing through fertile ^and cultivated districts, are
enriched with the animal and vegetable matters which
they receive in their progress, and thus not only irrigate,
but positively manure the lands to which they are con¬
veyed. Gloucestershire and Wilts have long been cele¬
brated for their superior Irrigation ; and there are now
other divisions of the Kingdom not inferior to them in
the extent and perfection to which the practice has been
carried.
In the Northern Counties of England, as well as in
. those beyond the Tweed, this mode of improving land
North has not hitherto been very generally adopted. Perhaps
Britain. the diminished temperature is unfavourable to Irrigation ;
while the rivers, rushing over a rocky bed and between
precipitous banks, do not afford the same facility for in¬
undating, in a regular, periodical manner, the adjoining
fields or meadows. An attempt was made in Dum-
frieshire some years ago; but the result, owing to igno¬
rance and prejudice atnong the tenantry, or perhaps to
local peculiarities which could not be controuled, was
Edinburgh, very little encouraging. The vicinity of Edinburgh, we
are informed by Mr. Stephens, presents almost the only
exception in Scotland to the remark just made in reference
to want of success in the processes of Irrigation. About
two hundred acres moistened by the common sewers of
the city, " produce crops not to be equalled, being cut
from four to six times in the year, and the grass given
to milch cows.*' The annual rent of those meadows
ranges from ¿^20 to ¿^40 per acre, according to the con¬
venience of the situation, and the care bestowed on the
land ; nay, he mentioned aU instance in which the price
rose so high as <£57 the acre, for a single Summer.^
Manures,
Division. No sooner is land relieved from the deteriorating
effects of superfluous moisture, than it is fitted for the
application of those animal or vegetable substances
which, when reduced to a putrescent state, are known
under the general name of Manures. Our limits will
not permit us to enter into the minute details which
might be desired by the practical Agriculturist ; but
whatever deficiency may appear to arise from the
abridged nature of our plan will, we hope, be amply
compensated by copious references to the best authors
who have treated this important subject. To assist the
comprehension of the reader we shall arrange our obser¬
vations under the five following heads: Calcareous,
Earthy, Vegetable, Animal, and Miscellaneous.
Calcareous Xhe most common form in which calcareous matter
Manures, appears is that of lime, a substance than which there is
Lime. none more familiar, whether as an article employed in
the Arts, or as used for the purpose of improving land.
As it exists in Nature, it is always in a state of combi¬
nation with an Acid, the carbonic or sulphuric, añd not
unfrequently with clay and silicious earth. When lime¬
stone is subjected to a strong heat, the gaseous matter
* Practical Irrigator,
with which it is combined is expelled, and it is found to Agriculture,
have lost a portion of its weight equal to that of the
elastic fluid which has escaped. When the burned mass
is exposed to a moist atmosphere, it absorbs wafer,
swells, and falls down into a powder, denominated
quick-lime, and which is more or less pure according to
the nature of the stone. It has, moreover, acquired new
properties. Limestone, although pounded down to a
fine sand, has no perceptible effect on animal or vege¬
table matters ; but burned or calcined lime is extremely
acrid and corrosive ; and hence the distinctive characters
of this mineral in its two states as mild and caustic.
As limestones have very different degrees of purity, it Estimate of
is obviously of the highest importance to ascertain the purity,
quantity of calcareous matter which enters into their
composition. In general, then, it may be observed, that
the greater the loss of weight which they sustain in burn¬
ing the larger is the proportion of pure lime. A pretty
accurate estimate may be made of the quantity of cal¬
careous matter in any limestone, by observing first, how
much diluted nitric or muriatic Acid is required for the
complete saturation of a determinate portion of the
purest limestone; and secondly, by ascertaining how
much of the limestone to be examined will saturate an
equal amount of the same Acid. If in the latter case a
double quantity is found necessary, then the stone con¬
tains only half the quantity of the calcareous earth which
is in combination with the purer specimen. But prac¬
tical Agriculturists usually have recourse to a simpler
and more obvious test ; which consists in the measure¬
ment of the burnt lime in the unslaked state, as com¬
pared with its bulk in the state of powder after it is
slaked ; the latter being three times the volume of the
former when the limestone is of a good quality.
The soils which are most improved by the use of lime Soils,
are those usually denominated cold and stiff*, such as
strong clays and deep loams, or such as are combined
with a large proportion of vegetable matter, but contain
no calcareous earth in their composition. It may, in¬
deed be regarded as advantageous to all lands except
such as display sandy or calcareous ingredients. Con¬
siderable diversity of opinion prevails indeed as to the
time and circumstances in which lime ought to be
applied. But, in whatever way it operates, whether by
its mechanical effects on the soil, altering its consistence
and texture, or by certain Chemical changes on the or¬
ganized matter contained in the Globe, there can be no
doubt that, in order to produce the desired result, it
must be equally and uniformly distributed over the sur¬
face of the field. To ensure this object, the lime must
be in the form of powder, and in as dry a state as pos¬
sible. For this purpose the calcined stones should be
laid together in considerable heaps ; and as they absorb
moisture from the earth or atmosphere, they gradually
swell and fall to pieces. Might it not be suggested as
a useful and convenient method for the equal appli¬
cation of lime to mix it carefully with a quantity of dry
earth ? and if mould of a different nature from the soil
to be improved could be easily obtained, the increased
value of the compost as a means of fertilizing the land,
would doubtless be an ample compensation for the addi¬
tional labour and expense.
As lime cannot produce its effects without being inti- Mode of ap-
mately mixed with the soil, it follows that it should not plication,
be applied except when the latter is dry, and in as com¬
plete a state of pulverization as can be accomplished by
the operations of tillage. Another general rule to be
F 2
36
AGRICULTURE.
Season for
top-dress-
ing.
Kenewals,
Agriculture, observed in the use of this Manure, is that it should be
mixed with the soil near the surface. The most proper
time for its application, therefore, seems to be when the
operations of fallowing are concluded, when it may
be either harrowed in, or covered with a very light
ploughing. On the same principle lime is best applied
to lands destined for turnips, wheat, and similar crops,
immediately before the deposition of the seed, so that a
moderate harrowing is the only operation which remains
to be performed. Repeated ploughings are recom¬
mended by some authors for the purpose of mixing cal¬
careous Manure thoroughly with the soil ; but there is
no small risk that a part of it shall be thereby carried
dov/n beyond the reach of vegetation, an effect very
frequently produced when grass lands are limed and
then subjected to a deep furrow.
When lime is to be used as a top-dressing for pas¬
ture land, it should be applied early in the Spring or
Autumn, rather than in Summer or Winter; because in
hot weather the grass is apt to be burned up, while in
Winter the eflects of this Manure are supposed to be
diminished by the frost.
It is deserving of notice that great care is requisite in
renewing the application of calcareous matter to the
same field, even at a considerable distance of time ; for
it has been found that, on soils where it produced, in
the first instance, the very best effects, the repetition of
it, in the same quantity, has either not been attended
with any beneficial result, or with one positively inju¬
rious. Hence it has become in many parts of the
country an established maxim to apply lime in propor¬
tions constantly decreasing, and always in the form of
compost with other earthy or animal substances.
No precise rule can be laid down as to the quantity
of this Manure which should be applied to every par¬
ticular species of land. The general practice seems to
proceed on the principle that light, sandy, or loamy,
require a smaller portion than stiff clays ; but in no case
is the determinate quantity accurately ascertained. The
quantity employed in some parts of the Kingdom, and
on certain soils, ranges from five hundred to a thousand
bushels for the imperial acre ; though the average may
be estimated at rather less than two hundred bushels.
In the Peak of Derbyshire, the largest proportion just
mentioned is not unfrequently expended on the heaths
and moorlands, by means of which they are converted
into excellent pasture. But it has been justly remarked
that, in many instances, though an overdose of lime
does no harm, it is not beneficial to the full extent, and
therefore can only be regarded as an injudicious expen¬
diture.
The caution now recommended is more necessary in
those parts of the country where the limestone is mixed
with magnesian earth, which never fails to have a dele¬
terious effect on the crops. It communicates to the cal¬
cined powder an extremely caustic quality, whence it
has usually been distinguished both by the mason and
the farmer, as hot lime. Mr. Tennant was the first who
traced this corrosive action to the presence of magnesia
in the form of a carbonate. The quantity employed as
Manure ought not to exceed thirty bushels the acre,
except where there is, in the land, a large proportion
of vegetable matter not fully dissolved, iTi which case
the dose may be somewhat increased. When the mag¬
nesia is mild, or in other words, has not been burned,
it is acknowledged to be a useful ingredient in the com¬
position of soils. The Lizard Downs in Cornwall,
Quantity.
Mixtur«
with mag-
laesia.
which bear a short, green grass, and afford an excellent Agriculture,
pasture for sheep, contain a considerable quantity of
mild magnesian earth.
It is remarkable that, although the good effects of Theory of
lime properly applied are so obvious as to recommend it operation,
to the Agriculturist as one of the most useful Manures,
its mode of operation, whether on the soil or plants,
remains still a secret. Numerous speculations have
been indulged in regard to it ; but until Chemistry and
Physiology shall have made further advances in unfold¬
ing the changes which take place in the qualities of the
mould, and in developing some of the mysteries of the
vegetative process, we must consider the whole as only
doubtful conjecture. " When lime," says Sir Humphry
Davy, " whether freshly burned or slaked, is mixed with
any moist vegetable matter, there is a strong action be¬
tween the lime and the vegetable matter, and they form
a kind of compost together, of which a part is usually
soluble in water. By this kind of operation, lime
renders matter, which was before inert, nutritive ; and
as charcoal and oxygen abound in all vegetable matters,
it becomes at the same time converted into carbonate of
lime. Mild lime, powdered limestone, marls and chalk
have no action of this kind upon vegetable matter ; by
their action they prevent the too rapid decomposition of
substances already dissolved, but they have no tendency
to form soluble matters. It is obvious from these cir¬
cumstances that the operation of quick-lime, and marl,
or chalk, depends upon principles altogether different.
Quick-lime, in being applied to land, tends to bring any
hard vegetable matter that it contains into a state of
more rapid decomposition and solution so as to render
it a more proper food for plants. Chalk and marl, or
carbonate of lime will only improve the texture of the
soil, or its relation to absorption ; it acts merely as one
of its earthy ingredients ; quick-lime, when it becomes
mild, operates in the same manner as chalk, but in the
act of becoming mild, it prepares soluble out of insoluble
matter. It is upon this circumstance that the operation
of lime, in the preparation for wheat-crops, depends,
and its efficacy in fertilizing peats, and in bringing into
a state of cultivation all soils abounding in hard roots,
or dry fibres, or inert vegetable matter."
In cases where caustic lime is not found to answer. Pounded
the farmer sometimes applies pounded limestone, which, limestone,
as has just been suggested, improves the soil by becom¬
ing one of its earthy ingredients. The scrapings or dust
of roads formed of this rock have been used with ad¬
vantage as a Manure, in Yorkshire, Gloucestershire,
and other districts ; a circumstance which leaves no
doubt, that were machines employed for grinding the
carbonate into a powder sufficiently fine, the consistence
of much indifferent land might be greatly ameliorated.
On the same principle, the dust of marble-works and
even the smaller fragments in limestone quarries, have
been found beneficial, in the absence of more active cal¬
careous elements.
Limestone gravel has been found an excellent Ma- Limestone
nure for peat-bogs ; its weight consolidating the loose gJ^avel.
soil while its fertilizing qualities augment the produce.
It has proved of immense benefit to Ireland and also to
some parts of Scotland. Chalk, we need hardly ob¬
serve,' is used to a great extent in the Southern and
Eastern districts of this Kingdom, where it presents
itself in great abundance. It is frequently applied in a
crude state, spread upon the surface in Autumn, and
left to be dissolved by the frost during the Winter.
AGRICULTURE.
37
Agriculture. F.ive or six vvagg-on-loads per acre produce a very benefi-
cial etiect ; though, when calcined, two hundred bushels
may be allotted to the same extent of ground, and even
repeated every three or four years.
Marl. Of marl there are usually reckoned four kinds, rock,
slate, clay, and shell. In Lancashire and Cheshire,
clay-marl is very much used by the farmer, who does
not grudge a considerable degree of labour and ex¬
pense in order to obtain it. The quantity laid on
the ground, from time to time, appears enormous ;
amounting, in many cases, to three hundred cart-loads
per acre, which give to the fields the semblance of a
red-soiled fallow freshly ploughed. Shell-marl consists
entirely of calcareous matter, being the broken and
partially decayed remains of testaceous fish. It may be
applied as a top-dressing to wheat and other crops when
it would be hazardous to use quick-lime.
Sea-shells Sea-shells abound in various parts of the British Isles,
and are frequently collected as a Manure. They are su¬
perior to the usual sorts of limestone in purity, and in the
proportion of calcareous matter which they contain.
These shells have not, however, unless when burned, an
equally rapid and powerful influence on the soil. When
not calcined they are much improved in their effects, if
broken in a mill resembling that used by tanners for
bruising their bark ; the air which is thereby admitted
accelerating their decomposition and consequent mixture
with the proper ingredients of the field. Sea-sand having
a mixture of shells is also used with much success on the
shores of Yorkshire, Devonshire, Cornwall, Caithness, and
Aberdeen. It is particularly beneficial in strong clays, as
both its component parts, sand and shells, have a power¬
ful tendency to improve a stiff soil.
Gypsum. Gypsum^ or the sulphate of lime, when applied to the
cultivated grasses, is generally found to reward the
labours of the husbandman. The ashes of sainfoin,
clover, and rye-grass, when those plants are calcined,
afford this substance in considerable quantities ; and
hence it has been inferred that it constitutes a necessary
part of the woody fibre of those grasses. Cultivated
soils in general contain enough of it for the grasses
they produce ; but where there is any deficiency, fields
which have ceased to bear good crops of clover and other
artificial grasses, may, it is presumed, be restored to their
former fertility by a suitable application of this mineral.
Earthy 2. The Earthy Manures are of a very simple nature.
Manures, and do not require any scientific explication either as to
their ingredients or use. We have already intimated
Clay. that clay is sometimes advantageously employed in im¬
proving the texture of a loose sandy soil ; the quantity
being determined by the degree in which the argilla¬
ceous properties are absent, in every particular field
which requires to be so treated. Burned clay has like¬
wise been long known as an excellent expedient for fer¬
tilizing grounds on which other Manures have exhausted
their efficacy. In a comparative experiment, made in
Galloway, of raising turnips by means of stable-dung
and of clay-ashes, the crop in the ground manured with
the ashes sprang earlier, was more vigorous, and the
turnips were double the size. In another experiment
in the same district, a very abundant crop of turnip was
obtained. The quantity employed varied from thirty to
fifty cart-loads per acre. Mr. Parsons, near Sherborne,
applied from fifty to sixty bushels to the acre, on a cold,
wet, cohesive soil. Mr. Buckley, in the neighbourhood
of Loughborough, employed about seventy cart-loads to
the acre of a stiff soil, in which he thought its effects in
improving the texture and communicating permanent Agricultme.
fertility were more striking than in any other instance '_r- ^
which fell under his observation. The ashes of burned
clay have also been applied as a top-dressing to grass
lands, and are said, when spread at the rate of forty tons
to the acre, to produce very striking effects.
Sand, as has also been suggested when treating of Sand,
calcareous substances, is now commonly used for improv¬
ing the composition of stiff clayey soils. But sand, taken
from the mouths of rivers or the shores of the ocean, as
it frequently contains a portion of animal and sometimes
of vegetable matter, is the most likely to promote their
fertility. The sands of flat shores, covered with water
only during high spring tides, and which are strongly
impregnated with common salt and other saline ingre¬
dients, are in some places washed for the extraction of
the salt, and afterwards spread on the land as manure.
This double manufacture is pretty general on the
Northern side of the Solway firth ; and it is manifest that
the latter practice might be advantageously adopted in
many other situations. The rubbish of houses, too, which
is usually a mixture of sand and lime, with other earthy
and occasionally saline material, constitutes a valuable
Manure, and in all cases ought to be carefully collected
and preserved. Loam, mould, or any mixture of different
earths with a portion of organized substances, when
added to a sterile soil of a different quality, produce
during a few seasons the most beneficial effects.
Peat-ashes have long been celebrated as an efficient Peat-ashes.
Manure in several parts of England, especially in Berks
and Wiltshire. They contain a considerable proportion
of gypsum, together with calcareous, aluminous, and
si/icious earths, the sulphate and muriate of soda, and
sometimes a little of the oxide of iron. Dutch ashes,
which are highly recommended by Sir John Sinclair, in
his Account of the Husbandry of the Netherlands, are
composed of nearly the same ingredients, and are applied
as a manure to clover which is succeeded by wheat.
Nineteen bushels to the English acre afford an abun¬
dant crop of both. Burned peat is applied as a top-
dressing for cultivated grasses, particularly sainfoin and
clover, at the rate of from thirty to forty bushels per
acre. Nay, we find that the dust of dried rotten peat
is in some soils an excellent manure for potatoes. It
is cut to pieces as if intended for fuel, and after being
exposed to the atmosphere for some time, is laid upon
the land.
Coal-ashes, too, although rarely employed unmixed Coal-ashes,
with other substances, afford an abundant source of
Manure in the neighbourhood of all large towns. The
ingredients of these ashes vary in their nature and pro¬
portions according to the quality of the mineral whence
they are produced ; but they consist generally of alu¬
minous and silicious earths, with a small quantity of
lime and sometimes of magnesia. They are found to
be highly beneficial in correcting the tenacity and open¬
ing the texture of clayey soils. They are of particular
use in the neighbourhood of London, for improving
those lands from which bricks have been dug. After
spreading the ashes on the clay bottom, horsebeans,
or some variety of the garden bean^ are planted ; and
sometimes such grounds are laid down in grass. When
applied as a top-dressing to clover, March or April is
the best season, and the quantity should not exceed
sixty bushels to the acre.
Under the head of Earthy Manures, we may class the Ooze,
ooze, mud, or warp, which is procured at the mouths of
38
AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture, rivers, in ponds and canals. It is of a most enriching
nature, and adds to the staple of the soil. It is used as à
top-dressing in Spring for crops both of grain and grass,
more especially for the latter ; being at the same time
an excellent material for composts. The late Duke of
Bridge water made considerable use of sea-ooze, brought
up from the Mersey, in barges, by his canal, to lands
near Worsley. It has been remarked, that wheat raised
by means of this Manure is little subject to rust, mildew,
or any other distemper. In respect to the mud of ponds
and fresh-water streams, the value of it depends upon
the substances with which it is mixed. Where the water
is resorted to by cattle or fowl, or receives the washings
of towns and farm-yards, or even the drainage of a rich
tract of country, it will display considerable fertilizing
powers, and amply repay the expense of collecting. In
the Netherlands, the gardeners maintain that the mud
of canals and rivers is much improved in its quality,
when it has been exposed, in small heaps, to a Winter^s
frost and a Summer's sun before being applied to use.
3. In giving a list of Vegetable Manures, we naturally
begin with that which is produced by ploughing down
Vegetable
Manures.
Ploughing
b" K green crops, such as clover, buck wheat, vetches, beans,
uown green ^ .>,1^
crops.
Sea-weeds.
Weeds.
Malt-dust.
Rape-cake.
turnips. When this method is adopted, a portion of
lime, or of peat and lime mixed together, should be
spread on the field before the succulent plants are
turned down ; a process which ought to be performed
in the Summer or early part of the Autumn, that the
decay of the vegetable fibres may be more speedily pro¬
moted. In cases where Manure is scarce, this practice
may be found useful ; but it has been suspected that,
on the whole, its advantages are doubtful, for although
the quantity of nutritive matter may be increased, the
expense of the acquisition seems too great.
Sea-weeds, in some districts, are a most important
Manure, and when used with judgment never fail to
enrich the land, though the effects, it is admitted, are
not very la.sting. They may be procured either by cut¬
ting them from the rocks, or by gathering the leaves
and branches which are cast ashore by the tide ; in both
cases, they ought to be ploughed down without loss of
time, as their efficacy appears to depend in no small
measure upon the degree of freshness which they possess
when mingled with the soil. The value of this Manure
in improving old pastures is generally admitted. Both
cattle and sheep eat with avidity the new grass which is
thereby produced, thrive well, and fatten quickly.
Weeds, taken from rivers, ponds, and ditches, when
properly decomposed, form an ingredient of a very ferti¬
lizing compost. The heaps should be thrown together
as lightly as possible, and sprinkled with water in a dry
season. A small quantity of lime, or of peat earth, mixed
with them, during the process of solution, not only in¬
creases the bulk, but adds materially to the value of the
Manure. The more intelligent farmers confine the use
of this material to fields prepared for barley, or for tur¬
nips, to be sown broad-cast.
Malt'dust has also been found very beneficial to soils
of a certain desci'iption. It is much improved by being
spread for some time in the bottom of pigeon-houses, in
form yards, and also in such tanks as receive the urine
of cattle, the moisture of dunghills, and the refuse of
the kitchen and wash-house. It is usually sown by the
hand, when in a dry state, to the extent of about thirty
bushels an acre, and harrowed in with the seed, whether
barley or oats.
Rape-cake has long been used in this Country, espe¬
Tanners*
bark.
Wood
ashes.
cially in Norfolk and Yorkshire. Half a ton for an acre Agriculture*
was formerly the amount applied to arable land ; but
since the price of the article has increased, the rate is re¬
duced to one ton for three acres. Mr. Coke of Holkham
makes a single ton suffice for five or six acres, by break¬
ing the cake into very small pieces, and ploughing it in
about six weeks before the time of sowing, that it may
be completely dissolved in the ground. When ploughed
in with wheat seed, the effect is very striking in a speedy
and vigorous crop. This Manure is very extensively
used in the Netherlands. It has been found that, when
powdered and strewed on the surface of a field, it destroys
the Gryllus talpa, so injurious in wet soils ; and it is
imagined that every insect might be exterminated by the
same means. A ton of oil-cake, whether from rape or
any other seed, mixed with twenty or thirty tons of
dunghill compost, constitutes an excellent manure.
Tanners^ bark has been recommended by certain
authors as a substance which may be rendered nutritive
to plants. For this purpose it must undergo the process
of fermentation, which is most easily accomplished by
forming it into a compost with stable dung. The addi¬
tion of a little lime cannot fail to assist in the disintegra¬
tion of the woody fibres.
Wood-ashes have been already alluded to, under the
head of Earthy Manures. They are peculiarly well cal¬
culated for gravelly soils and loams. Forty bushels per
acre is the common quantity, and Spring is the proper
season for their application. The effect is much increased
by moisture, whether natural or artificial, which seems
necessary, either as a menstruum or a vehicle, for com¬
municating the fertilizing qualities. It has been re¬
marked, that whatever passes through the fire acquires
the power of exciting or increasing the productive pro¬
perties of land.
4. Animal substances are usually so soluble in their
nature as not to require any chemical preparation to fit
them for the purposes of Manure. The great object of
the farmer, on the other hand, is so to blend them with
the earthy constituents in a proper state of division, as
to prevent their too rapid decomposition. Much of this
species of Manure is lost in many parts of the country
from want of proper attention, or perhaps from ignorance
of its value. Animals that have died accidentally, or in
consequence of disease, are often suffered to remain ex¬
posed to the air, or immersed in water, till they are
destroyed by beasts of prey, or entirely decomposed by
the action of the atmosphere ; and in this case, most of
their muscular substance is lost for the land in which
they lie, and wasted in the production of noxious gases
which pollute the surrounding air. By covering dead
animals with five or six times their bulk of soil mixed
with one part of lime, and suffering them to remain a
few months, their decomposition, as Sir H. Davy re¬
marks, would impregnate the land with soluble matters,
so as to render it an excellent manure ; and by mixing
a little fresh quick-lime with it, at the time of its re¬
moval, the disagreeable effluvia would be in a great
measure destroyed, and it might be applied with much
advantage to any of the stronger species of crops.
Fish forms a powerful Manure in whatever state it
may happen to be used ; but, however small may be the
quantity applied, it cannot be ploughed in too fresh.
Herrings have been known to produce a very rank crop
of wheat. The refuse pilchards are employed throughout
the County of Cornwall with excellent effect. They are
usually mixed with sand or soil, and sometimes with
Animal
Manures,
Dead ani¬
mals.
Fish.
AGRICULTURE
39
Agriculture, sea-weed to prevent them from communicating* an ex-
cessive luxuriance to the grain. In the fens of Lincoln¬
shire, Cambridgeshire, and Norfolk, the little fish called
sticklebacks are caught in the shallow waters in such
quantities, that they form a great article of Manure
among the neighbouring Agriculturists. It is easy to
explain the operation of fish in fertilizing the ground.
The skin is principally gelatine, which, from its slight
state of cohesion, is readily soluble in water. Fat or
oil is always found in fishes, either under the skin or in
some of the viscera ; while their fibrous matter contains
all the essential elements of vegetable substances.
Blubber. Blubber^ an article nearly related to that just described,
has been occasionally employed as a Manure. It is
most useful when mixed with clay, sand, or any common
soil, so as to expose a large surface to the air, the oxy^
gen of which reduces it to soluble matter. It has been
known to retain its fertilizing power during a succession
of years. The carbon and hydrogen abounding in oily
substances fully account for this effect ; and their durar
bility is easily explained by a reference to the gradual
manner in which they yield to the action of air and
water.
Bones. Bones are now much used as a Manure all over the
Kingdom, and especially in the neighbourhood of the
Metropolis. After being broken and boiled for grease,
they are sold to the farmer. As their effects are more
powerful in proportion to the minuteness with which they
are divided, the expense of grinding them in a mill
would probably be repaid by their increased value;
while in the state of powder they might be used in the
drill husbandry, and deposited with the seed in the
same manner as rape-cake.
Horn. Horn, regarded as the means of improving the soil,
is still more efficacious than bone, as it contains a larger
quantity of decomposable matter. The shavings of
horn, too, form an excellent Manure, though they,, are
not sufficiently abundant to be in common use. The
animal matter in them seems to be of the nature of coa¬
gulated albumen, and is slowly rendered soluble by the
action of water. The earthy principle in horn, and still
more that in bones, prevents the too rapid decomposi¬
tion of the animal substance, and gives great durability
to its effects in strengthening the soil.
Hair, &c. Hair, woollen rags, diuà feathers, wh.\ch are similar in
composition, consist chiefly of a substance resembling al¬
bumen united to gelatine. The theory of their operation
as Manures refers to the same principles as that of horn
and bone. The refuse of the different manufactories of
skin and leather,—such as the shavings of the currier,
and the offals of the tan-yard and glue-maker,—is found
very serviceable to the Agriculturist. Blood, too, as it
contains certain quantities of all the elementary ingre¬
dients detected in other animal substances, possesses a
highly fertilizing quality. The scum taken from the
boilers of the sugar-baker, and which is used as Manure,
consists principally of bullock's blood, employed for the
purpose of separating the impurities of the raw material,
by means of its albuminous matter coagulated by the
heat. The different species of corals, corallines, and
sponges, must be considered as substances of animal
origin. They contain a considerable quantity of a matter
analogous to coagulated albumen, and might, therefore,
be advantageously employed as Manure.
Dung. We include under the head of Animal Manures such
as are strictly excrementitious, and which, if reference
were made to their origin, might be regarded as rather
belonging to the class of vegetable substances. Besides Agriculture,
the dung collected in stables and cow-houses, great
attention is paid in some parts to that produced by
sheep. In certain districts on the Continent, these last
are kept under cover all the year, for the sake of the
Manure which is thereby created ; and when they graze
along the sides of roads, young children are employed
to collect their droppings. Sheep fed on linseed cake
produce an extraordinary fertilizing dung, by which any
poor land, whether arable or pasture, may be speedily
enriched. A plan has lately been adopted of folding
sheep upon straw in the corner of a turnip field, and of
carrying their food to them ; a method particularly
suited for such lands as are too wet and tenacious to
have the turnips eaten upon them, or for sloping grounds
whence the Manure might be washed down. The dung
of birds has likewise been held in high importance by
the practical farmer, and especially of those species
which live upon fish. This substance is produced in so
great quantities upon some small islands in the South
Sea, that fifty large vessels are annually employed to
convey it to Peru, where it is employed to fertilize the
extensive plains in the neighbourhood. The dung of
sea-birds has not hitherto been much used as a Manure
in this Country; though it is probable that even the soil
scraped from such of the small islands on our coast as
are much frequented by them, would prove very advan¬
tageous. An experiment was made under the superin¬
tendence of Sir H. Davy, which was attended with great
success.
Night-soil, it is well known, as being very liable to
decompose, is a powerful Manure. The disagreeable
smell may be obviated by mixing it with quick-lime ; for
if exposed in fine weather to the atmosphere in thin
layers, strewed over with that substance, it soon pulve¬
rizes, and in this state may be used in the same manner
as rape-cake.
5. Under the head of Miscellaneous Manures a great Miscella-
variety of putrescent substances might be arranged, but neous Ma-
we shall confine ourselves to a short account of the
method of forming composts. All Manures may per- Composts,
haps be considered as compounds ; and hence a reason¬
able question might arise whether the benefits they
afford to vegetation would not be increased, were some
of the changes which they undergo when mixed with the
soil, previously accomplished by means of Art. This
question, which is avowedly of great importance, must
depend for its solution on a more perfect knowledge of
the process of vegetation itself than we yet possess, as
well as of those combinations which are affected by the
mutual action of the different substances employed by
the husbandman to further its progress. As to com¬
posts, it may be remarked, in general, that they are
formed of almost every kind of animal and vegetable
matter, mixed with earthy and saline ingredients, which
being thrown together in considerable masses, undergo
a certain degree of fermentation, and thereby promote
the decomposition of such of them as happen to have
been organized.
It is a general practice to make a compost with a portion with lime,
of common Manure or lime mixed with a certain quantity
of earth from a ploughed field. In this case the two
substances are placed in alternate layers in the form of a
lengthened heap or mound, which ought to be so covered
at top as to prevent the rain from washing through it,
and thereby checking the process of fermentation. When
the decomposition is completed, the mass should be
40
AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture, carefully turned, in order that the ingredients may be
perfectly mixed together. The quantity may be increased
by collecting weeds or other soluble matter from the
ditches and hedges in the neighbourhood, and adding
them to the heap before the warmth has entirely sub¬
sided. When lime is used, it is customary to lay it
down fresh from the kiln in given quantities along the
end of a field, and to cover it with four or five times its
bulk of pulverized earth, which is immediately beaten
down with a shovel to prevent the approach of rain or
air. The lime is slaked in a few days by the moisture
of the soil, and when any cracks or fissures appear, they
ought to be covered up with more earth. After a short
period, the two substances are completely incorporated,
and the compound may be used for grass or corn-crops,
either singly, or together with dung from the stable
yard, the consistence of which it materially improves^
with peat- There is no compost better known in most parts of
moss. the Kingdom than that of which peat-moss is the prin¬
cipal ingredient. As this substance consists chiefly of
vegetable matter, it constitutes, when entirely decom¬
posed, a very valuable Manure. The best authority on
thiß subject is Lord Meadowbank, one of the Scottish
Juáges, who about thirty years ago published some im¬
portant notices respecting the method of preparation,
and the soils to which it is most beneficially applied.
The peat, of which the compost is to be formed, should
be dug out some weeks before it is used, in order that
the redundant moisture may evaporate. When carried
to a convenient place, it is laid out in two rows, with an
intermediate row of dung, which should be so near as to
allow a workman to throw them together with his
spade. A layer of peat six inches deep and 15 ieet wide
is first formed. A layer of ten inches of dung next suc-
eeds, then six inches of peat, then four or five of dung,
and then six more of peat, and a thin layer of dung.
Then cover it with peat all round and above. The
height should not exceed 4^ feet, otherwise the weight
may be too great, and check the decomposition.
In a medium temperature of the atmosphere, seven
cart-loads of stable-yard dung, in a fresh state, are
esteemed sufficient for twenty-one loads of moss ; but in
cold weather a larger proportion of dung is required,
because more heat is necessary to secure a prosperous
result. To every twenty-eight, carts of the compost it is
beneficial to add one load of ashes, whether from coal,
peat, or wood ; and when such ashes cannot be pro¬
cured, half the quantity of slaked lime, well powdered,
is a good substitute. By employing the refuse of sham¬
bles, six times the quantity of moss may be converted
into Manure. A similar proportion is obtained from the
dung of pigeons and of domestic fowls.
When the compost is made up, the temperature in¬
creases according to the state of the weather and the
condition of the ingredients. In Summer the moss is
heated in about ten days, but in Winter, if the cold be
severe, it requires as many weeks. In the former season
there is danger that the temperature shall rise too high
and consume the materials. When this is apprehended,
a stick should be kept in different parts of the mass,
which being occasionally examined will indicate the
varying degree of heat. When it exceeds 180° the heap
should be watered, or turned over, and cooled by an
addition of fresh moss. After the process is completed,
the whole appears like a black, rich mould, and has
been found, when used either for corn or pasture lands,
to be equal to the same bulk of good farm yard dung.
The quantity applied must, of course, be regulated by Agricult»ifè.
the nature and condition of the soil ; but the farmer will
receive an ample remuneration for thirty or thirty-five
loads per acre.
It is properly stated by the writer to whom we have
referred, that too much attention cannot be given to the
preparation of the ground to which this compost is to be
applied. It should be clean, dry, well mixed, and
friable ; for in any other state the Manure does not pro¬
duce its proper effect. The addition of a small quantity
of compost has been known to be attended with a won¬
derful improvement on a field judiciously fallowed. The
texture, colour, and other properties of the soil under¬
went a very perceptible change for the better ; a result
which must have been occasioned by the mutual action
of the different ingredients in the Manure and land, and
the new combinations thence proceeding agreeably to
the laws of their chemical affinities. It is obvious that
this process must be greatly accelerated by bringing the
minute particles of both into contact by an intimate
mixture.
There is also a compost of peat, lime, and clay, which
has been proved to answer well on lands of a certain
quality, and more especially for the purpose of raising a
plentiful crop of grass. But as we cannot enter into
details, we shall finish this section with a short account
of some experiments made by the Reverend Mr. Cart- Mr Cait-
wright, with the view of determining the effects of ^nghfs ex-
ditferent Manures on the same soil and for the same
crop, and particularly of salt used as the means of in¬
creasing vegetation. The soil in question was a ferru¬
ginous sand, which was brought to a proper consistence
by a liberal allowance of pond mud.
In the month of April a portion of the field was laid
out in beds, a yard wide and forty yards long. Of these
twenty-five were treated as follows :
No. 1. No Manure.
2. Salt, one peck and a quarter.
3. Lime, one bushel.
4. Soot, one peck.
5. Wood ashes, two pecks.
6. Sawdust, three bushels.
7. Malt dust, two pecks.
8. Peat, three bushels.
9. Decayed leaves, three bushels.
10. Fresh dung, three bushels.
11. Chandler's greaves, three pounds.
12. Salt, lime.
13. Salt, lime, sulphuric acid.
14. Salt, lime, peat.
15. Salt, lime, dung.
16. Salt, lime, gypsuni, peat
17. Salt, soot.
18. Salt, wood ashes.
19. Salt, sawdust.
20. Salt, malt dust.
21. Salt, peat.
22. Salt, peat, bone dust.
23. Salt, decayed leaves.
24. Salt, peat ashes.
25. Salt, chandler's greaves.
The quantity of each ingredient was the same as when
they were used singly. On the same day one row of
potatoes was planted in each bed ; and that the experi¬
ment might be accurately conducted, the number of sets
was the same in all. When the shoots appeared above
AGRICULTURE.
41
Agriculture, ground, their comparative excellence was carefully
noted. The best row, at that period, was No. 7. from
malt dust ; and the next best was that from chandler^s
greaves. The most backward, in the Month of May,
was No. 6. which had been manured with sawdust.
On the 21st September the potatoes were taken up,
when the produce of each row was as follows :
No. 17. Salt and soot, produced 240
11. Chandler's greaves 220
18. Salt, wood ashes 217
16. Salt, gypsum, peat, lime 199
15. Salt, lime, dung 198
2. Salt 195
25. Salt, greaves 193
4. Soot 192
10. Fresh dung 192
20. Salt, malt dust 189
5. Wood ashes 187
23. Salt, decayed leaves 187
24. Salt, peat ashes 185
7. Malt-dust 184
14. Salt, lime, peat 183
19. Salt, sawdust 180
22. Salt, peat, bone dust 178
9. Decayed leaves 175
13. Salt, lime, sulphuric acid 175
21. Salt, peat 171
8. Peat. 169
12. Salt, lime 167
1. No Manure 157
6. Sawdust 155
2. Lime 150
It is remarked by the author of these experiments as
a singular circumstance, that of ten different Manures,
most of which are of acknowledged efficacy, salt, the effects
of which were doubtful, is, with one exception, superior
to them all ; while in combination with other substances
Efficacy of except chandler's greaves was injured by it. The
salt. energy of salt when combined with soot was very strik¬
ing. But Mr. Cartwright was disposed to ascribe its
effects rather to the power which it possesses of attract¬
ing moisture from the atmosphere than to any chemical
action between the two substances ; for the beds on
which the salt was used continued visibly moister than
the others, even for weeks after its application. Another
circumstance noticed is, that the plants which grew on
the beds Manured with salt, were of a paler green than
the rest, but equally luxuriant ; which appearance he
at first regarded as an indication of want of vigour, an
opinion by no means confirmed by the result. He
found, too, that wherever salt was applied, either by
itself or in combination with other substances, the roots
were perfectly clean.
Experi- The same gentleman instituted two sets of experi¬
ments with ments with turnips and buck-wheat, on a soil so poor
turnips and to produce only dwarf heath and lichen. Of 400
wheat grains, 320 consisted of silicious sand, 68 of finely
divided matter, and 12 of moisture. Scarcely any cal¬
careous matter appeared. On the 6th of July the beds
selected for each set of experiments were respectively
sown with turnip and buck-wheat ; being numbered
and Manured exactly in the same way as in the first set
of experiments with potatoes. On the 20th of July
Nos. 1, 2. 4, 5, 6, 7. 19, 20, 21, 22. 24, 25. showed
little or no marks of vegetation ; the remainder were
VOL. VI.
merely in the seed leaf. On the 16th of August four Agriculture,
only were alive and in rough leaf, namely,
No. 12. Salt and lime.
13. Salt, lime, and sulphuric acid.
14. Salt, lime, peat.
16. Salt, lime, gypsum, peat.
These four continued in a sickly state till the middle Results,
of September, soon after which they disappeared. The
fate of the turnip and buck-wheat was nearly the same;
but no certain conclusion could be drawn from these
experiments with regard to the effects of salt as a
Manure for such crops, for other Manures of undoubted
efficacy also failed. The proper inference to be deduced
from the whole is, that a certain texture and composi¬
tion of soil is an essential requisite for promoting the
health and vigour of plants, which was abundantly ob¬
vious in the greater luxuriance of those plants where the
Manure acted in some degree as a substitute for the
natural qualities of the land. It has been justly re¬
marked, that these experiments may serve as a model to
such Agriculturists as have leisure or inclination to in¬
vestigate the effects of different kinds of Manure on the
crops to which they are applied ; and although many of
them were made on substances which are procured
with difficulty, or are to be had only in small quanti¬
ties, and cannot therefore come into general use, yet the
results obtained were curious and interesting, and, if fur¬
ther examined, might lead to the discovery of some valu¬
able principles as to the constitution and improvement
of soils.
While writing this portion of our Essay we have Project for
received a faint notice of a scheme for fertilizing peat- employing
moss by means of sulphuric Acid considerably diluted.
The project originated somewhere in Germany, whence onneat-
it was carried into Russia, and reduced to practice it is moss,
said with some appearance of success. From the North
of Europe it found its way into Ireland, where it has
been tried by several Agriculturists, who have expe¬
rienced rauch advantage from it in the improvement of
their bogs. It has been recently introduced into the
Western parts of Scotland, where the soil bears some
resemblance to that on the opposite side of St. George's
Channel; but the details which have reached us are
neither sufficiently ample, nor so accurately described,
as to justify any opinion as to its ultimate effects.
The farmer and landowner have long had their atten- Desiderata
tion directed to the subject of Manures, as the only Manures,
source whence any material discovery can be derived
to aid their exertions in the production of food. Much
has been done by the Mechanic in inventing and im¬
proving Agricultural instruments ; but the labours of
the Chemist have not yet, in any essential point, in¬
creased the resources of the husbandman. Manures,
generally speaking, are still as bulky, weighty, and
expensive as they were fifty years ago ; and hence the
disheartening fact that they must be used at no great
distance from the place at which they are produced, while
lands further removed are doomed to continue sterile
and unproductive. The desideratum on which practical
men have now everywhere fixed their thoughts is the
discovery of a substance, so limited in volùme and
weight as to be easily conveyed from one district to
another—an essence, in short, or condensed principle of
fertilization, the carriage of which will not, like that of
our common Manures, exceed the cost of purchase. It
may, perhaps, be found in some one of the Acids or
G
42
AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture. Alkalis, which in a highly concentrated state might be
sent to a distance at small expense 5 on which account
we are the more anxious to become acquainted with the
experiments mentioned in the last paragraph, in regard
to the fertilizing properties of the oil of vitriol.
Implements of Husbandry.
We have already mentioned the great obligations
under which the pursuits of husbandry are placed to
the ingenuity of our artisans. The inventions of the
Mechanic have not unfrequently afutócipated the wants of
the Agriculturist ; and at this moment, accordingly, all
the nations of Europe look to this Country for whatever
progress is expected in the formation of new instru-
Classifica- ments, or in the improvement of the old. Such tools
have usually been classed by systematic writers accord¬
ing to their use, or the purposes for which they are em¬
ployed ; and hence they may be arranged as they
respect ploughing, sowing, weeding, reaping, and
threshing ; or, in other words, as they facilitate the rear¬
ing of the crop and the preparation of it for the market,
in which the interest of the farmer in the produce of his
land has its natural termination.
Under the head Agricultural Implements in our
Miscellaneous Division, we have already described the
chief varieties of Ploughs and Harrows, the Scarifier,
the Scvjffler, and the Roll.
Machines Various instruments have been used from time to
for sowing, time for sowing corn, and more especially turnips, to
supersede the clumsy and wasteful method of scattering
the seed with the hand. It is certainly desirable that
every species of seed should be sown in a regular man¬
ner and at a proper depth. In the East Indies ma¬
chines for that purpose have been employed for Ages ;
but their introduction into Europe is comparatively
speaking of recent date, and is principally to be attri¬
buted to the exertions of the celebrated Tull.
Drill The Drill machine for sowing turnip-seed, says Sir
machines. John Sinclair, cannot be too much recommended ; for
it has been the means of bringing the culture of that
plant to the highest state of perfection. An excellent
instrument for drilling peas and beans likewise has been
constructed. In regard to drills for the several sorts of
grain, a great diversity of opinion prevails. It seems to
be admitted, however, where wheat, barley, or oats are
sov^n in Spring, that, for the purpose of extirpating
annual weeds, the drilling system is to be preferred ;
but in regard to Autumnal or Winter-sown wheat,
where the land has been fallowed, the broad-cast system
may be advantageously ado])ted.
Drill-fur- Some objections to the practice of drilling corn have
row. been removed by the recent invention of a Drill-furrow,
which, though peculiarly well calculated for small farms,
might likewise be used with benefit on large ones. It
is very simple and may be employed in either of two
ways ; as a box or barrow attached to the Plough, by
which the seed is deposited in the furrow, or in the
hands of a boy who follows the Plough for the same
purpose. The advantages of this machine are : 1. that
the seed being dropped at a proper depth takes a fast
hold of the ground, and is not affected by the Winter's
frost ; 2. the seed may be deposited by means of it in
windy weather, when broad-cast sowing would be at¬
tended with difficulty ; 3. any weeds growing between
the rows can be completely extirpated ; and 4. there is
no way in which clover can be sown with Winter wheat, Agriculture,
in the Spring, to greater advantage, as the intervals
between the drills can be suitably hoed and the seed laid
on a clean bed.
But of all the apparatus recommended to the Agri- Reaping
culturist there is not one of greater importance to him machine
than the Reaping machine., which however has not yet
been brought to such a degree of perfection as to be
entitled to general use. The first attempt of this kind
is said to have been made by Mr. Boyce, who about invented by
thirty years ago obtained a patent for his invention. Mr, Boyce.
His instrument was placed in a two-wheeled carriage
bearing some resemblance to a cart, but the wheels
being fixed upon the axle the latter revolved along with
them. A cog-wheel within the carriage turned á smaller
one at the upper end of an inclined axis, and at the
lower end of this was a larger wheel which gave a rapid
motion to a pinion fixed upon a vertical axis in the fore¬
part of the carriage and rather on one side, so that it
went before one of the wheels. The vertical spindle
descended to within a few inches of the surface of the
ground, and had there a number of scythes fixed upon
it horizontally. The machine when wheeled along cut
down by the rapid revolution of its scythes a large quan¬
tity of corn ; but not being provided with any apparatus
for gathering it up in parcels and laying it in proper
heaps, it proved wholly unfit for the purpose intended.
Mr. Plucknet of London attempted to improve it, Improved
but without directing his attention to its main defect, hy Mr.
He substituted for the scythes a circular steel plate, made
very sharp at the edge, and notched on the upper side
like a sickle. This plate operated in the same manner
as a very fine toothed saw, and was found to cut the
corn much better than the implements of Mr. Boyce,
But neither by this method was the principal objection
removed.
Mr. Salmon of Bedfordshire made a nearer approach by Mr.
than any of his predecessors towards supplying the desi- Salmon,
deratum so much felt by the Agricultural community.
His machine was constructed upon totally different
principles, as it cut the corn by means of shears instead
of a circular plate ; and it was provided besides with a
complete apparatus for laying it down in parcels as it
was cut.
But a still more successful effort was made by Mr.
Smith, in the County of Perth, who, about twenty years '
ago, contrived an implement for reaping which might be
worked by two men. He afterwards repeatedly en¬
larged the scale till it required the power of two horses ;
and at the same time removed an obstacle which applied
to the action of his machine on an uneven surface.
Suffice it to observe that his cutter is circular and ope¬
rates horizontally. It is appended to a drum connected
with the fore part of the structure, and has its blade
projecting some inches beyond the circumference of the
lower end of the drum ; the machine being so con¬
trived as to communicate, in moving forward, a rapid
rotatory motion to this drum and cutter, by which the
stalks are cut, and falling upon the drum are carried
round and thrown off in regular rows. This ingenious
piece of machinery will reap about an acre in the hour,
during which period the cutter requires to be three or
four times sharpened. The delay occasioned by this
necessity might perhaps be obviated on the principle
adopted by Mr. Gladstones, who attached to the Pluck-
net implement a small wooden wheel covered with
emery, which being always in contact with the great
A GRICULTURE.
43
by Mr,
Bell.
Haiiiault
scythe.
Agiiculture. cutter at the back part, or opposite side to that where
the operation of cutting was performed, kept it con¬
stantly ground to a sharp edge. The expense of Mr.
Smith's invention is estimated at from £2b to ¿^35 ; and
if properly managed it will last for many years, requir¬
ing only a new cutter at certain intervals. But notwith¬
standing the most promising appearances, it is doubt¬
ful whether the practical farmer is yet inspired with
sufficient confidence in its fitness for all sorts of work,
to afford the encouragement necessary to bring it into
general use. Fig. 23.
We have to mention another attempt of this nature
made by the Reverend Mr. Bell, a gentleman distin¬
guished for considerable scientific attainments. His ma-
chine was tried at Powrie, in the County of Forfar, about
three years ago, in cutting down oats, barley, and wheat,
on ground of uneven surface and considerable declivity.
It takes in a range of about five feet ; cutting within
three or four inches of the root ; and depositing the
grain, as it advances, in a very regular manner. It is
worked by one horse, and clears about an imperial acre
per hour. Its cost may be calculated at nearly ¿^30.
In the opinion of a skilful Agriculturist who witnessed
the trial of its powers, it is better fitted than any other to
supersede the sickle, and thereby to confer a general
benefit on the occupiers of land. Fig. 24.
As the process of reaping in our variable climate is
attended with many interruptions and much expense, no
means have been left untried for facilitating the opera¬
tion. The Hainault scythe had long been recommended
as a better implement for this purpose than the sickle or
scythe in common use ; for which reason two young
men were brought over from Flanders under the sanction
of the French Consul at Edinburgh, to afford a practical
demonstration of the superiority of their instrument, and^
at the same time, to instruct the British labourers in the
use of it. The trials were made, after public notice in
several parts of Scotland, with the different varieties of
grain, and under different circumstances as to the state
of the crop, as to being light or heavy, standing or laid ;
and the results are said to have been very much in its
favour. The straw was cut nearly as close as with the
common scythe, taken up clean, except where the crop
was very thin, and laid down regularly in the proper
state for binding and threshing. A man with this tool
will cut about half an acre a day ; and the consequent
saving compared with the common sickle has been cal¬
culated at fully one third. Fig. 25 and 26.
Wherever corn is cut with the scythe the Horse Rake
is found a useful implement for saving manual labour,
as it must also be in the process of making hay. A
model was recently brought from America by a gentle¬
man who had visited the United States, and the in¬
strument itself is now generally used in certain districts
of Great Britain. The teeth are of iron, 14 or 15 inches
in length, and set five or six inches apart from each
other ; and on the whole, the construction is very simple.
A man and horse are said to be able to clear from 20 to
30 acres in a day, disposing the grain in lines across
the field, by lifting up the rake and dropping it from the
teeth without stopping the horse. We have no doubt
that it will be extensively introduced into all parts of the
Kingdom as a very useful invention. Fig. 27. •
Among Agricultural implements no one is entitled to
higher commendation for its various uses than that which
is employed for Threshing and clearing corn. The
saving of labour by means of this invention is very great
Horse
Rake.
Threshing
machine.
while the work is in all respects better done. Nothing Agriculture,
could be more barbarous than the mode adopted by v-—v«—-
some of the Ancients of separating the grain from the
straw, either by burning the latter, or by treading the
whole under the feet of oxen. Even the Flail was a very
imperfect and fatiguing instrument. Threshing-machines
are now common everywhere, and may, it is well known,
be worked by horses or water, wind or steam. Water
is by far the "best power, but as a full supply cannot at
all times be had, horses are still employed more gene¬
rally than any of the other motive energies.
The essential parts of the machine will be fully un¬
derstood from an inspection of the engraving. Among
the various modifications which are occasionally intro¬
duced, one of the most useful is what is called the
Travelling Shaker, the intention of which is to convey the Travelling
straw, after it is separated from the corn, to the straw- ^h^ker.
barn, shaking it completely as it goes along. All well-con¬
structed Threshing-mills have one Winnowing machine
which separates the chaff from the corn before it reaches
the ground ; and a second sometimes receives it from
the first, and gives it out in a state nearly ready for
market at the rate of six or eight quarters in the hour.
If the dimensions of the buildinir do not admit of this
last addition, a separate Winnowing machine is some¬
times moved by a belt connected with the mill ; saving
in either case a great amount of manual labour. With
a powerful water-mill it cannot be doubted that corn is
threshed and dressed for the market at an expense not
exceeding that which was incurred by the old process
for threshing alone. The great advantage, too, of
transferring forty or fifty quarters of grain in a few
hours, and under the eye of the master, from the yard
to the granary, is of itself sufficient to recommend this
invaluable machine, even though it were not also more
economical. Fig. 28.
The author of the Treatise on Rural Affairs has
furnished the following estimate of the profit that might
be derived by the Public were Threshing-mills universally
adopted. He calculates,
1. The number of acres producing grain
in Britain at 8,000,000
2. The average produce in quarters at
three per acre 24,000,000
3. The increased quantity of grain ob¬
tained by Threshing-mills, compar¬
ed with the Flail, at one-twentieth
of the whole, or in quarters at.. . 1,200,000
• 4. The value of that increased quantity
at forty shillings per quarter .... 2,400,000
5. The saving in expense of labour at
one shilling per quarter 1,200,000
6. The total profit 'per annum, if all
were threshed by machinery, at. . 3,600,000
7. The actual profit per annum, on the
supposition that only half of the
grain produced were threshed by
machines, at 1,800,000
In addition to the implements already described we Miscel-
might mention the Chaff-cutter, the Turnip-sheer, the
Steaming apparatus for preparing the food of cattle, and
a Machine for bruising the corn 'which is given to horses.
This last is of greater value than it is usually imagined,
as many horses are known to swallow their oats without
complete mastication, while others which have lost their
teeth derive much advantage from this artificial assist-
G 2
44
AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture, anee. We must pass over with a similar brevity the
various descriptions of wheel-carriages which are used on
farms, from the Irish car to the Gloucestershire waggon.
There are besides various mechanical inventions used
for harvesting corn, and depositing it safely in the barn
yard. Sir J. Sinclair holds the opinion that stacks are
greatly preferable to barns, more especially since the
plan has been adopted of placing the former on stone
or cast-iron pillars, by which the corn is kept perfectly
Bosses for dry, and the ravages of vermin are prevented. In some
corn stacks, districts, if the season be wet, stacks have bosses placed
in the centre, consisting of a triangle of wood, through
which the air has freedom to circulate nearly to the top
of the stack. If the grain has not been quite dry, it
gains much advantage from this simple expedient.
Fig. 29.
On Tillage,
Having examined the constitution of soils, the modes
of draining and irrigation, the various kinds of manure,
and the principal implements which are used in hus¬
bandry, we are now prepared to accompany the farmer
in the more practical branches of his profession, and to
record his progress in the culture of his fields and the
growing of his crops. It is, indeed, customary before
proceeding to the actual processes of ploughing, sowing,
and reaping, to make a series of observations on the
different plans which have been adopted in the Agri¬
cultural districts of the Kingdom, for dividing fields and
erecting fences. To this is not unfrequently added a
dissertation on rural establishments, comprehending a
view of the several buildings which may be thought
necessary to accommodate the tenant, his servants, his
cattle, as well as his pigs and poultry, and, at the same
time, supply the means of protecting his crop, his corn,
potatoes, turnips, and hay, from the effects of rain and
frost. We abstain from such details, not only because
our plan is inconsistent with excessive minuteness, but
more especially because there is no fixed rule which
could be made to apply to any number of contiguous
farms, much less to the whole country. The fences
which are found most suitable in Devonshire would not
answer in Cumberland ; and the style of house which
affords the greatest comfort in Caithness, would be re¬
jected on the banks of the Severn and the Thames, as
inconvenient and devoid of elegance.
Turning up q^he first step is to turn up the soil and prepare it for
the soil. reception of the seed. But before the operation of
the plough begins, it is of no small importance to con¬
sider the nature of the land, the season of the year, and
the species of crop which it is proposed to raise. It is a
general opinion that there are few soils which are not
Fittest improved by being turned up about the end of Autumn
season. or beginning of Winter, as it is understood that they
thereby absorb a great quantity of moisture to meet the
demands of the following Summer ; whereas, if they
are not ploughed till the Spring, the rapid evaporation
w^hich ensues occasions a deficiency of one of the essential
elements of vegetable life. It is supposed, too, that the
furrow exposed during the cold season becomes mellow,
and derives, moreover, some beneficial influence from
the atmosphere ; an opinion which may be traced back
to the days of Virgil, and perhaps to an epoch still more
ancient. But the experience of modern times does not
altogether confirm the judgment of the Greeks and
B o mans in this particular point. The principal benefit
of Autumnal ploughing is confined to strong adhesive Agriculture,
soils, which by means of the frost acting on the redun-
dant moisture, unquestionably renders them more fria¬
ble, and, of course, fitter for the reception of all kinds
of seed.
It ought to be especially observed that no land, what- Ground not
ever may be its qualities, should be ploughed in a state to be
of wetness. Tenacious soils, when subjected to the ^¿en wet
operation of ploughing in such a condition, are apt to
run together into lumps, which it is afterwards extremely
difficult to reduce ; besides being greatly injured by the
treading of the cattle, whose feet make holes which be¬
come filled with putrid water. This observation applies
chiefly to marshy fields, which have been recently brought
into cultivation, and which, above all others, ought not to
be endangered by an unseasonable renewal of Tillage.
In highly improved districts, great attention is paid Dimensions
to the dimensions of the furrow, and the angle at which of the fur-
it is made to rest. When the breadth and depth are
nearly equal, it turns over very naturally at an angle of
forty-five degrees ; but when the breadth much exceeds
the depth, it falls over in nearly a flat position, each
successive one overlapping a little the preceding. The
nature and condition of the land determine the prefer¬
ence to be given to each of these modes of ploughing.
The square slice is considered best adapted for laying
up stubble land after harvest, to be exposed during the
Winter as a preparation for fallow or turnips. The
shallow slice with considerable breadth is convenient
for breaking up old pastures, because while it conceals
the grassy turf, the fertile soil is not buried too deep.
No wise farmer approves that style of aration which
makes the depth of the furrow slice exceed the breadth.
Generally speaking, in determining the depth of the Considera-
furrow, the quality of the soil, and the kind of crop to bons by
be raised, must be attentively considered. Some shallow
soils are extremely fertile, but rest on a substiatum mined,
which is extremely injurious to vegetation. In such
cases, deep ploughing would be highly improper ; but,
on the other hand, when subsoil contains ingredients,
such as calcareous and soluble matter, which serve to
increase its productive qualities, it may be useful to the
crop to have a portion of them occasionally turned up
by the plough. Mr. Young recommends that one deep
ploughing should be given every second year; after
which, he maintains, that a mere stirring of the surface
answers better than very deep working. Even for the
purposes of cleaning, it is found that an ebb furrow,
followed by regular hand-hoeing is much more effectual
than any attempt to bury the weeds.
For certain crops, indeed, such as carrots and pars- Deep
nips, deep ploughing is indispensably requisite. In ploughing,
soils which can admit of it, trench-ploughing is found ^^kere ne-
advantageous ; a process which is accomplished by one
plough following another in the same furrow, and the
second throwing its slice on the top of that which has been
turned over by the first. In this way the land is com¬
pletely moved to the depth of twelve or thirteen inches.
In ploughing a field some attention ought to be paid Ridges,
to the breadth of the ridges, or the distance of the
water-furrows from each other ; for upon this arrange¬
ment depends not only the proper draining of the sur¬
face, but also the regular application of manure, the
equal distribution of the seed, the weeding, reaping, and
other branches of manual labour. It is likewise recom- Theiidiree-
mended by experienced farmers that as far as the situa- Ao"
tion of a field will admit of it, the direction of the riages
A G R I C U L T U R E.
45
Agriculture, should be North and South. Deviations from this rule,
for the purpose of drainage, or on account of the par¬
ticular form of an inclosure, may be sometimes neces¬
sary. But it seems always advantageous to bring the
course of the ridges as near as possible to the line above-
mentioned ; for it appears that in those which have an
East and Westerly direction, even when the elevation
is not considerable, the crop on the South side has
ripened a week earlier than that on the North.
Great diversity of opinion prevails as to the proper
breadth. breadth of ridges ; a point which, it is manifest, depends
altogether on the qualities of the soil. Where the
land is of a light sandy nature, the ridges may with
perfect safety be made both flat and broad ; whereas on
a stiff clay, they should be more narrow as well as
higher and of a rounded form, that the redundant mois¬
ture may be discharged. On some such soils a ridge of
three or four feet is considered sufficiently wide ; and in
Essex, especially, this method is found to yield better
crops than when the water-furrows are placed at more
distant intervals. But as we have already suggested,
there is no uniformity in this particular, the practice
being regulated in every County by the properties which
distinguish the various farms, as also by the uses to
which the land is applied.
Fallowing. There is no subject connected with Agriculture on
which there has been a greater change of practice as
well as of theory, than the ancjent usage of Fallowing.
A vague notion seems to have prevailed in all the Coun¬
tries of Europe that the exhausted soil required some
time for repose, in order to recover its wasted fer¬
tility. At the present day many authors maintain that,
under good management, and a proper succession of
crops, it is hardly ever necessary for most kinds of land ;
while others with equal confidence assert, that Summer
Fallowing forms an essential part of a system of good
husbandry, and that on certain soils it is altogether
indispensable. The avowed object of this process is,
to clear the ground from weeds, and to reduce it to that
consistence which is necessary to healthy vegetation.
The more zealous advocates of the practice admit,
though with reluctance, that it may be restricted to clay
soils, and to those which are of a tenacious quality ; such
being apt to retain a superabundance of moisture, and
to be thereby rendered very often unfit for receiving
cultivation at the usual season. Ploughing in Summer,
they remind us, reduces the hardened mould to the
degree of friability and minuteness of division which are
essential to the concoction of the manure, to the ap¬
proach of the genial atmospheric influences, and to the
ready nourishment of the plants. The soil from being
brought repeatedly in contact with the air is supplied
with a larger proportion of oxygen, which uniting with
the carbonaceous matter deposited by the husbandman,
produces an acid extremely beneficial to all the vege¬
table tribes. According to the same hypothetical rea¬
soning, the water which is absorbed by the pulverized
field is decomposed, and its hydrogen combining with
the azote of the air forms ammonia, while another por¬
tion of oxygen uniting with part of the nitrogen fur¬
nishes one of the ingredients of potash, and thereby
contributes greatly to the improvement of the land.
Certain vicissitudes of temperature, too, which, no doubt,
take place wherever any decomposition or Chemical
change in the constituent parts of bodies is effected, are
also supposed to be useful, either directly or indirectly,
in promoting the growth of plants.
But as Sir H. Davy observes, there is some reason to Agriculture
suspect that the benefits derived from Fallowing have s—
been greatly overrated ; and although it may be ad- Sir H.
mitted as necessary in lands much infested with weeds, ob-
and particularly on such as cannot be pared and burned
with advantage, it must nevertheless, on the whole, be
pronounced unprofitable as a part of general husbandry.
He rejects the doctrine that certain principles necessary
to fertility are derived from the atmosphere, and supplied
to the pulverized soil, during its repose and repeated
exposure to the air ; as well as the old opinion as to the
effects of nitrous salts on vegetation. By the decom¬
position of the weeds buried under the furrow a certain
quantity of soluble matter is no doubt furnished to the
land ; but it may be questioned whether the portion of
useful manure in a field at the end of a clear fallow, is
equal to what it contained when the operation com¬
menced. By the action of the vegetable matter on the
oxygen of the atmosphere carbonic Acid gas is formed ;
but the greater part of it is dissipated and lost to the
farmer. The rapidity of the decomposition of the solu¬
ble substances contained in the soil is greatly promoted,
and the volatile fluids are exhaled by the influence of
the Sun ; but at the very time when a large quantity of
nutritious matter is produced there are no useful plants
to derive any benefit from it.
The whole theory of Fallowing, if we omit the mere His gene-
eradication of weeds, rests on the principle that land, ^'^1 remarks,
while not employed in raising a regular crop, may be so
treated as to supply food for itself, or, in other words,
to improve its productive qualities. This object, as we
have elsewhere stated, may be in a great measure accom¬
plished by means of succulent vegetables grown for the
purpose of being ploughed down. But during a Sum¬
mer fallow, properly so called, no crop is produced
either for food to animals or for the nourishment of the
soil itself. Even the texture of the furrow is less im¬
proved than during its exposure in Winter, when the
freezing of the moisture it contains has the effect of
reducing it to a gentle condition. Besides, since the
drill-husbandry has been introduced the land is kept
free from weeds by hand-hoeing, and manure is supplied
either by the green crops themselves, or from the dung
of the animals which feed upon them. It is the peculiar
advantage of the convertible system of cultivation that
the whole oí' the manure is employed ; those parts of it
which are less fitted for one crop being suitable for the
nourishment of another. Thus the quantity applied to
turnips affords a sufficient portion of soluble matter not
only for their growth, but also for that of the barley
which follows in the regular succession of modern hus¬
bandry. Nay the grass-seeds derive from the same
supply an abundant source of luxuriance, while the rye¬
grass and clover remain, which draw a very small part
of their organized matter from the soil, or only consume
the gypsum, a mineral ingredient of little use to other
plants. These grasses are supposed to receive a large
portion of their nourishment from the atmosphere, and
their roots and leaves when ploughed down at the end of
two years, supply a pabulum to the succeeding wheat
crop. At this stage of the course the farm-yard manure,
which contains phosphate of lime and other matters of
difficult solubility, is fully decomposed ; and as soon as
the most exhausting crop is raised the application of
similar substances is repealed.
These remarks were suggested to Sir H. Davy by Mr.Gregg'g
considering Mr. Coke's plan of cultivation independent system.
46
AGRICULTURE
Mr, Middle-
ton's obser¬
vations.
Agriculture, of Summer Fallowing. Mr. Gregg, whose ingenious
system was published by the Board of Agriculture, had
the merit of first adopting a similar plan on strong clays.
He allows the ground after barley to remain two years
in grass ; then sows peas and beans ; afterwards ploughs
in the stubble of these crops for wheat ; and, in some
instances, fallows the wheat by a course of Winter tares
and barley, which is cut in the Spring before the land is
so'wed with turnips.
There can be no doubt that were it possible to devise
any method of cropping by which the produce, fertility,
and good condition of the soil could be maintained
without the intervention of a Summer Fallow, the saving
would be very great. Mr. Middleton accordingly, in his
Report of the State of Agriculture in Middleseoc, when
speaking of the advantages to be gained by a proper
succession of crops, very justly remarks, that the " bene¬
fits to be derived from this measure are not to be esti¬
mated. Among the first of these will stand the abo¬
lition of Fallows, and the introduction of green crops to
supply their place, over an extent of about three mil¬
lions of acres of arable land which have hitherto, under
the Fallow system, produced nothing during the Fallow
year. So far as tares and turnips, or potatoes and
peas, or turnips and potatoes, or any two good crops
can be raised in one year, in place of a Fallow, the pro¬
duce will be double in quantity what it has been under
the former system. There are about nine millions of
acres in England and Wales in the course of two crops
and a Fallow; that is, six in crop and three in Fallow ;
from which it appears that by procuring one crop in
place of the Fallow, one half more is added to the former
produce."
According to a statement made by Sir John Sin¬
clair, in his Hints on the Agricultural State of the
Netherlands, Fallows are more rarely practised in Flan¬
ders than formerly, and in some districts are entirely
abolished. The succession of crops on strong lands in
the neighbourhood of Bruges is the following ; Fallow,
winter barley, beans, wheat, oats : sometimes there is a
Fallow every fourth year, and sometimes wheat and Fal¬
low alternate. But in the Plain of Fleurus, in the Wal¬
loon Country, Fallows are now rarely seen. At one pe¬
riod they were enforced by a clause in the leases as an
indispensable part of husbandry in that fertile district.
M. Mondez, who was well acquainted with Flemish
farming, when he entered on the possession of grounds
near the town just named, having stipulated with his
landlord that he should be at liberty to pursue a differ¬
ent plan of cultivation, took the lead in this great im¬
provement ; and for a period of forty years he seldom
had occasion to practise Summer Fallow. He super¬
seded the old method by introducing a judicious rota¬
tion of crops. The culture of beans, for example, is
successfully practised in other parts instead of a Fallow,
This crop is succeeded by an abundant one of wheat or
Winter barley ; and it is added by Sir John, " that this
system merits to be encouraged for the great advantage
derived from it ; for without any additional manure,
which however it tends to furnish, it retains the fields
in as high a state of fertility as can be done by the Fal¬
low system ; it exacts but a moderate degree of atten¬
tion, and it requires neither any extraordinary expense
nor hazardous combinations."
The same author informs us, that it is now a maxim
in the Plain of Fleurus that, wherever it is possible to
manure the land fully every ninth year. Fallows are per¬
Fallows diS'
used in the
Nether¬
lands,
fectly unnecessary ; and he notices a Paper on this sub- Agriculture,
ject by M. Burtin of Brussels, who recommends mixing
sand with the soil, to alter and improve its texture, and
burning clay in large masses for the same purpose, as a
substitute for Summer ploughing. At one time, we and in
may remark. Fallowing was so much practised in Swisser-
Swisserland that it alternated with every crop; but at
present it is almost entirely given up, the necessity for
it being precluded by the following rotation, wheat, car¬
rots, vetches, barley, potatoes.
In Norfolk a kind of Fallow, denominated by the Norfolk
farmers a Bastard summer till, is occasionally practised. Bastard
If it shall appear that a piece of ground from which *
clover or some other cultivated grass has been cut, is
not sufficiently clear for the reception of the following
wheat crop, it is ploughed two or three times, if it can
be accomplished, before harvest; and, when it is neces¬
sary, the assiduous application of the roller and harrows
is not neglected. For the purpose of clearing pea-
stubble, it is also subjected to a similar operation.
When the crop is removed from -the land, the straw is
harrowed up, collected, and carried away. A single
ploughing is then given ; after which the ground re¬
mains in that state till the conclusion of the harvest,
when it receives two cross ploughings, and finally, a
fourth as a preparation for the seed.
Drill sowing*
As the improvement now mentioned has arisen chiefly
from the introduction of green crops cultivated on the
plan of what is called the Drill Husbandry, we shall
make a few observations on its history and advantages.
It has been already stated, that this method was intro- Introduced
duced into Britain by Mr. Jethro Tull, a gentleman in
Berkshire, who applied it to his own property about the " '
year 1713. Struck with the remarkable eilects which
the new mode produced, and ascribing the abundant
crops which he obtained to the perfect culture thereby
accomplished, rather than to the fertilizing qualities of
the manure, he extolled the discovery beyond all bounds.
He described it as calculated to supersede the necessity
of manure altogether, the application of which he viewed
as a waste of time, labour, and expense. By thus over- jjis mis-
rating the advantages of Drilling, and loading it with takes,
erroneous views on points not necessarily connected with
it, there is reason to believe that he retarded the pro¬
gress of his favourite system. In the present day when
the utility of manure is so well understood, there is no
danger that any one will be misled by the opinions of
Mr. Tull ; and we enjoy accordingly all the benefit of
his practice without incurring the hazard of his hypo¬
thetical conclusions. It required the enthusiasm of an
inventor to warm the head to such an extent as to induce
a practical Agriculturist to overlook the necessity of
recruiting the energies of the soil, or to imagine that the
best directed labour would ever supersede the applica¬
tion of manure.
The main advantages derived from the practice of Advan
Drilling are understood to be, a saving of seed ; a more tages.
regular and certain growth, from the seed being more
regularly deposited ; a more abundant crop and of a
better quality ; the more easy and effectual destruction
of weeds ; harvesting the crop at less expense and in a
cleaner state ; and the more perfect cultivation of the
soil by means whereof it is left in a better condition fç''
the next sowing. The objections to it apply not to the Objections,
AGRICULTURE,
47
Agriculture, process itself but to the difficulty of having it well per-
formed, and the bad effects which result from awkward
Mr. Amos's workmanship. But the experiments made by Mr. Amos,
ments' detailed at length in his Treatise on Drill Husbandry^
have removed all doubt as to the superior excellence of
this method.. His investigations were made on different
soils ; and in all of them, two acres of laud, laid up in
ridges of eleven feet broad, were sown alternately broad¬
cast, and with the Drill machine. We may state one or
two of the results ; observing that the sum placed oppo¬
site to the name of the cróp denotes the superior value
of that which was Drilled compared with the produce of
the broad-cast.
Oats on stiff loam 1 3 0
Coleseed after the oats 0 1 0
Barley after the coleseed 1 5 3
Beans after the barley 1 1 3
Wheat after the beans 1 14 5
Turnips on sandy loam 0 8 9
Barley after the turnips 0 17 10
Red clover after the barley 0 10 6
Wheat after the red clover 1 9 9
Potatoes on sandy loam, part hand-hoed,
and part horse-hoed, in favour of the
latter.. 3 13 10
Barley after the potatoes 1 16 2
Red clover after the barley 0 13 6
Wheat after the red clover 1 16 0
Cabbages on stiff loam, part hand-hoed
and part horse-hoed, in favour of the
latter 2 10 9
We ourselves have witnessed experiments on the
comparative advantages of Drilling and broad-cast, in
regard particularly to wheat and oats ; and the result in
all cases has tended to prove the decided superiority of
the former. Not only is the quantity greater, but the
quality is considerably better ; and if the season has
been wet or otherwise unfavourable, the latter point of
No saying improvement is still more manifest. It deserves to be
remarked, however, that the saving of seed is quite illu¬
sory, for the best farmers bestow as much on the land
in the form of Drilling as when it is scattered from the
hand. Nor ought it to escape attention that a good deal
depends on the distance between the rows or Drills ; a
branch of the subject which has been well illustrated by
Mr. Young, though his conclusions are not entitled to
the authority they would have possessed had all the ex¬
periments been performed on the same soil and under
the same management. Mr. Tull, it is well known,
recommended the Drilling of wheat, barley, and other
corn crops, at the distance of three, four, and even five
feet between the rows ; but as this part of his practice
was connected with the hypothesis that a well-directed
culture might supersede all other means of fertilizing-
land, he has not been followed, except by a few indivi¬
duals who were determined to adopt his whole system,
and attempt to produce plentiful harvests without the aid
of manure. It is obvious that the number of rows in a
given space should be regulated by the nature of the
soil and the species of the plants ; strong land requiring
more room for its rank vegetation, and that which is
lighter admitting the Drills at a smaller distance from
one another. From ten to fourteen inches is recom¬
mended as a sufficient interval for rows of corn where
the field is in good condition ; but in cases where a
in seed.
Intervals
between
Brills.
luxuriant crop is not to be expected, the distance may Agriculture!,
be reduced with advantage to the narrower limits of
eight inches.
The process of Drilling, or the deposition of seed in Method of
rows by means of a machine, requires considerable care Brilling.
in the performance. The points which demand parti
cular attention are the keeping the rows straight and at
equal distances throughout their whole length, the drop¬
ping the seed at a proper depth, and the delivering it in
proper quantity according to its kind and the nature of
the soil. For these purposes the ground must have
been previously well prepared by repeated ploughing and
harrowing, except in the special case of Drilling beans with
one furrow. This operation is generally performed in
the course of ploughing, either by a person pushing
forward a Drill barrow, or by attaching a hopper and
wheel with the necessary apparatus to the plough itself.
The mode of regulating the depth of the Drill, and the
quantity of seed delivered, must depend on the kind of
Drill used, and only requires attention in the holder.
In Drilling turnips the land is most commonly made up
into ridgelets, at the distance of twenty-seven or thirty
inches from centre to centre, formed by a single bout, or
double motion, of the common plough. The Northum¬
berland machine, which sows two rows at once, is then
drawn over them by one horse walking between the
ridges without a driver ; the holder at once performing
that office and keeping the instrument steady on the top
of the Drills, or ridgelets, as they are sometimes called.
One of the two rollers smooths the surface before the
seed is deposited, and the other follows to cover it and
compress the soil. In Drilling corn, several rows are
sown at once, and great care is requisite to keep the
machine steady and in a straight line. If only five rows
are done at once, the work may be performed with one
horse and a ploughman, but if the implement is so large
as to cover nine or ten rows, there must be two horses
in the yoke, and guided by a driver.
For the Northumberland Drilling machine, we refer Northum
to fig. 30. The roller a which goes before the seed berland
has two concavities, and thus leaves the ridgelets in the
very best form for receiving it ; after it is sown, two light'
rollers, b b, follow and cover it.
Of corn-drills, M.oxioï^s improvedgrainDrillmachine Morton's
is undoubtedly the best and simplest. In it three hop- Brill ma¬
pers are included in one box, the seed escaping out of chin«,
all the three by the revolution of three cylinders upon
one axle ; and Drills of different breadths are produced
by the simple shifting of a nut that fixes a screw moving
in a groove in the under frame, by which the distance
between the two outside conductors and the central one
(which is fixed) can be varied from nine to eleven inches.
And in order that the two small wheels may be always
at the same distances respectively as the conductors,
there are two washers, or hollow cylinders, an inch in
breadth, in the axle arms of each, which may be trans¬
ferred either to the outside or inside of the wheels, so as
to make this distance from the outside conductors, nine,
ten, or eleven inches respectively. The small wheels
may be raised or depressed, so as to alter the depth at
which the seed shall be deposited, by the action of a
wedge which retains the upright part of the axle in any
one of a number of notches, which are made similarly in
both, and which are caught by an iron plate on the upper
side of the arms which carry the axle. This machine,
says Mr. Loudon, may be still further improved by in¬
creasing the number of conductors from three to five,
48
AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture, an improvement, we may add, which has already taken
place. Fig*. 31.
Modes of
classifica¬
tion.
Wheat.
Bowing.
System of Cropping
The great variety of soil and climate in this Country
suggests and even renders necessary a considerable dif¬
ference in the kind of crops that must be raised by the
farmer, who, in this important matter, is frequently de¬
prived of all power of choice. In a systematic point of
view, the produce of land may be considered under such
several heads as shall happen to suit the object of the
writer ; the main distinction being founded on its uses
and application, as food for Man, or.for the lower ani¬
mals : the former class comprehends the various species
of corn, wheat, barley, rye, oats, peas, and beans ;
while the latter may be extended to all the vegetable
tribes which fall under the denomination of green crops.
It is manifest, however, that this distribution does not rest
on any fixed principle, because there is none of the cere-
alia, or genera of grasses, from which the human being
derives his subsistence, Which may not be applied with
equal success to the tenants of the stable, the cow-house,
and the fold. Perhaps a clearer distinction might be
founded on the property of being culmiferous or other¬
wise, thus dividing the products of land into such as are
cultivated for their seeds, and such as are cultivated for
their leaves ; but as our object is to meet the conve¬
nience of the common reader, rather than to comply
with the requisitions of a theory not well established,
we shall proceed to give an account of those crops which
chiefly occupy the attention of the British Agriculturist,
and supply the ordinary demand of our markets.
Of these Wheat deservedly occupies the first place, as
beiníT in these Islands the main stuff of bread. It is uni-
versally admitted that the soils most suitable for this
species of grain are those of a strong, loamy, and even
clayey description ; but it is not denied, at the same
time, that where manure can be had in abundance, and
the climate is not altogether unfavourable. Wheat may
be raised successfully on lands of a much lighter nature.
As far as our own experience goes, we should say that
not less depends on the subsoil than on the qualities of
the pulverized portion which is turned up by the plough ;
for as the fibres descend to a great depth in search of
nutriment, the plants sustain a serious injury from con
tact with ferruginous ingredients, in the subjacent strata.
Before the introduction of turnips and clover, all lands
not decidedly cohesive were thought quite unfit for
Wheat ; but it is one of the many advantages arising
from the use of green crops that new powers have been
thereby added to the soil, and its capabilities enlarged.
Till a very recent period. Wheat was hardly ever sown
but after a regular summer fallow ; a method which is
openly condemned by Mr. Young, in his Calendar of
Agriculture. " If," says he, " there be one practice in
husbandry proved by modern experience to be worse
than another, it is that of sowing Wheat in fallows. If
fallows be thought necessary, let them be sown with
barley, or oats, or any thing but Wheat. But Wheat
may be advantageously cultivated after clover, tares,
peas, beans, turnips, potatoes, and similar crops, regu¬
lating the succession according to the nature of the soil
and the condition of the land." Beans which have been
under suitable culture, are considered by him as the
best preparation for Wheat; clover and tares being the
next in order regarded as preparatory sowings. But
whether Wheat be sown in fallow, or whatever may be Agricultiiw
the preceding crop, it is scarcely necessary to observe
that the land should be in a friable and pulverized state,
and completely cleared of weeds. When Wheat succeeds
beans, the state of the weather will seldom permit more
than one ploughing ; for which reason, before this be
attempted, the operation of cross-harrowing is strongly
recommended, as well for the purpose of levelling the
rows, as for clearing the surface from cumbersome weeds
and straw. To preserve the crop from the effects of
moisture, during the Winter, the ridges should be ga¬
thered up or raised in the middle, and the open furrows
on each side be kept free from obstructions. When
Wheat is sown after clover, a still greater degree of atten¬
tion to the process of ploughing becomes necessary, in
order that the grass roots may be completely covered ;
for when this part of the work is carelessly executed,
the remaining stems vegetate and send up shoots, to the
material injury of the young plants.
But the cares of the farmer are not confined to the Varieties,
cultivation of the fields meant for Wheat. He must
exercise a similar vigilance and discernment in the se¬
lection of the seed ; and this not only as it respects the
quality of the grain, but the kind or species which may
be proved most answerable to his soil and climate, which
every day of the year either aid or oppose his exertions.
The varieties of this grain are too numerous to be spe¬
cified here ; but the most general distinction is that
which respects colour, the red and the white compre¬
hending the intermediate shades. Wheals are again
divided into Summer and Winter varieties ; the former
being usually bearded, while the latter sometimes shows
a woolly ear and a very thick chaff. The white descrip¬
tion affords flour of a finer quality than the red ; but
this disadvantage, in the case of the latter, is compen¬
sated by the property it possesses of coming more early
to the sickle, and of growing on an inferior order of
soils under a less genial sun. Summer Wheat has been
long cultivated in some parts of England, particularly in
Lincolnshire, and might probably be found to succeed
in the more Southern Counties ; but in Scotland it has
not obtained any preference, even when used for a crop
sown in Spring.
As Wheat-seed is sometimes prepared with pickles, or Pickling
steeps and quick-lime, as a preventive of smut, we shall fnd steep-
give a short account of a method which is followed in
some districts with considerable success. Take four
vessels, two smaller and two larger, the former with
wire bottoms and of a size to contain about a bushel,
the latter sufficiently capacious to contain the others
within them. Fill one of the large tubs with water,
and putting the Wheat in one of the smaller, immerse it
in the water, stirring and skimming off the grains which
float above, and renew the water as often as necessary
till it comes oflT quite clean. Then raise the small vessel
in which the Wheat is contained, and repeat the process
with it in the other large tub which is to be filled with
stale urine ; and in the mean time wash more Wheat in
the water tub. When abundance of water is at hand, this
operation is by no means tedious ; and the Wheat is
much more effectually cleansed from all impurities, and
freed more completely from all weak and unhealthy
grains than can be accomplished by the winnowing ma¬
chine. When thoroughly washed and skimmed, let it
drain a little, then empty it on a clean floor, and riddle
quick-lime upon it, turning it over and mixing it with a
shovel, till it be sufficiently dry for sowing.
AGRICULTURE,
49
Agriculture. The experiments of M. Prévost quoted by Sir John
Sinclair, in a Work formerly mentioned, show in a
M. Pre- striking light the advantage of previous preparation of
rhuentT^^" prevention o" mut. The Ibllowing
were the results : 1. infected g i, without any prepa¬
ration, had one-third of the cr smutted ; 2. infected
wheat, simply scalded, gave one-fifth smutted ; 3. sound
wheat, without any preservative, had one-fifth part in¬
fected ; 4. infected wheat well moistened in a solution
of blue vitriol, or sulphate of copper, in the proportion
of nearly two ounces for three bushels of wheat, had
only one-hundredth part affected with smut ; 5. infected
wheat, well moistened with a solution of the same kind,
in the proportion of about four ounces and a half of blue
vitriol to three bushels of wheat, gave only one three-
hundredth part smutted. This solution is described as
being equally efficacious in preventing mildew. The
process maybe more particularly detailed in these words:
Blue vitriol, take three ounces and two drams of blue vitriol, and
dissolve it in four gallons of cold water, the proportion
allowed for every three bushels of the wheat to be pre¬
pared. Into another vessel capable of containing sixty
or seventy gallons, throw from three to four bushels of
wheat, and pour upon it the prepared liquid, till it rises
five or six inches above the corn ; stir it well, and remove
the light grain from the surface. The wheat after being
half an hour in the solution, is thrown into a basket to
allow the liquid to drain off. The seed is then washed
with pure water, and well dried before sowing. It is
said that it may be kept after this process quite sound
for several months. A similar application of blue vitriol
is practised by Mr. Butler of Derbyshire. He dissolves
two pounds of it in as much urine as will moisten twelve
bushels of wheat, and after it has floated a sufficient time
it is dried with quick-lime.
Another preventive of smut recommended to the prac¬
tical Agriculturist is kiln-drying ; an expedient, how¬
ever, which must be adopted with great care, as the
slightest excess of heat might destroy the powers of ve¬
getation. A practice has likewise been introduced by
some farmers of passing their seed wheat through rollers,
by which means a black powdery matter is separated
from the surface of the grain. This also is a method
which, however successful it may have proved in judi¬
cious hands, must not be hastily imitated, there being a
manifest hazard that part of the corn shall be lacerated,
or otherwise injured.
Quantify of No fixed rule can be laid down as to the quantity of
seed which ought to be given to an acre of land suitably
prepared for wheat ; because this is a point of practice
which must be determined in every case by a reference
to the fertility of the soil, the nature of the climate, and
even the period of sowing. On a rich field brought by
culture to a good condition and sown early, the quantity
need not exceed two bushels. In no instance should it
pass three bushels per acre ; although on bean-stubble
the allowance should certainly be more liberal than on
fallow or after a green crop.
In regard to the particular modes of sowing, we have
already said all that appears necessary. Our reasons
for preferring the drill-system to the more ancient me¬
thod of broad-cast are founded on experiment and long
observation ; and wherever the land will admit of it,
the farmer will find the expense of labour and machinery
amply repaid. The method of ribbing, as it is called,
or the making of small furrows at the distance of nine
or ten inches, answers nearly the same end as drilling.
VOL. VI.
Kiln-dry
mg.
Rolling.
seed.
Modes of
sowing.
Ribbing.
The seed, it is true, is scattered by the hand in the usual Agriculture,
broad-cast manner, but as it necessarily falls for the in¬
most part in the furrows, the crop rises in parallel rows,
and the ground is levelled by harrowing. This plan
has nearly all the advantages of the other, so far as
respects the rays of the sun and the circulation of air
among the plants ; but as some shoots will unavoidably
spring up between the lines, it is not so well fitted for
the operations of clearing, weeding, and hoeing. In the
Cbunty of Norfolk, the Dibbling of wheat is still prac- Dibbling,
tised to a considerable extent, though we do not find
that it is attended with any advantage except the sowing
of seed. An expert dibbler, with the assistance of three
children to drop the grains, sows about two roods a
day ; the quantity expended being from four to six pecks
per acre, proving a gain on that article to the amount
of nearly a bushel on four roods. Some attempts have
been made to introduce machinery for this purpose, but
hitherto without success.
After the usual operations of culture and sowing, the
anxiety of the farmer is confined to the two essential
points of keeping the field free from weeds and super¬
abundant moisture. No water should ever be allowed
to stagnate on the surface of the ridges, or even in the
open furrows, otherwise the seed rots and perishes, or if
it escape total destruction, it sends forth sickly plants
which never come to perfection. Where the broad-cast
method of sowing is continued, the process of clearing
cannot be fully accomplished ; being confined to such
weeds as can be removed by the hand. But wherever Hoeing,
wheat is drilled, the business of hoeing can be effectually
executed ; a species of labour which is not less beneficial
to the crop by stirring the soil and closing it in the
roots, than by eradicating the intrusive vegetation by
which it would soon be encumbered. It has been ascer¬
tained that by loosening the earth and gathering it
round the stems of plants, tillering, or the production of
new stalks is greatly promoted, and particularly in the
drill-husbandry. Some curious facts are recorded of the Multiplica-
wonderful multiplication of stems effected by this pro- tion of
cess. In a moderately good crop of drilled wheat, Sir
H. Davy counted from 40 to 120 stalks springing from
a single grain ; and he quotes Sir Kenelm Digby who
saw in the possession of the Fathers of the Christian
Doctrine at Paris a plant of barley which they preserved,
and which consisted of 249 stalks from one seed, and
yielded 18,000 grains. He refers also to Mr. Miller of
Cambridge, who sowed some wheat on the 2d of June,
and on the 8th of August a plant was taken up, sepa¬
rated into eighteen parts, and replanted. In September
and October, they were again taken up, and divided into
sixty-seven separate parts, to remain during the Winter ;
and in March and April they were also taken up, when
they produced 500 plants. The number of ears from a
single grain amounted to 25,509, and the grains were es¬
timated at the amazing number of 576,840. The produce
weighed nearly forty-eight pounds, and measured three
pecks and three-quarters of a peck.
In some districts we have observed the practice of Feeding
turning in cattle into a field of wheat, to feed it down, down,
when it appeared too luxuriant at an early part of the
season. Some benefit was supposed to be derived from
the removal of the upright stems by which the growth
of the lateral shoots become more vigorous ; but if this
practice be ever useful, it must be confined to cases of
excessive luxuriance, and where the land is of a firm
texture. In short, it can only be regarded as a hazard-
H
ôO
AGRICULTURE.
Diseases,
mut.
Mildew
Agriculture ous alternative, resorted to when the crop would other¬
wise be certainly lost.
The principal diseases to which wheat is exposed are
the smut and mildew. The former appears in the shape
of a black ball, which occupies part of the ear, and
thereby not only so far diminishes the produce, but con¬
taminates, more or less, all the sound grain, rendering
it unwholesome food, and quite unsuitable for seed. A
remedy has been already suggested for this evil, as it is
understood by all intelligent Agriculturists to be perpe¬
tuated by means of propagation, or, in other words, that
diseased corn is always reproduced in an unhealthy state.
But a more certain preventive will be secured by the re¬
solution never to sow wheat which has been even in
the slightest degree tainted with smut.
The ravages of mildew, in particular cases, are even
more destructive than that of the pernicious blight just
mentioned. It is generally imagined to originate in a
disordered state of the atmosphere ; and when it takes
place between the periods of flowering and ripening it
has been known to lay waste whole fields in the course
of a week. Nor have any means been discovered for
putting a stop to so fearful a malady. As it prevails
more or less in some situations every season, whatever
maybe the state of the weather, a cause has been sought
in the vicinity of certain plants, the fungous substances
attached to which bear a great resemblance to the straw
of mildewed wheat. The barberry and several other
shrubs have been suspected of extending this evil among
the cereal tribes ; and various ingenious speculations
have been formed to account for the mode of infection.
The communications of Sir Joseph Banks to the Board
of Agriculture give the fullest view that is anywhere to
be found of this obscure inquiry ; though it must be
acknowledged that his researches were not attended with
any practical advantage to the farmer, or with any new
lights useful to the Botanist.
The amount of the produce raised on an acre of good
wheat land varies, in every County, and in every season,
from three quarters to ten. We have known a whole
field average ten quarters of good marketable grain, a
return which may be expressed in another form as equal
to eighty Winchester bushels per acre. But perhaps,
even in the present improved state of Agriculture, we
ought to consider one-third of that quantity as the usual
return throughout the Kingdom.
We proceed now to Barley, in regard to which every
one knows that it grows best on light loams, and even
on a sandy soil, if properly manured. It usually suc¬
ceeds turnips, potatoes, beans, peas, or tares. But
whatever may be the crop which precedes it, the soil
must be brought by repeated ploughings to a pulverized
state, so as to ensure an equal vegetation. In Suffolk,
when Barley follows turnips, it has long been a prac¬
tice to drill the seed without ploughing ; whereas in
Norfolk, where this crop is carried to great perfection,
the land is carefully prepared by the most assiduous
labour. Of this grain there are several species culti¬
vated in Britain, and even different varieties of these
species. The two-rowed species, or Hordeum distichon
of Linnaeus, includes sundry varieties, which are known
by familiar names among the rustics of both divisions of
the island. The early and late, or hot seed and cold seed,
are distinctions universally recognised. To the first of
these belongs the Scotch barley, as well as the Rathripe,
Hotspur, and Sprat, which are also denominated the
Battledore, Fulharn, and Putney, from being cultivated
Amount o£
produce.
Barley.
Succession.
Varieties.
in the neighbourhood of those places. The second spe- Agricultme
cies is the Hordeum vulgare, or tetrastichon, which is
likewise described as hear or higg in the Northern Coun¬
ties, and is found to answer well on elevated situations
and inferior soils. The Hordeum hexastichon, or six-
rowed Barley, is a species which has a strong reed or
straw, grows rapidly, and ripens early, is very hardy,
and withstands the severity of Winter ; whence it de¬
rives its characteristic appellation of Winter Barley. It
is very generally cultivated in Russia, and as far North
indeed as any corn is raised ; but as the quality is rather
coarse, and fitter for meal than malting, it has not ob¬
tained a very favourable reception among our farmers,
especially in the more fertile parts of the country.
From the beginning of April to the middle of May is Sowing,
esteemed the best time for sowing Barley ; bear or bigg,
being an earlier, as well as a hardier kind, may be sown
somewhat later. As it suffers much from weeds in a
wet season, it ought to be drilled rather than sown
broad-cast. The quantity of seed varies according
to the condition of the land from two to four bushels.
We may remark that of late years it has become custo¬
mary to throw Barley into the ground at an earlier period
than formerly; and hence nothing is more common than
to see our farmers occupied with this crop about the
middle of March. In some cases, Barley comes up irre¬
gularly and ripens unequally. To obviate this inconve¬
nience it has been recommended to steep the seed before
committing it to the soil, not only to promote a more
rapid vegetation, but to render it more uniform. Some
Agriculturists add a little soot to the water, with the view
or destroying vermin, which are occasionally found to
attach themselves to the husk of the grain.
No crop requires greater attention in harvest, espe- Care requi-
cially in bad weather, than Barley. When it is fully ripe,
the straw becomes brittle, so that the ears are exceed-
ingiy apt to break off, if frequently or roughly handled.
The intelligent farmer, therefore, cuts it down, while the
straw yet retains a certain portion of its sap and the
grain is not fully hardened. Similar care is necessary
in threshing, especially in separating the spikes, or awns,
as they are provincially denominated, from the ear. For
this purpose, some threshing mills are furnished with
what is called a hummelling machine ; and where this
is wanting, it is customary to put the grain, accompanied
with a portion of threshed straw, a second time through
the threshing apparatus. Where Barley has been mown,
the whole of the straw requires to be twice threshed,
independently of the necessity of getting rid of the spikes,
which sometimes adhere tenaciously to the grain, if not
completely ripened.
The produce of Barley, taking the average of England Produce,
and the South of Scotland, has been estimated at thirty-
two bushels ; but when Wales and the North of Scot¬
land are included, where, owing to the imperfect modes
of culture still practised, the crops are very indifferent,
the general average over the whole will not perhaps
exceed twenty-eight bushels per acre. Restricted to the
County of Middlesex, the average produce is rated at
four quarters of grain and two loads of straw.
Rye, although less used in Britain than other culmi- Rye.
ferons crops, is nevertheless entitled to a place in the
list of our Agricultural productions. It is said to be a
native of Crete ; but it is doubtful whether it can now
be traced to any particular Country. It has been culti¬
vated in Europe from time immemorial, and is considered
as coining nearer in its properties to wheat than any
AGRICULTURE.
51
Varietiess,
Sowing,
The si)ur
Agriculture, other grain. In most parts of the Continent it is more
common than wheat, being a more certain crop, and one
which requires less culture and manure. It is the bread
corn of Germany and of Russia. The varieties of it
are confined to two, the Winter and the Summer ; but
there is so little difference between them, that if sown at
the same time and in the same field, they can hardly be
distinguished from each other. Though it has been
considered as the most impoverishing of all crops, it is
admitted that it will make a good appearance on a soil
much inferior to that required for wheat. It will also
prosper in a colder climate, though it is liable to be in¬
jured by rains during the Winter as well as in the
flowering season ; and in these respects it bears some
lesemblance to the finer grain with which we are now
comparing it.
Rye is sown either in Autumn or Spring, and either
ill broad-cast or in drills ; two bushels and a half being
the usual allowance to the acre when deposited in the
former manner. No pickling or other preparation is
given to the seed, there being no reason to apprehend
the diseases which that treatment is meant to obviate.
The spur, or ergot, is by some considered as a fungus, a
species of Sclerotium, somewhat analogous to that which
occasions the smut. It is not peculiar to Rye, though it
is seldom seen on any other gramineous plant. It is the
production of the seeds ; is long, horny, and cartilagi¬
nous; is sometimes straight, at others curved; and is
occasionally found more than two inches in length. The
resemblance of this substance to the spurs of a cock has
procured for it the name by which it is distinguished.
On breaking a spurred seed you find within it a matter
of a dull white colour, adhering to the violet skin which
surrounds it. Rye thus attacked cannot germinate ; and
as may be remarked in regard to other grain, the most
rainy years are the most productive of this disease ; that
high grounds were nearly free from it; and that even
the lower parts of the same field were more affected
than the upper parts. In France, a malady called the
chronic, or dry gangrene has been produced by eating
ergot or spurred rye. The same effect has been maiked
in Swisserland, where, it is added, most animals refused
to eat the distempered corn. The Royal Society of
Medicine at Paris employed M. Tessier, a distinguished
Agriculturist and man of Science, to go into the Countries
in which the dry gangrene prevailed, and collect a suffi¬
cient quantity of cock-spur Rye for the purpose of making
experiments. The result confirmed the opinion of those
who attributed the human disease to that of the vegeta¬
ble. Such Rye sometimes appears in this Country, but
no instances are recorded oif its producing any such
effects ; but Dr. Wollaston has stated in the Philosophy
cat Transactions several cases in which dry gangrene
was occasioned in one family by eating damaged
wheat ; and nearly the same consequences were pro¬
duced in a household in Wiltshire by the Colium temu-
lentum entering largely into the composition of bread.
M. Lagusca relates that the ergot is covered with a thin
pellicle, and filled with a grey powder. It is collected
as a medicine in Spain by women and children, who
wade in the fields of standing Rye for the purpose ; but
as only a very small quantity can be obtained, it is sold
at a high price as an article of the Materia Medica.
The culture, harvesting, and threshing of rye does
not differ essentially from the same processes as applied
to wheat; and the produce, in similar circumstances, is
nearly equal. Sir H. Davy found in one thousand parts
Culture, &c.
of Rye, sixty-one parts of starch and five parts of gluten. Agriculture,
Professor Thaer maintains that Rye is the most nourishing
grain next to wheat. It contains an aromatic substance,
which appears to adhere more particularly to the husk,
since the agreeable taste and smell peculiar to Rye-bread,
are not found in that which is made from Rye-flour which
has passed through a very fine bolting cloth ; while the
fragrance may be restored by a decoction of Rye-bran in
the warm water used to make the dough This sub¬
stance is thought to facilitate digestion, and to have an
action peculiarly fortifying and refreshing on the animal
frame. In this Country accordingly, Rye is chiefly used
for gingerbread, and abroad in the distilleries, where it
affords a powerful and exhilarating spirit. The best
Hollands is made of Rye, well selected and prepared bj
the manufacturer. The straw, too, is much prized for
work, resembling that of Dunstable.
Next to wheat and barley there is no grain more Oats,
common in the Northern parts of Europe than Oats.
Although its native Country be unknown, the culture of
this valuable crop is confined in modern times to dis¬
tricts of which the latitude is higher than the middle
Provinces of France. In the Southern Departments,
as well as in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, it is almost
entirely unknown ; being unsuitable to the climate
not less than to the wants of the people. Oats re¬
quire an atmosphere which is at once cool and moist ;
for in the absence of rain, and affected by a tempera¬
ture above sixty degrees, the panicles become so con¬
tracted that they cease to afford sufficient nourishment
to the ears, which thus never become plump, but are
thick in the husk, long-awned, and unproductive in
meal. This is very often the case with oats in Scotland
in a dry year, and in the South of England almost
every season.
There are many varieties of this corn, which are Varieties,
known to the farmer under a corresponding number of
descriptive appellations. First there is the white or
common Oat, then the black, the red, the Polish, the
Dutch, the Potato, the Georgian, the Siberian, the Angus,
the Blainsley, the dun, and the Winter Oat. The Potato,
which is distinguished by having large, white, plump
grains, is now almost the only Oat raised on well-culti¬
vated lands, whether in England or Scotland, and usually
brings a higher price in the London market than any
other variety. It may be remarked, however, that, while
the Potato and Polish are the fittest for low situations,
where the soil is rich and the air warm, the red kind
answers best on elevated grounds and under a less genial
climate.
Oats grow well on any texture of land, from the Culture,
stiffest clay to moss or bog, provided it be sufficiently
dry. Nor does the soil on which they are cultivated
require any great degree of preparation. It is generally
the first crop sown on newly broken-up grounds, as the
radical fibres do not, as in the case of wheat and barley,
depend on that pulverized condition of the mould which
results from protracted labour. In regular rotations this
usually follows grass ; sometimes, upon land not rich
enough for wheat, that had been previously fallowed or
had carried turnips, after barley, but rarely aller wheat,
unless from particular circumstances cross cropping be¬
comes a necessary evil. One ploughing is generally
given to the grass lands, commonly in the month of
January, so that the benefit of frost may be gained, and
the surface rendered sufficiently friable for receiving the
harrow. In some cases a Spring furrow is given when
K 2
52
AGRICULTURE
Atrriculture. Oats succeed barley or wheat, especially when grass-
seeds are to accompany the crop. The best Oats both
in quantity and quality, are always those which succeed
grass ; indeed no kind of grain seems better fitted by
Nature for foraging upon grass lands, as a full crop is
usually obtained in the first instance, and the field left
in good order for succeeding ones.
Sowing. The season for sowing this corn extends from the be¬
ginning of March to the end of April. About the middle
of the former month is the time fixed on by the best far¬
mers. In some parts of Ireland, the Dutch Oat is sown
in Autumn ; in consequence of which it is ripe nearly a
month earlier than such as is postponed till Spring, an
object worthy of attention in so moist a climate.
Produce. As Oats are more carefully cultivated in the Northern
V ___
Counties than in those Southward of Trent, the produce
in the former is correspondingly greater, amounting in
some cases to fourteen or fifteen quarters per acre. It
is a grain besides which is subject to much fewer dis¬
eases than the more delicate species of corn. The smut
sometimes, indeed, makes an inroad upon it, but the
injury which is oftenest inflicted upon it arises from
Wire- wire-worms, that is, the larvœ of insects which generally
worms. abound in lands newly broken up from turf. The best
mode of obviating this serious evil is to put off the
ploughing of the field till the period at which it is to be
sown ; for by this means the insect ojr grub, as it is
usually called, is turned down, and before it can work its
v^ay to the surface, the corn has grown up beyond its
reach. In this way gardeners destroy or retard the
progress of the gooseberry caterpillar by digging
under the bushes ; for it is found that the eggs an(l
larvœ of insects, like weeds and bulbs, when buried
too deep in the ground, have their period of vegetation
delayed, and sometimes the vital principle entirely extin¬
guished.
Value of Every one knows that the straw of Oats is more
straw. valuable as forage than that of any other corn crop, and
IS even advantageously used as a substitute for hay
during the Winter months, both for farm horses and
cattle, in some of the best cultivated districts in the
Kingdom!
Peas and Peas and Beans were at one time more generally
Beans. cultivated than they are at present, being regarded chiefly
as the means of cleaning foul ground, and preparing
it for wheat or barley. But since the use of green
crops has in a great measure superseded the necessity
of that expedient. Beans are confined almost exclusively
to clays and strong loams, on which turnip cannot be
successfully raised. There they succeed wheat or oats,
and sometimes also clover or pasture grass.
Culture. lu preparing ground for Peas and Beans, it ought to
be deeply ploughed in Autumn or early in Winter ; and
as a second or even a third furrow must be given in the
Spring, it is usual to make one of them a cross-plough¬
ing. The mode of manuring depends upon that of
sowing. If the seed is to be scattered in the broad-cast
way, the dung should be ploughed down in the fall of
the year ; but if it is to be deposited in the furrows or
in drills, the manure should be laid in with it, so as to
afford the most speedy and active cooperation with the
soil. The remarks which have been made on drill-
husbandry in general apply to the management of this
crop, and need not be repeated. Suffice it to add, that
Beans when sown alone are commonly planted in rows,
at the distance of nine, eighteen, or twenty-seven inches ;
the last being the usual interval when they are meant to
be cultivated by the labour of horses instead of hand- Agriculture,
weeding and hoeing.
The time of sowing varies from the end of January Sowing, &e.
to the end of March. Both in the broad-cast and drill
husbandry, it is common to mix a few Peas with the
Beans, because the mixture at once improves the quality
of straw when used as fodder, and affords a ready
means of binding the sheaves in harvest. The most
approved method of reaping this crop is with the sickle,
but it is sometimes mown, and in a few instances pulled
up by the roots. The amount of produce, as in the case Produce,
of all pulse grains, is very variable and even precarious ;
and were it not that it is still esteemed an improving
crop, it would not be so generally adopted without the
certainty of a higher remuneration in the market.
Tares, which in some parts of the Kingdom occupy Tares,
a considerable share of attention, are found to succeed
best on gravelly loams ; but they produce a tolerable
crop on almost every variety of soil, if properly cultivated
and manured. There are two varieties of the Tare, Varieties,
distinguished chiefly by the period of sowing, the Winter
and the Spring; and although it be difficult to discri¬
minate the seeds of these varieties, they should alwavs
be kept separate, because each thrives decidedly best in
its own season. Winter tares are sown from August till
October ; earlier on poor soils and exposed situations than
on richer and more sheltered lands. The plants should
be fully established in the soil before the approach of
the cold weather. The Spring kind is sown about the
beginning of March, when it is intended to ripen the
seeds ; but when the crop is to be used as green food,
the process may be postponed two months later. Some¬
times the insertion of the seed of Spring Tares is de¬
layed tiilJune, when a quart of coleseed is given to
each acre, for the purpose of supplying weaned lambs in
Autumn with an excellent food. This method is suc¬
cessfully practised on the Down lands in the County of
Sussex.
Tares are generally sown broad-cast, although, on Sowin^>".
good soils, drilling is found to remunerate the additional
labour by a more abundant return. In Middlesex the Produce,
produce amounts to about twelve tons per acre, which,
when converted into hay, is reduced to three or four tons
according to the nature of the season. The most bene¬
ficial application of this crop is soiling with horses or
other live stock on the farm ; but for this purpose it
should be allowed to reach a considerable degree of
maturity. All descriptions of animals thrive upon it.
A single acre of Tares has been known to maintain four
horses in better condition than five acres of grass ; and
twelve horses and eight cows have been kept three
months upon eight acres of Tares, without the addition
of any other food. It is asserted, too, that the milk of
cows fed with this vegetable is so much improved that
it yields a greater proportion of butter than can be pro¬
duced by the best grass-feeding.
Some other species of this plant are recommended to Usefid spe-
the attention of the Agriculturist ; such as the hush des.
vetch, which shoots early in the Spring, vegetates late
in Autumn, continues green all Winter, is excellent
pasture, and on fertile soils might be converted into hay ;
and secondly, the tufted vetch, which rises to a consider¬
able height, and affords abundant foliage, so that it
might likewise be used as green fodder, or prepared for
hay. Lean cattle, it is said, have been greatly improved
by feeding on it. The everlasting pea, or Lathyrus
latifolius, is likewise a plant of large growth and foliage,
^AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture, and has been warmly recommended as a good material
for g;reen food or hay, being of a very nutritious and
fattening quality. Buck-wheat is occasionally cultivated
for the same purpose, as well as chicory^ or wild suc¬
cory, also a succulent, herbaceous plant extremely useful
in the dairy and feeding-house.
Potato. There is no production of the soil which the neces¬
sities of life have of late years raised into higher impor¬
tance than the Potato ; native of a warm climate, and
yet naturalized in all the Countries of Europe. Its
history is involved in some obscurity, and the precise
period of its introduction has not yet been ascertained.
From the History of Plan.ts by Gerard, published in the
year 1597, there is no doubt that the Potato was known
in England at a somewhat earlier period. He speaks
of two kinds, the common and the Virginia, which he
cultivated in his garden ; and yet nearly a century and
a half elapsed before this valuable root became a general
article of food.
Varieties. The varieties of this plant are now almost as nu¬
merous as that of the dog ; the distinction being founded
chiefly on the colour of the Potato itself, or of the flower
which it exhibits when in full growth. In Lancashire,
where it is cultivated with much attention, there are
known no fewer than twenty varieties of the early de¬
scription, and fifteen of the late. But this minute sub¬
division might be carried to a still greater extent. New
varieties are obtained every day by raising a crop from
seed, by which the quality and productive powers of the
plant are said to be greatly improved. When the apples
come to maturity and begin to drop from the stem,
they are collected and preserved among sand till the
Spring, when they are bruised either among the sand,
or fresh mould procured for the purpose, by means of
which the seeds are separated and mixed with the earth.
They are then sown or scattered on a well-prepared or
garden soil ; and when the rough leaf appears, and the
plants have sufficient strength to be safely handled,
they are removed to another bed of fresh mould, where
they are placed in rows and kept free from weeds during
the Summer. In Autumn clusters of small Potatoes are
found at the roots ; these are planted next Spring, and
so on successively three years, at the end of which they
attain their full size. It must be noticed, however, that
the earlier varieties do not bear flowers, and consequently,
do not produce apples ; but by removing the earth from
the roots, and the small Potatoes themselves as they
began to form, Mr. Knight, the President of the Horti¬
cultural Society, succeeded in forcing the plant into
blossom, and thus obtained seeds from the early as well
as the common kinds.
Culture. The Potato loves a soil which is rather loose and
porous ; nothing being more fatal to its success than
stiir, retentive land. In many parts of Ireland, it is
planted on what are called lazy-beds ; the sets being
j)laced on the surface, and covered with earth dug out
of a trench formed round them. But good farmers pre¬
pare their fields for Potatoes nearly in the same manner
as is practised in turnip husbandry. The land is usually
ploughed in Autumn, an operation which is repeated
once or twice in the Spring ; and a copious supply of
manure is deposited with the seed, either in furrow or
drill. Some Agriculturists have discovered an advantage
in bestowing a plentiful dunging on the previous crop,
rather than ou the Potatoes themselves ; for in this way
the excessive luxuriance of the stems is prevented, while
the quality of the root is greatly improved.
No crop is more benefited by the care which is AgneuUure
bestowed on weeding and hoeing. The earth ought not
only to be kept clean, but also to be frequently stirred, Stiringthe
and raised round the roots of the plants at the several
stages of their progress. As the Potato is now almost
universally cultivated in drills, the greater part of the
labour is performed by horses ; but whatever may be
the species of industry required, the farmer should not
withhold it, for nearly in proportion to his exertions
in that way, will be the amount of his produce.
It has been found by those who have instituted ex- Planting,
periments on the comparative advantage of planting
entire Potatoes of a larger or smaller size, cuttings of
different sizes with one or more eyes, or shoots only,
that middle-sized whole Potatoes, or large cuttings of
large Potatoes, afford better crops than smaller Potatoes
entire, or small cuttings, or the eyes or shoots alone.
Considerable diversity, too, in the amount of the pro¬
duce was occasioned by placing the sets in the rows at
various distances, from six to twelve inches. With the
view of saving seed in times of scarcity, the shoots only
are employed ; but this economy is counterbalanced by
many disadvantages. The shoots cannot be planted so
early ; many of them being weak afford little or no pro¬
duce, and the crop is generally later in reaching matu¬
rity. In the use of the eye, or root-bud of the Potato,
the success has been various. In some cases the produce
seems to be equal to what was obtained from larger
sets ; but in others, feeble stems and a diminished return
have afforded ample evidence that this mode of propaga¬
tion ought not to be relied upon by the British farmer.
The prevailing disease of the Potato is the curl, which Diseases,
originating in Lancashire in the year 1778, soon spread
very rapidly, especially in those districts where the cul¬
ture of this valuable root was the most extensive. The
alarm excited by this occurrence led to numerous inves¬
tigations with the view of discovering the cause. At
present the opinion on this head, which seems deserving
of the greatest attention, is that entertained by some
members of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, who
ascribe the malady to an undue ripeness of the seed.
T'o procure, therefore, a sound, healthy stock, it is re¬
commended to select seed from a high part of the
country, where owing to climate, and other circumstances,
the tubers are never over-ripened. With the same
view, such Potatoes as are intended to supply seed for
the following season, should be planted at least a fort-
nisfht later than those which are meant for the table, and
taken up as soon as the stems begin to display a yellow-
green colour.
Among the various methods which have been devised^ th?
for increasing the produce, it has been a practice with
some Agriculturists to cut away those parts of the plant
which contain the flower before the blossom appears.
It has been ascertained by Mr. Knight that this vege¬
table possesses two modes of securing its reproduction ;
the one by producing tuberous roots, and the other by
the general mode of flowers and seed-vessels ; and that
in both these operations. Hence it has been inferred
that if we can prevent the consumption of it in either of
them, we shall make it act more strongly in the other.
On this principle, if a Potato plant is carefully deprived
of its tubers as soon as they are formed, it will be made
infinitely more productive of blossoms and seeds. On
the other hand, if its blossoms are picked off, and
it is prevented from forming any seed at all, the
fluid which would have been employed in that opefa
54 AGRICULTURE
Produce.
Turnip
\ aueties.
A^rsculture. tion, will be expended in forming an increased crop of
tubers.
In regard to the average produce, we cannot form an
accurate judgment without taking into account such a
variety of circumstances of culture, fertility, and climate,
as would render the result inapplicable to any great ex¬
tent of country, even in the same neighbourhood. It
has been stated by some writers to vary from five to ten
tons, according to the nature of the soil, and the skill of
the husbandman. In Yorkshire, from 300 to 400
bushels of the finer variety, and from 400 to 500 of the
coarser sort, are considered a good crop. We have
heard that, in some districts of Kent, more than 600
bushels have been raised from an acre, and that even a
much larger amount has been obtained, in a very favour¬
able season, and from a soil peculiarly rich.
Next to potato in importance we may place Turnip,
viewed at least as the means of improving land, of sup¬
plying to the Agriculturist a valuable species of food for
his cattle. The introduction of this plant, together with
clover and the artificial grasses, formed a new era in the
progress of our native husbandry. It is true that Turnip
does not succeed on every kind of soil, particularly such
as are stiff and clayey ; but on dry loams, and indeed
on all of a loose texture, managed according to the
best courses of cropping, it enters into rotation every
fourth or sixth year. The species usually cultivated in
the improved districts are the white globe, which ripens
early, and gives a full crop ; the yellow, which has the
advantage of being more hard}^ and is usually meant to
follow the other in Spring ; and thirdly, the Swedish or
riita haga, which may be preserved for consumption till
the end of May.
To secure a good return the farmer must have his land
well pulverized, and cleaned. The manure ought also
to be carefully prepared, and in a state of minute division,
otherwise the work will be clumsily performed, and
much of the seed lost We need not add that the pro¬
cess of sowing is usually conducted by means of the
drill-machine. The time of sowing the several varieties
is somewhat different ; the Swedish being put in first,
and the yellow, and both about the end of May. But
as these kinds are much less extensively cultivated than
the white, the principal seed-time takes place in the
month of June. The quantity of seed allowed to the
acre does not exceed two pounds, which, though more
than sufficient to stock the ground with plants, is
thought necessary for securing a good crop on most
soils. As soon as the rough leaf, as it is called, is de¬
veloped in the young shoot, the hoes must be employed
to thin the rows, and destroy the most obtrusive weeds.
Next follows the horse-hoe to stir the soil and clean the
surface ; an operation which it is sometimes necessary to
repeat, should the field not have been brought into good
order by previous ploughing and eradication.
So far as labour is concerned there is no ground,
generally speaking, to dread the failure of a crop in an
ordinary season. But the husbandman has obstacles to
encounter which no exertion can remove, and, we may
add, which no care can altogether obviate. His greatest
enemy is the Turnip fly, the Chrysomela saltcdoria of
Linnaeus, which by preying upon the leaves of the young
plants very soon destroys them. The canker, so much
dreaded in Norfolk, is to be referred to the ravac-es of
Î. '
another insect, the Tenthredo olerácea of the same Natu¬
ralist, which is wafted over in myriads with the North-
East wind from the Continent, and in the course of a
Ckilture.
Injurious
insycls.
day or two covers whole fields. The black caterpillar Agriculture,
commences its depredations on the Turnip plants after
they have made some progress ; and it is sometimes
assisted in its work of destruction by the grey slug, not
less formidable in certain situations than any of the
others.
Various means have been devised to prevent the ruin Remedies,
occasioned by these insects, but hitherto without suc¬
cess. It has been recommended to steep the seed in
water, train-oil, linseed oil, or some similar fluid,
twenty-four hours, and after mixing it with finely sifted
earth, to deposit it immediately in the drill. The strew¬
ing of quick-lime, vegetable ashes, soot, or barley chaff,
and the sprinkling of lime-water, tobacco-water, and
some other liquids, have been practised for the destruc¬
tion of the fly and slug. Rolling the ground with a
heavy roller in the night, when the insect proceeds from
its lurking place, has been adopted by some farmers, but
with doubtful success. It has been suggested that as
the radish leaf is preferred by the slug to that of the
turnip, a little of the former should be sown along
with the latter ; and as the radish appears first, the
chance of an escape is thereby secured for the main crop.
But Turnips are, besides, exposed to a disease in the Other
root. A large excrescence forms below the bulb, which diseases,
after a certain period becomes putrid, and emits a very
offensive smell ; an affection which has been ascribed to
a puncture made by a grub or other insect in the vessels
of the tap-root. It occurs most frequently in dry
seasons ; and the only antidote that has been devised is
to enrich the land by means of assiduous culture and
good manure. There is another distemper familiarly
known in the country by the name of fingers and toes,
when the plant, instead of forming bulbs, sends off a
number of separate roots. In some cases the bulb itself
is divided into lobes, but very often the tap-root is the
part affected while the bulb remains untouched. These
unhealthy indications are frequently observed at an early
period, and sometimes before the appearance of the rough
leaf. All inquiries into the history or origin of this
disease have failed to discover its true source ; at least it
cannot be traced to any peculiarity in the seed, the period
of sowing, or even in the soil. Some writers have con¬
jectured that it may be occasioned by a wound inflicted
on the roots by an insect too small to be observed, or
which retires after it has done the mischief. Marl, or
fresh mould mixed with lime, has been applied to the
land as the only remedy which seemed likely to prove
effectual.
The produce of a Turnip crop varies to a great degree Produce,
in different Counties, according to the nature of the soil,
the management, and the weather. Fifteen tons are
reckoned a moderate return, and perhaps the weight
does not average much higher throughout the Kingdom ;
but we have known instances where it amounted to
fiflv, and have heard of others still more abundant.
V
The Carrot, though long grown in our gardens, is Carrot,
comparatively but of recent introduction into Agriculture.
It seems to have been cultivated from an early period in
Germany and Flanders, and brought over from the latter
Country to Kent and Suffolk, in the XVIth Century.
As it requires a deep soil inclining to sand, it can never
be so generally raised as the potato and turnip, which
come to maturity on a greater variety of grounds. On
other accounts it is less prized, as a regular crop, by
Agriculturists than it was a few years ago; and even in
Norfolk, where it was very successfully cultivated, we
AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture, are informed that it is sown in much smaller quantities
than it was about the beginning of the Century. It is
said that the consumption of Carrot seed in that County
alone has diminished from three or four tons a year to
as many hundred weights.
Varieties. The varieties of the Carrot which appear in our gar¬
dens are numerous, and may be increased to a great
extent by the usual means ; but the only sort adapted
for the field is that which is called the long red. The
farmer should be aware that new seed is most essential,
Culture. as it will not vegetate the second year. We have already
stated that the best soil for the Carrot is a deep rich
sandy loam ; and in preparing it for crop it ought to be
ploughed before Winter, in order that it may be pulve¬
rized by the frost, and in the Spring well stirred to the
depth at least of a foot. This deep tillage may be per¬
fectly accomplished either by means of the trench-
plough following the common one, or by the common
one alone with a good strength of team ; but the former
method is to be preferred wherever the lands are inclined
to be stiff or heavy. In Suffolk, the farmers sow Carrots
after turnips, barley, and peas, set upon a rye grass
lay ; the crops upon the first have generally been most
productive ; next to that they prefer the last. In the
former case, they feed off the turnips by the beginning
of February, and then lay the land up in small balks or
furrows, in which state it remains till the second week
in March, when it is harrowed down, double-furrowed
to the depth of about twelve inches, and the seed sown.
In regard to climate, the Carrot and turnip require
nearly the same temperature ; but the former, from the
depth to which the roots penetrate the soil, thrive better
than the other in dry warm weather. The season for
sowing is the last week in March, or the succeeding
one in April ; though the first is generally preferred, it
being found that the early crop is usually the most pro-
Manuring. ductive. According to some authors, manure should
not be given to Carrots the year they are sown, as it is
alleged that when the roots come in contact with it they
become forked, scabbed, and wormy. This, however,
will only take place in cases where recent unfermented
dung has been applied, or where other manure has not
been properly divided and broken into small pieces.
The best farmers in England always use manure ; for,
though it has been found that good crops may be occa¬
sionally raised in a rich soil without it, the general rule
is, that a liberal allowance of the best dung is quite
essential to an abundant return in ordinary circum¬
stances.
The usual preparation of the seed for sowing is to
mix it with earth or sand to make it separate more freely ;
but some add water, turning over the mixture several
times, and thus bringing the seed to the point of vege¬
tation before it is sown. In France, night-soil is some¬
times used instead of earth, and the drainings of a
dunghill instead of water. The quantity of seed when
Carrots are sown in drills is estimated at two pounds,
w^hile for broad-cast three times as much is found neces-
Prodiice. sary. The produce of an acre, according to Mr. Young,
averages three hundred and fifty bushels ; but Mr. Bur¬
rows states, in his communications to the Board of Agri¬
culture, that his land yielded eight hundred bushels per
acre, a produce which considerably exceeds the largest
crop of potatoes.
Uses, The Carrot is extremely valuable as an article of rural
economy. It is used for feeding all kinds of stock,
serves well in the uairy, and is equal to oats for the sus¬
tenance of labouring cattle. The quantify of nutritive Agricultiue
matter in this plant, as ascertained by Sir Humphry
Davy, amounts to ninety-eight parts in one thousand,
of which three are starch, and ninety-five sugar. Owing
to this circumstance, they yield more spirit to the dis¬
tiller than the potato, averaging, it is said, twelve gallons
per ton.
The Mangold^wurzel, oxßeld^heei^ has of late years Mangold-
been pretty generally cultivated in some of the most im- wm-zel.
proved districts of the Kingdom. It is supposed to be a
mongrel between the red and white beet, though it has
a much larger bulb than either, which in some varieties
grows in great part above the ground. It has been a
good deal cultivated in Germany and Swisserland both
for its leaves and roots ; the former are used either for
spinach or given to cattle; and the roots are set apart, as
well for the latter purpose as for the distillery and sugar-
house. It has been doubted whether it possesses any
advantages over turnip for the general purposes of Agri¬
culture ; and perhaps the main ground of preference
consists in its adaptation to more tenacious soils than
answer for turnip, and in its being less exposed to de¬
predation in the neighbourhood of large towns. It has
been ascertained that any kind of land will suit this
plant, provided it be rich ; and immense crops of it have
been raised even on strong clays. The variety which is
most esteemed in Germany is slightly tinged with red,
although for distillation and the manufacture of sugar,
a selection is made of that particular kind which is dis¬
tinguished by a pale yellow colour.
The ground should be prepared for it exactly in the Cultme.
same manner as for turnip, and the process of sowing-
should be conducted on the system of drill husbandry.
Some farmers, however, prefer to dibble in the seed,
as they are thereby saved the expense of thinning. In
either case, the work should be done about the middle
of April. The produce of this crop, in similar circum¬
stances, does not fall short of Swedish turnip ; but the
nutritive matter afforded by mangold-wurzel is consider¬
ably greater. In 1000 parts, that matter amounts to
136, of which 13 are mucilage, 119 sugar, and 4 gluten.
Hence it is manifest that an acre of it will afford more
nourishment than turnip, carrot, or parsnips. As food
for cows, it has generally been preferred, as it gives no
bad taste to the milk or butter. Near London, it is
very much used for this purpose ; the tops are first taken
off and given by themselves ; and then the roots are taken
up, washed, and given raw. In Britain, the abun¬
dance of corn and sugar has precluded the use of this
vegetable from entering into our manufactures ; but
in France the processes introduced during the domina¬
tion of Bonaparte have not yet been everywhere relin¬
quished.
The Parsnip has not yet been so generally received Parsnip,
into British Agriculture as to merit much attention in
an outline of our crops. In Jersey, where it is exten¬
sively cultivated, beans are commonly grown along with
it ; the former being first dibbled in, and the latter
afterwards sown broad-cast. For fattening cattle, it is
considered equal, if not superior to carrot, as it gives an
exquisite flavour and juicy quality to the meat. It has
the same good effect on milk and butter when cows are
fed on it. When sown in drills, the quantity required is
about two pounds the acre, and the proper season is the
month of February. But notwithstanding the induce¬
ments now mentioned to the culture of this crop, it will
not, it is probable, ever tak^ its place in a regular rota-
56
AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture, tion ; because while, like carrot, it requires much ma-
nual labour, the variable nature of our climate must
ever render the return verv uncertain.
Cabbage. The Cabbage^ though a nutritious plant, and quite
suitable for field cultivation, has not been found profit¬
able as an article of Agricultural industry. One reason
why so much has been said in its favour, by Mr. Young
and other writers, whose experience has been confined
to the Southern Counties of England, maybe discovered
in the circumstance that they compare its produce with
the quantity of turnip raised on an equal space of land.
But it is well known that from the nature of the soil,
the climate, and the mode of husbandry, the weight of
turnip raised in those districts falls greatly short of the
average amount as applied to the Kingdom at large ;
whence it follows that their estimates must be carefully
examined by cultivators whose farms are differently cir¬
cumstanced, or whose management is directed by more
scientific principles in respect to the growth of turnip.
Culture, The Cabbage requires a rich soil inclining to loam.
The mode of cultivation greatly resembles that which
proves most successful with potato, the plants being in-»
serted along the summit of each ridgelet when there is a
suitable depth of earth. The usual season is March,
but they may be planted as late as June with every
prospect of a fair crop in November ; and on this account
they are occasionally substituted for turnip, which has
given way, either from want of rain or a defect in the
Produce. seed. The produce is said to be from thirty-five to forty
tons the acre; and Sir H. Davy found that 1000 parts
of cabbage gave 73 of nutritive matter, of which 41 were
mucilage, 24 sugar, and 8 gluten.
Rape. Rape has of late years claimed for itself a place in the
catalogue of field productions ; being found valuable
not only for the oil which is expressed from it, but also
for feeding sheep on land not well adapted to turnip.
It is cultivated on a variety of soils, as a first crop after
paring and burning, and when old grass-lands are
brought into tillage. Upon fields kept under the plough
it comes into the rotation as a green crop ; and the pre¬
paration and after culture are the same as for turnip.
A variety of this plant is extensively cultivated in Flan¬
ders chiefly for the sake of the oil expressed from its
seed. The husks in the form of cake or dust, after the
oil is withdrawn, constitute an important manure, to
which we have already invited the attention of the
reader. The following remarks by the late Mr. Culley
of Northumberland, comprehend all that are necessary
to be said on this subject.
Mr.Culley's Rape may be sown from the 24th of May to the 8th
Remarks, of June, but comes to the greatest growth if sown in
May. If sown earlier, it is apt to run to seed. From
two to three pounds of seed is required per acre sown
by a common turnip-seed drill. But as Rape-seed is
so much larger than turnip-seed, the drill should be
wider. When hoed, the Rape should be set out at the
same distance as turnip plants. The drills should be
from 26 to 28 or 30 inches, according to the quantity
of dung given. As many plonghings, harrowings, and
rollings should be given as may be necessary to make
the soil as fine as possible ; the produce will be from
twenty-five to fifty tons or upwards. But it is not so
much the value of the green crop, as the great certainty
of a valuable crop of wheat that merits attention. The
sheep are put on from the beginning to the middle of
August ; they must have the Rape consumed by the
middle, or at latest by the end of September, so that
the wheat may be sown before the Autumnal rains take Agriculture,
place. The Burwell red wheat is always preferred. The
land must be made as clean as any naked fallow. There
is scarcely an instance known of a crop of wheat sown
after Rape and eaten off with sheep being mildewed ;
and the grain is generelly well perfected."
In the modern scheme of cultivation by rotation of Clover,
crops. Clover enters into the regular succession. Before
it was introduced, it was thought necessary whenever
land was exhausted by grain crops, to leave it in a state
of nature and inactivity for several years ; after which it
was again put under the plough. At present, however,
such a miserable expedient is superseded by the practice
of raising green crops and corn crops in a certain order
on rich soils ; while in regard to poorer lands, which do
not permit so close a succession. Clover is useful as the
means of converting them into excellent pasture. Red Varieties,
clover, or, as it is sometimes called, broad clover, is the
species most commonly grown on fields which bear an
alternation of white and green crops, because it yields a
larger produce for one year than any of the other sorts.
The white or yellow varieties are seldom mixed with it,
unless it be the intention of the farmer to lay down his
ground in pasturage. On rich, clean soils ten or twelve Culture,
pounds are sufficient for the acre, but on less fertile soils,
especially of a stiff quality, sixteen or eighteen pounds
are required. When it is to be cut for hay, thin sowing
is recommended. It may be put in during any of the
Spring months, with the new corn, or among young
wheat. When it is cultivated with a drill crop, it is
sown broad-cast, as soon as the grain is drilled, and co¬
vered in with a slight harrowing. Sometimes it is sown
before the roller, when the barley is a few inches high ;
and sometimes it is introduced during the operation of
hoeing, whether with the hand or by means of the horse
apparatus. When the field is intended for early pastur¬
age, it is usual in some districts to sow ray, rib, and
similar grasses with the Clover ; and in this way a more
luxuriant herbage is produced, especially on the later
kinds of soil ; but when the crop is to be cut green, it
is better to sow the Clover unmixed.
It is admitted that the greatest advantage is derived Cut while
from this crop by cutting it in the green state, for feed- growing,
ing horses and cattle. Applied in this way, it is asserted
that the Clover supports more than twice the quantity
of stock, than by pasturing or feeding off in the field ;
and the additional manure theieby obtained is an ample
compensation for the expense of cutting and carriage.
Mr. Kent states the difference in the following terms .
" The quick growth of this grass after mowing, shades
the ground, and prevents the sun from exhaling the
moisture of the land so much as it would if fed bare ;
consequently, it continues to spring with more vigour,
and the moment one crop is off another begins to shoot
up. Whereas when cattle feed it, they frequently de¬
stroy almost as much as they eat ; and besides bruise
the necks of the roots with their feet, which prevents
the Clover from springing so freely as after a clean cut
by the scythe. In hot weather, which is the common
season for feeding Clover, the flies too are generally so
troublesome to the cattle, that they are continually run¬
ning from hedge to hedge to brush them off ; by which
it is inconceivable what injury they do to the crop.
But when they are fed in stables and yards, they are
more in the shade, they thrive better, and at the same
time consume the whole of what is given to them with¬
out waste.
AGRICULTURE.
57
Agriculture. When clover is intended to produce seed, it is some-
times cut for a first crop of hay, and the seed is obtained
Seed clover, from the second crop ; but it is a better practice to eat
it well down in the early part of the Spring by ewes and
lambs, for in this way the land is less exhausted, besides
having afforded the peculiar advantage of early green
food for the live stock. The crop remains till the husks
or blossoms become quite brown, and the seeds have
acquired firmness. After being cut down it is left on
the field till it is dry and crisp, that the seeds may be
fully hardened. It is then put up, and the seed is
threshed out in the course of the Winter ; a process
which might be successfully managed by the application
of a mill or other machinery.
Rye-grass It is usual to sow rye-grass with clover, whether the
with clover, meant for hay or pasture ; the former commonly
at the rate of a bushel the acre, or a smaller quantity if
the soil be fertile and in good order. It may be of either
the annual or perennial variety, if it be understood
that the herbage is to be continued for only one year ;
and the former produces in general the more bulky crop.
Choice of In the selection of both these seeds, particular attention
seeds. should be paid to their quality and cleanness. The
purple colour of the clover denotes that it has been ripe
and well saved, and the seeds of weeds, if there be any,
will be the more readily detected. Red clover from
Holland and France has been found to die out in the
season immediately after it has been cut or pastured ;
while the English seed produces plants which stand
over the second, and even the third year. Between tlie
seeds of the annual and perennial rye-grass the differ¬
ence is hardly discernible ; and therefore unless it be of
his own growth, the farmer can have no certainty that
he doés not labour under deception in this important
matter.
Trefoil Trefoil is not only a useful plant in pasture lands,
but may also be beneficially employed as one of the cul¬
tivated grasses. The stem is more slender, and the
growth less luxuriant than common clover. It is sown
with oats, or among the wheat crop in the Spring, when
it is to be succeeded by grain in the following season ;
by which means a good feed is obtained for cattle from
harvest till the dead of Winter. Trefoil affords good
pasturage for all kinds of stock, but more especially for
sheep. It is earlier than clover, and comes well in after
the turnip and rye crops are consumed.
Sainfoin. Sainfoin also is a very useful plant, especially on the
lighter descriptions of calcareous soils ; affording a valua¬
ble food in hilly situations, whether as hay or pasturage.
It is sown with many of the Spring corn crops, but it
thrives best with barley after turnip ; and it is recom¬
mended by some that only half the quantity of barley
used for a full crop should be used in such circum¬
stances. Much of the success in all cases, however,
depends on the after management. While some writers
advise that it should be cut for hay instead of being
pastured ; others maintain that it should be neither
cut nor pastured till the Autumn of the first year.
The diversity öf practice here recommended may arise
from a difference of the soil, and a greater or less de¬
gree of luxuriance in the crop. But in every in¬
stance, a crop of hay is taken the succeeding Sum¬
mer ; and the afler-grass is fed down, to a certain de¬
gree, by any kind of stock except sheep till the month of
December.
It8 culture. It is not till the third year that Sainfoin attains its
perfect growth ; and it begins to decline about the eighth
VOL. VI,
or tenth, unless manure be liberally applied. Goal- Agriculture,
ashes, peat-ashes, soot, and malt-dust are employed for
this purpose ; and when the plants are well established
in the soil, top-dressings of this kind, every third or
fourth year, retain them in vigour nearly double the
period. This crop is useful in its green state for all
kinds of stock, although it has been supposed that the
flavour of milk is injured by it ; but it is more com¬
monly used as hay, as it affords a very nutritious food to
working horses as well as other descriptions of cattle.
Lucerne has for a good many years occupied a part Lucerne,
of our best cultivated lands. It grows most luxuriantly
on deep, rich, loamy soils, which must, however, be
kept dry and well manured. With this view the fields
are prepared either by means of fallowing, or by a hoed
crop of turnips, carrots, or cabbages. The plants strike
deep into the ground, sending up numerous clover-like
shoots, which bear blue or violet-coloured leaves. It is
extensively grown in the South of Europe, and has
been found to answer well in many parts of England,
though the principal seat of its culture is Kent. The
Roman authors extol this grass very highly and give
minute directions for its management ; reminding the
practical farmer that it requires a deep, friable soil in¬
clining to sand with a subsoil of a similar character ; that
it must be sown early in the season ; kept free from
weeds ; and occasionally supplied with a top-dressing
of manure.
The seed of Lucerne is of a larger size and paler Sowing
colour than that of clover. The quantity required in Lucerne
the broad-cast method is from eighteen to twenty pounds
per acre ; but when drilled in rows twelve inches dis¬
tant, ten or twelve pounds are said to be sufficient,
though our own experience, even on good land, con¬
firms us in the belief that this estimate is rather too low.
When the plants are to be raised in a seed-bed, the
sowing should be as early as the frosts admit, that they
may be fit for transplanting in August. This mode can
only be practised on a limited scale, and in order that
where the soil is rich the crop may stand thin and
regular, and thereby acquire a vigorous growth. Where
the labour of weeding and hoeing cannot be perfectly
executed, the broad-cast method of sowing may be
adopted ; but where suitable attention to the land can
be bestowed, drilling at narrow distances should un¬
questionably be preferred.
In a fertile country, there is an obvious advantage in with other
sowing the Lucerne alone, inasmuch as less time is lost, crops,
while there is a greater certainty of obtaining a crop.
But the sowing with corn on light and porous soils
affords the young plants some protection, and also, it is
thought, prevents the ravages of the fly. When Lucerne
is sown with g*-iijn, the quanty of seed used for the
latter ought to be smaller than for a separate crop ; and
we add that for this purpose oats are considered better
than barley as they are not so apt to lodge in a moist
season.
The culture of Lucerne is attended with considerable, Culture,
expense, but, when it succeeds, it brings to the farmer a
full remuneration. Being one of the earliest grasses, it
is sometimes ready for the scythe about the end of May,
and, in favourable soils, it may be cut every five or six
weeks throughout the season. Again, besides affording
a very nutritious food, it is extremely useful for soiling
horses and other cattle, and indeed for all the purposes
contemplated by the Agriculturist in raising the arti¬
ficial grasses. The failure of clover in lands whereon it
1
58
AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture, has been too frequently grown, a fact fully established
'by experience, may therefore induce practical men to
make a trial of Lucerne in places in which it is hitherto
little known ; and in time it may possibly become so
inured to our climate as to grow luxuriantly in parts of
the Island, of which the soil and climate do not rank in
the first class. It is sometimes used for hay ; but un¬
questionably the most profitable application of it is in
its green state, for the soiling and feeding of live stock.
Flax and As Flax and Hemp are very sparingly grown in this
Hemp. Country, we shall hold it sufficient to mention that they
both require good soils, and are, at the same time, con¬
sidered so exhausting to the land as to require a larger
price than can be obtained in face of a competition with
Holland and Russia. Dutch seed is in higher estima¬
tion than any other ; it being found that it raises a
larger produce than the American, and secures a finer
quality than that imported from Riga. In former times
the process of steeping and bleaching was both tedious
and precarious, for if the weather became wet there was
a great risk of losing the whole crop before it could be
dried ; but this labour and hazard are now precluded
by the use of Hill and Bundy^s Patent machines, by
which the whole preparation of Flax for the mill may be
accomplished in the space of six days.
Hops. The Hop, though largely cultivated in some parts of
the Kingdom, is by no means a general product of Agri¬
cultural labour throughout the Empire, because it
requires advantages of soil and climate which are denied
to the greater portion of it. In the most favourable
situations it is a very precarious crop, sometimes yield¬
ing an ample profit, and at other times not defraying the
expense of rearing it. The plant itself, as Mr. Parkin¬
son remarks, is extremely liable to disasters, from its
first putting up in the Spring until the time of picking
in September. Snails and slugs, ants and fleas, are
formidable enemies in the first instance. Frosts are
inimical to its growth; and the bines are frequently
blighted even after they have reached the top of the
poles. Certain green flies which make their appear¬
ance in the months of May and June, when the wind is
about North-East, often greatly injure them ; and they
are subject to be damaged by high winds from the
South-West. The best situation therefore for a hop¬
garden is a Southern aspect, well shaded on three sides,
either by hihs or planting, which is supposed to be the
chief protection that can be given them.
Culture. When it is intended to have a new plantation, the
best method is to have the cuttings from approved stock
planted out the year before they are wanted in the
hop-ground, as the use of plants instead of cuttings not
only gains twelvemonths, but they are more certain to
flourish, as many of the latter will not take root in a
dry season. A small piece of moist land is sufficient to
raise plants for many acres and at little expense. In
preparing the ground, it is worked with a spade, and
set out in ridges about ten feet wide, and two yards
between each ; having a strip of grass, called a pillar,
next every ridge, and an open drain between every two
pillars, the depth of which varies according to the soil.
Three rows of plants are made upon each ridge, which
should intersect each other at right angles. They are
generally about six feet distant in the rows, so that the
number of plants on a statute acre may be estimated at
thirteen hundred.
Expense. expense of taking up hop ground is from £d to
£6 per acre, as the price of planting varies with the
mode pursued ; and if the drains are required to be Agriculture,
deep or the soil is particularly strong, a still greater sum
will be expended ; to which may be added ¿^25 per
acre for poles, the rent and taxes, and also the working
for three years before many hops can be expected. " The
following are termed the annual orders: digging the
ground completely over, hoeing the earth from the
plants, and cutting off the stock a little above the roots,
which processes are called pickling and cutting ; poling^
which is carrying the poles from the stacks, and setting
them down to the plants with a round implement shod
with iron and called a poy, having a crutch at the top
and a peg through the middle to tread upon ; tying the
bines round the poles with rushes and pulling up the
superfluous bines ; hoeing the ground all over with a
hoe of large dimensions ; wheeling and laying manure
upon every plant or hill ; covering the manure with the
soil, which is done by scraping the ground over with a
hoe and is called hilling ; and stacking, which is carry¬
ing and setting up the poles into heaps or stacks, after
the crop has been taken. The annual expense of these
orders varies from £2, 15s. to £3. 5s. per acre.
As to the manure most proper for the hop culture. Manure,
good stable dung is much used, and is preferred to the
manure made by cattle, as the latter encourages ants on
strong ground. Woollen rags are the best for forcing a
luxurious bine, and if used with judgment are excellent
for clay-land ; but they are apt to make the hops small
if too many are employed. Malt, culm, and dove-
manure are excellent ; and one complete dressing with
lime is very serviceable for strong ground.
When the crop is ripe, a proper number of pickers are Picking,
procured, for whom are provided light wooden frames,
called hinge'S ; they are clothed with hop-bagging, into
which the hops are picked off the poles by women and
children, having them brought by men, who take them
up by cutting the bines about a foot above the ground,
and drawing up the poles by an instrument called a
dragon* Each hinge has from four to six pickers, and
a man attends to one or two hinges according to the
crop ; he strips the bines from the poles as they are
picked and lays them in heaps ready for stacking ; he
also carries the hops to the kilns, if near, or to a cart, as
they are measured from the hinge. It is necessary to
have a supply of coke in the kilns to dry the hops which
are spread on hair-cloth, stretched upon an open floor
of wood over the fire, every noon and midnight, so long
as the picking continues. They are stirred repeatedly,
and when cured are turned off into the store-room to be
put into bags and pockets, (after they have been there
about a week,) which is done by fixing each bag in a
frame and treading the hops in. The excise officer,
who attends during the season, then weighs them, and
charges twopence per pound for the duty, when they
become marketable.
From the foregoing particulars, continues Mr. Par- Profits,
kinson, it will appear that there are scarcely any hop-
grounds which do not cost yearly upwards of 5^12
per acre, (exclusive of the picking and duty, which may
exceed ¿^20 per acre ;) and there are other grounds on
which upwards of <£20 the acre are expended ; so the
average may be said to be about £15 per acre, without
the picking, drying, and duty. If a good plantation
produces ten hundred weight per acre in a crop year,
which are sold at £5 per hundred weight, the annual ex¬
penses being £20, and the labour and duty £20, the pro¬
fit will be £10 ; and admitting that the same ground pays
AGRICULTURE
59
Agriculture, all expenses in a blight year, and supposing this to be
every third year, the profits would be nearly <£7 per acre
annually. But, as the foregoing crop cannot be ex¬
pected on any ground every other year, the produce of
the third year may be stated at five hundred weight
per acre, at eight guineas per hundred weight ; from
\vhich amount must be deducted the annual expenses
<£20, and the picking and duty £12, leaving as before a
profit of about £10.
On a suitable soil, properly managed, a hop planta¬
tion may continue in a state of tolerable productiveness,
fifteen years or more, but in ordinary circumstances it
begins to deteriorate about the tenth year. The ex¬
pense of forming one has been estimated, including all the
expenses of cultivation and building, at from £70 to
£100 per acre. The annual dressing, too, absorbs a
great quantity of manure, which, of course, must be
withheld from the lands under tillage, and thereby give
occasion to a certain degree of loss. It may conse¬
quently be inferred that the growing of hops, in favour¬
able circumstances of soil and climate, is a profitable
application of Agricultural capital and skill.
Other Quj. limits will not permit any minute description of
a variety of other productions which, in particular dis¬
tricts, occupy the attention of the farmer : such as fiorin
gmss, strongly recommended by the late Dr. Richard¬
son ; woad and weld^ articles used for dyeing black and
yellow respectively ; the spurry^ or Spergula arvensis^ a
plant occasionally sown on stubble fields ; buck-wheat,
a grain principally used for feeding poultry ; maize or
Indian corn, lately attempted on a small scale; and kelp,
a marine product raised for the purpose of supplying
an alkali or potash, which is found useful both as a
manure and in the manufacture of soap and glass. We
therefore pass on to another branch of our subject,
namely,
The Succession or Rotation of Crops.
Causes oi It is now one of the best established principles in
fertility. farming, that land from which the same species of crop
is taken for a number of years, is more exhausted than
if the same quantity of produce were raised from it, pro¬
vided the grain or plants were of different sorts. Hence
it is an important inquiry, how the kinds of crop best
adapted to different situations should be selected, so as to
obtain at the cheapest rate, and with the most certain
success, those which are the most advantageous and
which best correspond with the nature of the land and
the husbandman's means of raising them ; keeping in
view general economy and profit, and the full supply of
manure requisite to support the fertility of the soil. In
every system of management, a remark made by Dr.
Coventry, the late Professor of Agriculture at Edin¬
burgh, should be remembered; namely, that the fer¬
tility of any soil is augmented in proportion as it is
already fertile ; or, in other words, that it is more diffi¬
cult to raise the fertility of land from the pitch of bear¬
ing two quarters to that of three, than from three to five
or even six. It is true, as the same author observes,
that the circumstances of situation can alone determine
what are the most proper species of crops for cul¬
ture ; the proportion in which they should be raised, and
the best order or succession with respect to one another.
Certain particulars in different cases require the atten¬
tive consideration of the husbandman, when about to
settle the mode of culture for his arable fields ; some of
them are of general import while others are more con- Agriculture,
nected with local peculiarities of earth and atmosphere,
In all cases, the main points to be considered are the Alternate
proper adaptation of the corn crops to the nature and
state of the lands, and the judicious intermixture of
green crops so as to prevent the exhaustion or deteriora¬
tion of the soil ; that is, the strict observance of the alter¬
nate husbandry. In this way the culture of the field
approaches to that of the garden, and the impoverishing
effects produced by a succession of grain crops are
avoided, while the amount of produce is greatly in¬
creased. But it ought to be observed that the fertility
even of the richest land cannot be retained by a con¬
stant course of alternate cropping ; while such manage¬
ment on a sandy soil, and indeed on all of a higher
description, is positively injurious. For the purpose of
keeping up the requisite degree of vigour in such lands,
that portion which has produced a herbage crop is
allowed to remain in pasture, during one or two years.
According to this system, which, to distinguish it from andconver-
the alternate, is denominated convertible husbandry, the creps.
same land is at one period under the plough, and at
another in pasture grass. In conductingboth schemes,
the convertible and the alternate, the farmer must not
repeat a crop on the same field at too short an interval ;
and this remark applies to turnip and potato as well as
to wheat or rye. A too rapid recurrence is certain to be
followed by a diminution in the extent as well as in the
quality of the produce.
It has been recommended by the author of the Sur- Proportion
vey of Middlesex, that where the land is of the best qua- of green
lity an alternation of green and white crops may be pur-
• /» • croDs
sued ; that where the land is of a full medium quality, ^ '
three green crops and two corn crops should be taken ;
that for ordinary land the proportion should not exceed
one corn crop for two green crops ; and that for poor
exhausted land, as that of the Down and Sheep-Walk
description, one grain crop is sufficient for three of
potato, clover, or turnip. By cropping in this manner
and in the proportions now stated, it is supposed that
lands may be kept in a clean state and in a proper de¬
gree of fertility ; or as the author expresses it, under
such management they might be continued in perpetual
aration with a constant succession of large products.
According to the proportions just stated, the follow- Rotations,
ing series of crops are suggested :
I. Corn, clover, peas ; or peas, beans, corn ; being
two green crops for one of the white kind.
II. Corn, clover, tares, turnips ; or corn, clover, peas,
and beans ; being three green crops to one white.
III. Tares, potatoes or cole, turnips, corn, clover;
being four green crops to one of corn.
IV. Peas, beans, corn, clover, tares, turnips ; being
five green crops to one of grain.
On lands where the convertible husbandry is pur¬
sued, horse-hoeing practised, and the green crops sown
on ridges at a proper distance from one another, the
following Rotations are suggested by Mr. Close for dif¬
ferent sorts.
I. On clay soils. 1. Turnips or cabbages.
2. Oats.
3. Beans and clover.
4. Wheat.
5. Turnips or cabbages.
6. Oats.
7. Beans and vetches.
8. Wheat.
i2
60
AGRICULTURE.
Agriculture.
II. On clayey loams.
1. Turnips or cabbages.
2. Oats.
3. Clover.
4. Wheat.
5. Turnips or cabbages.
6, Barley.
7. Beans.
8. Wheat.
HI. On rich or sandy
loams.
1. Turnips and potatoes.
2. Barley.
3. Clover.
4. Wheat.
5. Beans.
6. Barley.
7. Peas.
8. Wheat.
IV. On peaty soils.
1. Turnips.
2. Barley.
3. Clover.
4. Wheat.
5. Potatoes.
6. Barley.
7. Peas.
8. Wheat.
V« On a chalky subsoil. 1. Turnips.
2. Barley.
3. Clover.
4. Wheat.
5. Potatoes.
6. Barley.
7. Peas.
8. Wheat.
VI. On gravelly soils.
1. Turnip.
2. Barley.
3. Clover.
4. Wheat.
5. Potatoes.
fi. Barley.
7. Peas.
VII. On light lands.
1. Turnips.
2. Barley.
3. Clover and rye-grass.
4. Ditto, ditto.
5. Ditto, ditto,
6. Peas.
7. Rye.
8. Wheat.^
Cross»crop*
ping.
Tliese examples are sufficient to illustrate the subject of
improved Rotations as explained by Mr.Brown in his Trea¬
tise on Rural Affairs^ but as the best general scheme may
be occasionally deviated from with advantage, the same
author adds that cross-cropping in some cases may per¬
haps be Justifiable in practice. For instance, we have
seen wheat taken after oats with great success when
these last had followed clover on a rich soil, though, as a
permanent rule, it cannot be recommended. We have
heard of another Rotation which seems to come under
the same predicament, were it not that, without the test
of experience, we must not presume to pronounce upon
its merits. The method alluded to begins with a naked
fallow, and is carried on with wheat, grass for one year
or more, oats, and wheat again, with which the series
terminates. The supporters of this plan of cultivation
maintain that beans are an uncertain crop and raised at
great expense ; and that in no other way will corn, in Agriculture
equal quantity and of equal value, be produced at so
little expense. That the cost is lessened we readily
admit, because no more than seven ploughings are given
through the whole Rotation ; but whether the crops will
be of equal value, and whether the ground will be pre¬
served in equally good condition, are points which re¬
main to be ascertained by experience.
In East Lothian, a district in which Agriculture has Rotations
reached a high degree of perfection, the following Rota- in
tions are observed. On lands near the sea where the Fothian.
soil is a dry gravelly loam, a four-course shift, as they
call it, is adopted. 1. Turnip with or without manure ;
2. barley or Spring-wheat with grass seeds; 3. clover,
used green for cattle, or cut for hay ; 4. wheat, or oats
if wheat was taken before, manured on the clover lay.
On this description of land, the turnips are consumed on
the ground by sheep. On deeper loams with a dry
bottom the usual Rotation is, 1. turnips; 2. barley or
spring wheat ; 3. grass ; 4. oats ; 5. beans drilled and
horse-hoed ; 6. wheat. The manure is applied only once,
and in this Rotation is given to the turnip, so that suc¬
cess in this mode of cultivation can be obtained only on
land of the best quality. On heavy loams with a reten¬
tive subsoil the method is somewhat different ; namely,
1. fallow with manure ; 2. wheat ; 3. beans drilled and
horse-hoed ; 4. barley ; 5. clover, which is manured On
the stubble ; 6. oats ; 7. beans ; 8. wheat. The appli¬
cation of manure twice in the course of this Rotation is
found very beneficial.
Connected with Rotation we may observe that a change Varieties of
of the variety as well as of the species of the plants used in
husbandry, is found to be attended with great advantage.
It is well known that of two parcels of wheat, for example,
as much alike in quality as possible, the one which had
been raised on a soil differing much from that on which
it is to be sown, will yield a better produce than the
other that grew in the same, or in a very similar
soil and climate. Thus farmers too, in one district find
that wheat from another, although not superior to their
own, is a very advantageous change ; while oats and
other grain brought from a clayey to a sandy soil, are
more productive than seed raised on similar ground.
No precise rules can be laid down for fixing the pro- Distribu-
portion of any farm which should be occupied by the bo"
different crops ; for the quantity of land destined to
each must be varied not only according to its soil and
climate, but even according to its local situation in
regard to markets. As, however, a great objeót in
every well-regulated system of husbandry is to preserve
the ground in good condition, and at the same time to
derive from it the greatest quantity of produce it is capa¬
ble of yielding, a certain relation must always be
established between the extent of land allotted to green
crops on the one hand and to corn crops on the other.
The necessity of this arrangement will appear from the
fact that, while the return of manure from corn is only
about four tons for the acre, the amount arising from a
green crop exceeds six tons ; and, as it has been calcu¬
lated that a farm cannot be kept at the proper pitch of
fertility, unless the crop yield manure at the average of
five tons, it becomes manifest that a given proportion of
the land must be used for the production of turnip,
clover, and potato.
Before we conclude this branch of the subject we shall Experí-
add a few remarks on the advantage of experiments on ^nd
soils and manures, made with the view of ascertaining Manures,
AGRICULTURE.
6J
Agriculture, their influence on each other, and their respective tend-
ency to invigorate the principles of fertility, and in¬
crease the amount of Agricultural produce. Here we
do not allude merely to those trials made by theorists
and speculative writers on the Geological properties of
soil at large, nor to those ingenious conclusions derived
by the Chemist from a scientific analysis of the various
substances which are applied for its improvement in the
great scale. We rather mean those particular experi¬
ments which are made by individuals on their own
lands, with a reference to the several kinds of manure
which may happen to be within their reach. Were this
plan generally adopted by farmers, a degree of precision
and accuracy in their knowledge of rural affairs would
soon be acquired ; which, we venture to predict, would
place Agriculture as far in advance of what it is at pre¬
sent, as it is now in advance of what it was fifty or
eighty years ago. The trouble and expense of making
experiments is, no doubt, considerable ; but the value of
the knowledge thereby obtained would prove an ample
remuneration, preventing much useless labour and an
unprofitable outlay of capital,
by Mr. To illustrate what we mean we shall give an example
Oliver. of the kind of experiment now recommended, supplied to
us by an eminent Agriculturist in Mid Lothian.* The
object in view was to ascertain, in the first place, the
relative value, in producing potatoes, of dry recent horse-
manure, of cow-dung, and of street-sweepings, or rather
the aggregate substances which are collected in large
towns under the direction of the police ; and secondly,
that particular distance between the rows in a field of
potatoes which will secure at once the largest produce
and the best quality.
For this purpose a portion of land was selected, as
nearly as possible of a uniform character, and extending
to about two Scotch acres. The plan of proceeding will
be easily understood by the subjoined description of
the field. It was divided into five portions of thirty-six
feet broad ; each of which again divided into three por¬
tions twelve feet broad. Upon the first twelve feet, begin¬
ning at one side of the field, twelve drills, occupying one
foot each, were formed, and cow-manure applied at the
rate of forty carts, weighing about eighteen hundred
^Weight each, to the acre. Upon the second twelve feet
twelve drills of the same width were made, to which the
same quantity of dry horse-manure was applied ; and
on the third twelve feet, the like quantity of street-ma¬
nure was laid, and the same number of drills were
planted. In like manner, upon the remaining four
divisions of thirty-six feet, drills at the distance of
eighteen, twenty-four, thirty, and thirty-six inches respect-
♦ Mr. Oliver, who through the medium of the Periodical Press
has thrown much light on some interesting branches of rural
oronomy*
ively were formed, and the same kinds and quantities Agriculture
of manure were applied in the same order ; that is, on
every separate portion of thirty-six feet, subdivided into
three sections of twelve feet, cow-dung, horse-dung, and
street-dung were laid successively as has just been
described.
The whole field was planted with that description of
potato known in Scotland by the name oï Dons, and in
England by that of Pinkeyes, It is obvious that there
were in it fifteen lots or portions ; each of the five prin¬
cipal sections being subdivided into three minor sections.
When the crop was ripe, each division was lifted sepa¬
rately, the produce freed from earth by riddling, and
carefully weighed. In order to ascertain the eifect of
the different widths on quantity, the weight obtained
from each of the five divisions on which drills of twelve,
eighteen, twenty-four, thirty, and thirty-six inches
respectively were formed, was ascertained. For this
purpose it will be observed, it was not necessary to make
any distinction as to the different kinds of manure
applied, because each division received an equal portion
of the three sorts.
The result as to the effect of distance between the
drills is exhibited in the 1st Table, and goes far to
prove the importance of attending to that particular.
The Ild Table exhibits the result of the experi¬
ment as to the relative value of the several kinds of
manure employed ; which, taken in connection with
various other experiments on the same subject, leaves
no doubt that great benefits would arise from experi¬
mental investigations in regard to the means of ferti¬
lizing land for different species of crops. It is rendered
manifest on the present occasion, that street-manure is
very inferior, for the purpose of cultivating potatoes, to
that supplied either by the cow or horse ; but no
general conclusion can be established until it shall be
verified by experiments that its inferiority is equally
great on all other soils. The ascertainment of this sim¬
ple fact might perhaps lead to the most important
results as to the peculiar food, or pabulum^ of the
potato plant.
The Hid Table is formed by taking the average pro¬
duce per acre, obtained from each of the three kinds of
manure employed, and at the several distances between
the rows, as shown in Table II. In this way is
brought into one view the comparative values of the
manures and the average result of the five experiments.
In fact, each of the five greater divisions may be regarded
as a separate illustration of the principles involved,
whether in the mode or material of cultivation ; though
when the whole are alternated and repeated under so
great a variety of circumstances, they produce a greater
degree of confidence than when estimated singly. But
we beg the attention of the reader to the Tables them-
wîves.
62
AGRICULTURE.
Agncultuie.
Sketch of the. Field showing the situation of the Lots, their Produce, and the manner in which the different
kinds of Manure were applied.
Agriculture.
Measurement.
Inches
between
rows.
A. 11.
F.
f
Cow-dun^
12
Rows
151 Falls
BOLLS.
Produce 4
F.
0
p.
0
•
0 I
5|
12 ,
Horse-duiig
12
Rows
151 Falls
Produce 4
2
0
(U
Street-dung"
12
Rows
15|- Falls
Produce 4
0
0
CO
i
I
1
Cow-dung
8
Rows
16 Falls
Produce 6
0
0
1 •
! 0 1
i
H
18 -
Horse-dunsc
CT*
8
Rows
16 Falls
Produce 5
3
0
1
1 ^
1 CO
1
1
fe
Street-dung
8
Rows
16 Falls
Produce 4
2
0
Cow-dung
6
Rows
16-| Falls
Produce 6
1
2
•
0 1
10
24 -
Horse-dung
6
Rows
16f Falls
Produce 6
1
»
1
a>
CO
CO
J
V
Street-dung
6
Rows
164 Falls
O
Produce 4
0
1
*
/
Cow-dun«^
5
Rows
18 Falls
Produce 7
2
0
I
0 1
loa
30 <
Horse-dung
5
Rows
Ï8 Falls
Produce 7
2
0
J
CO
CO
4
■
Street-dung
0
Rows
18 Falls
Produce 4
1
0
Cow-dung
4
Rows
17J Falls
Produce 6
3
1
1
0 1
1
36 .
Horse-dung
4
Rows
14i Falls
Produce 6
0
2
1 <v
I ^
CO
1
1
1
1
{
Street-dung
1
4
Rows
17 Falls
Produce 5
0
0
CO
Table I.
Showing the Profit or Loss upon raising Potatoes at 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 inches between the Rows.
Distance
between
lows.
Quantity of
¿round in each
lot.
Produce.
Quantity per
acre.
!
Price
per boll.
Value per acre.
Cost of ])roduc-
tion.
Loss per acre.
Profit per acre.
Inches.
AC. R. F.
B F. p. L.
B. F. p. L.
s.
. s. di.
£f. s. (J/.
i.. s. d.
Ö0« St ijft
12
0 1 5|
12 2 0 0
43 2 3 1
8
17 9 7^
24 8 0
6 18 41
18
0 I 7|
16 1 0 0
54 1 3 0
8
21 15 6
23 8 0
1 12 6
24
0 I 10
16 3 0 0
53 2 1 2
8
218 9
23 0 0
1 II 3
30
0 1 10|
19 1 0 0
60 2 3 0
8
24 5 6
22 13 0
1 12 6
36
1 0 1 8|
17 3 3 0
58 3 2 0
8
23 11 0
22 10 0
1 1 0
AGRICULTURF
Aj^iiciilture.
lABLE 11.
Showing the Profit or Loss vpon Potatoes manured with completely rotten Cow-dung» dry recent Horse-dung^
and Street'dung^ each applied at the rate of Forty Carts per Acre.
Agriculture
Í
Distance
between
rows.
P2
18
24
30
36
Kinds of
manure
applied.
Produce
per
acre.
Cow.
B. F. p. L.
42 0 0 0
Horse.
47 0 3 0
Street.
42 0 0 0
Cow.
60 0 0 0
Horse.
51 2 6 0
Street.
45 0 0 0
Cow.
61 0 3 0
Horse.
60 1 0 0
Street.
39 0 0 0
Cow.
66 2 2 0
Horse.
66 2 2 0
Street.
46 3 2 0
Cow.
63 0 3 0
Horse.
67 2 2 1
Street.
47 0 0 0
Value
per
boll.
s.
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
Value per
acre.
i*. S. (1/
16 16 0
18 17 6
16 16 0
•24 0 Ü
23 0 0
18 0 0
24
24
9 6
2 0
15 12 0
26 13 0
26 13 6
18 15 0
25 5 6
27
0 7i
18 16 0
Cost of
production.
£.
s.
d.
25
8
0
23
8
0
24
8
0
24
8
0
22
8
0
23
8
0
24
0
0
22
0
0
23
0
0
23
13
0
21
13
0
92
r" fm
13
0
23
10
0
21
10
0
22
10
0
t
1 Price of
manure
per cart.
Loss per
acre.
Piofit per
acic.
s d.
£. s. d.
£• s d»
4 0
8 12 0
3 0
4 10 6
3 6
7 12 0
4 0
0 8 0
3 0
0 1-2 0
3 6
5 8 0
4 0
0 9 6
3 0
2 2 0
3 6
CD
O
• • • • • 0
4 0
3 0 0
3 0
5 0 0
3 6
3 18 0
4 0
1 15 6
3 0
5 10 %
3 6
3 4 0
Tahle III.
Showing the average Profit or Loss upon Potatoes raised at the Distances between the Rows and with the three
kinds of Manure in Table II.
Kinds of
manure.
Bolls per
acre.
Price per
boll.
Value per
acre.
Cost of
production.
Loss per
acre.
Profit per
acre.
Cow.
b. f. p. l.
58 2 1 2
s,
8
£* s. d.
23 8 9
£. s. d.
24 3 9L
£. s d.
0 15 01
£. s. d.
Horse.
59 3 1 1
8
23 18 7L
22 3 91
I 14 10
Street.
43 3 3 3
8 1
I
17 11 lOL
23 3 9i
5 11 11
Results.
Width of
Drills.
Compara¬
tive good¬
ness of
manure.
From the 1st of these Tables it appears that the
distance of thirty inches between the drills ought to be
preferred to any of the others ; there being uniformly a
loss on all the portions grown at narrower intervals,
and the greatest on that where the drills were only
twelve inches apart. It appears, at the same time, that
a greater width would not prove beneficial ; for the
piece of ground where the drills were at the distance of
thirty-six inches was not equally productive with that on
which they were only thirty inches separated ; the profit
on the latter being ¿1. 12s. 6d., whereas on the former
it was only ¿^1. 1¿?.
From the Ild Table it is manifest that dry recent
horse-manure is decidedly preferable to either of the
other two, the loss with it on drills of twelve inches
being considerably less than with the cow or street-dung ;
while in drills at all the other distances, it yields by far
the largest profit. It further results from the facts
detailed in this Table that street-manure should not be
used in growing potatoes where either of the others can
be procured ; and on the whole it is rendered too clear
to admit of any doubt in the mind of a practical Agri¬
culturist, that the width between the rows and the kind
of manure applied are objects of the greatest importance
in the management of this particular crop.
From weighing the foregoing facts it might be in- On Potato
ferred that the growingof potatoes, even with the largest Crops,'
profit which appears attainable, is not an object worthy
of much attention. It is admitted that the profit is
very small, but it ought to be kept in mind that, at cer¬
tain intervals, the land must receive a supply of manure,
in order to compensate for the exhaustion occasioned by
a succession of corn crops. It is equally necessary, too,
that the soil shall be well pulverized and completely
cleared from all root weeds ; and these operations can
be performed to advantage only when the field is sub¬
jected to a Summer-fallow, or cropped with drilled
potatoes or turnips. Besides, in estimating on tha cost •
64 AGRICULTURE
Agriculture, of production in the foregoing Tables we have charged
the crop with the whole cost of manure together with the
expense of sufficiently pulverizing the ground so as to
warrant the expectation of at least three good crops
without any more dung, or much outlay on the process
of clearing. On grounds of a moderately light texture,
potatoes are a better preparation for wheat than Sum¬
mer-fallowing ; and hence whatever profit is gained by
the green crop ought to be regarded as in some measure,
a gratuitous addition to the farmer's capital.
llivisions of
the subject.
Animals for
labour.
The Horse.
Welsh and
Highland
Ponies.
CHAPTER IL
On Live Stock,
WE have already remarked that Rural Economy divides
itself into two great heads : first, the cultivation of the
soil for vegetable productions ; and, secondly, for the
rearing of live stock. This last is naturally separated
into three parts, as it respects the objects which are
kept in view in the breeding of cattle, whether for la¬
bour, the butcher-market, or the dairy. According to
the order thus suggested, therefore, we shall arrange
our observations on the subjects which are usually com¬
prehended under the title placed at the head of this
Chapter.
On many accounts, the Horse deserves to stand at the
head of domestic animals. Viewed as the assistant of
Man in the labours of the field, he is chiefly valued for
his strength, activity, and hardiness. Mr. Culling, whose
Work On Live Stock is greatly esteemed, describes the
Horse^Dest fitted for Agricultural purposes in the follow¬
ing terms. " His head should he small as the propor¬
tion of the animal will admit; his nostrils expanded and
muzzle fine; his eyes cheerful and prominent; his ears
small, upright, and placed near each other ; his neck
rising out from between his shoulders with an easy
tapering curve must join gracefully to the head; his
shoulders being well thrown back, must also go into his
neck, at what are called the points, unperceived, which
perhaps, facilitates the going more than the narrow
shoulder ; the arm, or fore thigh should be muscular,
and tapering from the shoulder, meet with a fine, straight,
sinewy, bony leg ; the hoof circular, and wide at the
heel ; his chest deep and full at the girth ; his loin or
fillets broad and straight, and body round ; his hips or
hooks by no means wide, but quarters long, and tail set
on so as to be nearly in the same right line as his back ;
his thighs strong and muscular ; his legs clean and fine-
boned ; his leg bones not round, but what is called lathy
or flat.
If we trace the lineage of this noble animal, we shall
probably fi-nd the true type of his ancestors still existing
in the ponies of Wales and Scotland. The Highland
horse is sometimes only nine, and seldom twelve hands
high, except in some parts of the Hebrides, where, by
selection and better feeding, the size has been raised to
thirteen or fourteen hands. The best of this breed are
handsomely shaped, have small legs, large manes, little,
neat heads, and are extremely active and hardy. The
Welsh horse bears a near resemblance to the lar^rer de-
scription of the Highland breed, and is still more re¬
markable for the power of enduring fatigue. The mo¬
dern sYstem of Agriculture, however, which has intro-
*' CI» ' '
duced almost everywhere the two-horsed plough, has
gradually superseded all attention to the native species .Agriculture
of the country. The Shetland pony, indeed, is some-
times reared as a curiosity, or for the use of children,
but in no part of the Kingdom for the purposes of tillage.
This ancient race is supposed to have been brought into
Scotland from Scandinavia, when the Northmen first
gained a footing in Caledonia ; and it is precisely the
same breed which subsists at present in Norway, the
Feroe Ises, and Iceland, being totally distinct from all
the varieties which are seen on the Continent of Europe
Southward of the Baltic.
The main source of improvement in our farm horses Dutch ami
may be traced to Holland and Germany, whence our Ht'ouau
Agriculturists at an early period imported a breed
heavy, large-boned animals, the parents of the finest
and best working animals we at present possess, whether
in the South or North. The Suffolk Punch is perhaps Suffolk
better suited than any other to the general purposes of Punch,
rural labour; having a great deal of constitutional hardi¬
ness, combined with sufficient action for either the
plough or the waggon. The colour, usually yellowish
or sorrel, with a white scratch or blaze on the face ; the
head large, ears wide, muzzle coarse, fore end low ; back
long, but very straight ; sides flat ; shoulders too far
forward ; hind-quarters rather high about the hips ; legs
round and short in the pasterns ; deep-bellied and full
in the flanks, a quality which enables him to retain his
food long, and undergo without inconvenience a more
protracted toil than a finer horse could endure.
The Black Cart-horse^ so well known in most parts of Black Cart-
England, and of which we see the most improved va- horse,
riety in the streets of London, is not so much esteemed
by the farmer as by the drayman and the waggoner.
He is heavy and sluggish, and by no means so capable
of standing a long day's work as a much smaller animal
cff better blood. The Cleveland Bays are a more active Cleveland
and hardy race, though it is alleged, they are no longer Bay.
so carefully reared as in former times. They are said
to have drawn their best qualities from a cross with
racers, and, consequently, to have turned out excellent
hunters, good roadsters, and, at the same time, well
fitted for the duties of our Cavalry regiments. In the
Northern Counties, they are to be seen in a condition
more or less improved, on almost every farm, both as
plough-horses, and also as prepared for the market,
where they are eagerly purchased by coachmasters and
travellers.
The Clydesdale horse is in great repute in several Clydesdale
Counties on both sides of the border, and for the uses of
Agriculture he is probably equal to any other in Britain.
He is larger than the Suffolk Punchy and the neck is
somewhat longer ; the colour is black, brown, or grey,
and a white spot in the face is esteemed a mark of
beauty. The breast is broad ; the shoulder thick ; the
hoof round, usually of a black colour, and the heels
wide ; the back straight and broad, but not too long ;
the bucks visible, but not prominent, and the space be¬
tween them and the ribs short ; the tail heavy and well-
haired ; and the thighs full and muscular. He is in
general very true to his work, and remarkably steady in
the draught.
Into the minute points of breeding and rearing we
cannot enter with any prospect of satisfying the profes¬
sional reader, or even of gratifying the curiosity of such
as may choose to study this subject solely for amusement.
We therefore satisfy ourselves with a reference to the
Works of Lawrence, Marshall, Culley, Parkinson, Clark,
AGRICULTURE.
65
between
horses and
oxen.
Agriculture. Coventry, and to a volume lately published in the Far-
mer^s Series of the Library of Useful Knowledge^ where
the most accurate information is given relative to every
thing which respects the history and treatment of the
Comparison Horse. Confining ourselves to the use of that animal
for Agricultural labour, we may advert to the question
which has been sometimes started among practical men,
whether oxen might not be beneficially substituted for
horses in all the ordinary processes of Husbandry. In
point of economy, then, it has been maintained that the
ox is decidedly preferable to the horse, for besides that
he can be more cheaply fed, he may, after serving a few
years as a labourer, be remitted to the stall and fed for
the butcher. It is admitted, at the same time, that
wherever a powerful and steady pull is required, the ox
performs the work better than his rival, being more
patient and equal in his movements, and proceeding
generally at a slower step. On this account a plougli
drawn by oxen would be selected in preference to any
other by the farmer who has tough swards to tear up,
or very rough ground to cultivate ; and for the same
reason these animals are yoked in the threshing-machine,
whenever it is of any consequence to have a sure and
regulated motion communicated to it. But, on the
other hand, the ox is nearly useless for all other kinds
of farm labour. He is not suited to the cart or waggon
even on our fields, and far less on our public roads.
Besides, he cannot be stirred to any unwonted exertion,
however urgent may be the wants of his master ; for if
he is pushed beyond his natural step, all his energies
forsake him, and he either stands still or throws himself
on the ground. In rude Ages, when only the coarser
productions of the soil are in demand, the cultivator
uses the animal which cost him least in rearing and feed¬
ing ; but whenever the progress of civilization extends
the variety of commodities required by the consumer,
and gives a value to luxuries in proportion to the early
season at which they can be obtained, he dismisses the
slow-paced ox, and adopts in his stead the more ener¬
getic horse. This is the natural order of things as soon
as green crops constitute an article in the regular
course of farming. On the Continent, where oxen
continued to be used a considerable time after they
were generally superseded in Britain, the horse is now
almost universally preferred. The French Agricultural
Writers agree with those of Britain, in perceiving the
many advantages which attend the employment of the
latter. A more enlightened experience every day tends
to confirm the choice ; and in the course of a few years
the labour of the ox will be altogether unknown, except
in particular situations where the greater vivacity and
swiftness of the horse might prove hazardous. We
conclude this section by remarking that the care bestowed
upon the keeping of the horse is always well repaid.
The manure replaces the expense of litter ; and his con¬
stant aptitude for work is an ample equivalent for the
carrots, potatoes, and grain, which constitute his best
food.
Of Cattle,
There are now numerous varieties or breeds of cattle
in Great Britain, but perhaps all of them may be traced
more or less directly to that singular one which is still
preserved as a curiosity in the parks of several Noble¬
men, more especially Lord Tankerville and the Duke of
Wild cattle. Hamilton. It is usually distinguished as the wild, or
Voll. VI.
original breed, and has been described by Mr. Culley in Agriculture,
the Work already mentioned. Their colour, says he, is
invariably of a creamy white ; muzzle black ; the whole
of the inside of the ear, and about one-third of the out¬
side from the tips downward red ; horns white with
black tips, very fine, and bent upwards ; some of the
bulls have a thin, upright mane, about an inch and a half
or two inches long. The weight of the oxen is from thirty
five to forty-five stone, and of the cows from twenty-
five to thirty-five stone, the four quarters, fourteen pounds
to the stone. At the first appearance of any person
they set off in full gallop, and at the distance of about
two hundred yards make awheel round and come boldly
up again, tossing their heads in a menacing manner.
On a sudden they make a full stop at the distance of
ibrty or fifty yards, looking wildly at the object of their
surprise ; but upon the least motion being made they all
turn round and fly off with equal speed, but not to
the same distance, forming a shorter circle, and again
returning with a bolder and more threatening aspect
than before. This time they approach much nearer,
probably within thirty yards, when they again make
another stand, and again fly off. They repeat this
movement several times, shortening their distance, and
advancing nearer and nearer till they come within such
a short distance that most persons think it prudent to
leave them, not choosing to provoke them further.
The mode of killing them was perhaps the only Mode of
modern remains of the grandeur of ancient hunting, killing
On notice being given that a wild bull would be killed ^hem.
on a certain day, the inhabitants of the neighbourhood
came mounted and armed with guns sometimes to the
number of one hundred horse and four or five hundred
foot, who stood upon walls or got into trees, while the
horseman rode off the bull from the rest of the herd,
until he stood at bay, when a marksman dismounted and
fired. At some of these huntings thirty or forty muskets
have been discharged before he was subdued. On such
occasions the bleeding victims grew desperately furious
from the smarting of his wounds and the shouts of
savage joy that were echoing from every side. But from
the number of accidents that happened, this dangerous
mode has been little practised of late years ; the park-
keeper alone generally killing them with a rifled gun at
one shot.
When the cows calve they hide their young for a week Habits of
or ten days in some sequestered situations, whither
they go to suckle them two or three times a day. If
the calves are approached by any person, they clap
their heads close to the ground, and lie like a hare in
form to conceal themselves. This is a decided proof of
their native wildness ; and if they are actually disturbed,
they attack the assailant with the utmost fury, pawing
and bellowing like an incensed bull. It is remarkable,
too, that when any one of the herd happens to be
wounded, or has grown weak and feeble through age or
sickness, the rest set upon it and gore it to death.
The Devonshire breed is said to be directly descended Devonshire
from this race, of which the best specimen is seen at Chil-
lingham Park in Northumberland. The resemblance in
in some points is very striking ; but the animals are of a
light red colour and rather small in size. The Hereford Hereford
and Sussex cattle are nearly of the same colour, and in Susses,
other respects possess similar properties, but are decidedly
better milkers. The Dutch, or short-horned description, Dutch,
which are much esteemed in the Eastern Counties, yield
a large quantity of rich milk and butter-, fatten readily,
K
66
AGRICUÍ. TURE.
A-griculture.
Lancashiie
Ditchley.
Galloway,
(Jross cf the
Gallov/ay.
Suffolk
duns
Ayrshire.
Kv'locs.
Norlands.
Orkney and
Shetland.
Welsh.
though they are on the whole of a delicate constitution.
The Lancashire breed is distinguished by long horns,
thick hides, long close hair, coarse necks, and large
hoofs ; they are of various colours, but generally have
a white streak along the back, and though they are not
remarkably productive, they enjoy a hardy constitution.
The celebrated Ditchley breed is an improved variety of
the Lancashire, being smaller and cleaner boned ; they
fatten well, but are not very highly valued by the dairy¬
man as milkers.
Besides the varieties now mentioned, there is the
polled or hornless kind, the most esteemed of which are
found in Galloway, a district in the South-West of Scot¬
land. The true Galloway bullock is straight and broad
on the back, and nearly level from the head to the
rump ; broad at the loins, not however with hooked
bones or projecting knobs ; so that when viewed from
above the whole body appears beautifully rounded like
the longitudinal section of a roller. He is long in the quar¬
ters, deep in the chest, short in the leg, and moderately
fine in the bone. The prevailing colour is black or dark-
brindled. Like the Devonshire ox, he is rather under¬
sized ; though when well fed he has been known to
weigh about a hundred stone.
Dr. Coventry alleges that it is not more than seventy
or eighty years since the Galloways were all horned,
and very much the same in external appearance and
character with the breed of black cattle which prevailed
over the West of Scotland at that period, and which
still abound in perfection, the large-sized ones in Argyle-
shire, and the smaller in the Isle of Skye. The Gal¬
loway cattle at the time alluded to were coupled with
some hornless bulls, of a sort which do not now seem
to be accurately known, but which were then brought
from Cumberland ; the effects of which crossinof were
thought to be the general loss of horns in the former,
and the enlargement of their size ; the continuance of
a hornless sort being kept up by selecting only such for
breeding, or perhaps by other means, or by the practice
of eradicating with the knife the horns in their very
young state.
The Suffolk duns are, according to Mr. Culley, nothing
more than a variety of the breed now described, and
differing only in colour. The Ayrshire cow is a valuable
animal, as the milk it affords, although not very abun¬
dant, is uncommonly rich, and is given with very little
interruption throughout the whole year. The Highland
Kylocs, as they are sometimes denominated, are in great
request in the Southern Counties, on account of the
delicate nature of their flesh. This is supposed to be a
different breed from the Norlands, or such as are reared
in the remote districts of Ross, Sutherland, and Caith¬
ness. The Islands of Orkney and Shetland produce a
very diminutive species of cattle, some of them not weigh¬
ing more than two hundred pounds ; but they feed well,
and when brought to good condition in the meadows of
the South, they bring in the market a remunerating
price. Of Welsh cattle there seems to be two distinct
kinds. The large sort are of a brown colour, with some
white on the rump and shoulders, denoting a cross from
the long horns, though in shape bearing no resemblance
to them. They are long in the legs, stand high in pro¬
portion to their weight, are thin in the thigh, and rather
narrow in the chine ; their horns are white and turned
upwards ; they are light in flesh, and, next to the
Devons, well-formed for the yoke, have very good
hoofs, and walk lightly and nimbly. The other sort are
much more valuable ; colour black, with very little Agncnlturi*
white ; of a good useful form, short in the leg, with
round, deep bodies ; the hide is rather thin, with short
hair ; they have a lively look and a good eye ; and the
bones, though not very small, are neither large nor
clumsy ; and the cows are considered good milkers.
From a reference to the statements just made, it ap- Choice for
pears manifest that the improvement of the lower ani- breeding,
mais in form and value depends very much on the care
of the breeder. In rearing live stock of all descriptions,
it ought to be an invariable rule to select for parents such
as are small-boned, straight-backed, smooth-skinned,
and round-bodied, with clean necks, small heads, and
little or no dewlap. Those, too, which are of a quiet
and docile manner ought to be preferred, as they gene¬
rally require less food, and are more easily fattened. Nor
should the stock-farmer overlook the valuable quality of
becoming early mature ; a point in which the different
breeds of cattle vary to a considerable extent. In the
management of cows which are kept for breeding it
is to be observed, that about a month or six weeks pre¬
viously to the time of calving, they ought to be abun¬
dantly supplied with the richest kind of food ; for it is
found that by this treatment, a larger quantity of milk
is obtained than when they are fully fed for a longer
period.
Mr. Marshall informs us that the method pursued for Rearing,
rearing calves in the Midland Counties is this : they are
allowed to suck for a week ora fortnight according to their
strength ; they then have new milk in the pail for a few
meals ; next new milk and skim-milk mixed, a few meals
more; then skim-milk alone, or porridge made with milk,
water, and ground oats, and sometimes oil-cake until
cheese-making commences; after which, whey-porridge,
or sweet whey in the field ; being careful to house them
in the night until warm weather be confirmed. The
treatment of young cattle from the time they are sepa¬
rated from their dams, or are able to subsist on the
common food of the other stock, must depend upon
the circumstances of the farm on which they are reared.
In Summer their pasture is often coarse but abundant ;
and in Winter all good breeders give them an allow¬
ance of succulent matter together with straw or hay.
Speaking of the short-horned variety, Mr. Culley re¬
marks, that the first Winter they have hay and turnips ,
the following Summer coarse pasture ; the second Winter
straw in the fold-yard, and a few turnips once a day in
an adjoining field, just sufficient to prevent the straw
from binding them too much; the next Summer tolera
biy good pasture ; and the third Winter as many turnips
as they can eat, and in every respect treated as fatting
cattle.
The farmer who feeds for the butcher-market has l'or the
three separate methods to pursue ; all of which will
answer his purpose in certain circumstances, and his
choice must be determined by the nature of his land,
as well as by the main object which he had in view when
he rented it. Live stock may be fattened on pasture
ground, by soiling in proper yards or sheds, where they
are supplied with abundance of green food ; or lastly in
the stall, where they are furnished with turnips, cab¬
bages, and other succulent vegetables, combined with
various descriptions of dry meat. The practice of pas¬
turing cattle is the most natural and the most simple ;
and the owner can hardly go wrong, if he provide the
animals with pure water and a sufficient shelter during
the heats of Summer. Soiling is regarded by most
AGRICULTURE.
57
Agriculture, feeders ss preferable to the other, even taken by itself,
and more especially if connected with the general pur¬
poses of husbandry, the improvement of the fields, and
the increase of corn produce. By this mode, too, the
beasts are better protected both from insects and the
weather ; the food is consumed with less waste ; and
when the yards are suitably furnished with litter, a large
supply of excellent manure is obtained. In this case,
as in all others, due attention must be paid to the supply
and quality of the water, as nothing contributes more to
the health of young stock. The approach of Winter
usually suggests the expediency of stall-feeding, as
both warmth and cleanliness are essential to the accom¬
plishment of this object. Besides, the cattle are kept more
quiet and free from interruption, and are found in such
circumstances to take in flesh more quickly. The food
employed for this purpose consists of turnips, potatoes,
carrots, cabbages, oil-cake, oats, barley-meal, beans, with
different kinds of straw, cut small by means of machinery.
The moist and dry food should be given in such pro¬
portions as to prevent any injurious effect on the diges¬
tive organs.
Desiderata. It has been remarked, that notwithstanding the high
perfection to which certain breeds of cattle have been
brought in Britain, and the great attention paid to
every part of their management, several interesting
points, which should be taken into calculation, remain
still to be determined. Our knowledge, for example,
is very incomplete in regard to the precise degree of
nutriment afforded by different kinds of herbage and
roots ; the quantity of food consumed by the different
breeds in proportion to the time of fattening and increase
of weight ; and the advantage of selecting the large or
smaller varieties in any given circumstances of climate
and produce. There is, no doubt, in every district a
certain practical feeling which directs the stock-farmer
in the choice of his cattle, and in the adaptation of
means to the end, which he has in view ; but, it is true,
at the same time, that no successful attempt has been
made to reduce such maxims to general principles, or to
render the experience of one available to all.
Of Sheep.
Next to cattle. Sheep in many parts of the Country
are esteemed a valuable stock, the whole income of the
farmer being derived from tlieir milk, wool, and flesh.
Different The numerous breeds of this animal are usually arranged
breeds. into two classes : those which yield the short wool, and
those which yield the long^ or, as it is frequently de¬
scribed, the comhing wool. To these, some writers
have added the mountain breed ; but so far as the wool
is regarded as a characteristic^ there is no room for this
distinction. The first of these classes, however, in¬
cluding the one just stated, comprehends the varieties
which are reared in the hilly districts of Wales, the
North of England, and the Highlands of Scotland ; the
second embraces those which appear in Hereford, Dor¬
set, Sussex, Norfolk, and some other places ; and the
last, or long-woolled, include the varieties which occupy
the richer and more fertile vales of the Kingdom, and
are known as natives of Leicestershire, Lincolnshire,
and the banks of the Tees.
Mountain. The mountain sheep are distinguished by having
black faces and legs, as well as large spiral horns. They
are a very hardy race, and afford a delicate, well-flavoured
mutton, though their wool is coarse and shaggy. The
Cheviot breed, which likewise belongs to this class, has Agnculture
no horns ; the face and legs are commonly white, and
the eyes have a lively expression. The wool in this Cl^eviot.
case is better than either the Welsh or Highland,
and the animal is remarked as a good feeder, though
the meat is not so highly valued in the market.
The second class, or Herefordshire^ are comparatively Hereford-
small, have no horns, white legs and faces, and exhibit
a fine short wool. They are also known by the name
of Ryelands. It has been observed of this description
of slock, that they can subsist on less food than any
other, and are remarkable for abstinence, and even for the
endurance of hunger. The South Downs are also dis- South
tinguished for the shortness and fineness of their wool,
as well as by having grey faces and legs, small long
necks, and affording a fine-grained, delicious mutton.
This breed prevails in the dry, chalky grounds of Sussex.
The Norfolk breed have a great resemblance to the Norfolk.
Welsh or Scotch ; having a black face, large spiral
horns, short wool, and affording well-flavoured meat.
The long-woolled sheep are familiarly known by the
names of Lincolnshire^ or Old Leicester, and are distin- Lei-
guished by the want of horns, by their white faces, long,
thin, and weak bodies, large bones, coarse mutton, and
by having wool from ten to eighteen inches in length.
This breed thrives only in the richest pastures, and is
chiefly valuable on account of its wool. But it is from
them that the New Leicester, or Ditchley breed is de- New Lei-
scended ; a name derived from the place at which it was cestei.
so much improved by the care and skill of the cele- I^^tchley.
brated Mr. Bakewell. These animals attract attention
by their lively eyes, fine heads, straight backs, barrel-
shaped bodies, small bones, and a disposition to fatten
at an early age. The weight of the quarter in ewes of
three or four years old, is from eighteen to twenty-six
pounds ; in two years old wethers, from twenty to
thirty pounds ; and the length of wool varies from six
to fourteen inches.
The main excellence of this breed consists in their
fattening more speedily, and on a smaller quantity of
food, than any other ; in their having a larger proportion
of meat on an equal weight of bone ; in the superiority
of the meat itself both as to texture and flavour ; in
their valuable wool ; in being ready for the market early
in Spring; and in bringing, of consequence, a larger
profit to the farmer. The Teeswaier variety have longer Teeswater
legs, finer bones, and a thicker and firmer carcass than
the Lincolnshire ; the mutton is better and finer grained,
and the wool is shorter and less heavy. This is the
largest breed in the Island, and is the most common in
the rich meadows bordering on the river whence it de¬
rives its name. But, unfortunately, it seems to be calcu¬
lated only for warm, well-sheltered pastures, and cannot
therefore be transferred to the Cheviot range, or the still
more exposed mountains of the Highlands, where its
value would be duly appreciated. Besides, it requires
to be fed abundantly in severe Winters ; an attention
which could not be conferred upon it in a hilly country,
or in the extensive sheep-walks of Wales or Argyle.
There is also a variety, which bears among breed-
ers the designation of the Romney-marsh, and which
possesses many good properties. It has no horns ; the
face and legs are white ; the body rather long, but
well-shaped, and the bones somewhat large. The
wool, however, is excellent, having a considerable length,
and a beautiful colour. Like the Teeswater breed,
it requires rich pasture, and a greater degree of care
¥, %
68
À GRICULTURE.
Dun-faced.
Shetland.
Agricultuie. than can be bestowed by the stock-farmer on upland
grounds.
Hardwick. The Hardwick sheep are peculiar to that rocky dis¬
trict whence flow the Duddon and the Esk, in the
County of Cumberland. They are without horns, have
speckled faces and legs, short wool, which, though not
by any means fine, is greatly superior to that produced
by the heath or mountain sheep, properly so called.
The Dun-faced breed seems to have been imported
into Scotland from Norway or Denmark at a very early
period, and is still found in most of the Counties beyond
the river Forth, though not in large numbers. Of this
ancient race there are now several varieties produced,
as usual, by peculiarities of situation and different modes
of management. In Shetland, it would appear, there
are two varieties of the sheep, one of which is considered
aboriginal, and bears very fine wool ; but the number
of these is much diminished, and in some places they
have been entirely supplanted by foreigners. The
other variety carries coarse wool above, and fine, soft
wool below. They are said, moreover, to have three
different successions of wool yearly, two of which have a
greater resemblance to long hair, and are termed by the
common people and scudda. When the wool begins
to loosen in the roots, which generally happens about
the month of February, the hairs or scudda spring up ;
and when the wool is carefully plucked off, the tough
hairs continue fast until the new wool grows up about a
quarter of an inch in length, when they gradually wear
off ; and when the new fleece has acquired about two
months' growth, the rough hairs, termed spring up
and keep root until the proper season for pulling them
arrives, when they are plucked off together with the wool,
and separated from it at dressing the fleece by an operation
called forsing. The scudda remains upon the skin of
the animal, as if it were a thick coat ; a fence against
the inclemency of the seasons which provident Nature
has furnished for supplying the want of the fleece in a
high and stormy latitude. The wool is of various co¬
lours ; the silver grey is thought to be the finest ; but
the black, the white, and the brown are very little inferior ;
though the pure white is certainly the most valuable for
all the finer purposes in which combing wool can be
used.
Our catalogue would be incomplete did we not men¬
tion the Merino, which, though not a native of Bri¬
tain, has already acquired considerable importance.
This sheep was brought into England in 1788, but
did not excite much interest till the year 1804, when
George III. began his sales. The patriotic object con¬
templated by His Majesty of spreading them widely
over the Country and subjecting them to the experiments
of the most eminent professional breeders, has been in
a great measure accomplished by the institution of the
Merino Society^ which includes among its Members
some of the greatest landholders in the Kingdom. For
some years past, however, this breed, notwithstanding all
the care bestowed upon it, is acknowledged to have been
on the decline ; and we may add, that it has succeeded
best in those cases where it was judiciously crossed with a
native variety, without any attempt to preserve it pure.
Every one knows that the Merino is chiefly valued
for its uncommonly fine fleece, which upon the average
weighs from three to five pounds. In colour it is unlike
that of any English breed. There is in the surface of
the best Spanish fleeces, a dark-brown tinge approaching
to black, which is occasioned by dust adhering to the
Merino.
Merino
fleeces.
greasy properties of its pile ; and the contrast between Agriculture,
this tinge and the rich white colour below, as well as
that rosy hue of the skin which denotes high proof, ex¬
cites, at first sight, no little surprise. The harder the
fleece is, or, in other words, the greater resistance it
makes to the pressure of the hand, the finer is the wool
esteemed ; here and there, indeed, a fine pile may be
found in an open fleece, though this occurs but rarely.
Nothing, however, tends to render it more unsightly to
the English eye than the large tuft of wool which covers
the head : it is of very inferior quality, and is ranked
with what is produced on the hind legs ; on which ac¬
count it does not sort with any of the three classes ; viz.
the raßnos, or prime ; finos, or second best ; and the
terceros, or third, and of course is never exported from
Spain.
Among the Merinos, the male has horns, the female Carcasses,
none, or very rarely ; the faces and legs are white,
and the bones fine. The average weight per quarter
of a tolerably fat ram is about seventeen pounds, and
that of a ewe about eleven pounds. The shape, if we
take the ideas of English breeders for a standard, is far
from perfect. The pendulous skin beneath the throat,
which is usually accompanied with a sinking or hollow-
ness in the neck, is accounted a deformity here, though
in Spain it is much esteemed, as denoting both fine
wool and a heavy fleece. Yet the Spanish sheep, gene¬
rally speaking, are level on the back and behind the
shoulders ; and Lord Somerville has proved that there
is no reason whatever for connecting the peculiarity of
form just mentioned with the amount or quality of wool.
We cannot enter upon the extensive subject of breed¬
ing, considered in a professional point of view ; holding Works on
it enough to refer such readers as are desirous of full breeding,
and accurate information to the Treatises of Dr. Parry,
Sebright, Culley, Sir John Sinclair, Mr. Johnston, the
General Report of Scotland, the Work of Mr. Bakewell;
Marshall's Rural Economy ; the Farmer's Calendar ;
Communications to the Board of Agriculture ; the Middle¬
sex Report ; and to a variety of able Essays in the Quar¬
terly Journal of Agriculture. We shall, notwithstanding, Experi-
quote from the last of these publications a notice relative i^^ints on
to a " method of obtaining a greater number of one sex fliffercnt
SëX6S«
at the option of the proprietor, in the breeding of live
stock." The Essay, at length, is to be found in the
Annales de l'Agriculture Française, and is worthy of
attention, as containing the details of some interesting
experiments made with the view just stated. M. Girou
proposed, at a meeting of the Agricultural Society of Sé-
ver ac, on the 3d of July, 1826, to divide a flock of sheep
into two equal parts, so that a greater number of males
or females, at the choice of the proprietor, should be pro¬
duced from each of them. Two of the Members of the
Society offered their flocks to become the subject of his
experiments, and the results communicated were, to
some extent, in accordance with the author's expectations.
The first experiment was conducted in the following
manner. He recommended very young rams to be put
to the flock of ewes from which the proprietor wished
the greater number of females in their offspring ; and
also that during the season when the rams were with
the ewes they should have moit abundant pasture than
the other ; while to the flock from which the owner
wished to obtain male lambs chiefly, he recommended to
put strong and vigorous rams, four or five years old.
The following Tabular view contains the result of this
experiment.
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture.
Flock for Female Lambs.
Age of the Mothers.
Two years
Three years
Four years
Total..
Five years and older
Total..
Sex of the Lambs.
Males. Females,
14
26
16
29
5
21
35
76
18
8
b3
84
N. B. There were three twin births in this
flock. Two rams served it, the one fifteen
months, the other nearly two years old.
Flock for Male Lambs.
Age of the Mothers.
Two years ...
Three years
Four years
Total..
Five years and older
Total. .
Sex of the Lambs.
Males. Females.
7
3
15
14
33
14
55
il
25
24
80
55
N. B. There were no twin births in this
flock. Two strong rams, one four, the other
five years old, served it.
Agriculture,
The second experiment is thus related by the author,
" During the Summer of 1826, M. Cournejouls kept
upon a very dry pasture, belonging to the village of
Bez, a flock of 106 ewes, of which 84 belonged to him¬
self, and 22 to his shepherds. Towards the end of Oc¬
tober, he divided his flock into two sections of 42 heads
each, the one composed of the strongest ewes, from four
to five years old ; the other of the weakest beasts, under
four or five years old. The first was destined to produce
a greater number of females than the second. After it
was marked with pitch in my presence, it was taken to
much better pasture behind Panouse, where it was deli¬
vered to four male lambs, about six months old, and of
good promise. The second remained upon the pasture
of Bez, and was served by two strong rams, more than
three years old. The ewes belonging to the shepherds,
which I shall consider as forming a third section, and
which are, in general, stronger and better fed than
those of the master, were mixed with those of the second
flock. The result was that the
Males. Females.
First section gave 15 26
The second 26 14
The third 10 12
In the first section there were two twin
births 0 4
In the second and third there were also
two * 3 1
Apparent Besides these very decisive experiments, M. Girou
general law. y0|ates some others made with horses and cattle, in
which also his success in producing a greater number of
the one sex than of the other appears. The general law,
so far as we are able to detect it, seems to be, that when
animals are in good condition, plentifully supplied with
food, and kept from breeding as fast as they might do, they
are most likely to produce females. Or, in other words,
when a race of animals is in circumstances favourable to
its increase, Nature produces the greatest number of that
sex which, in animals that do not pair, is most efficient
for increasing their numbers. But if they are in a bad
climate, or on stinted pasture, or if they have already
given birth to a numerous offspring, then Nature pro¬
duces more males than females. Yet perhaps it may
be premature to deduce any general law from experi¬
ments which have not yet been sufficienly extended.
Among the live stock produced on farms we must not
Swine. ^niit Swine, of which there are numerous varieties reared
in Great Britain. The Berkshire breed is of a reddish Berkshire,
colour, with short legs, large ears, and a thick, compact,
well-formed body; is readily disposed to fatten, and
grows to a large size ; but the supply of food must be
constant and abundant. The Chinese or black breed is Chinese,
of small size, short legs, and of a good make ; is con¬
sidered one of the most profitable in the country ; the
flesh is delicate, and it fattens freely even on indifferent
food. The Gloucestershire variety is white, and of a Gloucester-
large size, the form not symmetrical, and in other re- shire,
spects not highly esteemed among feeders. The Hamp- Hampshire.
shire breed is also white, attains a large bulk, and fattens
readily. The Northamptonshire is remarkable for the Northami)-
enormous length of its ears, is of great size, but does tonshire.
not fatten easily. The Rudgewick breed takes its Rtulgev/ick-
name from a village situated on the confines of
Surrey and Sussex; it is a valuable variety because it
not only grows well, but also fattens at small expense.
The Woburn breed was introduced ))y the late Duke of Woburu.
Bedford ; it is usually spotted, though the colour is
various ; the size is large, and it fattens so well that it
attains nearly twice the weight of other hogs in the same
space of time. The Highland or Irish variety is de- Highland
scribed as an inferior, animal being small and ill-shaped, or lri«h.
and, at the same time, difficult to fatten, or otherwise to
improve in its marketable value.
It is worthy of notice that Mr. Culley mentions only
three breeds of Swine, the Berkshire, the Chinese, and
the Highland or Irish ; while other writers have found
a distinct breed in almost every County of England. In
addition to those already described, there is the Sussex Sussex,
pig, which is distinguished by being black and white,
but not spotted ; it grows to the weight of eighteen or
twenty stone. To these we may add the Cheshire, the Cheshire.
Suffolk, and the Shropshire. In Scotland little pro- Suflbik.
gress has hitherto been made in the improvement of Shropshire,
this stock, if we except the Counties of Dumfries and
Galloway. The prevailing breed is of a white colour ; they
have light carcasses with bristles standing up from nose
to tail, long legs, and are very slow feeders at any age.
In the Hebrides, the breed, supposed by Dr. Walker to ¡lebvidearu
be the aboriginal, is of the smallest size, neither white
nor yellow, but of a uniformly grey colour, and shaggy,
with long hair and bristles. They graze on the hills
like sheep ; their sole food is herbage and roots, on
which they live the whole year round, without shelter,
and without receiving any other sustenance. In Autumn,
70
AGRICULTURE,
Agriculture, -ç^hen they are in the best order, their meat is excellent,
and obtained without any artificial feeding; but when
driven to the low country they fatten readily, and grow
to a considerable size.
Profits of Notwithstanding the extent to which Swine are reared,
Swine. it still remains a disputed point among Agriculturists
whether the breeding and fattening of that species of
stock, beyond the mere offal of the farm, has ever been
rendered a remunerating branch of rural economy. On
every establishment there is a great deal of stuff, roots,
herbage, and waste corn, which would otherwise be lost;
and hence it is manifest that, so far as the use of these
articles is concerned, the pig must be a profitable
animal. But it is, nevertheless, very doubtful whether,
on fertile lands, any portion of the crop could be so ap¬
plied as to place the breeding of Swine on the same
footing, as to revenue and other advantages, as that of
cattle and sheep. It has been calculated that, with pro¬
per management, on a farm of three hundred acres, of
which two hundred are kept in tillage, an annual profit
to the amount of <£100 might be secured by rearing
pigs ; though it is admitted by the same author that, as
soon as this stock exceeds the quantity of superfluous
produce on which it is usually maintained, it ceases to
be in any respect beneficial. The reader will find many
useful observations on this branch of the subject in
Culley's Work already mentioned ; the Comjplete Grazier ;
Henderson on Swine ; the Farmer\'i Magazine ; and the
Gejieral Report of Scotland.
Oji the Dairy.
We remarked at the commencement of this division
that live-stock are raised not only for their flesh and
labour, but also for their milk. In some parts of the
country a large proportion of land is devoted to this
object, and the rents of the farmer, as well as the
affluence of the proprietor, are derived from the manu¬
facture of milk in its various forms of butter and cheese.
House, It is recommended by practical persons that the building
meant for the several processes of the dairy should be
erected in a cool situation, and protected from the direct
approach of the solar rays, and even of a current of air
varying much in temperature. The utmost cleanliness,
too, is altogether indispensable. The house should be
paved with stone or brick, having a gentle inclination
so as to be readily dried, and the floor should be washed
every day during Summer, To preserve the air cool,
or at least of an equal temperature, it has been thought
advisable to admit a small stream of water into the
apartments, or even to be poured like a cascade fiom
and uteii- ceiling. The utensils, which are commonly of wood,
sils. ought to be cleansed with the greatest care ; or if
metallic, or glazed earthen vessels be substituted, they
should be daily plunged into hot water, scoured with
salt, and well dried before they are filled with milk.
Gast-iron dishes, enamelled or fluted with tin. have been
lately introduced into some dairies, and are found to
answer well, both on account of their cleanliness and
durability.
Care in It is known to every one that the quality of milk is
milking, much affected by the nature of the food on which the
animal is fed ; but it is not so generally understood that
the quantity depends a good deal on the mode of milk¬
ing. If any difficulty occur in conducting this operation
the cow should never be treated harshly, as it more fre¬
quently proceeds from pain than from obstinacy of
temper. The hardness of the udder will in general
denote whether there be any obstruction ; in which case Agriculture,
fomentations, together with gentle friction, ought to be
used, until the flow of milk be restored. In Summer,
cows ought to be milked at three equal intervals in the
course of twenty-four hours ; by which means the quan¬
tity is increased without deteriorating its essential pro¬
perties of richness and flavour. The depth of the vessels
into which the milk is poured, should not exceed three
inches ; and should any peculiarity of taste be occasioned
by the nature of the food, it may be lemoved by boiling
two ounces of nitre in a quart of water, and plunging
about a teacup-full of the mixture into a pail of the warm
milk. Those who are particular in the manufacture of
butter and cheese, keep the milk of every cow separately,
so as to discriminate their respective qualities, and avoid
all improper combinations. With the same view care is
taken that the cattle shall not be hastily driven from the
field to the dairy, and that the milk shall not be much
agitated or shaken in the pails after it is drawn ; for in
either case the liquid acquires a tendency to acidity
w^hich soon renders itself perceptible in the finer kinds
of butter.
Of late years the resources of mechanical invention Churning,
have been applied to lighten the labour, and facilitate
the object of churning. It has been found, however,
that the chief secret in the management of this process,
whatever be the form of the apparatus employed, is to
continue the agitation 'with the same regular, uniform,
uninterrupted motion from the beginning to the end ;
because it is suspected that a too rapid or unequal motion
communicates to the butter a bad flavour in Summer,
while, in Winter, it endangers the success of the ope¬
ration altogether. A table-spoon-ful of distilled vine¬
gar, added to the cream after it has been a considerable
time moved, has occasionally proved beneficial in sepa¬
rating the butter, after other means had appeared to fail.
A few years ago some interesting experiments were Experi-
made by Dr. Barclay, a well-known Physiologist, and ments oa
another professional gentleman at Edinburgh, with the
view of ascertaining the temperature at which butter
can be best procured from cream. The results were
communicated to the Journal of Agriculture^ from
which w^e abridge the following particulars. In the
first experiment fifteen gallons of cream were put
into the churn at the temperature of 50® Fahren¬
heit ; the weight per gallon having been previously
ascertained to be eight pounds four ounces. By agi¬
tating the cream in the usual manner for the space of
two hours the temperature rose to 56®; at the end of
the churning, being four hours from the commencement
of the operation, the temperature was found to be 60®,
or 10® higher than at the beginning. The quantity of
butter obtained in this process was twenty-nine pounds
and a half avoirdupois, or nearly two pounds of butter
for every gallon of cream put into the churn. The
butter appeared to be of the very best quality, being
firm, and rich and pleasant to the taste. A gallon of
the churned milk being carefully weighed, gave eight
pounds nine ounces, being an increase in weight of
eight ounces per gallon above that of the cream used in
this experiment.
In the second experiment, fifteen gallons of cream
were put into the churn at the temperature of 55®, the
weight per gallon being eight pounds two ounces. By
agitating the cream as formerly, for one hour and a half,
the temperature rose to 60® : at the end of the churning,
being three hours and fifteen minutes from the begin-
A G R I C U L T U R E.
71
Agricultiiro. ning of the operation, the temperature had increased to
65®. The quantity of butter was twenty-nine pounds
four ounces, and not sensibly inferior to that obtained
in the first process.
A third experiment was performed, in which the same
quantity of cream was put into the churn, at the tem¬
perature of 58®, the weight per gallon being eight
pounds two ounces. At the end of one hour's churn¬
ing the temperature had risen to 63° ; and at the end
of the process, which lasted three hours, the tempera¬
ture was found to be 67®. The quantity of butter ob¬
tained by this experiment was twenty-eight pounds, and
in quality it seemed tobe rather inferior to that produced
in the two former, being rather soft and spongy.
The fourth experiment was performed on the same
quantity of cream, the temperature being 60°, and the
weight per gallon eight pounds one ounce. During the
process of churning the temperature increased as for¬
merly ; and at the end of three hours, when the opera¬
tion was finished, it was ascertained to have risen to
68°. The quantity of butter was twenty-seven pounds,
of a quality much the same as that produced in the third
experiment, but decidedly inferior to that of the first
a-ud second. A gallon of the churned milk weighed
eight pounds eight ounces.
In the fifth experiment, fifteen gallons of cream were
used as before, at the temperature of 66°, and the weight
per gallon eight pounds. The churning occupied two
lioiirs and a half ; at the end of which space the temper¬
ature was found to have risen to 75°, being an increase
of 9°. The quantity of butter was twenty-five pounds
eight ounces, of a quality sensibly inferior to that pro¬
duced in any of the former experiments ; being of a
less promising appearance, a soft and spongy con¬
sistence, and not so pleasant to the taste. The weight of a
gallon of the churned milk was eight pounds seven ounces.
Results, From these experiments it appears that cream should
not be kept at a high temperature in the process of
churning. In the first experiment, where the tempera¬
ture was lowest, the quantity of butter obtained was in
the greatest proportion to the quantity of cream used ;
and as the temperature was raised, the proportional
quantity of butter diminished ; while in the last experi¬
ment, where the mean temperature of the cream had
been raised to 70®, not only was the quantity of butter
diminished, but in quality it was found to be very in¬
ferior, both with regard to taste and appearance. That
the lowest possible temperature should be sought in
churning, appears likewise from another result of the
above experiments ; namely, that the specific gravity of
the churned milk was found to diminish as the tempera¬
ture of the cream had increased ; thus showing that at
the lower temperatures, the butter which is composed of
the lighter parts of the cream, is more completely col¬
lected than at the higher temperatures, in which the
churned milk is of greater specific gravity. In general,
it was inferred, that the most proper temperature at
which to commence the operation of churning is from
50° to 55"°; and that at no stage of the operation ought
it to exceed 65® : while, on the contrary, if at any time
the cream should be under 50® in temperature, the labour
will be much increased without any proportionate ad¬
vantage being obtained ; and a temperature of a higher
rate than 65® will be injurious as well to the quality
as to the quantity of the butter.
Butter is usually preserved for future purposes by
means of common salt. The following preparation is
an excellent substitute, and imparts a richer and sweeter Agriculture,
taste. Two parts of good sea salt, one part of loaf
sugar, and one of saltpetre, are pounded and mixed to¬
gether. One ounce of this mixture is incorporated with
every pound of butter, which is then closed up in a proper
vessel, and at the end of two or three weeks it is fit for
the table. When thus prepared, it has been known to
retain its sweetness several years.
In Holland the method of making butter is to allow Butch but-
the milk, after it is drawn from the cow, to become com- making,
pletely cool before it is put into the pans or cream
dishes; to prevent the cream from separating from the
milk by stirring it two or three times a day with a
wooden spoon, and when it is sufficiently thick to churn
it for an hour. When the butter begins to form, a quan¬
tity of cold water is poured in for the purpose of sepa¬
rating the butter from the milk ; and when the former
is taken out, it is washed and kneaded till the last water
comes off pure. It is said that milk managed in this
way yields a larger proportion of butter than by the
ordinary method practised in this Country ; and that it
is, at the same time, of a better quality, sweeter, firmer,
and well calculated for keeping.
Cheese is also a very important article of Dairy ma- Cheese,
nufacture ; of the History and Antiquities of which
we have spoken in our Miscellaneous Division. Much,
no doubt, depends on the quality of the pasture,
as well as on the season of the year at which the pro¬
cess is conducted ; but it is proved by recent experi¬
ments that a great deal is left to the skill of the farmer,
and that the raw material is capable of being converted
to much higher uses than the ignorant have heretofore
imagined. The very first step, the coagulation of the
milk, is attended with considerable consequences, as
giving a decided taste and character to cheese. It is
well known that the rennet which is employed for this Rennet,
purpose is prepared from the stomachs of young calves,
and, unless great precautions are used, it is apt to be¬
come rancid, and thereby to communicate a disagreeable
flavour. The method of preserving it, in the West of
England, is, when the rennet-bag is cleaned, to make a
strong solution of salt with two quarts of wäler ; to add
to this solution small quantities of several spices, and to
boil the whole down to three pints ; then, to strain the
liquor and pour it on the rennet-bag; to add a sliced
lemon ; and, after allowing it to settle a day or two, to
strain it well, and bottle it up for use. When well-
corked, it will keep a year, and gives to the cheese a
pleasant aromatic flavour. A decoction of the flowers of
the Galium verum., or cheese-rennet, a plant very com¬
mon in many pastures, is sometimes used as a substitute.
Muriatic acid is also employed for the same purpose ;
and we are told, that the pungent taste peculiar to some
sorts of Dutch cheese, is occasioned by the latter ingre
dient, infused, perhaps, in an undue proportion.
The colouring matter most commonly adopted in Colouring
English dairies is arnotto, an article which was wont to flatter,
be imported from Spain ; the quantity varying according
to the shade required. In Gloucestershire, an ounce is
allowed for every hundred pounds of cheese. In Che¬
shire, the method of using it is to tie up the necessary
quantity in a linen bag, and to infuse it in half a pint of
hot water the night before it is used, and next morning,
before the application of the rennet, to mix the coloured
infusion thoroughly with the milk. In some places, a
piece of the unpounded arnotto., dipped in milk, is
nibbed on a smooth stone, and the colouring matter
72
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture, thus obtained, is combined with the milk in the usual
way.
Gloucester In making Gloucester cheese the milk is used as it is
cheese. drawn from the cow ; and if it be too hot in Summer a
little skim-milk or water is added. After the application
of the colouring-matter and the rennet, the curd is care¬
fully broken down with the hand or a knife ; and
next put into a vat, and pressed for a quarter of an
hour. It is then turned into a tub and again broken
small, scalded with a pailful of water, lowered with
one part of whey, and the whole is briskly stirred.
Having stood a few minutes to allow the curd to settle,
the liquor is strained off, and the curd is again collected
into a vat. When this is half full, a little salt is
sprinkled on and well wrought into the cheese ; it is
then filled up ; the whole mass is turned two or three
times round ; the edges are pared and the middle
rounded at each turning. The cheese, surrounded with
a cloth, is subjected to further pressure, when the pro¬
cess is completed.
Imitated. In the 1st volume of the Quarterly Journal of Agri¬
culture^ there is " a Receipt for making cheese, in imita¬
tion of double Gloucester." The method adopted does
not differ much from that now described, and the success
of the attempt, which was made in Dumfrieshire, shows
that the secret, if there ever was any, is now perfectly
understood from Cornwall to the Scotland Firth. The
quantity of arnotto used by the imitator amounted to
about a quarter of a pound for two hundred weight of
cheese ; and the salt to about eight or nine ounces. It
was found that a hundred quarts of milk were required
for a cheese of thirty pounds ; or about three quarts to
the pound.
Stilton. The directions for making Stilton cheese a''e given in
the Agricultural Report of Leicestershire as follows :
the night's cream is put into the morning's new milk,
with rennet ; and when the curd is formed, it is not
broken, as is done with other cheeses, but taken out
whole and placed in a sieve, to drain gradually, and as
it drains, a gradual pressure is continued till it becomes
firm and dry. It is then placed in a wooden hoop, and
afterwards kept dry on boards, and turned frequently
with the cloth binders round it, which are tightened as
occasion requires. When the cloths are removed, each
cheese is rubbed with a brush once every day, and in
damp weather twice, for two or three months. This
cheese has been successfully imitated in other districts,
an account of which will be found in the Quarterly
Journal^ No. VI. and in the Prize Essays and Transac¬
tions of the Highland Society.
Cheshire. Cheshire cheese, which it is found more difficult to
imitate than any other, is made in the following manner.
The cream of the preceding evening's milk is skimmed
off, and poured into a pan heated with boiling water,
and a third part of the same milk is heated in the same
way. The new milk of the morning and that of tne pre¬
ceding evening being thus prepared, are introduced into
a large tub together with the cream. Then are added,
first the colouring matter, and afterwards the rennet.
The whey being removed, the curd is cut into slices,
and repeatedly turned over and pressed with weights.
It is next broken v^ith the hand into small pieces, put
into a vat, and strongly pressed, and being transferred
afterwards into another vat, the process of breaking
down and pressing is renewed two or three times. The
last time, the vat is heated to a certain temperature, and
a tin hoop or binder is put round the edge of the cheese.
Six hours are spent in the processes now detailed, and Agriculture
eight hours more are necessary for pressing the cheese,
during which time it should be twice turned in the vat.
Next morning and evening, it is again turned and
pressed, as well as in the morning of the third day,
about the middle of which it is removed to the salting
apartment, when the outside is well rubbed with salt,
and a cloth binder is passed round it. During a week,
while the cheese remains there, it is turned twice a day,
and as it is left for some days longer to dry, it is turned
once and well cleaned daily. It is then transferred to
the store-room, which should be kept moderately warm,
and protected from a current of air, to avoid the risk of
cracking, and turned every day till it becomes perfectly
dry.
No cheese is more highly esteemed than Parmesan, Parmesan,
which is produced on the plains of the Po, near Lodi.
Its peculiar qualities, we are informed, depend more on
the manner of making it than any thing else. The
cows are a mixed breed, between the red Hungarian;
or Swiss variety, and those reared among the Lom¬
bards. The chief peculiarity in their feeding is, that
they are allowed to eat in the fields four or five hours
out of the twenty-four ; all the rest of the time they
are stalled, and get hay. Both this pasture and hay are
chiefly from irrigated lands. The cheeses are made en¬
tirely from skimmed milk ; half of that which has stood
sixteen or seventeen hours, and half of that which has
stood only six. The milk is heated and coagulated in a
cauldron, erected in a very ingenious fire-place, being
an inverted semicone in brick-work, well adapted for
preserving heat, and for the use of wood as fuel. With¬
out being taken out of the cauldron, the curd is broken
very small by an instrument consisting of a stick with
cross-wires ; it is again heated, or rather scalded, till the
curd has attained a considerable degree of firmness ; it
is then taken out, drained, salted, and pressed, and in
forty days it is fit to be put in the cheese loft. The pe¬
culiarities of this cheese seem to depend on the mode of
scalding the curd ; though some allege that the feeding
of the cows is not without its effect. But for a more
minute detail, we refer the reader to the XXIst Volume
of the Farmer^s Magazine; CdidelYs Journey in Car-
niola ; and Loudon's Agriculture,
There are various other cheeses in common use, such Other
as the Chedder, the Dunlop, the Lincolnshire, the Nor- cheeses.
folk, the Wiltshire, the Cottenham, and the Suffolk ;
but as the process of making is nearly the same in all,
we shall not repeat descriptions which would exhaust
the patience without conveying any particular know¬
ledge. We shall simply remark that cheeses ought to
be kept in a dry airy place ; and that the leaves of
Tutsan, the Hypericum androsœmum, or of the Yellow
Star of Bethlehem, or even the young twigs of the
common Birch, are useful in preventing the depreda¬
tions of mites.
Leases and Rent.
Few subjects in Agriculture are attended with greater General
difficulty than the proper mode of fixing the duration of principles
Leases and the amount of Rent. With regard to the
former, it may be observed, that when they are short and
clogged with a number of restrictive clauses, they are
equally injurious to the proprietor and to the occupier
of the land, and have therefore been justly regarded as
one of the most serious obstacles to the improvement of
AGRI (CULTURE.
73
Agriculture, the soil. As to rent again, no general principle can be
stated which is not liable to certain objections. Some
writers have suggested that one-third of the produce
should be appropriated to the landlord. But as land of
inferior quality requires a more expensive mode of cul¬
tivation than richer fields,—-more skill, capital, and in¬
dustry, to improve and keep it in a productive state,-—
the fourth part of the produce might be considered as
the fair value of rent. Nav, from the recent examina-
«/ '
tion of some very intelligent Agriculturists before a
Committee of the House of Commons, even the fifth
part of the actual produce of poor land was deemed an
equitable return to the landlord. In all leases, there¬
fore, founded on such principles, the quality of the soil
must determine the proportion to which the proprietor
is entitled in name of rent. Perhaps the main con¬
siderations connected with this subject might be examined
under the following heads ; namely,
Inquiries. J. Whether it is more for the interests of Agriculture
that the lands of a country should be let on lease, than
that they should be occupied by tenants at will ?
II. What is the proper length of a lease, and what
are the reasons of preferring one period to another ?
III. Whether ought the rent to be a constant money-
payment, or 2, fixed quantity of produce, or a fixed pro¬
portion of the produce of the land ?
IV. Whether ought there to be any stipulations in a
lease with respect to the management of the farm ; and
to what points ought they to be directed ?
V. Whether ought a farm to be let privately or pub¬
licly. And whether ought the highest bidder, supposing
him to be in other respects unobjectionable, always to be
preferred ^
VI. Whether ought houses and buildings to be erected
by the landlord or tenant?
Leases pre- I. As to the first question, whether it is more for the
ietable to interests of Agriculture that land should be let on lease,
or be occupied by tenants at will, it may, we presume,
be determined by an appeal to the fact, which of the
two has been found to call into action the greatest
share of capital, industry, and skill. If guided by this
principle, we shall have no difficulty in deciding in favour
of leases, in preference to the system of renting land
from year to year. By the former method, say on a
lease of nineteen years, the tenant is perfectly certain of
reaping the benefit of the capital expended in improving
the land ; and, consequently, may be expected to apply
his skill to the improvement of his farm without hesi¬
tation. He can also, with perfect security to himself,
adopt the most improved rotation of cropping, which,
let it be observed, is generally to make a present sacri¬
fice for a future advantage ; whereas, if he is a tenant
at will, in the strict sense of that phrase, he cannot be ex¬
pected to do either the one or the other. Nothing would
be more absurd, than for a tenant whose term of removal
may be only twelve months hence, either to lay out
capital, or to adopt a system of culture, the return from
which could be expected only at a distant period. We
are aware that many tenants at will, from the practice
on the estate, or the character of the proprietor, feel a
degree of security nearly approaching to that which is
conferred by a lease. Though this, however, be the
case in some particular instances, it cannot apply to
landlords in general. A tenant, therefore, so circum¬
stanced, cannot fail to apprehend, that were he to make
any great improvement on his farm, a higher rent might
be exacted.
VOL. VI.
There is one objection which We have heard stated to Agriculture,
letting land on a lease of nineteen years, namely, that
if the farm happens to be too low rented, the tenant Adyaiitages
continues during the lease, and enjoys a portion of the derived
produce which should have fallen to the share of the ß^ses.
landlord ; but, on the other hand, should the stipulated
rent prove too high, the landlord must submit to a de¬
duction. This objection is plausible ; and may, on a
superficial view of the case, appear conclusive against
the system of letting lands upon lease. Those who take
this view, however, very probably forget, that the security
of a lease for a fixed and definite period, has been one
of the principal causes of the rapid progress of Agri¬
culture during the last fifty years. If the same impulse
could have been given to Agriculture in the hands of
tenants at will, the view entertained by such persons
would, no doubt, be correct. But this is supposing a
state of things which cannot possibly exist. For it pro¬
ceeds upon the idea, that Man will display the same
energy, and make as great exertions for the acquisition
of an object which another may enjoy, as he will for
that which he knows will be exclusively his own. In¬
deed, there seems great reason for thinking, that had
the practice of letting lands to tenants at will been
universal, the rental of the Country would not have ex¬
ceeded two-thirds of what it is at present ; and, there¬
fore, although a landlord may occasionally be obliged
to accept of a rent somewhat lower than his lands are
worth, still he is a great gainer on the whole. It
may be supposed, that we have overrated the effect of
leases, but, when it is taken into account, that previously
to their introduction almost every improvement was ef¬
fected by the proprietor, and that in all districts in which
they are generally adopted, the tenants have relieved
the landlords of this burden, the benefit resulting from
this method will not be questioned. Of course we are
here speaking of such improvements as add to the pro¬
ductiveness of the soil, and at the same time yield
a profit on the capital expended. In short, it may be
held, that no tenant at will, possessing an ordinary por¬
tion of common sense and prudence, can be expected
to lay out capital, which will not be returned within a
very short period ; and this, it is obvious, amounts to
laying out no capital at all on that description of im¬
provements which make the largest return.
By the conditions of letting, he might be bound to a Disadvan»
certain mode of cropping, which would in some measure
tend to prevent the deterioration of the lands ; but every
operation would be performed in a slovenly manner,
and with a view as far as possible to save expense. If,
on the other hand, from the character of the landlord,
or practice on the estate, the tenants were perfectly
secure of not being removed from their farms, it is
equally obvious in this case, that the cultivation of the
lands would not be carried to the highest pitch ; because
most tenants would feel, that were they to improve their
farms highly, a larger rent might be exacted. And this
might occur even with liberally disposed landlords, as an
experienced eye and very considerable skill are requisite,
to discriminate betwixt that productiveness which is the
result of natural fertility, and that arising from high
improvement and skilful management. This is a risk,
to which all tenants at will must know they are ex¬
posed ; and in the majority of casés, they will avoid
making improvements of which they are not certain oí
reaping the benefit.
II. With these few remarks, we .shall proceed to
L
n
AGRICULTURE
Advantages
of Leases
for nineteen
and one and
twenty
years.
Agriculture, notice the second point ; namely,—What is the proper
length of a lease,—-or what are the reasons for prefer-
Hng one period to another T*
The circumstances of farms, as to situation, soil, and
improvement, are so various, that it is impossible to fix
on any length of lease which ought to be preferred in
every instance. Where the land is rich, and in a highly
improved state, à shorter period may suffice, than in
those cases in which extensive improvements must be
executed by thé tenant, and the means of effecting them
are at a distance. On the whole, however, when we
consider the immense benefits which Agriculture has
derived from leases of nineteen or twenty-one yeats,
we are disposed to think, that it would not be easy
to fix on any period more advantageous for the greater
part of lands which have been under cultivation.
This period seems well adapted for inducing the tenant
to execute promptly those improvements which are
generally the most profitable, while, at the same time, it
affords ample space for his reaping a full and fair return
for the necessary outlay. When the period of the lease
is much further extended, many tenants are apt to feel,
that there is time enough to reap the benefit of an im¬
provement, even though its execution be delayed for a
few years ; and consequently, their exertions at the com^
mencement of the lease are less prompt and vigorous ;
the effect of which, in many instances, is to give rise to
a dilatory and listless mode of proceeding, which often
leads to the neglect or total abandonment of many im¬
provements contemplated at the commencement of the
lease. On the other hand, if the lease be for a period
much shorter than nineteen years, the tenant, except in
situations very favourably situated for manure and other
means of improvement, does not feel that he has suffi¬
cient time for putting his lands in a very high state of
cultivation, with a reasonable prospect of being remu¬
nerated. For it must be kept in view, that profit from
superior culture is not derivable to any considerable
extent, from merely bringing the lands to a high degree
of fertility, and in a few years, by severe and injudicious
cropping, reducing them again to their former state*
Profit can only be derived to the fullest extent, by keep¬
ing up and directing the capabilities of the soil, whether
natural or acquired, to the production of those crops
which will prove immediately profitable to a certain
extent, and still more by the influence which they exer¬
cise on the succeeding ones. This cannot take place,
except in a very few cases, if the lease be much shorter
than nineteen years.
On the whole, we have no hesitation in giving the
preference to nineteen or twenty-one years, as the period
most advantageous to the interests of the landlord, the
tenant, and the community at large ; though, as we
have stated before, there may be cases where a shorter
period would not be attended with any very striking
disadvantages ; and there are others where a consider¬
able extension might prove highly beneficiaL It would,
in our opinion, be a great improvement, if the lease
could be renewed at the end of the fifteenth or sixteenth
year ; as the tenant's exertions are necessarily lessened
during the last four or five years of the lease. We
would strongly recommend to landlords, when they
have a proper tenant, to effect this arrangement with
him. The offener this can be done without giving the
latter reason to expect it at the commencement of his
lease, the better for all parties.
ill* The third question to be considered is,—" Whe¬
Renewals.
ther the rent ought to be a constant money-payment, or a Agricultnr;?.
fixed quantity of produce, or a fixed proportion of the
produce of the farm ?"
This the reader is aware, involves a point of consider- Object of
able difficulty ; and one which has been of late the sub- rent,
ject of much controversy and discussion. The object
which most writers on the subject have had in view, is
the discovery of a principle of paying rent, by which the
tenant shall give the precise worth of the farm each year
of the lease. This appears to us a state of things which
never can be attained.
We shall, in the first place, offer a few remarks on Disadvan-
the comparative merits of a fixed money-rent, and a tages of the
ßxed proportion of the }early produce: and on this
head we may observe, that the fluctuations which have ^
occurred of late years in the money-price of farm pro¬
duce, from the changes in the value of the currency, and
the occurrence of harvests more or less productive,
would be apt on the first statement of the question to
decide us in favour of a fixed proportion of the produce
of the farm, or the metayer scheme. Of this system,
however, we are disposed to think very Unfavourably,
because its whole tendency is to check enterprise and
improvement. Its practical operation is well illustrated
by the state of Agriculture in those Countries where it
prevails ; for which see, among others, an excellent
account inChateauvieux, Lettres Ecrites d'Italie en 1812
et 1*813, and Ú\e Annales Agricoles deEoville^ published
about four years ago at Paris. No tenant would expend
capital when he knew that the landlord was to come in
for a third, fourth, or fifth share of the additional produce
resulting from its application. It is a system applicable
only to Countries where the tenantry have little or no
funàs) and must look to the landlords for stocking their
farms. Indeed, so pernicious does it appear to us, that
we see no chance of the Agriculture of a Country
becoming really prosperous where that system of letting
lands is universal.
From a fixed money-rent, no great inconvenience Doubts re-
seems to have been felt in this Country, previously to specting a
the passing of the Bank Restriction Act in 1797. The
1 • X- Tiu u u- u -1 money-rent,
depreciation oi the currency, however, which necessarily •'
followed that measure, and the great proportion of
deficient harvests which occurred between 1797 and
1812, (see Tooke on High and Low Prices^) to which
we may add the extraordinary circumstances. Political
and Commercial, in which the Country was placed,
occasioned such a rise in the price of corn, as produced,
in the minds of some landlords, a dislike to a fixed
money-rent. The same circumstances had a very dif¬
ferent effect on the farmers. A fixed money-rent was,
in their opinion, the only way in which land ought to
be hired. It was, however, the combined effect of these
and other circumstances, that disclosed the imperfections
of this mode of paying rent ; and led, in many cases, to
the adoption of another, which is to be next noticed.
But before doing so, we shall submit a few remarks on
a point connected with this subject.
Some landlords, we believe, are under the impression Farming
that they suffered greatly from their lands having been capital,
let, during the period of high prices, on leases of nine¬
teen years, at a fixed money-rent. This, we are much
disposed to think, is a mistaken view. It ought to be
recollected, that about the middle of the last century, the
amount of farming capital was extremely small. It had,
no doubt, been gradually accumulating from the period
of the Revolution, about which time improving leases
AGRICULTURE,
75
Agriculture.
greatly in¬
creased be¬
tween 1780
and 1812,
Consequent
increase ef
rent.
Advantages
of a fixed
money-rent
Greater ad¬
vantages of
a fixed
quantity of
produce,
were, in a few instances, introduced ; but even at the
close of the XVIIlth Century, it was very far from being
adequate to the improvement and cultivation of the
Country. It was during the period from 1780 to 1812,
but especially during the latter half, that the farming
capital, in the Northern parts of the Kingdom especially,
received an accession which made it nearly equal to the
proper cultivation of the land. And this accumulation
of capital, let it be observed, arose chiefly from the
tenantry holding leases for a period of years at a fixed
money-rent. During that period of Agricultural pros¬
perity, the Art was prosecuted with a degree of spirit
and enterprise unexampled in this, or perhaps in any
other Country. As a natural consequence^ it attracted
a great number of individuals from other professions,
which, with the increased capital in the hands of the
tenantry in general, produced an immense competition
for farms, and ultimately raised rents to the highest
pitch the lands were worth, even if the average prices of
the fourteen years preceding 1812 had continued.
During that period of excitement, the landlords, as the
leases expired, reaped a considerable share of the advan¬
tage in the rise of rent obtained, and, perhaps, still more
from the improvements effected by the tenantry on their
estates. But they are deriving, and will continue to
derive, a still greater benefit from the increase of farm¬
ing capital and skill, which those years of prosperity
called forth. The progress then made in the knowledge
of the Art, and the additional capital acquired, have,
beyond all doubt, enabled the tenantry to pay during
the last ten or twelve years, at least from fifteen to
twenty per cent, more rent, than they could have done
from 1750 to 1800, supposing the prices of farm-pro¬
duce to have been the same at both periods. In this
way, there is reason to think, that the landlords are
more than remunerated for any sacrifice they made
during the high prices ; and there can be little doubt,
that Agriculture has, at the same time, been essentially
and permanently benefited.
From what has been said it is obvious, that a fixed
money-rent, though it does not appear to have been
attended with any loss to the landlords, has proved
highly beneficial to the interests of Agriculture ; still it
must be admitted, that the late alteration in the value
of the currency, and the changes which have been made
on the corn laws, have had the effect of putting the
capital of those tenants paying a fixed money-rent, in
the power of the landlords ; and though in most in¬
stances, we believe, the proprietors were too liberal-
minded to avail themselves of the advantage thus
obtained over their leaseholders, it is a state of things,
against the recurrence of which, a provision, as far as
possible, should be made.
On the whole, though a fixed money rent appears
much preferable to a fixed proportion of the produce^
there seems great reason to think, that a fixed quantity
of produce convertible at the average prices of each
year, is less objectionable than either of the modes
noticed ; and upon this we shall offer a very few remarks.
A fixed quantity of produce has the important ad¬
vantage of providing fully and completely against va¬
riations in the price of corn, arising either from changes
in Commercial policy, or in the value of the currency ;
and at the same time has no effect whatever in damping
the exertions of the tenant, as he knows every bushel
he can produce beyond the landlord's share is entirely
his own. These are advantages of great value even in
a National point of view, inasmuch as they secure the Agriculture,
landlord, in the first place, in obtaining the value of his
lands during the lease ; and secondly, go far to prevent
any great destruction of farming capital. This mode
does not, indeed, provide for the difference of price
arising from more or less favourable harvests. This,
however, can be remedied, to a certain extent, by fixing
a maximum and minimum price—the former, to guard
the interests of the tenant, in years of extraordinary
scarcity—the latter, to protect the landlord from the
lowness of prices arising from unusual abundance. Great
judgment, however, is required in fixing the maximum
in elevated and exposed situations, as an error in this
particular might lead to the ruin of an industrious
tenant in unfavourable seasons. With these checks
judiciously applied, though the rent in any one year
may not be precisely what it ought to be, still the dis¬
parity betwixt it and the prices, will not in any case be
such as to depress the tenant, to the extent of either
checking his enterprise, or diminishing his means for
the profitable cultivation of his farm. Neither will the
interests of the landlord at any time suffer materially.
Indeed, a fixed quantity of produce convertible at the
average market prices, seems to us to protect the in¬
terests of both parties, as far perhaps as is practicable.
The same principle, in our opinion, might be beneficially
adopted in fixing the rent of pasture-lands, provided
the same means were taken to authenticate the prices of
cattle, sheep, wool, and dairy-produce in each County,
as is taken for ascertaining the prices of corn. This
subject is deserving of serious consideration, and the
plan, with little difficulty, might be carried into effect.
We shall only say in conclusion, that the view here
taken, has been borne out by many years' experience, in
several parts of the Country, in which that mode of
fixing the rent of corn lands has been in operation.
IV. The fourth inquiry is, —" Whether ought there
to be any stipulations in a lease, with respect to the ma¬
nagement of the farm ; and if there should be stipu¬
lations, what ought they to be ?"
Although the stipulations in leases must of necessity Necessity of
vary according to the circumstances of each particular restrictive
case, we do not think they can in any one instance be dis-
Í6á>S6S*
pensed with. In those districts of the Country in which
the principles of Agriculture are little understood, re¬
strictive clauses are, during the whole lease, indispensable :
firsts to protect the interest of the landlord ; and
secondly^ in some degree to lead the tenant to a better
system of husbandry. There is little chance, however,
of a tenant of skill and capital adopting an injurious
course of management, during the first half of a nineteen
years' lease ; but in the latter half, the interests of land¬
lord and tenant begin to diverge, and in the last year or
two, become nearly opposed to each other :—it being-
then the interest of the landlord to have the lands in the
highest possible state of cultivation, so as he may obtain
the greatest rent they are worth upon the renewal of the
lease ; while the interest of the tenant is obviously to
extract from the soil all he can before his right of
possession is at an end. A judicious person, in framing
a lease, will keep this in view, and endeavour to con¬
struct the clauses as to management, so as to protect
the just rights of both parties. And we are satisfied,
that restrictive clauses at the end of a lease will be least
objected to by those of the tenantry who have the clearest
view of their own interest ; for such persons know that
a deteriorating system of cropping cannot be pursued
L 2
76
AGRICULTURE.
Objects of
restrictions.
Their na¬
ture.
Agriculture, far, with advantage to themselves. Besides, when this
practice is general, the loss sustained during the first
four or five years of the new lease, is much greater than
any paltry profits obtained by improper cropping, in the
latter years of the old one. Indeed, the practice cannot
be too strongly reprobated ; because, instead of bene^
fiting any party, it is extremely prejudicial to all, and
not least to the tenants themselves. It would be
easy to establish this beyond all question, but it would
lead to details which might neither be interesting nor
useful in a general treatise.
The principal object, then, of all clauses in leases,
ought to be, to put it in the power of the tenant to
manage and cultivate his farm upon the most approved
principles known at the time of his taking possession,
and to allow him to avail himself of any improvements
which may take place in Agriculture, or otherwise,
during the currency of the lease ; and on the other hand,
to give security to the proprietor, that his lands will be
properly cultivated during the whole period, but espe¬
cially during the last five or six years. It is, as formerly
stated, impossible to say what the clauses of a lease
ought to be in any particular case, without a knowledge
of the whole circumstances connected with the farm ;
and it is equally impossible to frame any conditions
which would be generally applicable. All that can be
done, is to state the principle upon which such restric¬
tive clauses should be inserted.
In every case, a landlord must, either of himself, or
by the advice of those in whom he can confide, deter¬
mine the proportion of exhausting crops which his land
can profitably carry,—keeping in view the nature of the
soil, climate, situation, and other circumstances,—and
must frame the restrictive clauses so as to prevent that
proportion from being exceeded, and to provide for a due
quantity of putrescent manure being regularly applied.
Although many objections might be stated to binding a
tenant to crop and cultivate his land according to a
specific plan, even during the latter years of the lease,
we are of opinion, that any departure from good cul¬
ture for four or five years out of nineteen or twenty-one,
is so detrimental to the interests of all parties, that it
ought by all means to be prevented. And, perhaps,
no better general principle could be applied, than that
the tenant should not be allowed to depart from the
system he has pursued during the previous years of the
lease.
V. With these observations, we shall next advert to
the fifth query, namely, Whether ought a farm to be
loipuhlicly or privately ? and whether ought the highest
bidder, supposing him to be in other respects unobjec¬
tionable, always to be preferred ?'*
The object which ought to be kept in view in letting
lands, is, to obtain their fair value from tenants of re¬
spectability, who are possessed of adequate skill and
capital for the proper management of their farms. That
mode of letting them, therefore, ought to be adopted,
which afibrds the best chance of attaining these objects.
To us, the chance of accomplishing the end in view
seems much greater by private than public letting.
By the former, the proprietor can exercise a more
deliberate judgment in regard to the merits of the can¬
Object in
letting.
didates, and the tenant in regard to the value of the Agriculture,
farm.
A higher rent may no doubt be obtained at an auction, Advantages
but this is no good reason in favour of such a method, F^vate
as there are few things more detrimental to Agriculture ®
than over-rented farms. Tenants so situated, seldom
make exertions, or display a spirit of enterprise,
consistent with their own interest, or the interest of
their profession. As farms are, in our opinion, much
more likely to be over-rented, and to fall into the hands
of an inferior description of persons, by being let by
auction, than by receiving private offers, we would, on
that account, prefer the latter mode. At a public
auction, there is a degree of excitement which some¬
times leads a bidder to go further than his judgment in
his cooler moments would dictate ; besides, some are
apt to offer, trusting to the knowledge of the preceding
bidder rather than to their own.
As to whether the highest bidder ought always to be
preferred, we are decidedly of opinion, that capital, in¬
telligence, and skill, ought, in most cases, to have a pre¬
ference ; and there can be no doubt, that the landlord
who is guided by this rule, will, in general, consult his
own interest, and the interest of Agriculture.
VI. As to the last point, namely, " Whether houses
and buildings ought to be erected by the landlord or
tenant? and if by the latter, how should he be indem¬
nified for them ?''
It appears to us, that the buildings and houses ought. Buildings
in general, to be erected by the landlord. The sum ought to be
necessary for this purpose, is more than the tenant can
be expected to possess beyond what is required for the
stocking and improvement of the farm. Besides, such
erections can be made by the landlord at as little ex¬
pense as by the tenant ; and consequently, when ex¬
ecuted by the former, the effective agricultural capital of
the Country is greatly increased. It is worth observing,
perhaps, that the landlord, having a permanent interest
in the property, will take care to erect buildings, both
as to stability and extent, suitable to the general uses of
the farm : whereas, it can scarcely be expected, that a
tenant, having only a temporary interest, will be guided
by the same views.
We might have expanded the considerations under Bad effects
the third head to a much greater extent, and taken a of theme-
review of the metayer system, as it operates in many
parts of the Continent, in which the farmers pay a fixed Continent,
proportion of their produce to the landlord in name of
rent. This has been pronounced by Mr. Arthur Young
''the most detestable of all modes of letting land," in
which, after running the hazard of many heavy losses,
" the defrauded landlord receives a contemptible rent ;
the farmer is in the lowest state of poverty ; the land is
miserably cultivated ; and the Nation suffers as severely
as the farmers themselves." Notwithstanding the nu¬
merous changes introduced by the Revolution, this ob¬
jectionable scheme prevails in more than the one half of
France, and throughout the greater part of Italy, We
need not add that Agriculture has made no progress in
either Country, in the midst of numerous improvements
derived by all other pursuits from the general cultivation
of the Physical Sciences.
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- Horticulture is that branch of rural economy which
ture. is concerned with the formation and culture of gardens.
Compared with agriculture, it is the cultivation of a
limited spot by manual labour, and greater complexity
of operations, either for culinary vegetables, fruits, flow¬
ers, ornament, or recreation. Like other arts, it had its
origin ill the primary wants of man, and is probably one
of the first that succeeded the erecting of houses ; and
as these wants grew into desires, it extended from an
enclosure of a few square yards to pleasure-grounds,
lawns, and hot-houses, &c. Horticulture is beholden to
Botany for facts in vegetable physiology, to Chemistry, in
reference to soils, manures, and artificial heat, to Me¬
teorology for several circumstances which affect the labour
of the gardener, and to Architecture for the construction
of hothouses, walls, &c. There can be no doubt that
gardening was introduced into Britain by the Romans ;
for Strabo, writing in the beginning of the 1st Century,
says that the people of Britain are generally ignorant of
the art of horticulture, as well as other parts of agricul¬
ture. In some parts of England vineyards were made
by the Romans towards the end of the Illd Century.
Horticulture appears to have been first established by
the Roman generals both as an art of taste and ve¬
getable culture, as is evident from the remains of
Roman villas discovered in different parts of the coun¬
try. Modern gardening, in Britain, appears to have re¬
ceived its first impulse during the reign of Henry VIII.,
and the second stimulus during the reign of Charles I.,
in the style of Notre, and it changed again, by the intro¬
duction of a more modern style, during the reign of
George II., and early part of that of George III. Hor¬
ticulture, as an art of taste, did not begin until the
Xlth Century in England. Roman landscape garden¬
ing appears to have been neglected in Britain in the be¬
ginning of the Vth Century, when that nation abandoned
Britain to the Saxons ; but was revived in France under
Charlemagne, and was probably reintroduced to Eng¬
land with the Norman Conqueror in the end of the Xlth
Century. Evelyn, a well-known author of garden books,
flourished during the reign of Charles II, A taste for
florist flowers appears to have been introduced from
Flanders with the worsted manufactures, during the
persecutions of Philip II. ; but flowering plants and
shrubs were known and cultivated long before that time.
Parterres seem to have been introduced in the reign of
Elizabeth. The earliest notice of a botanical garden is
that of the Duke of Somerset, at Syon House, which was
under the superintendence of Dr. Turner, in the begin¬
ning of the XVIth Century ; but in the beginning of the
XVIIth Century, flowers and curious plants seem to
have been very generally cultivated, at which time Par¬
kinson flourished, and who first filled the place of royal
herbalist, created by Charles I. Thomas Tusser was
the first who treated incidentally on the subject of gar¬
dens, in his work published in 1557, where he enume¬
rates the fruits and seeds known in his time. Trades-
cant, a Dutchman, and gardener to Charles I., esta¬
blished a botanic garden at Lambeth previous to 1629 ;
vol. vi. 87*
and the Chelsea botanic garden appears to have existed Horticid-
in the middle of the XVIIth Century. The first public ture,
botanic garden in England was founded at Oxford,
1632, and Jacob Bobart, a German, was its first super¬
intendent ; and from that time both botany and horticul¬
ture has been in a flourishing state in Britain. The
botanic garden at Kew was established by the Princess
Dowager of Wales, mother to George III., and its exotic
department was formed chiefly through the influence of
the Earl of Bute, and Sir John Bill published the first
Hortus Kewensis in 1768. In 1761 the Cambridge
botanic garden was founded by the Rev. Dr. Richard
Walker, and has chiefly become celebrated by the pub¬
lication of the Hortus Cant abri giensis of James Donn,
its curator. Since then numerous other public gardens
have been established. The Horticultural Society of
London was instituted in the beginning of the present
century ; but since then horticultural and florist societies
have sprung up in almost every town and district.
Until the end of the XVIth Century the operations
of gardening were regulated by the age of the moon, as a
weak tree was planted on its increase, and a strong one
on its wane, &c. ; but the writings of Bacon, in the be¬
ginning of the XVIIth Century, produced the decline of
astrology, and a different mode of studying sciences and
arts was adopted ; and in the middle of the same century
forcing flowers and fruits began to be practised, which
brought into notice the influence of light, air, and heat
on vegetation. But the greatest impulse horticulture
received, as a science, was from the writings of Mr.
Knight, late president of the Horticultural Society of
London. As an art of design and taste, gardening was
conducted mechanically until the middle of the XVIIIth
Century, when unalterable principles were laid down for
the imitation of nature in the arrangement of garden
scenery. Gardening without science has no other assur¬
ance for its future success than from rules drawn from
precedents, instead of resorting to general principles,
but science alone, without practical experience, may end
in disappointment ; but when science and practice are
combined, success is almost certain, as difficulties can
be contended with. The whole business of horticulture
consists of imitating nature, for the principle of vegetable
life will not endure interference beyond a certain point.
In early ages the art of gardening was carried on in
one enclosure, but at present the subdivisions of the art
are various, and the kitchen, flower, and botanic gardens,
as well as pleasure-grounds, parks, and plantations,
come all under the province of gardening. These may
be divided, I. into horticulture, which includes culinary
and fruit, and forcing gardens and orchards ; 2. floricul¬
ture, which may consist of flower and botanic gardens
and shrubberies, as also forcing plants for ornament ;
3. arboriculture includes the cultivation of forest trees
in woods, pleasure-grounds, and copses ; and 4. land¬
scape gardening, the object of which is to lay put ground
so as to produce landscapes as well as planting orna¬
mental grounds. The horticultural department, which
consists of kitchen, fi^uit, and forcing gardens, being
88*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- nerally carried on within the same enclosure, or beimr
ture. n^uch interming^led, it is better to take them tog-ether, as
least, as refers to operations and enclosures. The
floricultura] and arboricultural departments will then
follow.
The fruit, The fruity kitchen, and forcing garden is that de-
khcben, partment in which culinary vegetables and fruits are
?" aTdeii cultivated, and is enclosed by walls principally, as afford-
' ing the means for the cultivation of the finer fruits by
training. Forcing houses and melon and cucumber
frames are introduced into it for bringing hardy fruits
to earlier maturity than can be produced in the open
garden, and for the cultivation of tropical fruits. The
productiveness of the ground will depend, as a matter of
course, upon its fertility, and the labour expended on its
culture. A supply of culinary vegetables, as well as
fruits, may be had throughout the year by proper ma¬
nagement. Some kinds of fruits, as apples and pears,
are kept through the winter in stores, until early spring,
when forced fruit can be had.
Situation Situation, shelter and water. — A kitchen garden
and shelter, should be so situated as to be convenient to, and at the
same time concealed from the house; both Nicol and
Forsyth prefer a gentle declivity towards the south, in-
ciining a little to the east, so as to receive the benefit of
the morning sun ; it should not be so elevated as to be ex¬
posed to boisterous winds, and too low a situation should
also be avoided, if possible, for in these damps and fogs
are prejudicial. It is best to have the main entrance on
the south side, and the next entrances on the east and
west, which produces a favourable impression on enter¬
ing, by having the highest and best wall with all the
hot-houses in that direction. Forsyth rejects a place
surrounded by woods, on account of the foul stagnant air
which occasion blights. The extent of a kitchen garden
should be regulated by circumstances ; but, if possible, it
should be rather extensive than otherwise, by which a
constant supply of vegetables maybe obtained. Forcing-
houses ami hot-beds generally take up a great deal of
space. Kitchen gardens are usually sheltered, but not
shaded from north and east winds by plantations, but if
walled round, it is best to be open on all sides; but in
elevated places it will require to be surrounded by woods,
and it should even be divided inside by evergreen hedges,
and if the south borders and walls of such a garden are
heated by furnaces, it will be found to produce earlier
crops than gardens on level surfaces or in low sheltered
situations. Shelter is derived from the natural situation
of the ground, as on the south and south-west sides of
hills, and on sloping banks. The soil is of much less
consideration than the situation and exposure, as the
soil may be changed by art. The best soil for a garden,
however, is sandy loam ; the soil in all cases should not
be less than two feet deep, and of such a texture that it
can be worked at all seasons of the year; if too strong,
it should be mixed well with sand, and if the subsoil be
moist, it should be drained. A copious supply of water
is essential to every garden, from whatever source it is
furnished.
Walls. Walls are built around kitchen gardens chiefly for the
protection of fruits, for gardens may be equally well
sheltered by hedges ; but to have the finer kinds of
fruit, it is necessary to have walls. Walls with a south
aspect are generally considered the best, but walls facing
the south-east or east, or south, inclining to the east are
to be preferred, because they have the morning sun.
The height of garden walls is regulated by the extent of
the ground, for if the garden be small, high walls have Horticul-
a gloomy appearance Walls being of different heights
give relief, for if a north wall be eighteen feet, which
should never be higher, the east and west wall should
be fifteen, and the south wall twelve ; walls five or six
feet high do very well for peaches, nectarines, cherries,
vines, and figs, but not for plums, apricots, or pears, for
these require more room to expand. Common or up¬
right walls are preferred to sloping or curved walls.
Walls are sometimes constructed hollow to save mate¬
rials, and they are said to be as efficient as solid walls.
Projecting copings on garden walls are of use in spring,
by protecting the blossoms from dews and cold, but
are injurious in summer by excluding rain and air;
therefore, temporary copings should be preferred.
Brick is almost the universal material of which garden
walls are built, as they retain more heat and answer
better for nailing; the foundation or basement should in
all cases be of stone ; walls built of stone and faced with
brick answer equally well. Where a wall is entirely of
stone, it is a good plan to place a wooden rail against
it to which the trees should be trained, and tied,
which prevents them from being injured by damp in
rainy weather, and also by insects. Walls formed of
wood are considered as good as those made of brick, but
are not so durable. Fined walls are of great advantage
in cold and late autumns, to ripen the finit as well as
the wood ; these may be heated by hot-water pipes as
readily as they can be by hot air or smoke. Where the
garden is extensive, cross walls are introduced, and are
placed generally from east to west, hut hedges are some¬
times used as a substitute for them ; however, these only
afford shelter, without any of the advantages derived from
walls. On the outside of walls there is generally a slip,
which consists of a border, and a walk enclosed by a
paling, hedge, or other fence.
Borders jor fruit trees.—The upper soil as well as the Borders for
subsoil must be attended to; for if the subsoil be moist or fruit trees,
clayey it should be drained, and the bottom made as
bard and impervious to the roots as possible, and the
prepared soil thrown in about three feet in depth. It is
necessary either to adapt the trees to the soil or the soil
to the trees, for in dry sandy soils peaches and nectarines
do not thrive, while apricots, figs, and cherries do well.
Walks.—The number of walks must necessarily de- Walks,
pend upon the extent of the ground ; but generally few
and wide walks are preferred to many contracted ones.
If the garden be small, one walk all round outside the
fruit border and one down the centre is sufficient ; and
if large, one all round and a cross one is a plan generally
adopted, and sometimes it is divided by a wall from
east to west. Gravel is the best material for walks, but
when that cannot be had, coal ashes or drift sand are
good substitutes. Grass walks are much used, and have
a better appearance than gravel, but are disagreeable
in wet weather and dewy mornings, provided they are
not kept very short, which is attended by a great deal
of labour. For edgings to walks, dwarf box has long
been considered the best, but in kitchen gardens, edgings
are generally dispensed with, as being liable to harbour
slugs and other injurious vermin.
Espalier-rails are generally placed on each side of the Espahe»
cross walk ; they ought to be neat, and four or five feet rails,
high, and the spars to which the branches are tied should
at least be nine inches apart, and the posts which sup¬
port the rails should be set in stone. By some horti¬
culturists, dwarf standard trees are preferred to espa«
H o R T I C
Horticul- liers Tall standard trees were formerly introduced into
ture. kitclien garden, but are now almost universally con-
fined to the slip around the outside of the garden wall,
and to lawns and orchards, for if planted in kitchen
gardens their shade prevents the proper growth of culinary
vegetables.
Soils, Soils may he classed by the presence or absence of
organic or inorganic matter in their bases ; first, the
subsoil, which may be called primary, is entirely com¬
posed of inorganic matter, and the upper soil which
may be named secondary, is composed of organic
and inorganic matter in mixtures. Plants are the
most certain indicators of the nature of the soil, for one
who knew the sort of plant a certain soil naturally pro¬
duced, would at once be enabled to decide on its value
for the purposes of cultivation, as particular plants indi¬
cate argillaceous, calcareous, silicious, ferruginous,
peaty, saline, moist and dry soils. The most common
names given to soils are the different kinds of day, loam,
sand, peat, and vegetable mould, and a mixture of two
of these is denominated sandy-loam, sandy-peat, sandy-
clay, and vice versa, loamy-sand, clayey-sand, according
to the predominance of either. Earth, exclusive of or¬
ganized matter and water, is allowed to be of no other
use to plants than the means of fixing them, but earth
and organic matter afford support and food. Looseness
of texture is required in soils ; loose loam is best adapted
to all horticultural purposes; however, any light soil is
preferable to one that is heavy and stiff, as it is much
easier, by manure, to make a light soil sufficiently reten¬
tive, than to make a heavy one friable. It is, however,
a great advantage to have a variety of soils. The sub¬
soil, if sand, sandstone, or gravel is best, because one
composed of cold clay, or too retentive a soil, proves per¬
nicious to vegetables, and admits of no remedy except
draining. Such soils as are capable of attracting
carbonic acid are always saturated with it where the
practice of fallowing has been adopted.
Culture of Culture of the soil is performed by trenching or dig-
the soil, ging, and by throwing it up in ridges, so as to expose its
surface to the action of the frost, the sun, and the atmo¬
sphere, and where the soil is exhausted or poor, it may
be renovated by mixing it with soil of good quality
from a field, or by rotted manure, and if it be too
sandy it may be rendered good by mixing it with clay
or loam, or any other tenacious soil, and vice versa^
should it be too clayey or retentive, sand, marl, or lime
should be applied. Recent dung is, however, to be
preferred, where economy rather than flavour of culinary
vegetables is an object, as it will serve as a manure for
the succeeding crop, which rotten dung will not do.
Market gardeners, who of necessity must make the most
of their ground, have found the utility of resting their
land as well as following a regular rotation of cropping.
Those considered the best managers sow a portion of
their ground every season in grass, barley, or clover,
which is used as green food for cattle. Land which has
been under esculent crops for many years together, and
which is generally glutted with manure, may be purified
by a crop of oats, barley, or rye, and if afterwards
trenched, will be fit for the production of culinary crops
in perfection.
Manures. Manures.—Vegetable as well as animal substances
constitute the most important manures, and if deposited
in the soil are consumed during the process of vegetation,
and they can only nourish the plant by affording solid
matter capable of being dissolved by water, therefore the
U L T U R E. 89*
I
great object in the application of manure should be to Horticul
make it afford as much soluble matter as possible to the
roots. The dung from exhausted hot-beds supplies a ^
good manure, also decayed leaves for many purposes.
Turf from rich pasturages, mixed with vegetable mould,
is preferred by some practical men as the best stimulant
to fruit trees. Others prefer composts of such simple
dungs as have undergone fermentation for most pur¬
poses. Crude manures should be always applied with
caution to the roots of plants, as the benefit to be derived
from it is questionable. It is always necessary to have
a supply of well-prepared manure as well as soils, for the
ground being exhausted by continual cropping, should
as continually be repaired. In some soils, and for par¬
ticular purposes, calcareous substances, as marl, mag¬
nesia, lime, bone-ashes, are found of considerable benefit ;
in soils containing much vegetable matter, they are
said to promote fermentation.
Atmosphere.—Carbonic acid gas, oxygen, azote, and Atmo-
water are the principal substances which compose the sphere,
atmosphere. The leaves of plants appear to act upon
the aqueous vapour, and to absorb it ; some vegetables
increase in weight if suspended, and therefore uncon¬
nected with the soil, as all fleshy or succulent plants.
Aqueous vapour is most abundant in the atmosphere,
where it is most needed for the purposes of life, as in
dry sandy deserts. Carbonic acid gas in the atmosphere
seems to be principally consumed in affording nourish¬
ment to plants, and there is no other extensive operation
known in nature by which it can be destroyed but by
vegetation. Oxygen is also necessary to some functions
in vegetables. Azote is absorbed in great quantities by
certain plants, particularly those of the cruciferous tribe.
Insects.^The destructive insects of gardens are ge- Insects,
nerally oviparous ; their eggs vary much, and the period
of their hatching very uncertain, but some are known to
hatch in a few days, and others not until the following
year. Larva is the first state of insects, as worms, grubs,
caterpillars, and maggots. In this state they feed vo¬
raciously, and are then most destructive to vegetables.
The next state, the pupa, is when the larva is full fed,
it retires either into the earth, or some other secure
situation; those of moths are enveloped in a cocoon.
The imago or winged state is the last stage ; in this
state they are seldom injurious to vegetables. Proper
modes of culture will in a great measure prevent the ra¬
vages of insects. Artificial bad weather, such as excessive
waterings by a syringe, is often resorted to. Shaking
the plants is sometimes adopted, for those thrown to the
ground can readily be destroyed. Hand-picking is ano¬
ther mode of destroying insects. Slices of potatoes stuck
through with skewers, and then buried near the seeds or
roots of plants, the wire-worm will collect upon these
during night, and by this means numbers may be cap¬
tured in the morning. Laying turnip or cabbage leaves
near infected plants at night, and removing them early
in the morning, is found very efficacious, they adhering
to the leaves. The white bug, as well as the red spider
and green fly, may be destroyed by syringing with lime
water mixed with a small portion of sulphur.
Diseases and wounds.—Injured parts must be cut off Diseases
smooth and in a slanting direction, so as to throw off and
water, and if the wounds are large, a coating of clay or wounds,
paint, &c., is a good application. In hide-bound trees,
slitting the bark is the only remedy known, and cutting
out in the case of canker.
object of the culture oj vegetables is to multiply Objectai
M* 2
90*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul-
tme.
the culture
of vegeta¬
bles.
Hybri¬
dizing.
Tempera¬
ture.
Acclima¬
tizing.
Distribu¬
tion of
plants.
plants, to increase their number, and to retain their native
qualities,to improve their qualities,to increase their mag-ni-
tude,to form new varieties, to propagate and preserve exist¬
ing varieties of vegetables. In order to retain their native
qualities, it is necessary to imitate as near as possible the
native climate, as respects soil, temperature, &c., but to
improve their qualities, or increase their size, it is evident
that their mode of nutrition must be facilitated by soil,
manure, climate, moisture, light, &c. Hybridizing is
the only means of procuring new varieties ; and for
preserving approved kinds, grafting, budding, laying,
&c., must be resorted to. The study of botany, accord¬
ing to the natural arrangement, is of the greatest im¬
portance to every horticulturist, as it teaches us not
only the nomenclature and arrangement, but the nature
of the different families of vegetables.
Hybridizing is the act of impregnating the stigma Of
one individual with the pollen of another, taking care
to remove the anthers before they burst from the plant
intended for the female parent ; and the plants raised from
the seed so procured are called hybrids, in consequence
of their arising from the commixture of two species or vari¬
eties, and which by the impregnation partake of the nature
and properties of both parents. It is only, however, from
nearly allied individuals that hybrids can be produced.
Hybrids generally become incapable of procreation after
the third or fourth generation, even from very nearly allied
plants, but if otherwise, they become barren the first
generation. Hybridizing is the most important means
of modifying nature, for some of the most showy flowers,
as well as the best varieties of fruit and culinary vegeta¬
bles, and even forest trees, have such an origin.
Temperature.—It is well known that plants of hot
countries cannot live in such as are cold without protec¬
tion, and vice versât plants, natives of cold countries, will
not live in such as are hot. Deciduous trees resist the
action of frost better than such as retain their leaves,
with the exception of some coniferous trees. Perennial
herbs whose shoots rise annually from a permanent root
resist it better than those whose shoots are persistent.
Plants of a dry nature resist frost better than such as
are fleshy, and all plants resist it better in dry winters
than in moist. The injurious effects of frost in spring
is well known, and consequently it is always better to
retard than accelerate vegetation. Frosts in early au¬
tumn are as injurious as those of spring. Elevation above
the level of the sea affects climate almost in the same
manner as latitude, while at the same time it occasions
a natural difference in atmospheric pressure. According
to De Candolle, 600 feet of elevation is equal to a degree
of latitude. Mountains 1000 fathoms in height, at
46° of latitude, have the temperature of Lapland, hence
plants in high latitudes live on the mountains of such
as are much lower. Plants, natives of mountains where
they are covered by snow during winter, are olten killed
by the first frosts of winter in the plains.
Acclimatizing.—It has been proved beyond a doubt,
that no change takes place whatever in the constitution
of vegetables, for the power to resist cold or heat always
remains the same. Potatoes, dahlias, kidney beans,
&c , are now as incapable of resisting the action of frost,
as when they were first introduced from America.
Distribution of plants»—Some plants which constitute
the object of gardening and agriculture have accompa¬
nied man from one part of the g-lobe to the other time
out of mind. The vine followed the Greeks, the wheat
the Romans, the cotton the Arabs, &c. The migration
of these plants is evident, but their native countries are Horticul-
as little known as that of the diflerent races of man.
Culinary garden vegetables, compared with what are '
considered the same species in their wild state, afford
striking proofs of the influence of culture, as for instance,
the Brassica tribe, celery, carrot, &c. Culture has also
an equal influence on fruits. The peach in its wild
state is said to be poisonous. The apple from the crab,
the plum from tlie sloe, the cherry from the gean, are
equally remarkable. The native country of plants may
generally be discovered by their habit or appearance.
According to Humboldt, a tissue of fibres more or less
loose, vegetable colours more or less vivid, according to
the chemical mixture of their elements and the force of
the solar rays, are some of the causes which impress on
the vegetables of each zone their characteristic features.
Rotation of crops.—It is a practice with every culti- Rotation of
vator to glow different crops in succession, and it crops,
is found to be highly advantageous. M. Macaire of
Geneva infers from the experiments which he has made,
that vegetables exude by their roots substances unfit for
their growth ; that the nature of these substances vary
according to the families of plants which produce them,
and that some being acrid and resinous may be injurious
and others being mild and gummy may assist in the
nourishment of other plants; therefore it is necessary to
change the crops, if the theory which is now generally
admitted be correct, that the substances exuded by the
spongioles of the roots of one family of plants are injurious
to other plants of the same family, while to plants of
another family they are nutritious. This theory also ex¬
plains why soil is deteriorated by the continuation of the
same crops, plants not being capable of digesting their
own secretions. The nature of these substances has
not yet been fully explained by chemists. Nothing tends
more to relieve the soil, according to Abercrombie, than
a judicious succession of crops.
Expedients for inducing fruitfvlness in trees.—In Expedients
consequence of the soil being too deep, or too rich, or for indu-
the roots penetrating into the subsoil, or by some other fruit-
means causing over luxuriance from the superfluity of
the sap, trees become barren. Sometimes the cutting
of the roots of trees has been the means of causing them
to blossom. Removing the decayed, cracked bark from
old trees is said to have a good effect. The same end
has been attained by removing a narrow annular portion
of the bark, which is termed ringing, in spring ; this
process is said both to improve the quality and preco¬
city of the fruit. Ringing when the blossoms are fully
expanded produces a similar effect by interrupting the
descent of the sap. Strippingoffpieces of the bark from
the stem and branches checks luxuriance in pear trees.
Renewal of the soil to the roots has often been resorted
to with success; where the soil is too rich, a poorer kind
may be substituted, and where too poor, a richer.
Bending down the branches has also had the desired
effect, and has been accounted for by retarding the
flow of the sap. A good and judicious soil on a firm
dry bottom, which will prevent the roots from penetrat¬
ing too deep into the subsoil, with plenty of light and
air, and proper pruning, is the only permanent and gene¬
ral mode of inducing fruitfulness. Barrenness often
proceeds from poverty of soil and coldness of climate ;
in which case a warmer situation and richer soil is the
only remedy. Stunted fruit trees always produce worth¬
less fruit, and should therefore be guarded against as
much as possible.
HORTICULTURE. 91*
Horticul- Protection of plants from atmospherical injuries, as
ture. from frost, rain, winds, sun, &c. The fronds of fern are
useful for protecting tender plants against frosts in the
of plants^ open air by covering them. Branches of spruce and
from atmo- silver fir is also very efficacious in retarding the blos-
spherical soms of trees in spring. Nets or bunting is often used
injuries for protecting the blossom of trees. Straw and mats
are commonly used for protection against frost ; in many
cases hand-glasses are most desirable.
Blanching. Blanching consists of rendering vegetables white, by
excluding them from the light. It is performed on
celery, chardoon, and asparagus by throwing the earth
up around them as they advance in growth, so as to
press the leaves, but leaving the heart free. Tying the
leaves together of lettuces, endive, and cabbage, round
with bast mat, the heart becomes blanched by the con¬
sequent exclusion of the light, as well as more crisp and
tender. Laying tiles, slates, boards, Äc., on endive, or
other salading, when they are as large as required, is a
common and easy method of blanching. Placing flower
pots inverted or other utensils over sea kale, rhubarb,
asparagus, &c., is the preferable method of blanching.
In early spring, horse litter is placed round the outside
of the pots to accelerate the growth of the vegetables
under them, and by that means the crop will be early.
Retarding Retarding vegetation is effected in various ways,
Vegetation, either by forming beds sloping to the north for salad¬
ing in summer. Keeping plants as much in the shade
as practicable in the spring is probably the best method
of retarding growth. The shade of ashed or north side
of a wall will answer the purpose. The earliest potatoes
are said to be the produce of tubers planted the second
season, their growth having been retarded the first.
Accélérât- Accelerating vegetation is promoted by various means,
ing vege- By planting or sowing in borders sloping to the south,
or against a south wall. It is also effected by hot ma¬
nure, as horse litter, pigeons' dung, &c., as well as by
dry soil. Roots of early ripened crops shoot much
earlier the following spring than roots of late crops.
Fined walls and borders, hot-houses, glass-cases, and
hot-beds, are the commonest and most practicable means
of accelerating vegetation. Forcing depends chiefly
upon the admission of air, supply of heat and water.
The operations of forcing should be gradual, so as just
to supply as much heat as will harmonize with the light
afforded by the sun, and the nature of the plant. Heat
should never be supplied until the buds have naturally
swollen. The earlier the wood of trees is ripened in
autumn, the earlier they will break in spring, therefore
the principal art in early forcing of fruits, is to place the
tree into a state of repose as soon as possible the pre¬
vious season.
Air.—It is well known that plants grow best, and
fruit swells most rapidly in a warm and moist atmos¬
phere, and therefore change of air is to a very limited
extent necessary. When fruits approach maturity, such
an increase of ventilation as will give the necessary
degree of dryness to the air within the house is highly
beneficial.— Knight.
Heat and light.—Heat should always be adjusted
according to the quantity of light given by the sun, for
during sunshine fires are allowed to decline, while in
cloudy weather, and during the night, the fire is kept up,
and the atmosphere excluded, but the temperature should
never be kept so high at night as in the middleof the day.
Imitation of warm This should not be
confounded with forcing. Plants from various climates
tation.
Air.
Heat and
light.
require different degrees of temperature, as stoves for Horticd.
plants natives within the tropics, dry stoves for fleshy or ture,
succulent plants, which are natives of dry arid places
within the tropics. Green-houses and conservatories limitation
are required for those which are natives of the Cape
Good Hope, Australia, and countries in about the same
latitudes.
-Supplies of water given to plants should be Watei.
regulated by the heat, the nature, or state of the plants.
Abundance of heat should be succeeded by copious sup-^
plies of water, unless the plants are succulent, fleshy, or
in a dormant state. Plants cultivated for their fruit
should be less watered during the ripening season, as a
dry atmosphere is most conducive to flavour.
Training is the arranging, laying, and spreading Xrainiucr.
out of the branches of plants or trees on walls, trellis^
work, or espalier rails, &c. The object of training is to
induce a disposition to form flower buds, to mature
and improve the quality, or to increase the quantity
or precocity of the fruit ; this is effected by the shelter
afforded, by the regular spreading of the branches on
the surface of walls, so that they are exposed as much
as possible to the influence of the sun, and by the mode
of training, which, by retarding the descent of the sap,
causes it to exhaust itself in the formation of flower buds
or spurs. The principal modes of training are what
are called fan, horizontal, and verticaL A perpendi¬
cular shoot will obtain a larger supply of sap than one
that is led in a horizontal direction. A vigorous shoot
may be retarded in its growth, by pinching off its ten¬
der extremity, so as to allow a weaker shoot to overtake
it, should that be required. The horizontal has long been
a favourite mode of training ; in it there is a leading per¬
pendicular shoot, from which the branches are spread out
at right angles, at such distances as the vigour of the
species of tree may require, which is generally about afoot
from each other. In order to produce this form, the
vertical shoot is cut back every winter to within a foot
of the highest branches ; from this a number of shoots
issue, out of which three are selected, of which the
upper one is trained peipendicularly, and the lower two
horizontally ; but by pinching out the point of the lead¬
ing or perpendicular shoot, another pair of lateral shoots
maybe obtained in the course of the autumn. In luxu¬
riant trees the leading shoot may be left much longer,
by which means several pairs of horizontal shoots may
be obtained in one season. The horizontal method of
training is better adapted than any other form for trees
which produce strong shoots, as most kinds of apples
and pears. There is another mode of horizontal train¬
ing recommended in preference for trees producing
weak shoots, which differs from the former, it having
every alternate horizontal branch cut out, and the spurs cut
from those left, and the young shoots afterwards produced
from them trained in regularly on both sides, or on one
side only. It is considered an excellent plan for reclaim¬
ing neglected trees. The fan training', as its name im¬
plies, is where there is no leading shoot, but having the
branches arranged in the manner of the spokes of a fan
when spread out. There is a method of training used
tor trees bearing stone fruits, intermediate between the
horizontal and the fan form, that is to have several lead-
ins: shoots, and from these are trained a number of sub-
O '
ordinate branches in a horizontal manner composed of
bearing wood. The stellate form of training refers
chiefly to what are called riders. The summit of the
stem being elevated six or eight feet from the ground
92*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- by its length, the branches are laid in like radii from a
tuxe. centre. The horizontal training with a screw stem dif-
fers from the common form in having the leading shoot
bent in a serpentine manner, to cause it to throw out
lateral shoots instead of heading it down. Perpendi¬
cular training is performed by leading one horizontal
shoot from each side of the stem, and generally within a
foot of the ground, and the shoots that proceed from
them are led perpendicularly to the top of the wall, and
sometimes such shoots are trained in the serpentine
manner, particularly in vines. Oblique training is a
kind of vertical training in which the lateral shoots are
trained obliquely to the main stem. The curvilinear
method is composed of two principal branches, training
the lateral shoots from them. The choice of the forms
of training depends entirely upon the idea or prejudice
of the individual using it, but the horizontal and fan
forms appear to be preferable to all other for walls, but
this will depend principally upon the species or state of
the tree to be trained. There are a great many diffe¬
rent modes of training practised besides those mentioned,
but they are all evidently modifications of the horizontal
and fan forms. The operation of training on walls is
performed chiefly by means of nails and sherds, on trel-
lisses by bast ties, and on espalier rails either by means
of osier twigs or bast ties. The training of herbaceous
plants is performed by means of rods, branches, and
pegs ; those furnished with tendrils like the pea are
chiefly allowed to climb on branches ; creeping or trail¬
ing plants are usually trained in a stellate manner along
the surface of the soil by means of pegs, but sometimes
also on walls or trelliswork. Twining plants, as the
hop, are principally trained on poles or rods.
Franiug. Pruning is the lopping off of u nnecessary branches with
a knife or other instrument ; its objects are various, as the
promoting of the growth, modifying the form of the tree,
the formation of blossom shoots, the removing oí disease,
&c. It is practised more particiîlarly on fruit-bearing
trees, for in cutting out the superabundant branches, those
remaining receive more nourishment, and consequently
the fruit will exceed their natural size, and be improved
in flavour. In pruning standard fruit trees the object is
principally to modify the form. Mr. Knight recommends
that the points of external shoots should be thinned, so
that the internal parts of the tree should be so little
shaded by the external parts that it may be rendered per¬
vious to the light and air. Pruning, so as to form dwarf
standards, is to cut down the young tree to within three
or four buds of the stock, and in the following year each
bud left will produce a branch to form the head, and in
the succeeding year, should more branches be thrown out
than is required, they are to be thinned accordingly,
and if too few, the branches in the thin parts are to be
cut down to force more branches to spring. Dwarf
standard trees should be treated year after year in this
manner, cutting out all cross-placed and crowded shoots,
until it has formed a bushy head, keeping the branches
sufficiently distant as to allow the sun's rays, air, and
rain to penetrate. Pruning of trained fruit trees on walls
or espaliers, depends upon the mode of training adopted,
or on the particular nature of the tree. In all constrained
trees there is a tendency to throw out some luxuriant
shoots, and some lesser ones, called water shoots ; these
last, as soon as the growing season has commenced, should
generally be pinched off. Precision in pruning, however,
should not be particularly attended to where the object
is to obtain a crop of fruit, but in all cases this will alto¬
gether depend upon the intelligence of the pruner. The Horticul-
production of blossom buds is often promoted by cutting ture,
out weak shoots; stopping the shoots of the vine in
summer is said to have a similar effect. Where blos¬
soms are produced on the young wood it is desirable to
cut down, in order to obtain as many young shoots as
possible. The peach and nectarine produce blossoms on
the wood of the previous year, consequently the whole
art of pruning these trees, is to leave a regular distribu¬
tion of young branches all over the tree, and in the sum¬
mer, should the shoots be too numerous, the superabun¬
dant ones should be rubbed off. In many kinds of fruit-
trees, the blossoms are produced on short shoots, deno¬
minated spurs, as in apples, pears, cherries, plums, &c.
Diseased branches should always be removed if possible.
The seasons for pruning are summer and winter ; accord¬
ingly, the first winter pruning begins in February with
apricots, then peaches, then pears, then cherries, and
lastly apples, the sap in which does not rise till April ;
therefore pruning is performed on trees just before the
rising of the sap. Summer pruning begins with rubbing off
all uruiecessary buds as they appear in April and May, and
is continued during summer, by pinching off and shorten¬
ing shoots. This operation is generally performed on
wall trees only, as on the peach, nectarine, apricot, &c.
Sowing is the depositing of seeds in the earth ; it is Sowing
either performed in drills, patches, broad cast, or in pots.
The depth at which seeds are to be sown will depend
upon their size and the distance from each other upon
the mode of growth of the species, as its size, &c. Drills
are usually drawn by a hoe, and the seeds deposited
and covered by a rake. In broad cast the earth is pre¬
pared and the seeds scattered equally over its suiface, and
afterwards covered in by a rake. Dry weather in all
cases is essential to the sowing of seeds.
Planting is the insertion of young plants in the soil Planting,
to the same depth as they were previous to removal. The
operation is generally performed in spring, autumn, and
winter. In planting, the fibres of the roots should be
spread as regularly as possible. The planting of pota¬
toes and bulbs is usually performed in drills, placing
them at regular distances, or in separate holes made by a
dibber, and afterwards covering them with earth, or fill¬
ing up the holes. If the weather is dry, watering in
most cases is necessary until the plants are fixed in the
soil, but afterwards it is more likely to be injurious than
otherwise, especially in the heat of summer, to plants on
the open ground.
Transplanting conú^t^ in removing propagated plants Transplant
to the places where they are intended to remain. Trans- ing.
planting trees is best performed from just after the fall
of the leaf ill autumn, and before the rise of the sap in
spring; they should be carefully taken from the ground
that the fibres of the root receive as little injury as possi¬
ble, and they should be replanted with as little delay as
practicable. But when trees are carried to a distance,
the roots should be covered with moss, or other substance,
to prevent evaporation. In transplanting, the fibres of
the root should be spread out and intermixed with the
soil, and the plants should never be placed deeper in the
soil than before removal, for shallow planting has been
found of great importance. In planting wall trees, the
base of the stem should at least be six inches from the
wall. Those wall trees intended to be permanent are
called dwarfs, in consequence of their being grafted or
budded near the ground, and therefore branch from the
base, but alternating with them, are trees having tall naked
HORTICULTURE.
93*
HortiGul- stems with branches only at top, denominated riders,
temporarily placed there until the wall can be covered
with the dwarfs or permanent trees, and trained to the
upper part of the wall. The distances at which wall
trees are planted from each other is regulated by their
mode of growth and training, and by the height and
aspect of the wall. The preparation of the earth before
planting must depend upon the nature of the plant, and
the surrounding soil. There are a great many modes of
planting, as spade-planting, a method always to be pre¬
ferred for trees, trench-planting, slip-planting, dibble-
planting, furrow-planting, trowel-planting, planting
with balls as plants removed from pots. Mulching con¬
sists of laying litter round the roots of newly planted
trees to prevent the evaporation of moisture. Standard
trees are sometimes tied to stakes for support when first
planted. Laying down turf is a kind of planting, and is
intended for lawns, edgings, &c. ; the surface on which
the turf is to be planted should be levelled, and the turf
laid on regularly edge to edge, and a roller drawn over
it afterwards to set it firmly.
Grafting Grafting is a mode of propagation applicable to most
sorts of plants. A scion is a young shoot of a tree,
which, by inserting into the stem or branch of another,
and by the influence of vegetation, is made to adhere to
it, and which process is termed grafting. The intent of
grafting is to multiply particular plants, which could not
otherwise be readily propagated ; but the principal ad¬
vantage of grafting is to increase fine varieties of fruit
trees, whose qualities could not be transferred to the off¬
spring by seed, and for increasing rare species of trees.
The process of grafting also promotes fruitfulness. The
stock and scion should belong to the same natural family,
and it is better also if they are of the same genus. A scion
or graft is generally a shoot of one year's growth, but it
will also succeed if of several years old, and even one
tree may be grafted on the stump of another of equal
diameter. According to Miller, crab stocks cause apples
to be firm, to keep longer, and to have a sharper flavour,
and he is equally confident that if breaking pears be
grafted on quince stocks, the fruit will be rendered gritty,
while melting pears are much improved. Crabs, para¬
dise stocks, codlings, and cuttings of bur-knots answer
' best as stocks for apples ; wild and seedling pears and
quince for pears. Seedling and bullace plums for
plums ; seedling cherries and geans for cherries ; seed¬
ling plums and apricots for apricots ; seedling peaches
and nectarines, almonds and seedling plums for peaches
and nectarines. Stocks are of two kinds, free and
dwarfing ; the first consists of seedling plants, and the
last of varieties of a more diminutive growth, as the pa¬
radise stock for dwarfing apples, the quince for pears,
the bullace for plums, and the mahaleb for cherries.
The effect produced by grafting, according to Mr.
Knight, is the same as that produced by ringing. The
practice of grafting pear trees on quince stocks, peach
on plum stocks, where durability is wanted, is wrong,
but eligible where it is wished to diminish the vigour
and growth of the tree, and where durability is not con¬
sidered of importance. Trees will become sooner fruitful
if grafted on stocks a little removed, as pears on apple-
stocks, or apple on pear stocks, &c., although the graft
will perish in the ci)urse of a few years. In the choice
of stocks the soil is to be considered, as where the soil is
moist the quince is preferable to any other stock for the
pear, as it delights in a moist soil ; and peaches are
grafted on almond stocks, to adapt them to a dry soil.
The scions or grafts succeed best if cut from the parent Korticul-
tree, three, four, or even six weeks before being used,
and layed in the earth by their lower half, that the stock
may be somewhat in advance of the scion ; therefore,
grafts of scions of trees may be transported during winter
with safety, wrapped up in moss, from or to any part of
Europe or America. In grafting, the bark of the scion
must fit to the bark of the stock, on one side at least, should
the stock be of greater diameter than the scion, and tied
firmly in that position by matting, and afterwards
covered carefully over with ductile clay round the junc¬
tion in order to lessen evaporation, and the clay is to
remain until the operation has evidently succeeded,
which is known by the buds of the scion having pushed
into branches. From the middle of February to the
middle of April is the proper season of grafting. There
are several modes of performing the operation ; the
most common is called whip or tongue grafting; in this
the stock and scion are cut off in a slanting direction, so
as to correspond, and a notch is cut into the stock down¬
wards, and a tongue into the scion upwards, so as to
fit into each other, taking care that the barks of both
stock and scion meet ; it is then firmly tied, and after¬
wards covered with clay. Cleft grafting, so called, is
when the stock is cut off obliquely, and cleft near the
centre, the scion is then cut in the form of a wedge,
making it thinner on the inside than on the outside, and
then fitted into the cleft made in the stock, or a scion
may be introduced on both sides of the cleft, taking care
that the barks of both stock and scions correspond ; it is
then tied carefully up with matting, and clayed over as
in whip grafting ; this method is only resorted to when
the stock or branch is of considerable diameter. Crown
grafting is another mode resorted to for large branches
and thick stocks : in it the scions are cut slautins: with a
^ O
shoulder, and the bark of the stock raised with a knife,
the scion is then introduced between the bark and
the wood, resting the shoulder upon the top of the
stock, consequently several scions may be inserted in
like manner round the circumference of the stock. Side
grafting is similar to whip grafting ; in it the scion is
inserted on the side of the stock without heading down.
Saddle grafting is a method just the reverse of crown
grafting, the top of the stock is cut in the form of a
wedge, and the scion split up the centre, and pairing off
each side to a tongue shape, and is then fitted to the
wedge-shaped top of the stock. Root grafting is the
fixing of scions on small pieces of roots furnished with
fibres, which is commonly performed in the whip me¬
thod. Flute grafting is a kind of budding; a ring of
bark is taken from a tree furnished with one or more
buds, the stock is headed down, and a corresponding
portion of bark is removed from its top, and the bark of
the other tree is then tied on in its stead. This method
might be performed with more success in the au¬
tumn or budding season. There are a great many other
methods of grafting in practice, but those detailed above
are the most common and most useful fi-rms. In July
or August, the clay should be taken off, the matting
loosened, and about the end of August the ligatures
should be removed, and, to prevent the grafts from being
blown OÍF by high winds, stakes should be stuck into
the ground and the grafts tied to them.
Inarching is a mode of propagation resorted to with Inarching,
plants that are difficult to root from cuttings, or to suc¬
ceed by grafting or budding, or layering, as in some fine
varieties of camellia. Inarching has some resemblance
94*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- iQ ^1^0 process of layering-, diifering, however, in the heel
being inserted in the wood instead of the soil ; it is the
most certain mode of propagation. There are a great
many different ways of performing the operation men¬
tioned, but the most useful are crown inarching, where
the head of the stock is cut off, and side inarching, where
the head of the stock is allowed to remain. The stocks
intended to be inarched must be in pots, or if hardy they
must be planted round the circumference of the plant to
be propagated from. In that part of any shoot which will
most conveniently join or fit the stock, pare the bark and
a little of the wood from the side, and do tlie same to the
corresponding part of the stock, then make a slit up¬
wards in the same part of the shoot as in layering, and
make a slit downwards in the stock to admit it ; the
parts are then to be closely joined, placing the tongue of
the shoot in the slit of the stock ; the junction is then to
be covered over with clay or moss, after being care¬
fully tied with bast. Inarching is generally performed
in spring ; in some species of plants the union takes place
in a few months, while in others it sometimes requires
two years ; when the method of side inarching has been
followed, the head of the stock should be carefully cut
away as soon as the union has taken place. Inarching
is a very convenient mode of filling up vacancies in
trees, or in joining one tree with another.
Budding. Budding^ the object of which is the same as that of
grafting, but there are some kinds of trees which cannot
readily be increased by any other means. Budding
consists of removing a bud with a portion of the bark
from one tree, and inserting it under the bark of another
by means of a slit. The advantage of budding over
grafting is that from a rare tree a separate plant may
be obtained from every bud, besides many trees and
shrubs propagate much more readily by that process.
Mr. Knight has transferred superabundant blossom buds
from one tree to the barren shoots of another, rendering
the barren tree immediately fruitful. The season for
performing the operation is from the beginning of July
to the middle of August, when the buds in the axils of
the leaves are fully formed, which is known by the wood
readily separating from the bark, leaving the eye unim¬
paired. The buds in the middle of the shoot are those
generally preferred, but in some cases the buds at the
base of the shoot are best. Budding may either be per¬
formed on shoots of one or several years old, and such a
number of buds may be inserted, as at once to form a
tree. There are a great many methods of budding, but
those in general practice are the following. In shield-
budding, a smooth part of the stock is chosen, making
a horizontal cut through the bark, and drawing a lon¬
gitudinal slit from the middle of the horizontal cut
to the extent of an inch, or an inch and a half down¬
wards, also through the bark ; the bark is then raised by
the handle of the budding knife from the wood, and a bud
is then cut from the shoot consisting of a leaf and petiole,
iwith a portion of the bark and wood attached to it, so that
the whole is about an inch or an inch and a half in
length. The portion of wood is then removed, taking
care the eye firmly adhere to the bark; the bud is then
inserted into the slit made in the stock and there made
to fit neatly by cutting off the top part of the shield. It
is then bound closely and neatly with pliable bast mat,
except just over the eye. Shield budding reversed is
where the horizontal slit on the stock is at the base of
the longitudinal one, which is sometimes practised in the
orange nurseries oi\Geno,a, Scallop budding consists of
taking off a tongue-shaped section of the bark from the Horticul-
side of the stock, and in taking asimilar section from ture,
the scion, allowing the wood to remain ; the section
containing the bud is then tied on to the stock where the
section of wood has been removed. This last mode is
only resorted to when the wood does not separate freely
from the bark. Tying with double ligatures is a method
recommended by Mr. Knight, the one above the bud and
the other below it, and as soon as the bud is attached,
the lower ligature is removed, but the upper one is
allowed to remain until the shoots are four inches long.
Buds which were inserted in June, grew the same year
and flowered the following spring. In three weeks after
the operation has been performed, all those that have
succeeded will be united with the stock, which may be
known by the fresh appearance of the eye ; the bandages
should be loosed, and in about a fortnight afterwards
wholly removed. In the next spring, just before the
sap begins to rise, the stocks are headed down to a quar¬
ter of an inch above the bud, but in some cases much
higher, in order that the young shoot may be tied to it
lor support the first year.
Cuttings are slips cut from the mother plant, for the Cuttings,
purpose of setting, in order that they may strike roots and
form new individuals. This is the most simple mode of
propagation, and readily succeeds with some plants, as
the willow, but with difficulty in others, as in Proteacece^
Conifer&c. The choice of cuttings and the time of
planting must depend upon the species of plant to be
propagated, for in some, cuttings must be taken from
young wood, of the growth of the same year, and in
others they must be taken from the wood of two or more
years growth. The cuttings of hardy deciduous trees
and shrubs succeed best if planted in autumn, and hardy
evergreens in spring under a hand glass. Cuttings of
herbaceous plants will grow almost at any time in spring
and summer, as those of the dahlia, wallflower, &c.
A small house should be appropriated to the propagation
of cuttings of tender plants, but if this cannot be had, a
frame may be used, situated so as to have the morning
sun only, otherwise shading with mats will be necessary ;
those requiring heat, the pots in which they are set
should be plunged in a bed of tan, or placed in a hot¬
bed. Cuttings of woody plants strike root most readily
in fine sand, and are safer to pot off after being rooted,
as the sand shakes clean from the roots. But some of the
soft wooded kinds do not strike freely in sand, and there¬
fore must be planted in mould. In making cuttings, no
leaves should be taken off or shortened, except from the
part to be buried in the ground, where they should be
cut off as close to the stem as possible. The more leaves
a cutting has on it, and the more shallow they are
planted the better, but they must be well fastened in the
ground. The pots in which they are planted should be
well drained with sherds, and kept rather moist, and the
hand or bell glass with which they are covered should
betaken off and wiped occasionally. When the cuttings
are rooted, and have been potted off, they require to be
placed in a frame for a few days and shaded ; after this
they should be hardened by degrees. The edges of the
leaves in Bryophyllum and the petioles of Gloxinia pro¬
duce young plants. A mode of propagating from cut¬
tings of plants difficult to strike, is mentioned in the
Hart, Trans. : it is by ringing the shoots intended for
cuttings, therefore a callus will be formed, which, if in¬
serted in the ground after being taken off just below the
callosity, is said to emit roots freely. A ligature will have
HORTICULTURE.
95*
Horticul- the same effect as ringing. Those cuttings planted
tmè, round the circumterence ot the pot will strike more rea-
dily than those in the centre. Orange trees and many
others will strike root if their lower ends touch the
bottom of the pot, or the stratum of gravel, or broken
sherds with which the pot is drained. Whatever degree
of heat is natural to the mother plant will generally suit
the cuttings. The cuttings of the pink, carnation, pi-
cottee, and clove, are called pipings.
Layering. Layering is the surest method of propagation, because
the shoot is not detached from the parent until it is pro¬
perly rooted. It is performed at all seasons of the year,
but principally in spring and midsummer. The shoot
intended to be laid, or to form a new plant, is half sepa¬
rated from the mother plant, a notch being cut upwards
from the insertion of a bud, or it may be twisted,
pierced by a number of holes, or bound by a wire in
order to retard the sap, and thereby promote the form¬
ation of granulous matter and roots. The branch or
shoot is bent down and fixed in the earth by a peg at the
part which is cut or twisted, placing its point as upright
as possible. Mr. Knight recommends a ring of bark to
be taken off below the notch or twisted part, so as to
hinder the return of the sap, and thereby force the shoot
to employ the sap in forming roots ; a splinter of wood
or a bit of potsherd is generally placed in the notch to
keep it open. Plants in oots may either be laid in the
pot of the mother plant, or in pots placed round it and
near enough to receive the layers. As soon as the
shoots are sufficiently rooted, which is generally the case
the following autumn, they are removed; sometimes
where shoots cannot be bent down, a ring of bark is re¬
moved and a shoot drawn through the hole at the
bottom of a pot, which is fixed at the ringed part ; the
pot is then filled with mould.
Seed. Seed.—All plants are furnished with the natural means
of reproduction by seed, but as far as fruit trees are con¬
cerned it requires many years to produce the same kinds
from which they are taken, and in many cases it does not
succeed at all, in consequence of the pollen of one kind
being transferred, by insects or other causes, to the stig¬
mas of another kind. If, therefore, it is desirable to pro¬
cure uncontaminated seed, it will be necessary to cover
the blossoms before expansion with fine gauze bags,
which should not be removed until the fruit is fairly set.
Fruits, particularly apples, are sometimes influenced by
the stocks on which they are grafted or budded ; for by
transferring a graft or bud from any apple-tree to a stock
of the Russian transparent crab, the fruit of such graft
acquires a transparent character which it did not before
possess. Fruit trees reared from seed seem to have a ten¬
dency to resume their original constitution ; for in North
America and New Holland, where peaches are reared
from the stones, very few out of a great number produce
fruit fit for the table, the rest is only fit for feeding hogs.
It is, however, the only method by which new and im¬
proved kinds can be procured to supply the place of
those old kinds that are falling into decay ; for, as Mr.
Knight observes, all fruits that are artificial in their con¬
stitution, are also limited in their duration, even if
grafted or budded on other stocks. Mr. Knight is also
of opinion, that more is to be expected from hybrid va¬
rieties, than from the reproduction of old kinds, and for
this purpose the stigmas of one kind should be dusted
with the pollen of another, at the same time taking care
that the flowers to be so impregnated be deprived of
their anthers before bursting for the emission of the pollen,
VOL. vi.
The stigmas of tender pears, if impregnated by the pollen Horticul-
of more hardy kinds, will render the progeny of a more ture,
hardy constitution than the female parent. It has been
observed that, even after a seedling tree has commenced
bearing, its fruit has a tendency to improve as the tree
acquires vigour, therefore a great amelioration may be
expected in succeeding years. The slowness with which
seedling fruit trees reach a bearing state is the principal
cause why this mode is not more generally adopted. The
only metiiod known of accelerating the fruit-bearing state
of seedling trees, is to make them grow vigorously when
young by transplanting them from the seed-bed into
congenial soil and situation. Scions or buds transferred
from seedling trees to those in a bearing state, is found
to hasten their fruitfulness, as far at least as stone fruits
are concerned. The most of the preceding observations
are also applicable to culinary vegetables and flowers.
The natural methods of propagation are by seed, bulbs,
offsets, slips, division, runners, and suckers.
Potting is plantino: in flower-pots, either seedlings or Potting,
young plants from cuttings, &c. ; the pots should in all
cases be well drained with sherds, small stones, or coarse
gravel to prevent the earth from becoming soddened ;
a little earth is then placed over the sherds, the plant is
then inserted, and the mould thrown in around the roots,
taking care that the fibres are spread out. The earth
should be made rather firm, and should not come higher
than within half an inch of the rim of the pot so as to
allow room for water. Shifting is removing a plant from
one pot to another of a larger size with the ball of earth,
so as not to check the growth of the plant, taking care
that the pot be properly drained with sherds, &c. The
ball is inserted in the larger pot, and earth thrown in
round its circumference, and made firm by means of a
stick. Plants should never be shifted from a small pot
to one of a much larger size, but always by gradation
from one size to the next largest. Shifting should
always, if possible, be performed early in spring and
not in autumn, as is generally the case. When a plant
is in a diseased state it is best to break the ball and
shake the earth entirely from the roots, and repot it
afresh.
Culinary Vegetable Department,
This includes all those vegetables used in any way as
articles of food, after undergoing the proper culinary
processes. They are arranged according to their natu¬
ral affinities, which will be of advantage as enabling the
horticulturist to procure new varieties by the cross
fecundation of nearly allied kinds, as well as a guide
to the proper rotation of crops. Every particular of
any value will be found under each head, as far as re¬
gards culture, treatment, varieties, &c.
Cruciferous Plants.
Cabbage tribe.—The varieties of Brassica olerácea
are endless. The original of all grows wild on Dover
cliffs, and other parts of the English coast; it is a
glaucous plant, with something of the habit of brocoli ;
its varieties have been cultivated from time immemorial,
and they are so various as to occasion a doubt as to the
possibility of their having sprung from the wild cole-
wort. The following are the principal varieties culti¬
vated.
Borecoles.—1. Thousand-headed cabbage is a kind Borecoles^
of tall branched borecole. ^It is cultivated because it
96*
HORTICULTURE
Horticul- will survive the severest frosts, but its flavour is inferior
ture. to winter greens ; 2. The green borecole, or Scotch
kale, the leaves of which are green and much curled.
The crown and sprouts are the parts used. It is an ex¬
cellent vegetable for the table when it has been duly
mellowed by the frost. 3. German kale or greens is
a variety of the last : it grows taller, supplies more
sprouts, and is more hardy. 4. Buda or Russian
kale is much dwarfer than German kale, but the leaves
are similar. It is sweet and well flavoured, and
furnishes a supply till late in spring. It may be blanched
by inverting large flower-pots over the plants, and would
form an excellent substitute for sea kale, at a time
when that vegetable cannot be procured. 5. Purple
borecole or brown hale^ is more hardy than green
borecole, but of less delicate flavour. 6. Jerusalem
kale is of a dingy purple colour ; it is very hardy, and
is ready to take the place of borecoles because it flowers
later. 7. Woburn kale is also an excellent variety.
The palm kale and Cesarean kale or cow-cabbage, are
cultivated in Guernsey and Jersey for feeding cattle, the
hearts of which only are used for culinary purposes. In
the cultivation of the different kinds of borecole the
seed should be sown in March and April, and in May
and August. The first week in April for German
greens, and the first week of August for Buda kale,
which will be ready for transplanting the first week
of September. When seedlings come up too thick in
the seed-bed they should be thinned, and planted in
another bed six inches apart, that those left in the seed¬
bed may acquire proper strength. They should be
transplanted finally from May to August two feet asun¬
der in an open spot, taking advantage of rainy weather,
if not, give occasional waterings. The ground should
be kept free from weeds by hoeing as the plants advance
in growth, at the same time drawing the earth round
the bottoms of the stems, which encourages their growth.
The hearts of most sorts are the only portion used.
The stems of German kale and those of Chou de Milan
should be allowed to stand to furnish young tender
sprouts. Sometimes the leaves are gathered, and the
heart allowed to remain in order to furnish later supplies.
By purchasing seed it is more likely to be genuine
than by saving it, as only one sort of the tribe can with
safety be grown for seed in the same garden on
account of their promiscuous impregnation by bees,
wind, &c.
Savoys. Savoys are in use as a table vegetable from Novem¬
ber till May, unless destroyed by the frost, in which
case they are succeeded by the borecoles. They form a
close head like the cabbage, but the leaves are wrinkled.
The following varieties are those in esteem : I, Early
green; 2. Small early; 3. Dwarf; 4. Yellow; 5.
Winter; 6. Drumhead, or Great. There are several
sub-varieties of the above, varying in size and shape of
the heads. The green savoy being most tender
should be first used. A moderate degree of frost im¬
proves the flavour of all kinds of savoy, but very severe
frost kills them They are raised from seed, and other¬
wise treated like borecoles. The first sowing should be
made in February; these will be ready for use in Octo¬
ber and November. The second sowing in March, to be
ready about Christmas, and the last sowing in May, for
Spring use The most forward seedlings should be finally
transplanted in May and June for early heading, but the
principal crops should remain until June, July, and Au¬
gust. The distances at which they should be finally
planted will depend upon the nature of the soil, and the Horticul-
size to which the kinds naturally grow. As they advance
in growth they should be kept clear from weeds, and
the earth should be drawn up a little around the stems,
and at the same time the surface should be loosened.
The latest crop of savoys will continue good till February.
A rich light soil is necessary for all the varieties of
savoy.
Brussels sprouts are only considered a variety of Brussels
savoy, the stems of which grow tall, and are furnished sprouts,
with numerous sprouts or heads, like savoys in miniature ;
the principal leaves drop off early, leaving the sprouts
disposed in a spiral manner along the stems. It occu¬
pies little space, lasts long, and will grow in situations
unfavourable to other vegetables, as between the rows of
other crops, and among young trees. The sprouts are
used as winter greens. The top is delicate and quite
different in flavour from the sprouts. The first sowing
should be made in April for a full crops and the second
in May. In finally transplanting, eighteen inches is
considered sufficient distance from plant to plant in the
row. The cultivation and treatment is nearly the same
as that for borecole. Genuine seed is only to be pro¬
cured direct from Brussels. The Chou de Milan is
considered as only a variety of Brussels sprouts ; its
habit is the same, but the sprouts are open like bore¬
coles and not close like savoys. Even if not wanted, the
top should be cut off in February to forward the growth
of the sprouts for use in March. When dressed, they
are rich and delicate. The cultivation is the same as
for borecoles.
White cabbage»—All the varieties produce heads, of White cab-
a glaucous green externally, and white within. The bage.
sorts principally cultivated are as follows : For early
crops, 1. Early dwarf York; 2. East Ham; 3. West
Ham ; 4. Early imperial ; 5. Early Battersea ; 6.
Early London hollow; 7. Early dwarf sugar-loaf;
8. Early Deptford ; 9. Early May; 10. Early York;
11. Small early dwarf; 12 Dwarf" Vanack, for cab¬
baging in April, May and June. For second crop
raise considerable quantities of the middle-sized sorts,
viz. 1. Large early York ; 2. Large hollow sugar-loaf;
3. Early Battersea; 4. Early Deptford; 5. Penton;
6. Early imperial ; 7. Antwerp for cabbaging in sum¬
mer. For third crop choose, 1. Large hollow; 2. Late
Battersea ; 3. Large sugar-loaf ; 4. Scotch ; 5. Drum¬
head, for cabbaging in August, September, and October
to Christmas. Some of the middle-sized varieties may
be sown for later succession crops in summer and au¬
tumn to cultivate for cabbage coleworts in autumn,
winter, and spring. The larger sorts, such as Ihe Scotch,
Drumhead, and flat Dutch, are more adapted for field
than garden culture. In the cultivation of white cab¬
bages, sow seeds at four different times : in February
for use in July to September; in April and May for
young autumn cabbages or coleworts; in autumn for
later or spring use. For seedlings to stand the winter
for transplanting in spring the soil should be light and
not too rich. But when transplanted they require a rich
rather stiifish soil, but to stand the winter a dry soil is
requisite. For cabbages the situation should be open,
and the ground well manured, as they are an exhausting
crop. August sown crops, if the weather prove dryj
should be watered to accelerate vegetation, and in Sep¬
tember or October they will be stri)ng enough to prick
out into beds prepared for the purpose, to stand till
spring. By this me^ns those left in the seed-bed will
H o R T I C
U L T U R E.
97*
Horticul¬
ture.
Red cab¬
bage.
Turnip-
stemmed
cabbage, or
Kohl rube.
Cauli-
tlower.
have more room to grow, and will be large enough to
transplant in November or December. Spring sown
crops, as in February, March, and April, to succeed the
August sown crop for use the same season as young
summer cabbages, or for heading in autumn and winter
should be transplanted in May, June, and July. A few
to come in early may be sown on a slight hot-bed.
The crops sown late in summer, as in May, June, and
July, produce small cabbages from August to midwinter;
for this sowing the middle-sized kinds are best adapted.
The kinds proper for cabbage coleworts or young open
cabbages are the York, East Ham, sugar-loaf, or any
middle sized quick hearting kind of close growth will
answer. To have a supply of coleworts for autumn,
winter, and spring, and early summer, there must be
four different sowings made, that is in June, beginning,
and end of July, for transplanting in August, Septem¬
ber, and October, for use from September till March or
April, The last sowing should be made about the
beginning of August to be transplanted in autumn for
use in spring or for heading in summer or autumn.
Sometimes the stumps are left to supply young sprouts
after the heads have been cut off ; and if thus treated
ill autumn, will supply plenty of sprouts in January
and February.
Red cabbage has the form of the white cabbage, but
differs in its red colour. It is principally used for pick¬
ling and garnishing, and is sometimes cut up in winter
salads. The principal varieties of red cabbage are the
following: 1. Large red, or red Dutch ; 2. Dwarf red ;
3. Aberdeen red. The culture and sowing is the same
as that for winter cabbages. Sow in August for a crop
to stand the winter tor use next autumn ; and in early
spring for use the following winter and spring. Red
cabbages are never used until they have formed a close
firm head.
Turnip-stemmed cabbage^ or Kohl rube^ resembles
the Swedish turnip in habit, except that the stem is
swollen above ground, which gives it the appearance of
a turnip. The following are the principal varieties :
1. Egyptian kale; 2. White turnip-stemmed cabbage;
3. Purple turnip-stemmed cabbage. The white variety
is the one generally cultivated, but is chiefly used for
food for cattle. In the north of Europe, however, as in
Sweden and Poland, it is cultivated in every cottage
garden. The thick part of the stem, pared and sliced,
is used in soups, and sometimes it is boiled whole and
served at table when very young. The leaves are
sometimes used as greens when young. The varieties
may be either cultivated like turnips, or transplanted
and treated like cabbage.
Cauliflower is one of the most remarkable of the
Brassica genus; the flower buds form a close firm
head, generally of a delicate white colour, and of a deli¬
cious flavour when boiled. The culture of cauliflower
was little attended to till the end of the XVIIth Century;
since then it has been much improved. English cauli¬
flower seed is preferred to that of any other country.
For the supply of the London market large quantities
are protected under hand-glasses during winter and
early spring. The principal varieties cultivated are,
I.Early; 2. Late, or large ; 3. Red. In the cultivation
of cauliflower the seed-bed should be composed of light
soil, but for finally transplanting it can scarcely be too
rich or too well manured. Three principal sowings are
generally made: the first about the end of August to
stand over the winter, by being pricked out in frames or
warm borders, for finally planting in spring for the
summer crop. Sotne of this crop may be finally trans¬
planted in warm borders or in rows under hand-glasses
in November. About the end of October a quantity
should be finally planted out in rows four or five toge¬
ther in a clump, in order that they may be sheltered by
hand-glasses, but at the same time giving as much air
as possible in mild weather by tilting the hand-glasses
on the south side, and occasionally taking them off alto¬
gether, which will prevent the plants being drawn until
the warm weather has set in. In March, if the plants
under the hand-glasses have all survived the winter, only
one or two of the strongest should be allowed to remain
in each clump, the rest should be removed with balls of
earth attached to the roots and replanted in some other
compartment; after this, earth should be drawn up
around the bases of the stems of the remaining plants to
forward their growth. The plants from the same sow¬
ing which have been pricked out into frames and warm
borders should be finally transplanted in March or April
into the open ground, for use in July and August. A
second sowing is made in February or March for later
crops ; but in order to forward them a little it will be as
well to sow in a moderate hot-bed, giving plenty of air in
mild weather, and when the plants are of sufficient
growth they should be pricked out into other beds in
order to be finally planted in the open ground in April
and May, for use in July and August. In March and
beginningof April a sowing may be made for succession
crops in autumn. Thetliird and last sowing should be
made in May in a sheltered border, or about the end of
the same month in an open spot, for use in autumn and
winter ; the young plants from this sowing should be
pricked out in June to be finally transplanted in July to
produce heads from October to December. According
to some practical men, seed sown about the end of Au¬
gust and the seedlings transplanted about the end of
November, no protection is necessary unless that
afforded by a wall having a south aspect. Late raised
seedlings which resist the winter in the open border are
said to become larger and finer than those which have
been protected, although not so early. Seedlings raised
in autumn seem to be very tenacious of life, and pro¬
bably many cauliflower plants are killed from too much
attention. A method of producing early cauliflower is
to plant them singly in pots and place them in a vinery or
frame for the winter, and planting out finally in the open
border as soon as possible in spring, protecting them by
hand-glasses if necessary, and they will come into head
early. Cauliflowers may be preserved in various ways
after being taken from the ground; by laying them in
by the heels in rotten tan or dry mould, so as not to
touch each other, or in the borders of a peach house,
vinery, &c. or in deep garden frames, or they may be
cut over and the leaves tied over the heads and buried
in a dry bank, or the leaves may be all taken off, and
the heads buried in casks filled with dry peat earth, or
by burying the entire plant eighteen inches deep along
the bottom of a wall in dry weather, the heads sloping
downwards. The culture of the different crops after
being finally transplanted is to hoe the g^und to keep
them free from weeds, and at the same time to draw
some earth around the bottom of the stems. Watering
in dry weather is found to be of service. As the white
heads show themselves, turn down some of the larger
leaves upon them to protect them from sun and rain,
and to keep the heads white and close. Slugs often
N* 2
Horticul¬
ture.
HORTICULTURE.
Hoitícul-
tuie.
Brucoii
Swedish
turnip..
Common
turnip.
destroy the youn^ plants, they should therefore be looked
over now and then, and picked off.
Brocoli is scarcely distinguishable from cauliflower ;
the stem is generally taller, the leaves longer, the pe¬
duncles fleshy at their tops, and the flower heads
smaller. It is supposed to have originated from the
cauliflower. No plant is more liable to sport from seed,
so that new kinds are continually coming into favour
and as speedily sinking into neglect. The varieties ge¬
nerally cultivated at present are the following. Autumn
sorts: 1. Purple cape; 2. Green cape ; 3. Green close-
headed winter; 4. Late dwarf close-headed purple;
5. Latest green, or Siberian ; 6. Grange's early ; 7.
Early purple ; 8, Early white. Spring sorts: 1. Tall
large-headed purple ; 2. Cream-coloured ; 3, Sulphur-
coloured ; 4. Late purple ; 5. Late green, or Danish.
All the varieties are raised from seed, like the rest of the
family ; the seeds should be sown thinly in beds of rich
soil, and when the plants are about two or tliree inches
high they should be pricked out into other beds prepared
for the purpose, giving water now and then if the wea¬
ther be dry. As soon as the plants appear in the seed¬
bed they should be sprinkled with lime-water to keep
off the slugs. When the plants have attained the height
of six or eight inches they should be finally transplanted
in rows at distances varying according to the size to
which the kind naturally grows : in most cases they are
planted out finally from the seed-bed. Brocoli succeeds
best in fresh loamy soil, but where that cannot be had,
plenty of manure is necessary. Sea-weed and horse-
dung mixed is said to be an excellent manure for
brocoli. Of autumn brocoli there should be two sowings
made, one in the middle of April and the other in the
middle of May, to be transplanted finally from the seed¬
bed. The principal part of those of the second sowing
should be planted from the seed-bed into pots, which
should be sunk in the open ground up to the rims, there
to remain until the heads are formed, which will be
about the end of November, when they should be taken
up and placed under a glass frame, where they will af¬
ford brocoli for table during winter. The early white, a
very fine sort, Mr. Ronalds recommends to be sown on
a hot-bed and afterwards treated like the secondary crop
of cauliflowers. The spring varieties are sown in the
middle of March or beginningof April for a supply from
March to May inclusive of the following year. Al¬
though brocoli comes larger and finer on the spot where
they are planted, yet it is prudent to take up a part of
the later sorts in November and lay them in slopingly
with their heads towards the north only a few inches
above the ground or even level with it, taking care
they do not touch each other; by this means the
heads will be protected by the snow, which generally
falls previous to severe winters. Some kinds produce
sprouts after the heads have been taken off, which are
very good when boiled. The culture of brocoli after
being finally planted is the same as that for cauliflower.
Swedish turnip {Brassica campestris, var. Rutabaga)
is occasionally raised in gardens for table use, when very
young. Its culture is the same as that for common
turnips. The French Navet h sometimes also cultivated.
Common turnip^ ( Brassica rapa,) in a wild state, is
found in some parts of England ; being a biennial plant,
it is raised from seed. The roots boiled and mashed
or entire, are served at table as a dish. It is also used
in broths, soups, or stews. Tlie young tops in spring
are dressed as spring greens. The varieiies generally
cultivated in gardens are the following: 1. The earlv Hortieul-
I'TirP
white Dutch ; 2. Early stone ; 3. Common round
white.; 4. Green-topped white; 5. Long white; 6,
Maltese yellow ; 7. Dutch yellow ; 8. Aberdeen vellow ;
9. Long yellow. The three first varieties are most de¬
sirable for first succession and main summer crops.
The large round white should succeed them as a late
summer crop. The large white green-topped and the
large white red-topped are sown for summer and autumn
use, but the best for winter use is the yellow Dutch or
any of the other yellow varieties, from their hardiness
and fine flavour. By sowing every month in spring
and summer, turnips may be had throughout the season,
making the first sowing about the end of February, pre¬
ferring the early Dutch and Stone ; the second sowing
in May, the third or principal sowing in June, and the
fourth sowing in July. A smali sowing may be made
in September for use in January and February, if the
weather prove mild. The last principal sowing is made
about the end of August, and for this yellow turnips are
best suited. In gardens turnips are usually sown broad¬
cast, but by some they are drilled. Dusting the young
plants with quick lime is said to keep them free from
the fly, but late sowing is probably the best preventive
on a large scale, the fly having by that time changed
from its beetle or feeding state. As soon as the leaves
are about an inch broad, hoe and thin the plants to six
or eight inches square distance, and afterwards, as the
plants increase in size, a part may be drawn from time
to time to allow those that are left standing room to
grow. Turnips may be drawn and housed in a cool
place before severe frosts, and will keep well. The
young tops of the Swedish turnip are much sweeter than
those of any other sort. Sometimes late sowings of
turnips are made in September and October, to produce
greens in spring. Turnips, as well as all the cabbage
tribe, brocoli and cauliflower excepted, are found to be
of better flavour when cultivated in the field than in the
garden.
Rape {Brassica napus, var. esculenta of De Candolle) Rape,
is a biennial plant, a native of some parts of Britain.
It is cultivated as a small salad herb like cress and mus¬
tard, and is treated in the same manner as far as its cul¬
tivation for salad is concerned.
Sea kale {Crambe maritima of Linnaeus,) is a Sea kale
native of the sea-shores of Britain. In the west of
England the country people have from time immemorial
been in the habit of gathering the young underground
shoots in spring, to boil as greens. It was not before
the middle of the last century that the plant was intro¬
duced to the garden, but it is now almost as universally
cultivated as asparagus, and like it is forced by taking
up the roots and planting them on a hot-bed or in the
border of a forcing-house, or by placing a blanching pot
over each stock in the open garden and covering or
surrounding it with horse-dung. The young shoots
and the stalks of the unfolded leaves are the parts used.
By forcing, sea kale may be had in perfection from
November till May. Sea kale is best propagated by
rearing the plants from seed, and finally transplanting
them when a year old, three or four plants in a patch, a
foot and a half distance from patch to patch; but it is
better to sow the seed ki patcties where the plants are
intended to remain, when that is possible, thinning out
to three or four plants in each patch. A liglit sandy soil
is best adapted to the culture of sea kale, and therefore
where the soil is heavy or clayey it should be mad*^ as
H o R T I C
Horticul- light as possible by mixing with sand, &c. The easiest
method of blanching sea kale is to cover the bed thickly
leaves in autumn, and over them a little litter to
prevent them from being blown away. When a suc¬
cession of cuttings have been continued for five or six
weeks, the plants should be uncovered and allowed to
grow to gain strength for next season. In forcing sea
kale in frames or hot-beds the shoots are blanched by
keeping the glass covered with mats to exclude the light.
Hadish. Radish {Raphanus sativus of Linnaeus) is a native
of China, Japan, and all the western parts of Asia,
introduced to Britain in 1540. The varieties are
numerous. Of turnip radishes there are the fol¬
lowing: 1. Small early white; 2. Early white; 3.
Red, or rose colour; 4. Purple; 5. Yellow. Of long
radishes the following are cultivated: 1. Long white ;
2. Scarlet; 3. Salmon; 4. Purple; 5. Red necked;
and the following are the names of the varieties of
Spanish radish: 1. Black Spanish; 2. Large fjurple
winter ; 3. White Spanish ; 4. Brown. All these va¬
rieties are of easy culture and are sown at various times,
according to the seasons they are desired for use. The
long-rooted kinds intended to come in in spring are
sown in October, in warm sheltered borders. The
turnip-rooted sorts are sown in spring for summer use.
The Spanish or winter radishes are generally sown in
July for winter use, and before severe frosts should be
taken up and preserved in sand ; they are sliced up in
salads, or occasionally eaten alone with salt or vinegar.
The long as well as the turnip radishes are readily
forced in a frame or hot-bed covered with mats. The
young plump seed pods are sometimes pickled, and
form a tolerable substitute for capers. The soil for ra¬
dishes should be light and well broken by digging.
The autumn and early spring sown crops should be
made in dry sheltered borders, sloping to the sun, but
from the middle of February to the end of March a dry
open situation will be suitable, and as spring and sum¬
mer advances more cool situations are necessary. The
usual way of sowing radish seed is broad cast, but some
sow in drills. As the plants advance in growth, thin
them. The crops of long radishes sown tfom October
to February, on the first approach of frost the ground
should be covered with straw, long haulm or fern, two
or three inches thick, or with mats supported on pegs
to protect them, and if the season is cold without frost
take off the covering every morning and replace it again
at night, but this must be regulated by the weather.
Horse ra- Horse radish {Cochlearia Armoracia of Linnaeus)
is said to be a native of several parts of Britain, but is
probably an escape from gardens. The root has a
pungent taste, and a penetrating acrid smell. The
liquid obtained from the root gives traces of the presence
of sulphur. The root scraped is used as a condiment to
roast beef. In the cultivation of horse radish the soil
should be trenched deep, and the manure placed in the
bottom of the trench. Some plant the sets on the sur¬
face, calculating that the roots will strike down ; and
others make holes quite to the bottom of the trenched
soil, and d>op in each a set, filling* the hole up with
mould afierwards. Either mode will answer. Horse
radish thrives best in deep soft sandy loam, but a moist
soil increases its bitter and alkaline flavour. February
is considered the best season to plant the sets or crowns.
The plants should be kept clear of weeds in summer,
and decayed leaves in autumn. The second autumn after
planting the roots will be ready to be taken up for use.
U L T U R E. 99*
. - V -w
Scurvy grass (jCochlearia officinalis of LinnœusJ^foày/ Horticul-
be eaten raw in any quantity like water cresses, ahd^,^s
said to be an excellent antiscorbutic. When the plant
is cultivated for use the seeds should be sown in July in
drills, and if they come up too thick, thin them to four
inches apart,and the thinnings maybe replanted in new
beds if required, and in the following spring the succu¬
lent leaves v/ill be fit for use.
Cress {Lepidium sativum of Linnaeus) is an annual Cress,
plant, a native of Persia and the Island of Cyprus, in¬
troduced in 1548, and is cultivated in gardens for the
sake of the young leaves which are used as small salad.
There are two varieties cultivated, the common and the
curled leaved ; the first is principally used as a salad,
and the second as a garnish. Cress seed should be
sown three or four times every month to afford young
crops in succession. The first sowing, as in March,
should be made in a sheltered border, and the following
sowings in more open situations; in summer in shady
borders, but in autumn again as in spring in a warm
sheltered border. But when cress is wanted throughout
the winter, sow in hot-beds or in pots : boxes are to be
placed in a stove, or other hot-house, that is, from Octo¬
ber to March, when it cannot be raised in the open gar
den. Cress prefers a light mellow soil; and the seeds
should be sown thick and earthed over lightly. In ga¬
thering cress it should be cut clean to the root, but only
the tops of more advanced plants, which will shoot
again for future gatherings, although the leaves will be
hotter than from younger plants.
TVater cress (JSlasturtium officinale of R. Brown) is a Water
native of running streams in Britain, and all other parts cress,
of the globe. It is a well known salad plant, and is
esteemed a stomachic and antiscorbutic. The water
cress is cultivated to a great extent since 1808 in the
neighbourhood of London. A running stream of clear
water is essential to its cultivation in perfection. It
grows most freely, and has a better flavour, on a sandy
or gravelly bottom than on any other. Some market
gardeners who can command a small stream grow water
cresses in beds sunk in a retentive soil, depositing chalk,
gravel, or sand, in the bottom of the bed, on which the
plants are inserted in rows in the direction of the stream.
Water cresses grown in this way are, however, far infe¬
rior to those from a natural stream.
Mustardy white and black, {Sinapis albaQ.nd nigra of Mustard
Linnseus,) are both natives of Britain. They are often
cultivated in gardens along with cress as a small salad
while in the seed leaf, but more particularly the white
mustard. For spring and summer consumption sow
once a week or fortnight in a dry warm situation, in
February and March, and afterwards in any open com¬
partment; but in the heat of summer in shady places.
For winter use sow in a frame or hot-bed. White mus¬
tard seed was formerly swallowed entire to stimulate the
stomach. In fields both species, but particularly the
black, is cultivated for seed to be ground.
American cress (^Barbarea prœcox of De Candolle) American
is an indigenous biennial plant ; the young leaves of cress,
which are much esteemed as a salad in winter, but it
may also be had throughout the year; for which pur¬
pose a sowing should be made in August or beginning
of September for use in winter and early spring, and if
wanted throughout the season sow every month from
March to August. In winter, if the weather prove
severe, the plants will require a little shelter, by
sticking a few branches of evergreens among them.
100* HORTICULTURE
Ilorticul- seeds should be sown in drills rather than
broad cast.
Winter cress {Barbarea vulgaris of De Candolle,) is
also a well known perennial plant, a native of Britain.
It is used for the same purposes as the American cress,
and its culture is the same.
Garden rocket {Eruca sativa of Linnaeus) is an an¬
nual plant, a native of the south of Europe, and has
been known in Britain as a salad plant since 1573, but
is now almost neglected ; it is still cultivated in different
parts of the continent. The leaves and tender stalks
form an agreeable addition to mustard and cress. If a
supply is desired through the year, begin sowing in
February and March.
Winter
cress.
Garden
locket.
Caper.
Bladder
campion.
Capparideous Plants.
Caper {Capparis spinosa of Linnaeus) is a bush, a
native of the southern parts of Europe, growing among
rocks. Capers are the unexparided flower buds of the
shrub. It is cultivated in many parts of the south of
France in orchards, between fig and olive trees, but in
this country it requires protection in severe weather, and
consequently the plant is not worth cultivating for flower
buds or capers for use.
Caryophylleous plants.
Bladder campion (ßilene inflata of Linnaeus) is a
well known indigenous perennial plant, and was formerly
cultivated in gardens for the sake of its young shoots,
which are boiled and eaten ; they should never be used
above two inches long, and by pinching ofl* the old shoots
a constant supply of young shoots can be obtained.
The plant grows best in deep light soil, and the shoots
would be much improved by blanching.
Oxalideous Plants.
Arracacha, Arracacha., or Oxalis roots., {Oxalis crenata of Jac-
quin,) is a native of Chili and Peru, where it was first
noticed by Feuillee. It has been cultivated for the sake
of its tubers by a few persons of late years. The tubers
resemble small potatoes. The plant is said to prefer a
light rich soil. It is best to forward the plants in a
hot-bed in spring, to be finally transplanted in a warm
border in the open ground about the end of May.
The plants as they advance should be earthed up like
the potato, and the roots will continue to swell until
the plants are killed by the frost. Some plant whole
tubers, others only divisions of them. In cooking, the
tubers are cleaned and boiled for about ten minutes,
and they are then served with white sauce ; they have
something of the taste of new potatoes, with the flavour
of a nut. The leaves may be used as a salad, and the
Tropaeolum succulent stems in tarts. The roots of Tropœolum tube-
tuberosum, rosum^ a nearly allied plant, is considered equal to
Oxalis^ they have the flavour of asparagus when boiled.
The plant is readily propagated by cuttings, or by the
roots ; the young plants produce a crop of tubers late in
Common autumn. The common wood sorrel {Oxalis acetocella
rorrel of Linnœus) is a well known indigenous plant, the leaves
of which are said to be an excellent addition to salads,
and a relish to dishes of mashed greens. The plant is
readily propagated by the bulbs, but the situation in
which it is grown should be shady, as under trees. The
soil best suited to its growth is vegetable mould.
Nasturtium,^ov Indian Cress, {Tropœolum magus of Horticul
Linnseus,) is a native of Peru, and is an annual plant ^bre.
in this country, but is a perennial in its own and other
warm climates. The flowers as well as the leaves, tium^or In-
having a warm taste resembling garden cress, are fre- dian'cress.
quently put into salads, and the flowers are often used
for garnishing. The pods when green are pickled, and
used under the false name of capers, and are preferred to
most pickles for sauce. The plant is remarkable as
emiting electric sparks from the flowers, which are visible
only in the evening. In the cultivation of the plant the
seeds only require to be sown in the open border in a
light soil and sunny situation ; and as the plants are of
a climbing habit they may afterwatds be trained to trellis-
work, or to branched sticks, or allowed to trail along the
ground. Besides the green pods of the Nasturtium,
those of Euphorbia Lathyris are pickled and used by
the French under the name of capers.
Leguminous plants.
Chickpea (Cicerctneímwm of Linnaeus) is an annual Chick pea.
plant, a native of Italy and the Levant, introduced in
1548. The plant is cultivated for the sake of its seeds
in the south of Europe, which are used as peas. The
seeds may either be sown broad cast or in drills. In
Britain, if the season does not prove both dry and warm,
the plant withers before the seeds become ripe.
Bean {Faha vulgaris of Tournefort,) is said to have Bean,
been found in a wild state on the confines of Persia,
and has been cultivated time immemorial, both in gar¬
dens and fields, for the sake of its seeds, which are used
in soups and as separate dishes. The principal varieties
of the garden bean cultivated are the following: 1.
Early Mazagan; 2. Lisbon; 3. Small Spanish; 4.
Broad Spanish; 5. Sandwich; 6. Toker; 7. White
blossomed; 8. Black blossomed; 9. Windsor; 10. Fan,
or Cluster; 11. Long pod; 12. Red blossomed; 13.
Royal dwarf; 14. Green Genoa; 15. Green Windsor.
The mazagan, early Lisbon, and Lisbon should be sown
in rows, in October, November, or December, in a warm
border, for use in May, or they may be sown in a frame
thickly, so that the young plants may be easily pro¬
tected in severe weather, to be finally transplanted into
a warm border in February or March. The growth of
beans are said to be accelerated by transplanting, and
therefore may be raised on a slight hot-bed, in January or
February, for early use, should the plants from the
autumn sowing have been killed. To succeed these,
some early large long pods and brown Spanish should
be sown about the end of January, in a warm situation,
and some Sandwich and toker may be planted in Fe¬
bruary. In March and April, Windsor and most other
sorts should be sown for full crops ; for the principal
summer crops the Windsor, Sandwich, toker, large long
pod, and broad Spanish are best adapted. Smaller
portions may be sown in May, June, and July for late
production, especially any of the smaller early kinds ;
thus a regular supply will be provided for from June to
September. In sowing beans plant the seeds in rows
two inches deep, and two or three inches apart in the
row. Sowing or planting is generally effected by the
dibble for large sorts, and in drills drawn by the hoe for
small sorts. When the plants have grown two, three,
or six inches in height, draw some earth up about the
stems on each side of the drill, afterwards keep them
free from weeds, and stir up the soil occasionally be-
HORTICULTURE.
101*
Horticol- tween the rows. When the plants have come into full
—blossom, most gardeners cut or pinch off the tops to
^ promote the growth of pods. The black fly, honey dew,
and mildew are the principal diseases which attack beans,
but as there is no known remedy for these diseases, the
crop attacked had better be destroyed. If for seed to
ripen, sow in February and March.
Lentil, Lentil (Ervum lens of Linnasus) is said to be a na¬
tive of France, but has been known in Britain time out
of mind, the haulm for food for cattle, and the seeds for
haricot and soups. A dry sandy soil is best suited to
its culture, but the lentil is more an agricultural than a
horticultural plant.
I'ßa. Pßa (Pisum sativum of Linnaeus,) in its wild state, is
said to be a native of the south of Europe, but has been
in cultivation, both in fields and gardens, time immemo¬
rial in Britain. Peas appear to have been scarce in the
time of Elizabeth, for at that time they are said to have
been brought from Holland. In the sugar pea the
inner film is wanting, and therefore when the pods are
young they are boiled whole and used in the manner
of kidney beans. The following are the varieties
commonly cultivated in gardens : 1. Early frame ; 2.
Early Charlton ; 3. Early white Warwick ; 4. Bishop^s
dwarf; 5. Dwarf marrowfat; 6. Woodford's marrow;
7. Tall marrowfat; 8. Blue imperial; 9. Knight's tall
marrowfat; 10. Knight's dwarf marrowfat ; II. Prus¬
sian blue ; 12. Prussian green ; 13. Leadman's dwarf ;
14. Sugar; 15. Rouncevals. These varieties differ not
only in height, and mode of growth, but in hardiness,
time of coming to perfection, and in flavour. The
Charllons and white Warwick are early, prolific, and the
seeds are well flavoured, and therefore are well adapted
both for early and succession crops. The early frame
will be ready a few days before the Charlton if sown at
the same time, but it is a scanty bearer. Bishop's dwarf
is early and very prolific. The hotspur is as early as the
Charlton. The kinds mentioned above are the best
adapted for sowings made from the end of October to
the middle of January, and for late sowings raised from
the middle of June to the beginning of August. For
general crops of marrowfats and the larger kinds of peas
the time of sowing is from the beginning of February to
the end of April. Knight's dwarf marrowfat and
Bishop's dwarf are hardy and prolific, and retain their
sweet flavour even when full grown. The Maratto,
Prussian blue, Prussian green, and Rouncevals, sugar,
and others, may be sown for full crops from the beginning
of February to the end of April, and in smaller quanti¬
ties until the middle of Jnne. For late crops, besides
the early sorts, all the dwarf kinds are suitable. Charl-
tons may be sown in May for late crops. From Fe¬
bruary to May is the timeTor sowing the principal crops,
even sometimes crops sown in February surpass those
sown in autumn. At the close of the sowing season,
July or the beginning of August, small quantities may
afterwards be sown, as this crop will entirely depend
upon the mildness of the autumn. Peas are always
sown in drills about two inches deep, and at distances
from drill to drill accordins: to the size to which the
kind sown naturally grows requires. Peas require a mo¬
derately rich soil ; sandy loam and decayed vegetable
substances is the best manure. The soil for early crops
should be dry, and the situation sheltered as well as
sunny. All the sowings made after January should be
in open compartments, but for the sowings made in the
autumn sheltered and su nny borders are necessary. As
the plants rise draw earth to the stems from time to Rofhcnl"
time in dry weather. Early crops should be protected
by straw, or any litter laid upon brushwood, or by spruce
fir branches. All the taller sorts require to be supported
by branched sticks being stuck in along the rows* In
February early kinds of peas may be sown in flat boxes,
and placed in a hot-house, or for extensive crops they
should be sown in a slight hot-bed for transplanting in
an open ground in March. Peas are sometimes forced
in the manner of French beans in boxes placed in a hot¬
house, or sown in the borders of a peach-house, or other
forcing-house that is intended to be forced from the be¬
ginning of the year. By the time forcing commences
these will be ready for transplanting into the same bor¬
ders. Peas, in all cases, are said to be forwarded by
transplanting. For a crop for seed sow in spring, and
the pods will be ripe in autumn.
Scarlet runner (^Phaseolus multiflorus ofWilldenow) Scarlet
is a native of South America, introduced in 1633, and runner,
was only regarded by Linnaeus as a variety of the French
or kidney bean. Its culture is nearly the same as that
of the kidney bean, but the plant is more tender. The
three following varieties of it are cultivated, the scarlet,
Dutch, and white. The end of April or the middle of
May will be time enough for the first sowings for a full
crop, and another about the beginning of June. The
seeds are sown in drills two inches deep, and four feet
asunder if more than one drill, and the beans two or
three inches apart in the drill. A row of tall sticks or
poles should be stuck in along each row, for the plants
to climb upon, or they may be supported by trellis-work
or lines. To have a more forward crop, sow in April in
a slight hot-bed, to be finally transplanted into the open
ground about the end of May. As the plant advances
in growth draw earth up to the stems. From three
sowings pods of runners may be had in perfection from
July to October.
French or kidney beam (Phaseolus vulgaris of Lin- Frencli, or
naeus,) is a native of the East Indies, and has been cul- kidney
tivated from time out of mind. It is an extremely poly-
morphous plant, its habit is either erect or climbing, its
flowers white, lilac, or purple, and its seeds vary much
both in shape, size, and colour. In Britain the unripe
pods, both of the kidney bean and scarlet runner, are
the only parts used, which may be had throughout the
year by forcing, but on the continent the ripe seeds are
used as forming haricots, as well as being put into some
kinds of soups. The varieties principally cultivated in
Britain are the following: 1. Early yellow; 2. Early
red speckled; 3. Early black ; 4. Early white; 5. White
Battersea ; 6. White Canterbury; 7. Black speckled;
8. Brown speckled ; 9. Dun coloured ; 10. Striped ;
11. Tawny. The first four are best for the earlier
crops, and the others for general crops. The time of
sowing in the open ground is from April or May to the
beginning of August, which will furnish beans in perfec¬
tion from June to October. But unlike the scarlet
runners, they require no support. Growers for sale
depend principally upon the Battersea and Canterbury
for main crops. The soil for kidney beans should be
light and mellow for early sowings, but moist and loamy
for later summer sowings. The sowings in April and
May should be made in a south border, well sheltered
and sunny, but the following sowings in more open
compartments in drills two feet asunder, and from one
to two inches deep, and the beans one or two inches
apart in t«he drill. As the plants advance in growth
102*
HORTICULTURE
Horticul- ¿i-aw a little earth up to the stems, on each side of the
^ row. Kidney beans may be successfully forced in
flued pits, hot-houses, hot-beds, and forcing-houses.
For forcing sow in flat boxes or pans tilled with light
rich earth to be placed in a stove, or hot-bed, giving
moderate supplies of water, and the plants when about
three inches high will be fit for finally transplanting,
which should be done in rows fifteen inches apart and
three inches from plant to plant in the row across the
beds of flued pits, &c. Give water after planting, and
at all times when required, and plenty of air in fine days,
earthing the plants up as they advance. To have kidney
beans all the year round, sow the seeds and begin to
force in August and thence to December. The heat
should be 50° or 60° for the minimum and 75° for the
maximum. To obtain supplies in succession sow every
month. By sowing in pots or boxes from midwinter till
the end of March, and placing them on the flues, or on
shelves in a hot-house, the most early pods in perfection
are obtained. The border of a forcing-house is also
well adapted for forcing kidney beans. French beans
may be successfully cultivated from February to the
beginning of April in a hot-bed, and transplanting them
from one bed to another, and these will furnish pods in
April and June. Small portions may be sown in March
or April under glass, or in a hot-bed, to be planted out
in the open ground in May in a warm sheltered border.
Sow in small pots, three beans in each, they will yield
pods a fortnight sooner than the earliest sown in the
open ground.
Lablab. Lablab (Lablab vulgaris of Savi) is a native of the
East Indies and Egypt, where the young pods are
cooked and used like kidney beans. In this country it
may be cultivated in the same way as scarlet runners.
There are several varieties of it. The plant was intro¬
duced into Britain in 1794.
Soy. Soy (Soya hispida of Mœnch) is an upright hispid
annual plant, a native of Japan, and many other parts
of Asia, introduced in 1790. The seeds are used in
soups, and a dish called Soy is prepared from them.
The plant might be cultivated in this country in the
same manner recommended for kidney beans.
Saiiguisorheous Plants.
Burnet. Burnet (Poterium sanguisorba of Linnaeus) is an
indigenous perennial plant; the leaves of which are
sometimes used in salads and soups. The burnet is
readily propagated by division and by seed, and succeeds
best in a light dry soil.
Portulaceous Plants.
Purslane. Purslane (Portulaca sativa of Haworth) is an annual
trailing plant, a native of South America, introduced in
1652, and was cultivated formerly more extensively than
now as a salad ; the succulent stems and leaves are the
parts used as a salad or for pickling. There are two
varieties known, the green and the yellow, but the first
is preferred. For an early crop, sow in February and
March on a gentle hot-bed, and finally transplant in a
warm sheltered border in May. If a succession of young
stems and leaves be required, sow every month as long
as the plant can be reared : the manner of sowing is ge¬
nerally in drills half a foot apart. As soon as the shoots
are four or five inches long, cut them off close to the
ground for use, and the ropt left will soon push out new
shoots. Clatonia perfoliata^ another plant of the same Horticul-
order, is sometimes used as a substitute for purslane,
Ficoideous Plants.
New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia expansa of Alton)
is a prostrate plant beset wiih crystalline dots, a native
of New Zealand, Japan, and even Chili, and was intro¬
duced by Sir Joseph Banks in 1772. It has been cul¬
tivated for some time in this country as spinach ; a light
soil suits it best, and it grows so fast that a very few
plants will suffice to furnish a supply of leaves for a
family through the summer. 1 he seeds may either be
sown in drills or broad cast, or they may be reared on a
slight hot-bed, and afterwards, in the month of May,
the plants so reared should be finally transplanted into
the open border. There are other two plants of the
same natural family which are sometimes cultivated as
spinach. The sea purslane (Sesuvium porlulacastrum)
and the edible fig marigold (Mesembryanthemum
edule).
Cucurhitaceous Plants.
Pompions and gourds^ or the different species of Cu- Pompions
curbita, produce their ffiuit in the open air in summer, ,
¿roiirQs*
although natives of the warmer parts of the East. The
fruit is used in soups, stews, pies, and tarts ; the tender
tops also furnish an excellent substitute for greens.
Pompions and gourds of all sorts, of which the vegetable
marrow is one of the most valuable varieties, are pro¬
pagated by seed which should be reared on a hot-bed
or under a hand-glass, for finally transplanting about the
middle of May, or they may be raised on sunk beds
formed of horse-dung earthed over. All the kinds may
also be sown where the plants are intended to remain
under hand-glasses, without bottom heat, or later in a
warm situation without hand-glasses. As the plants
increase, earth up the stems below the cotyledons, and
train the branches along the surface of the soil by
means of pegs.
Umbelliferous Plants.
Celery^ (Apium graveolens of Linnseus,) in a wild Celery,
state, is a native throughout Europe by the sides
of ditches, brooks, &c. especially towards the sea, and
is known in Britain under the name of Smallage, in
which state it is acrid and dangerous, and the effect of
cultivation in producing from it the mild sweet celery is
remarkable. The blanched leaf stalks are used raw as
a salad in autumn and winter, and they are also stewed
and put into soups : in Italy the green leaves are used
for the latter purpose. The varieties of cultivated celery
are the following: 1. Upright Italian; 2. Large
hollow ; 3. Solid stalked ; 4. Large red. The red
kind is much hardier than the others, but is coarser for
salads ; it is, however, well adapted for soups and stews.
A head of celery has been known to have attained the
weight of ten pounds. The soil in which celery thrives
best should be rich in vegetable mould, and rather moist.
For an early summer and autumn crop, the seeds
should be sown about the end of February or beginning
of March in a slight hot-bed, and when the plants have
attained the height of two or three inches, plant them
into a warm border, and in May or June finally trans¬
plant them into trenches for blanching ; this crop being
liable to run to seed, should be small. For the principal
crop for autumn and winter use, sow in beds of light rich
H o R T I C
U L T U R E
103*
Horticul- rich earth in the beginning of April, giving water as re-
^üirtí. quired, and when the plants have grown three or four
height, thin the seed-bed and prick the thin¬
nings into intermediate beds to gain strength for final
transplanting. For a late crop to stand the winter for
use in May, sow a small portion of seed in the beginning
of May, and when the plants are about six weeks old,
prick them out into other beds to remain till September
or October, at which time they should be finally trans¬
planted into moderate trenches, and they should be
earthed up a little before winter sets in, and also in Fe¬
bruary and March. For finally transplanting all the
crops in trenches for blanching, allot an open compart¬
ment, making each trench a toot wide and three and a
half feet apart, and one foot deep, but before planting
dig in rotten dung into the bottom of each trench to
strengthen the soil, and afterwards set a single row of
plants along the centre of each trench, four or five inches
distance. Continue planting in this manner in succes¬
sion every month from June to September. Water
should be given at planting, and afterwards if required.
As the plants grow from half a foot to a foot in height,
earth them up gradually and equally on both sides of
the row for blanching, with a spade, and this earthing
up should be repeated every fortnight from July to Fe¬
bruary, sparingly at first. The crops are dug up as they
are wanted when leady, for after they are fully blanched
they soon begin to rot and decay.
Celeriac Geleriac is a turnip-rooted variety of celery, the root
of which is sliced and put into soups to give them fla¬
vour. In Germanv it is a common salad, and for which
purpose the roots are boiled, and when cold they are
eaten with oil and vinegar. They are sometimes used
stewed with sauces. In all cases the roots are boiled,
first cutting away the rind and fibres. There are several
varieties of celeriac cultivated ; 1. Common ; 2. Celerie
rave \ 3. Knott Celerie. The last is the hardiest, and
continues longer in spring. The time for sowing
celeriac is the same as that for celery, and a rich light
soil is necessary. The seed may be reared on a moderate
hot-bed, and the plants afterwards pricked out into an¬
other hot-bed to gain strength until two or four.inches
high, which will be about the middle of June; they may
be finally transplanted at the distance of fifteen inches
from plant to plant in flat beds, giving plenty of water
if the weather prove dry, and the roots will be ready in
September or October for use. The roots may be earthed
up to whiten them when full grown.
Parsley. Parsley {Peiroselinum sativum of Hoffmann) is a
biennial plant, a native of Greece and Turkey, and was
introduced from Sardinia in 154S, but is now so com¬
mon as to be naturalized in several parts of Britain.
The varieties of parsley cultivated are, the common
curled, and broad leaved, or large rooted. The leaves of
the two first are used as pot-herbs as well as a garnish.
The third is cultivated for the sake of its long carrot-like
root, to be drawn in winter like parsnips. One sowing
of the pot-herb kinds in spring will furnish leaves all the
year round. The seeds are generally sown in a single
row along the edge of a border. The plants should be
cut close in order to have a successional supply of young
leaves, but the last cutting should be made in Sep¬
tember, so as to allow the plants to form heads of young
leaves for winter use. To obtain large roots of the third
kind or Hamburg parsley, sow the seeds in deep dry
soil in February, March, or April, in drills or broad cast ;
thinning the plants to nine inches apart. By this
VOL. VI,
means the roots will be ready for use from August to Horficuh
the following spring. A sowing should be made in ture.
June if very young roots are wanted for winter use.
Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum of Linnaeus) is a Alexanders
coarse biennial plant, a native of Britain, towards the
sea-coast ; it was formerly cultivated like celery for its
blanched leaf-stalks as a salad. In the cultivation of
the plant the seed should be sown in April, broad cast,
and when the young plants are large enough, they
should be finally transplanted in drills two feet apart
and six inches asunder in the drill. The seed mav also
•/
be sown in drills where the plants are to remain ; but
they should be properly thinned. The plants should be
earthed up like celery as they advance in growth to
blanch the leaf-stalks.
Caraway (Carum carvi of Linnaeus) is a perennial Caraway,
plant, a native of several parts of Europe, but is only
naturalized in Britain. It is chiefly cultivated in gar¬
dens for the sake of its seed. In spring the leaves are
sometimes put into soups, and the roots were formerly
used like parsnips. Sow in autumn in drills or broad
cast, and afterwards thin the plants to a foot distance.
Anise (Pimpinella anisum of Linnaeus) is an annual Anise,
plant, a native of Scio and Egypt, introduced to Britain
in 1551, and is occasionally grown in gardens for use as
a garnish, and for seasoning like the fennel. The seeds
should be sown in April in a dry warm border, and when
the plants are up, thin them to three inches apart.
Skirret (Sium sisarum of Linnaeus) is a native of Skirret,
several parts of Asia. It is a perennial plant, introduced
in 1548, and cultivated for the sake of the tubers of the
root. These tubers are boiled and served up with butter.
The plant prefers a light deep soil, and may be propa¬
gated by either seeds or offsets, but the first is the best
method to have tender young roots. Sow the seeds in
March or April in an open spot, in drills eight inches
asunder, and afterwards thin the plants to half a foot
apart in the row, and the roots will be ready in August,
September, or October, and they will continue good
until the plant begins to run for seed in spring.
Fennel (Fœniculum vulgare of Ray) is a perennial Fennel,
plant, a native of the chalky cliffs of Britain. The
tender stalks are used in salads, the leaves boiled enter
into many kinds of fish sauce. Fennel may be either
propagated by seed or offsets. Sow the seed in spring,
and finally transplant at a foot and a half distance. If
propagated from offsets, the plants produce an imme¬
diate supply of young leaves. The same plants endure
many years, and in order to have a supply of young
leaves for summer use, cut down a portion of the flower
stems.
Finnochio or Sweet fennel (Fœniculum dulce of Finnochio.
Bauhin) is a biennial plant, a native of Italy and Por¬
tugal. It differs from common fennel in its dwarfer
stature, darker hue, and shorter duration. The part
used is the blanched stalks, which are eaten with oil,
vinegar, and pepper asa cold salad, and they sometimes
enter into soups. The swollen stems, when of tolerable
size, should be earthed up on each side of the drill half
a foot high, to render them white and tender, which
will be effected in a fortnight. By successive sowings
and cutting down old plants during summer, crops of
blanched stalks may be had from June to December
Samphire (Crithmum maritimvm of Linnaeus) is a Samphire,
perennial evergreen plant, a native of the chalky clifts
of Britain. It is an old English pickle, and a frequent
addition in salads. If it be grown in gardens, it requires
0'*
104*
HÖR T I C U L T U R E
Horticul- a sheltered dry situation screened from the morning
ture. protecting it in winter by a little litter^ and in spring
the soil around the plants should be sprinkled with a
little powdered barilla. Several other plants are used
for the same purposes as samphire, as the ^alicornia
herbácea^ and Inula crithmifolia.
Garden an- Garden angelica {At change Ilea officinalis of HofF-
gelica. mann) is a biennial plant, a native of many parts of
Europe, but is only naturalized in Britain. It is cul¬
tivated for the sake of its leaf-stalks, which are blanched
and eaten like celery, or candied. The young stalks are
collected for the latter purpose in May. The plant
grows almost in any soil or situation, but prefers one
rather moist. The seeds are sown in drills in August,
and when the plants are half a foot high they are trans¬
planted in rows two feet apart in the row. For candy¬
ing, the young shoots and stalks of leaves are cut when
in a green and tender state. By keeping established
plants cut down, young leaf-stalks and shoots may be had
in succession for several years from the same plants.
Dill. Hill {Anelhum graveolens of Linnaeus) is a biennial
plant, with the general appearance of fennel, and is a
native of Asia, Africa, and America, introduced to Britain
in 1570. Being a strong aromatic, the leaves are used
in some kinds of pickles, particularly cucumbers, and
sometimes in soups and sauces. For the propagation
of the plant, sow seeds in February, March, and in au¬
tumn, in drills or broad cast, where it is intended finally
to remain, and the plants should afterwards be thinned
if they come up too thick. They will furnish leaves for
use in summer and autumn.
Parsnip. Par snip,{Pastinaca sativa ofLinnœus,) in its wild state,
is a native of Britain, on dry banks and on chalky soil. It
has long been an inmate of the gardens, and is culti¬
vated for the sake of the root to be eaten with salted fish.
In Ireland a kind of beer is prepared from the roots
along with hops. The principal varieties in cultivation
are as follows: 1. Common; 2. Guernsey or Jersey ;
3. Hollow crowned ; 4. Turnip rooted or Siam. The
soil best adapted for parsnips is that which is light, deep,
and free from stones, it should also be dry and deeply
trenched, depositing plenty of decomposed manure at
the bottom of the trench to draw the roots down. The
seed should be sown in March or April in beds broad
cast, and the plants are to be thinned to about eight
inches distance from each other by a hoe. All that
is afterwards required is to keep them free from weeds.
About the end of September the roots will be ready for
use, and they will keep good in the ground till spring.
By digging them up in March, and cutting off their tops,
they will keep good till April.
Carrot. Carrot {Daucus carota of Linnseus) is a biennial
plant, a native of some parts of Europe and Asia in its
wild state ; it is also found plentiful in Britain on the
borders of fields on a gravelly soil. The root of the
carrot in its wild state is white, dry, sticky, and slender,
but the roots of the cultivated varieties are large, succu¬
lent, and of a reddish-yellow or yellow colour. They
are used in soups and stews, and are also eaten entire.
The principal varieties of carrot cultivated are the fol¬
lowing: 1. Large red; 2. Orange; 3. Early horn;
4. Late horn. The soil best adapted to the cultivation
of the carrot is a deep, light, and sandy soil, and
should be always trenched deeply before sowing. The
seed may be sown either in drills or broad cast,
but always in calm weather, as they are so light and
liable to be blown about by the wind ; they should be
trodden down by the foot before raking or covering Horticul-
them with earth. For early summer crops sow in Fe-
bruary or March, and for this sowing prefer the early '
horn. From the middle of March to the end of April
sow the orange for principal crops. A small sowing
may also be made in May, and also in the beginning of
June and July for late summer and autumn crops of
young carrots ; likewise sow a small portion in the be¬
ginning of August to stand the winter, and they will
supply young carrots in early spring. When the young
plants are two or three inches high, they should be
thinned by hand to three or four inches apart, for
those intended to be drawn while young, and from six
to eight inches for the principal crop. Some of the
first sowing will be ready for use in June and July, to
August and September, and in full growth about the
end of October. Carrots should be taken up in the be¬
ginning of winter, cleaned and stored away among sand
in such a manner as to exclude the frost, and in this
way they will keep good till April.
Sweet cicely {Myrrhis aromatica of Linnseus) is a Sweet
perennial plant, a native of the north of England and cicely.
Scotland, the young leaves and seeds of which were for¬
merly used in salads, and the young roots were boiled
and eaten cold in tarts. In Guernsey it is still used in
soups.
Arracacha {Arracacha esculenta of De Candolle) is Arracacha,
a perennial plant, a native of South America, about
Santa Fe de Bogota and the Caraccas, where it is
cultivated for culinary purposes. The root branches
and grows to a large size, and yields a food which is
grateful to the palate, and easy of digestion when cooked
in the same manner as potatoes. The plant was intro¬
duced first to the British gardens in 1823, but notwith¬
standing every means has been tried to cultivate it for
use it has not succeeded, except in producing a few
leaves and flowers.
Coriander {Coriandrum sativum of Linnaeus) is an Coriander,
annual fetid plant, a native of the south of Europe. Its
culture and management consists of sowing the seeds
on a light soil in autumn.
Valerianeous Plants.
LawPs lettuce {Valerianella olitoria of Mœnch) is Lamb's
an annual plant, a native of Britain, in corn fields. It lettuce,
is cultivated in gardens as a winter salad. Three sow¬
ings, one in August, another in September for use in
winter and early spring, and the last sowing in February
and March for early summer use. If wanted throughout
the season, sow every month. The soil best adapted
for Lamb's lettuce is a light mellow earth. The seeds
should be sown broad cast, and if the plants rise too
thick, thin them a little.
Composite Plants.
Jerusalem* artichoke {Helianthus tuherosus of Lin- Jerusalem
nasus) is a perennial plant, a native of Brazil, and was artichoke,
introduced to the British gardens in 1617. The roots
produce numerous tubers similar to potatoes, and
were used before the introduction of that useful plant.
They are eaten boiled and mashed with butter. The
plant is propagated by the tubers, either whole or di¬
vided in parts; the first method is preferable: they are
planted in rows in spring or autumn by the dibble,
* Called Jerusalem by a corruption from the Italian Girasol^,
HORTICULTURE.
105*
Horticul- and in the following November the young tubers will be
ready for use. From the same plantation a succession
' ^ * of crops are obtained for many years, but to have the
roots in perfection, plant some every spring. A light,
rather sandy soil is best adapted to the growth of the
Jerusalem artichoke.
Scorzonera. Scorzonera (Scorzonera Hispánica of Linnseus) is a
native of many parts of the south of Europe, and has been
cultivated in Britain since 1576. The plant is biennial.
The root is white carrot-shaped, and is the part used
for culinary purposes ; the outer rind is scraped off, the
root is then steeped in water to deprive it of a portion of
its bitterness. It is either boiled or stewed like carrots.
The seed may be either sown in drills or broad cast in
March, April, and May for succession, and if the plants
come up too thick, they are to be thinned to six inches
distance, and the roots will be ready for use in iVugust,
and from thence to spring. A dry, light, rich soil is best
adapted to the growth of Scorzonera.
Salsify, Salsify (Tragopogón porrifolius of Linnœus) is an
indigenous biennial plant. The root is carrot-shaped,
white, and fleshy, like that of Scorzonera, and is cooked
and used for the same purpose. The young stems
are cut in spring, dressed and used as a substitute for
asparagus. The soil for salsify should be light, rich,
and the situation open. The seed may either be sown
broad cast or in drills, and if the young plants rise too
thick they are to be thinned to six inches apart. The
seed should be sown in March, April, and May in suc¬
cession, and the roots will begin to be ready in August,
and will continue good till spring.
Artichoke. Artichoke (Cynara scolymus of Linnseus) is a peren¬
nial plant, a native of the south of Europe, and has been
cultivated in British gardens since 1548. The recep¬
tacle of the flowers freed from the pappus, or what is
called choke, as well as the bases of the scales of the in-
volucrum, are the parts used when dressed. The young
hearts of artichoke plants, when blanched, are considered
by some equal to those of the cardoon. The varieties in
cultivation are the following: 1. Conical French;
2. Globe ; 3. Dwarf globe : the second is considered
the best for principal crops, but all the sorts will produce
heads in perfection from July to November. The situa¬
tion in which the artichoke is planted should be open,
and the soil light, rich, and deep, and well manured.
They are propagated by offsets from old plantations,
which may either be planted by the dibble or the spade.
The young plants will produce heads in tolerable per¬
fection in the August following, and the same planta¬
tion will continue good for many successive years. In
autumn, or as soon as the plants are done growing, dig
between the rows, ridging the mould over the roots,
and in very severe frosts they should, besides, be
covered thickly over with litter ; but in March, both the
litter and the earth thrown up should be removed, being
only placed there for the protection of the roots. Two
or three of the strongest shoots of each root only should
be allowed to remain to furnish heads, the rest are to
be slipped off, and used to form a new plantation if
wanted. Afterwards dig in some well rotted dung
between the rows and level the ground.
Cardoon. Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus of Linnaeus) is a bien¬
nial plant, a native of Candia, and has been cultivated
in British gardens since 1658. The tender hearts of
the plants are used in stews, soups, and salads in au¬
tumn and winter. They become more tender and white
by excluding the light by any of the modes of blanching.
The principal sorts of cultivated cardoon are the follow- Horticul
ing: i. Common; 2. Spanish; 3. Cardoon of Tours; ture.
4. Red ; but the second kind is generally considered
the best. The seed should be sown every year where
the plants are intended to remain, in March, April, May,
and June in succession. A deep, light, rich, mellow soil
is the best adapted to the cultivation of the cardoon.
The plants should be in rows four feet apart ; some
transplant from the seed-bed, but it is now considered
better to sow in patches of three or four seeds in each
patch at sufficient distances, where the plants are finally
to remain, and when the young plants have attained
four or six leaves, all should be removed except one
of the strongest in each patch. When the plants have
grown the height of two or three feet, which is com¬
monly in August or September, lie the leaves together
and earth up the plant on all sides a foot, and as the
stems rise continue to tie the leaves, and earth up higher
until October. When fully blanched, they may be taken
up like celery as wanted, which will be from September
and October through the winter. The plants should
be covered over with litter in very severe frosts.
Thistle.—Some species of Cnicus, Carduus, and Ono- Thistle.
pordon were formerly cultivated and used in the manner
of the cardoon, but they are now wholly neglected.
Lettuce (Lactuca sativa of Linnseus) is an annual Lettuce,
plant, said to have been cultivated in Britain since 1562,
but from whence it originally came is now unknown.
Although the plant is of very short duration, by succes¬
sive sowings it can be had in perfection almost through¬
out the year. Lettuce is well known as an agreeable
salad, and sometimes it is an ingredient in soups. It con¬
tains a large portion of opium in the form of milky juice
like the endive, succory, and dandelion. There are a
great many kinds of lettuce cultivated ; these are divided
into two groups, called cabbage and cos lettuces. For
winter and spring use, the brown, Dutch, Hammersmith,
and tennis-ball among the cabbage let tuces, and the brown,
red, and green among the cos lettuces are considered best ;
but for summer and autumn, the Silesian and brown Sile-
sian among the cabbage lettuces, and the Paris and Flo¬
rence among the cos lettuces are preferred. The cabbage
lettuces generally have a milder taste than the cos lettuces,
but when full grown the flavour of the cos kinds are pre¬
ferred. The seed should be sown broad cast on a seed-bed.
The soil best adapted to the culture of all kinds of lettuce
is light, rich, and mellow. To have a succession of crops,
seed should be sown every month, from February to
July for principal crops, and for a crop to come into
use during winter, the seed should be sown about
the end of August, Some sow on a slight hot-bed in
spring to forward the plants for transplanting in April
or May. When the plants raised in spring and early
summer are two or three inches high, they are finally
transplanted into an open compartment in rows a foot
apart. Heading and blanching is promoted by tying
the leaves of each plant together with matting. For
lettuce to stand the winter for use in spring, plant in a
warm border sloping to the south, in a dry soil, or sow
where the plants are to remain, and also some may be
planted in beds so as they may be readily protected by
hand-glasses, frames, or other covering placed over them
in severe weather, giving at all times plenty of air, and
in March and April all those lettuces so protected should
be finally transplanted in the open ground, and they will
come into use in April and May. The Dutch have a
method of producing cabbage lettuces throughout the
o"^ 2
106*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- winter, by planting- them in a frame when young, and
ture. in October when the air grows cold and the heads
begin to set close, the lights are put on and air is no
longer given, taking care to cover the lights with mats
according to the severity of the weather, as all that is
necessary is just to keep out the frost, and withholding
water altogether, but always taking off the mats when¬
ever the weather will permit, and by this means cab¬
bage lettuces are had in perfection throughout the winter
till April, when they are succeeded by the early forced,
or those protected. The tops of the plants should never
be allowed to touch the glass, as that causes them to rot,
and for this purpose the frames should be raised from
time to time according to the growth of the plants.
Endive Endive (Czc/ionwm e/idma of Linnseus) is an annual
plant, a native of China and Japan, and has been culti¬
vated since 1548 in British gardens. The part used
is the blanched head, in salads and stews, in autumn
and winter. The varieties generally cultivated are the
following: 1. Batavia, or broad leaved; 2. Curled
leaved ; and there are many subvarieties of each kind.
The green curled is the best for principal crops to be
used in autumn and winter. A small sowing of white
curled may be made for early summer and autumn use.
The broad leaved is the best to be used for stews and
soups in autumn to December. The seed should be
sown in May for a small early crop for summer use, but
the principal crops should not be sown until J une, July,
and August, for autumn and winter use, the latest for
early spring use. The seed should be sown in beds
of mellow light earth, and when the young plants are of
sufficient size, thin them so that the remainder may
become stocky for transplanting, or to remain. When
the plants are about six inches high, finally transplant
them in shallow trenches, or on a level surface, in lows
a foot apart, in a rich light soil. The time of trans¬
planting the various crops is from June to October, but
the principal portion in August, and the general winter
crop in the beginning of September. At the end of Sep¬
tember, or beginning of October, some should be trans¬
planted in warm borders to stand the winter, or on banks
sloping to the south, sticking in a pantile behind each
plant, covering the plants over with branches of fir or
other litter in severe weather. As the plants advance in
growth, some should have the leaves tied up, but not too
close, every now and then, to promote blanching ; and if
the soil be dry, they may be earthed up half way. The
blanching will be completed in one, two, or three
weeks, according to the season and state of the weather,
but when fully blanched, if not used, the heart soon rots.
Endive may also be blanched in any way that excludes
the light, by tiles, blanching pots, &c. In severe
weather endive may be preserved by covering the plants
with straw, or any other litter, or by frames, hand¬
glasses, &c.
Succory Succory (^Cichorium intyhus of Linnaeus) is an indi¬
genous perennial plant, very common in chalky coun¬
ties. It is in much repute in Italy, though little culti¬
vated in Britain. The leaves are blanched like those of
endive, or forced during winter, and excluded from the
light. Succory is also used in salads in its young green
state. The roots dried and giound form an excellent
substitute for coffee, or to be mixed with it. There are
the common broad-leaved, and the large-rooted chicory
cultivated ; the former for its leaves, and the latter
for its roots. The seed should be sown in June and
July, and when the plants are up thin them, and ^be
thinnings maybe transplanted into other beds if required, Horticul-
About the end of September the common kind is to be
taken up and planted close together in pots or boxes, and
when they are well rooted, the pots or boxes should be
removed as wanted into a cellar or mushroom-house,
and entirely excluded from the light, in order to blanch
the leaves, which will be effected in a week.
Dandelion (Leoniodon taraxacum of Linnaeus) is a Dandelion,
well-known indigenous perennial plant, the blanched
leaves of which are used as a salad, and the dried pow¬
dered roots as a substitute for coffee. It may be cul¬
tivated for use in the manner recommended for succory.
Tarragan {Artemisia dracunculus of Linnaeus) is a Tarjagan
perennial plant, a native of Siberia and other parts of
Northern Asia, and has been cultivated in British gar¬
dens since 1548. The tender young stems along with
the leaves are used to give flavour to pickles. An infu¬
sion of the plant in vinegar makes an excellent fish
sauce. It is also put in soups and salads on account of
its flavour. The plant is best propagated by offsets, and
a dry light soil is best adapted to its growth. Young
green shoots of tarragan maybe had throughout spring,
summer, and autumn, by keeping the old shoots cut
down : they may also be had in winter, by forcing a few
plants in a hot-house or hot-bed, and for this latter pur¬
pose they had better be planted in pots.
Marigold (^Calendula officinalis of Linnseus) is a well- Marigold,
known annual plant, a native of the south of Europe,
but has been cultivated in British gardens since 1578.
In some parts the flowers are used in broths and soups.
In its culture, the seeds only require to be sown early
in spring or late in autumn, in any soil, if not too stiff.
In preserving the flower for winter use, pull the heads
when in perfection, and dry the florets in the sun.
Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare of Linnaeus) is an indi- Tansy,
genous perennial plant. The young leaves cut in pieces
are used to give flavour to puddings and omelets. There
are two sorts cultivated, the common and the curled leaved,
the latter is generally preferred. The plant is p^ropagated
by pieces of the roots, and the same plants will afterwards
produce abundant supplies of young leaves for many suc¬
cessive years. By keeping the old stems cut down, the
roots will continue to throw up young ones. To have
tansy green in winter, put some plants in pots, and place
them in a stove, hot-bed, or other forcing-house.
Costmary {Balsamitavulgaris of Linnseus) isa native Costmary.
of Italy and a perennial plant, cultivated since 1568.
The leaves are used in salads, and were formerly put into
ale. Like the tansy, it is propagated by division. The
same plants furnish a supply of leaves for many succes¬
sive years.
Chamomile (^Anthémis nohilis of Linnaeus) is an in- Chamo-
digenous perennial plant. The double-flowered variety mile,
is cultivated in gardens for the sake of its flowers, for
the purpose of making chamomile tea. A poor, sandy,
or gravelly soil suits it best, and it is propagated by slips
or offsets. The flowers should be gathered when in per¬
fection and dried.
Elecampane (Inula Helenium of Linnaeus) is a tall, Elecam-
coarse, perennial plant indigenous to some parts of pane,
England. On the continent the roots are candied, and
used as a stomachic. The plant is propagated by divi¬
sion, and the soil in which it thrives best is light, deep,
and sandy.
Campanulaceous Plants^
Ramplón ( Campanula rapunculus of Linnaeus) is a Rampion.
HORTICULTURE.
107«
Horticul- biennial plant, indigenous to Britain, on a gravelly soil,
but is probably only an escape from gardens. The root is
thick, tapering, and edible, and is, as well as the leaves,
mixed with salads, and for which purpose it was for¬
merly much more cultivated than at present. In some
parts of the continent the roots are boiled and eaten
hot with sauce, or cold with vinegar and pepper. The
seed should be sown in drills in a deep light soil, and
the plants if they come up too thick are thinned. The
root will be ready for use the following autumn.
Convolvulaceous Plants^
Sweetpo- Sweet potato (Batatas edulis of Choisy) is a peren-
tato. jjial tuberous-rooted plant, a native of both Indies, and
has been cultivated in Britain as a curiosity since 1597.
Sweet potatoes are still annually imported from Spain
and Portugal ; they are sweet, sapid, and nourishing.
In tropical countries they are cultivated in the same
manner as we do potatoes. In warm seasons, if planted
first in a hot-bed, and about the end of May transplanted
to a warm sheltered border in the open ground, they
would produce small tubers.
Boragineous Plants»
Borage. Borage^ (Barago officinalis of Linnaeus) is an annual
plant, a native of Britain, the 30ung tender tops of which
are used in salads, and tobe boiled as a dish like spinach.
Borage thrives best in a dry light soil. By sowing a
small portion of seed every month from February to
September, borage tops may be had for use throughout
the year.
Solanaceous Plants.
Potato Potato (Solanum tuberosum of Linnaeus) is a native
of South America, as of Peru, Chili, Santa Fe de Bogota,
and has lately been found on the Pic d'Orizaba in
Mexico. In Peru the plant is called papas. It was
probably first brought from Quito to Spain, in the early
part of the XVIth Century, where it is called Batatas,
and from thence it appears to have found its way into
Italy. The potato, however, found its way into Eng¬
land by a different route, being brought from Virginia
by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1586. The sweet or Spanish
potato {'Batatas edulis of Choisy) was used in England,
as it is now, as a delicacy, before the introduction of
the potato. The potato is the most useful esculent root
cultivated. The varieties are very numerous, on account
of the facility of procuring new ones from seed ; it would
therefore be useless to give the names of them, for in
general every town and district has a favourite variety.
The names of the most early kinds, however, are as fol¬
lows : 1. Hog's early; 2. Royal dwarf; 3. Early Man¬
chester; 4. Common early; 5. American early; 6.
Early champion ; none of which produces blossoms when
true. The potato is propagated by divisions of the
tubers, each division containing one or more eyes; the
middle and moistest end of the potato is considered to
produce the best sets for planting. Potatoes grow best
in light fresh loam without dung, and in poor, dry, light
soil well manured ; but in a wet soil they become sickly,
and produce wet tubers. The end of March or begin¬
ning of April is the best time for planting main crops,
but planting may continue to the beginning of June.
The sets are planted in rows about a foot apart, and
when the plants have grown half a foot or more in height,
earth should be drawn up to the bottoms of the stems
on each side of the row. Pinching off the flowers as they
appear is said to increase the size of the tubers as well
as the weight of the crop. About the end of June, or
beginning of July, the tubers of the first planted crop Horticui-
will be of sufficient size for use, but they will be watery, ^
and will not keep good out of the ground for more
than two days. Potatoes are best preserved through
winter in pits dug in a dry sandy soil, covering
them over with straw and the mould so dug out over
the straw ; or they may be kept in a dry close apart¬
ment under ground, covering them thickly with dry
straw. The curl, which is the principal disease which
attacks the potato, is considered by some to be occasioned
by the tubers used for seed being over ripe, therefore
if that be the case, half-ripened tubers are the best for
seed. The potato is considered to be a short-lived
plant, inasmuch that not a single healthy plant of any
sort that yields berries, and which was in culture twenty
years ago, can now be produced, and consequently to en¬
sure productive crops, recourse to new varieties from seed
must be had. Potatoes kept in barns or other outhouses
exposed, if used for seed, generally produce the curl, but
if taken from those pitted in the ground, and not exposed
to the air, seldom have the curl. Change of seed and
soil is, however, considered the best remedy for the curl.
The potato is forced in a great variety of ways, but the
most successful method to have good early tubers, is to
plant sets of the ash-leaved singly in pots, half filled
with light earth, in January, and place the pots in a hot¬
house or hot-bed, earthing them up as they appear, and
finally transplant them about the end of February, with
the balls attached, into a pit prepared as for asparagus,
giving water when required, and as much air as possible ;
the plants so managed will produce a crop of tubers
about the end of March, or in April. A young crop
is early produced by planting the early dwarf on a slight
hot-bed pretty thickly. If so planted in January or
February, they will produce small tubers for use in April
and May, giving plenty of air, and protecting them from
frost. Potatoes may also be planted in pots or boxes,
and placed in a stove or forcing-house.
Egg plant (Solanum melongena of Linnaeus) is an Egg plant,
annual plant, a native of the East Indies, introduced in
1597, of which there are several varieties, differing in
the size, colour, and shape of the fruit, but those cul¬
tivated for culinary purposes are the following : the
oval and globular-shaped white, and the oval and glo¬
bular-shaped purple-fruited. The fruit of the white
varieties resemble a hen's egg. In French and Italian
cookery all the varieties are used in stews and soups, and
for the general purposes of tomato. In cultivating the
plant for use, rear the seeds on a hot-bed, and when the
plants are furnished with proper leaves, they may either
be pricked out into another hot-bed prepared for their
reception, or singly in small pots, and shifting them from
size to size of pot to encourage their growth until they
reach size No. 16, in which they will produce their fruit.
If the plants, instead of being shifted into fruiting pots,
are planted against a south wall, or in a warm border in
June, they will fruit in the open air, provided the season
is not wet and cold.
Tomato or love apple (Lycopersicum esculentum of Tomato os-
Miller) is a coarse annual plant, a native of South Ame- love apple,
rica, introduced in 1596. The plant will rise to the
height of six feet if supported, otherwise it is prostrate.
The fruit is smooth, flattened at both ends, and furrowed
on the sides The varieties in cultivation are the large,
small, and cherry-shaped red, and the large, small, and
cherry-shaped yellow. The first sort is considered the
best for domestic purposes, and is cultivated accordingly
108#
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- to the greatest extent. The fruit when ripe having an
ture. acid flavour is put into soups and sauces, and the juice
is preserved for winter use like ketchup ; it is also used
in confectionery as a preserve, and when green as a
pickle. In England the fruit is generally used in soups,
and is a well-known sauce for mutton. In Italy, how¬
ever, scarcely a dinner is served up in which it does not
in some way or other form a part. For its cultivation
the seeds should be sown on a hot-bed in the end of
March, middle of April, and middle of May for succes¬
sion, and when the seedlings are about two inches high,
prick them out into another hot-bed, or plant them singly
in small pots, and afterwards, about the end of May,
finally transplant them into the open air, into a sheltered
border facing the south, or against a south wall or paling,
to which the branches may be nailed when long enough.
Each plant should be set in a hole filled with hot dung
earthed over six inches. When planted in a border and
not against a wall, the branches may be trained along
the surface by pegs. The fruit begins to ripen in Au¬
gust, and if gathered in October, and hung up in bunches
in a dry place, will keep good till November.
Capsicum Capsicum or Chilli pepper^ of which three species
or Chilli are cultivated. I. Guinea pepper, {Capsicum annuum
pepper. of Linnaeus,) introduced in 1548, though a native of
India, endures the climate of Britain ; there are several
varieties of it, varying in the colour, shape, and size of
the fruit. 2. Cherry pepper ; (Capsicum cerasiforme of
Willdenow ;) this is also an annual plant, standing our
climate in the open air dviring summer. 3. Bell pepper,
(Capsicum grossum of Linnaeus,) introduced in 1759, is
a stove biennial, the berries of which are large red or
yellow, and are deemed the best for pickling; it will
endure the open air in summer like the rest, but will
require to be placed in a stove during winter and spring.
Cayenne pepper is the dried, pounded fruit of the
smaller kinds of capsicum mixed with salt. In cultivat¬
ing the annual kinds, sow the seed about the end of
March on a hot-bed, and the beginning of June transplant
them finally into the open ground, on a warm sheltered
border of rich earth, and by this treatment the plants
will produce fruit from A.ugust to September.
Winter Winter cherry^ (Physalis alkeJcengi of Linnaeus,)
cherry. ^ perennial plant, a native of Europe, introduced to
Britain in 1548, and was formerly cultivated for the sake
of its berries, which possess a pleasant acidulous flavour,
and for which they are eaten in great quantities in Ger¬
many and Spain, and in some parts are esteemed as
good as gooseberries for tarts. The plant is of the
most easy culture, requiring only to be planted in a light
soil, and it is readily propagated by pieces of the running
roots or by seed. The fruit of several other species of
Physalis are used as a substitute for gooseberries in
tarts in various parts of the globe.
Scrophularineous Plants.
Brook lime. Prook lime^ (Veronica hecahunga of Linnaeus,) a
well-known indigenous perennial aquatic plant; the
young tops of which are used in salads.
Labiate Plants.
Sweet basil (Ocymum basilicum of Linnaeus) and
Bush basil, (Ocymum minimum of Linnaeus,) both
highly aromatic annual plants, and natives of the
East Indies ; the first was introduced to Britain in
1548, and the second in 1573. The leaves and small
branching or leafy tops of both species are the parts used
S\7eet ba¬
sil.
for culinary purposes, on account of their strong fla- Horticuk
vour of cloves in highly seasoned dishes. In the culti-
vation of both kinds sow the seed on a hot-bed, about
the end of March, and finally transplant in a warm bor¬
der of rich soil. In transplanting, take care that the
plants are raised with small balls of earth attached to
them. Sometimes both sorts are sown in the open bor¬
der, but they are late and of small size.
Lavender^ (Lavandula vera and spica of De Can- Lavender,
dolle) are small bushy shrubs, natives of the south
of Europe and north of Africa, introduced to Britain in
1548 ; they are generally cultivated in this country as a
perfume, and for lavender water. They are propagated
by slips or cuttings, and prefer a dry soil like the rose¬
mary. The flowers are produced in August. Lavandula
spica yields much more essential oil by distillation than
Lavandula vera.
Spearmint (Mentha viridis of Linnœus) is a perennial, Spearmint,
creeping-rooted plant, indigenous in some parts of Bri¬
tain, and is cultivated in gardens for culinary purposes.
The young leaves and tops are used in spring salads, in
soups, and to give flavour to peas. The plant is propa¬
gated by divisions of the root, which should be planted
in drills. In order to have young leaves and tops for
use, the old stems should be cut down. In autumn the
old crop should be cut down, dried, and tied, in small
bundles, and preserved for winter use.
Peppermint (Mentha piperita of Linnœus) is also a Pepper-
perennial creeping-rooted plant, said to have been found mint,
wild in England, but it is more probably an escape from
gardens. It is sometimes cultivated in gardens for the
young leaves and tops to be used like spearmint, but
principally for distillation. For use in winter, cut the full
grown crop, dry and preserve it in the manner recom¬
mended for spearmint.
Sage (Salvia officinalis of Linnœus) is a dwarf ever- Sage,
green shrub, a native of the south of Europe, introduced
to Britain in 1597. It is cultivated in g-ardens for the
leaves, which are used in stuffing and sauces as well as
to improve the flavour of various dishes. There are
several varieties of sage : 1. Red ; 2. Green ; 3. Broad
leaved ; but the first is most generally cultivated. All
the varieties are propagated by cuttings of young wood
planted in May or June. A new plantation should be
made every three or four years, or when the old plants
begin to dwindle.
Clary (Salvia s clarea of Linnœus) is a biennial plant. Clary,
a native of the south of Europe, introduced to Britain
in 1562, the leaves of which are sometimes used to give
flavour to soups. The plants are reared from seed in
March or April, and finally transplanted into an open
space a foot apart, and the leaves will be fit for use the
following winter.
Winter sweet marjoram^ (Origanum heracleoticum Winter
of Linnœus,) a perennial herb, a native of the region of sweetmar-
the Mediterranean, and has been cultivated since 1640.
It requires a sheltered warm situation and a dry soil,
and is usually propagated by cuttings, as seeds seldom
ripen in Britain. Like other kinds of marjoram it is
much used as a relishing herb in soups, broths, stuffings,
&c. The young leaves and tender tops are used in sum¬
mer in a green state, and the full grown herb in a dry
state in winter. The common marjoram (Origanum
vulgare of Linnœus) is used as a substitute in default of
a crop of this species. Knotted
Knotted or Sweet marjoram (Marjorana hortensis of sweet mar-
Mcench) is an annual plant in our gardens, but in the joram.
HORTICULTURE. 109*
Horticul¬
ture.
Thyme.
Summer
savory.
Winter sa¬
vory.
Hyssop.
Spinach.
north of Africa, its native country, it forms a bushy shrub ;
it was introduced to Britain in 1573. Like other mar¬
jorams, it is much used as a relishing herb in soups,
broths, and stuffing. The young tops along with the
leaves are used green in summer, and the full grown
plant dried in winter, and for this latter purpose it should
be cut when in blossom. The seed should be sown in
light earth in April, in drills or broad cast, and when the
plants have attained the height of two or three inches,
thin them.
Thyme (Thymus vulgaris of Linnaeus) is a small well
known shrub, a native of some parts of Europe. Two
kinds of thyme are cultivated for culinary purposes, the
common and lemon thyme, (and of the first there are two
varieties,) the broad and narrow-leaved. The young
tops, along with the leaves, are used in soups, sauces,
and stuffings. Thyme is readily reared from seed, but
the most eligible method of propagating is by dividing the
plant at the root. A store should be dried and housed
for winter use. Thyme succeeds best in a light dry soil.
Summer savory (Satúrela /¿or/ctiszí of Linnaeus) is an
annual plant, a native of the south of Europe, and has
been cultivated in Britain since 1672. The young tops
along with the leaves are used for seasoning various
dishes. The seed should be sown in March or April in
drills or broad cast, and the herb will be ready lor ga-
theringfrom June to November. It is used in a dried
state in winter.
Winter savory (Satúrela montana of Linnaeus) is a
small bushy evergreen shrub, a native of the region of
the Mediterranean. The plant has been cultivated in
Britain for culinary purposes since 1562. It is propa¬
gated like thyme by cuttings or dividing at the root.
It continues good for summer and winter use. A dry
gravelly or sandy soil suits it best.
Hyssop (Hyssopis officinalis of Linnaeus) is an ever¬
green bushy shrub, a native of the south of Europe, in¬
troduced in 1548, and is cultivated in gardens for the
sake of its young shoots and leaves, to be used as a pot¬
herb, The plant may either be propagated by cutting,
seed, or by dividing the plants at the root. A light dry
soil is best suited to its culture.
Amaranthaceous Plants.
Various species of Amaranthus are cultivated as pot
herbs to be used as substitutes for spinach or greens.
Their culture is easy, the seed only requiring to be sown
in the open border in spring, and the leaves should be
used before the plants make any appearance of blossom¬
ing.
Chenopodiaceous Plants.
Spinach (Spinacia olerácea of Linnœus) is an annual
plant, said to have been first cultivated in 1568, but its
native country is unknown. The leaves boiled and
mashed form a dish ; they are sometimes also put into
soups. There are several varieties ; 1. Round leaved;
2. Oblong-triangular leaved ; 3. Flanders. The seed
of the first of these should be sown for the earliest crop
for use in spring and summer, and the second and third
for winter crops. For the summer crop sow the seed in
January and Februarys and more fully in March of the
round leaved. Also sow from the beginning of March
to the middle of April, once a fortnight, then every week
till the end of May, and from that to the end of July
every fortnight again, which will furnish a succession of
young crops in summer and autumn. The sowings
rare
made in early spring should be on a warm border, but Horticul-
afterwards in open compartments. The seed may either
be sown broad cast, or in drills between othercrops; a light
rich mellow soil is the best adapted to the culture of
spinach. All that is afterwards necessary in the culture
of spinach is, if the plants come up too thick to thin
them, keeping them clear from weeds. The crops so
sown attain proper size for gathering from April in
succession. The principal winter crop should be sown in
August, that is, in the second week, and also in the end
of the month ; these sowings should be made in a dry
light soil, and thin the plants in September if they come
up too thick, and in October or November some of the
leaves will be of sufficient size for gathering, and occa¬
sionally through the winter, if mild, but from February to
April the plants will have reached their full growth, when
they will be succeeded by the early spring sowing in
May. In all the crops, when the plants begin to run
for flower, they should be drawn by the root as
wanted.
Orache (Atriplex hortensis of Linnaeus) is an annual Orache,
plant, a native of Turkey, and was introduced to Britain
in 1548. The leaves and tender stalks are used as a sub¬
stitute for spinach. By two sowings, one in early spring
and the other in J une, a succession of tender leaves and
shoots may be had throughout the year. The seed should
be sown in drills two feet apart, and the plants thinned
out to the same distances in the row, A rich moist soil
is the best adapted to the culture of orache.
Fat-hen (Chenopodium album of Linnœus) is an Fat hen.
annual plant, and a very troublesome weed in dry light
soils. The young leaves of this plant are an excellent
substitute for spinach.
Wild spinach^ (Agaphytum Bonus Henricus of Mos- Wild spi-
quin Tanden, the Chenopodium Bonus Henricus
Linnœus,) an indigenous perennial plant, andan excel¬
lent substitute for spinach, to which some persons prefer
it. The plant is readily propagated by division or seed.
Red beet (Beta vulgaris of Linnœus) is a coarse bi- Red beet,
ennial plant, a native of the south of Europe, and has
been known in Britain since 1656. The roots are large,
of a beautiful red colour, boiled and sliced are eaten
cold by themselves or in salads ; they also make a beau¬
tiful garnish as well as an excellent pickle. The varieties
are numerous, but those principally cultivated are the fol¬
lowing : 1. Large rooted ; 2. Long rooted ; 3. Dwarf ;
4, Turnip rooted ; 5. Small red ; 6. Green topped. The
soil for beet should be deep, dry, sandy, and light. The
seed may either be sown broad cast or in drills, or in
small holes made with a dibble a foot apart, two or three
seeds in each hole, and when the plants have two or
three leaves, remove all except the strongest from each
patch, but if sown broad cast or in drills, thin and leave
the remaining plants a foot apart. In September or
October the roots will be large enough for use, and will
continue all winter and spring to June in perfection,
Sonœ roots may be taken up in case of severe frosts,
and preserved in sand like carrots.
White beet (Beta cicla of Linnœus) is a biennial White beett
plant, a native of the south of Europe along the sea-
coast, and has been cultivated in Britain since 1570.
The leaves are boiled and used as a substitute for
spinach, and the midribs of the leaves are stewed and
eaten as a substitute for asparagus. The seed should
be sown in March, either in drills or broad cast. The
plant will grow in any soil, but if rather rich the better.
If sown three times a year, a supply of young leaves may
horticulture.
Horticul- be had all the year round. The plants in all cases should
be thinned to a foot apart.
Sea beet, {Beta maritima of Linnaeus) is an indigenous
perennial plant, cultivated in the same manner, and for
the same purposes as white beet.
Polygonous Plants.
Sorrel. Sorrel^ French sorrel, {Rumex scutatus of Linnaeus,)
and garden sorrel, {Rumex acetosa of Linnaeus,) both
perennial plants : the first is a native of the south of
Europe, and has been cultivated in Britain since 1596,
and the second is indigenous. Both kinds are employed
in soups, sauces, and salads. They are propagated by
division ; the first requires a dry soil, and the second a
moist. When one plantation begins to dwindle, a new
one should be formed.
Garden pa- Garden patience {Rumex yatientia oï Linnaeus) is
tience. ^ coarse, perennial plant, a native of Italy, said to
have been introduced to Britain in 1573. It was for¬
merly cultivated as a substitute for spinach in this coun¬
try, but it is now almost neglected ; it is, however, still
much used in the north of Europe. The plant is readily
reared from seed, which should be sown in drills and
treated in the manner recommended for beet ; and if kept
regularly cut down, the same plants will furnish a supply
of young tender leaves for use for many successive
years.
Rhubarb. Rhubarb of different kinds {Rheum of Tournefort)
are well-known perennial plants, principally natives of
the northern parts of Asia. All the species may be
grown for use, but the following are those generally
cultivated : I.Bucks ; {Rheum undulatum of Linnaeus ;)
2. Common ; {Rheum rhaponticum of Linnaeus). 3. El-
forcl, a variety of Bucks ; 4. Hybrid; {Rheum hybridum
of Linnaeus ;) 5. Palmate-leaved ; {Rheum yalmatum oí
Linnaeus ;) 6. Southern ; {Rheum australe of D. Don.)
All are cultivated for the sake of the leaf-stalks, which
are peeled, cut into pieces like apples, for which they
form an excellent substitute in tarts, pies, &c. The El-
ford is the earliest, and the Hybrid the most productive.
The Southern or Emodi keeps in perfection longest
in autumn. All kinds of rhubarb may either be propa¬
gated by seeds, or by dividing the older plants at the root ;
the latter is the only method to have the kinds true, as
no plant is more liable to sport from seed. Rhubarb
requires a deep light or sandy soil well manured with
rotten dung. The plants should be set about three feet
apart, in rows four feet distance. Adding a dress¬
ing of well-rotted dung in autumn or spring, and stir¬
ring it into the ground with a pronged fork, will tend to
produce strong stalks. If reared from seed, the plants
will not be fit for use until the spring of the third year.
Rhubarb is improved in flavour and appearance by
blanching ; which may be performed either by earthing
up the stalks like celery, or by placing earthen blanching
pots over them like sea kale. Rhubarb is also forced in
the same manner as sea kale, by the roots being planted
in boxes, and placed in mushroom-houses, or it may be
forced in the open garden like asparagus, by placing hot
dungs in the alleys, or between the beds, or by covering
the plants with blanching pots, and laying hot dung or
leaves over and around the pots, as is done with sea kale.
Mr. Knight finds that, by diggingthe roots up in spring,
and planting them in large pots, and filling them up
with fine loam, and afterwards placing the pots in a
vinery, or other forcing-house, and inverting other pots
over them, the roots produce large supplies of well
blanched stalks ; from each plant so treated he obtained Horticul-
three successive crops, all the time giving copious sup- tare,
plies of water. The Elford or early scarlet is found to
be the best adapted for forcing.
Urticeous Plants.
Hop {Humulus lupulus of Linnseus) is a well-known Hop.
indigenous climbing herb. The young shoots are col¬
lected, cooked, and used as a substitute for asparagus.
Hop tops are sold in the markets perfectly blanched in
April. The plant is propagated by dividing at the root,
and the soil in which it thrives best is deep and rich.
Hop tops may be blanched in the same manner as sea
kale.
Nettle^ (Urtica dioica of Linnaeus,) a well known, indi- Nettle,
genous, creeping-rooted, stinging plant. The young
tops with the leaves are used like greens in spring, and
in soups. The shoots are much improved by blanching.
Mercury {Mercurialis perennis of Linnaeus) is used
for the same purposes as the nettle on the continent.
Alliaceous Plants,
Onion {Allium cepa of Linnaeus) is a biennial bulb. Onion,
and has been cultivated from time immemorial, that even
its native country is now unknown. It is used in different
states of its growth; when young in salads, and the
young as well as the mature bulbs in soups, stews, &c.
There are so many varieties cultivated, that it is here
needless to mention any, except those most generally
cultivated, which are as follows : 1. Silver skinned ; 2.
Portugal ; 3. Spanish ; 4. Strasbourg ; 5. Deptford ; 6.
Globe ; 7. Tripoli ; 8. Red of various kinds ; 9. Potato;
10. Tree; 11. Welsh, {Allium-fistulosum of Linnaeus.)
The Strasbourg, Deptford, and Globe are generally culti¬
vated for principal crops. The Portugal and Spanish
are good for early use. The silver-skinned and two-
bladed are considered best for pickling, The potato
onion is sometimes planted, and the Welsh onion is
somethnes sown for drawing early in spring. The soil
in which the onion thrives best is rich, mellow, light
loam, but if poor, it should be recruited by digging in
plenty of rotten dung from the forcing ground. Onions
for pickling are sown on poor soil to keep the bulbs
small. The seed should be sown broad cast in an open
compartment divided into beds, or in drills when large
roots are wanted, and when the plants are a few inches
high thin them according to the size the bulbs are
likely to grow, which may be known by the kind of onion
cultivated, and by the nature of the soil. The bulbs will
be fully grown in August. Mr. Knight observes that,
in the long and warm summers of Spain and Portugal,
the onion acquires a larger size than in the cold and
shorter summers of Britain ; but he has found by expe¬
riment that two summers in Britain are equal to one
summer in Spain, therefore he sows the seed of the
Spanish or Portuguese onion in spring on a poor soil,
or under the shade of trees in the autumn. In the first
year the bulbs scarcely exceed the size of large peas,
and these are taken from the ground and preserved
until the succeeding spring, when they are planted at
proper distances, and in the following autumn the bulbs
so treated often exceed five inches in diameter. Trans¬
planting onions is found to succeed well ; for this pur¬
pose seed should be sown in February or March, on a
slight hot-bed, or under a frame, and about the middle
of April the young onions will be of sufficient size to
transplant out into an open compartment in rows. Au-
HORTICULTURE.
Ill*
Leek.
Cktveâ.
Garlic.
HorticiiU tumn-sown onions to stand the winter, succeed also if
ture, transplanted in rows in April, in transplanting onions
the young bulbs should be kept as much as possible
above ground. August-sown onions should have a warm
sheltered situation, and they will continue fit for use in
a young state all the spring till May. The potato onion
seldom producing flowers is propagated by planting the
bulbs in rows, and when these have grown a little the
plants are earthed up in the manner of potatoes, and
they will produce clusters of bulbs in autumn. Water¬
ing the beds with diluted lime-water is said to keep
onions free from maggots. In September, at which
time the main crop of onions will be ripe, they should
be taken from the ground in dry weather, and turned
over several times until they are perfectly dry and stored
away by stringing them, or otherwise. Searing the bot¬
toms of the bulbs with a hot iron, is said to preserve them
till late in spring by destroying vitality.
Leek {Allium porrum of Linnaeus) is also a biennial,
bulbous-rooted plant, the native country of which is
now unknown, but it has been cultivated time out of
mind. The whole plant is used in soups, stews, &c.
The blanched stems are said to be good boiled and
served up with toasted bread and white sauce. The
common and London flat are the principal varieties
cultivated. The plant grows best in rich dry soil, well
manured with rotten dung. The first sowing of seed
should be made about the end of February, but the sow¬
ing of the principal crops should be made in the end of
March or beginning of April. Later sowings should
also be had recourse to in the end of April or beginning
of May. The seed may either be sown broad cast or in
drills, but the leek is much improved by transplant¬
ing, for which purpose showery weather should be taken
advantage of as soon as the plants are about six inches
high. They should be planted by the dibble about a
foot apart in rows, from June till August. Some per¬
sons plant in shallow drills and earth up the plants like
celery, but others again plant on shallow ridges, in such a
manner as to leave the bulbs wholly above ground, there¬
fore just covering the fibrous roots with mould, giving
water until the plants have fixed themselves to the soil.
Cultivated in this way, leeks are said to grow to an enor¬
mous size, if the ground be rich, and the bottom dry.
Chives {Allium schœnoprassum of Linnaeus) is an
indigenous, perennial, gregarious, bulbous plant, the
young leaves of which are used in spring salads ; they
are also employed in seasoning soups, omelets, &c.
The plant is of the most easy culture, and is propagated
by separating the bulbs. By keeping the old leaves
shorn, a supply of young ones may be had for use almost
throughout the year. The same row or bed will last for
several years in perfection. The Siberian chive {Allium
Sibiricum of Linnaeus) is cultivated for the same pur¬
poses as the common chive, and is by some preferred ;
the plant is much larger and of a glaucous hue.
Garlic {Allium sativum of Linnaeus) is a perennial
bulbous-rooted plant, found wild in the south of Europe,
and has been cultivated in British gardens since 1548.
Within the outer skin of each bulb is a number of small
bulbs for which it is cultivated. It is used to give fla¬
vour to various kinds of dishes, particularly in foreign
cooking. Garlic succeeds best in a dry, rich, well ma¬
nured soil. In spring, small bulbs should be planted in
rows half a foot apart with a dibble, earthing them
over, and they will be full grown and ready for use
in August and September. When the leaves are de-
VOL, Vi.
cayed, the bnlbs should be taken up and dried, tied in Horticul-
bunches by the stalks, and stored for winter use. tuie.
Rocambole {Allium seorodoprassum of Linnaeus) is a
perennial, bulbous-rooted plant, a native of the north of Rocambole.
Europe, and according to Gerrard was cultivated in
Britain in 1596. The bulbs are composed like those of
garlic, and are used for the same purposes, but are much
milder than the shallot. Its culture and propagation are
the same as for garlic.
' Shallot, {Allium aíca/o7i¿c:?^?7iof Linnaeus,) a bulbous- Shallot,
rooted, gregarious plant, a native of Palestine near Asca-
lon. It has been cultivated in British gardens since
1548, The bulbs are used for the same purposes as
onions. It is propagated by dividing or separating the
bulbs, and planting them in rows half a foot apart by a
dibble two inches deep, in spring or autumn ; the latter
time is generally preferred. The ground in which the
shallot is planted should be well manured with rotten
dung. Mr. Knight plants the bulbs on the surface of
the soil, placing rich soil just under them, and when
they have thrown out fibres, the mould around the roots
is withdrawn, and the bulbs left wholly above ground,
and by this treatment they are said to become very
large. When the leaves are decayed, the bulbs should be
taken up and stored in the manner of onions for winter
use. Some years since. Allium cepœforme was cultivated
as a shallot.
Asparagineous Plants,
Asparagus {Asparagus officinalis of Linnaeus) is a Ar,parai^us.
perennial plant found wild in Britain, in some parts on
the sea-coast. About London and Paris it is cultivated
to a great extent ; the tops of the young stems, when
about three or four inches above ground, is the part used.
Asparagus is raised from seed, which is generally sown
in March, either broad cast or in drills, and in the follow¬
ing winter the roots of (he young plants are protected by
having litter placed over them, which should again he re¬
moved in the following March or April at latest ; the plants
are then taken up and finally transplanted. The soil in
which asparagus succeeds best is one light, rich, deep,
and mixed well with rotten dung. The ground in which
asparagus is to be finally transplanted should be laid,
out in narrow beds with alleys between. The best time
for planting is when the sets begin to push in spring,
and even as late as June. The plants should be in
rows a foot asunder, and nine inches from plant to plant
in the row, four rows in each bed, which allows of more
easily earthing over and gathering the crops. The
plants are placed at the proper distances in small trenches,
made with the edge of a s{)ade, and then covered over
with mould. After finally planting, the stems should
be permitted to run to flower the two first seasons after
planting, and the greater number even in the third season,
in order that the roots may gain strength. In autumn,
when the stalks are perfectly decayed, they should be cut
down, the alleys dug, and the earth from them thrown
over the beds ; but some recommend the beds to be well
covered with dung instead, which appears to be the pre¬
ferable method. In spring, about the end of March,
the surface of the beds should be loosened by a pronged
fork two or three inches deep, raking the beds afterwards.
In the fourth year after planting, young shoots will be
produced in perfection for use. Blanching asparagus
is sometimes performed by placing wooden or earthen
tubes closed at the upper end over the shoots, as soon as
they appear above ground. When the shoots are ready
p*
112*
HORTICULTURE,
Horticul- for gathering, they should be cut below the ground, that
ture. is, when they have risen three, four, or five inches above
it. Cutting may be continued till the end of June,
when the remaining shoots should be allowed to run to
flower, taking care that two or more shoots are left to
each root, and it is perhaps better to leave all the weaker
ones to run to seed. A plantation under good culture,
according to Abercrombie, will continue to afford a plen¬
tiful crop for ten or twelve years in succession. In
forcing asparagus it is necessary to form plantations for
this purpose ; and these plantations are treated in the
usual way for three years, when the plants will be in a pro¬
per state for removing' to a pit or frame prepared for their
reception, or to be excited by a thick layer of warm dung
in the manner of sea kale. Nicol says that six hundred
plants are required for a three-light frame, which will
yield a dish every day for three weeks, In Denmark,
Lindegard forces his asparagus in the open air by deep¬
ening the alleys between the beds to three and a half
feet, the earth taken from the alleys serves to raise the
beds which are covered with litter, and the alleys are
filled with hot dung. By this means good asparagus is
gathered in the beginning of January. The sides of the
bed may be faced up with pigeon-hole brickwork.
Fungous Plants.
MushrooiTj. Thernushrooni is well known as springing up in pas¬
tures in August and September, but its culture has
never been tried in the open ground except by forcing.
Morel. morel {Helvella esculenta) is also indigenous about
the edges of woods, and is used either fresh or dried to
Truffl flavour gravies, ragouts, &c., but the culture of the plant
has not yet been tried. The irvffie is another indige¬
nous fungous plant : in some parts of England it is
found in clusters some inches under ground ; it is used
like the mushroom, and to give flavour to highly-
seasoned dishes, but no attempt has ever been made to
cultivate it.
Hardy Fruit Department
Includes all those fruits which can be brought to perfec¬
tion in the open air or by the assistance of walls. These,
like the culinary vegetables, are arranged according to
their natural affinity or relationship, without reference
to their being produced by trees, shrubs, or herbs, for
that information will be found under each species, as
well as their culture, management, varieties, ¿c. This
arrangement is better adapted to horticulturists than any
other, as it brings together plants of the same family
which may be increased by grafting, budding, and in¬
arching on each other, and by these means nev/ varieties
may be produced by cross impregnation.
Viniferous Fruits.
Vine Vine (Vitis vinifera of Linnaeus) is a well known
straggling or climbing shrub, and has been cultivated
in Britain time immemorial. The plant attains a very
great age. as Pliny mentions a vine six hundred years
old ; in Burgundy, according to Bosc, there are vines
four hundred years old, and in Italy there are some three
hundred years old. Miller says, a vineyard one hundred
years old is reckoned young. The branches of the vine
extend to a great length ; in Italy they are found over¬
topping the highest trees, and in England a vine at
Northallerton covered a space of one hundred and thirty-
seven square yards in 1785, and at Hampton Court
there was one which covered a space of one hundred and
nineteen square yards. The stem of the vine has been Horticufi
known to attain four feet in circumference. The vine is
generally considered of Persian origin. From Sicily it
is supposed to have found its way into Italy and other
parts of the south of Europe; and it is conjectured to
have been introduced to Britain by the first Roman
governors, for there is evidence to prove that vineyards
were planted in Britain in the year 280. Professor
Martyn observes, that orchards and vineyards were com¬
mon appendages to abbeys and monasteries from their
first establishment to the time of the reformation, and
from that period they have almost disappeared, probably
from their culture not being understood by those to whom
the lands of religious houses were granted or sold. In
modern times vineyards have been planted and wine
produced nearly equal to that of France. At Arundel
Castle, in Sussex, the Duke of Norfolk had a vineyard
from which excellent Burgundy was produced. In the
time of Miller, Charles Hamilton, of Painshill, had a
vineyard which produced excellent champagne. There
are also accounts of several other vineyards which suc¬
ceeded well ill Britain, therefore there can be no doubt
that vineyards would succeed in many parts of England,
and particularly in Ireland, and produce excellent wine.
Grapes appear to have been in demand for the table in
the XVIth Century, for in 1560 Tusser mentions them
in his catalogue of fruits ; but the vine appears to have
only been cultivated at that time as dwarf standards, or
trained against walls, till the beginning of the XVIIIth
Century, for no mention is to be found of artificial heat
being applied to the vine until 1718. Vines trained
against walls, unaided by fire heat, in favourable seasons
will attain a tolerable degree of perfection, but they are
of little value compared with those grown in vineries.
In the dessert grapes rank next to the pine-apple. Wine
is sometimes made in this country from the fruit as well
as from a decoction of the leaves, and also from a decoc¬
tion of the young shoots. The varieties of the vine are
very numerous, partly from its antiquity and partly from
the influence of soils and climate in changing the quali¬
ties of grapes, there being hardly two vineyards in France
or Italy where the sorts, though originally the same,
remain long precisely alike, but chiefly from the facility
with which new varieties are produced from seed. The
vine is propagated by seed for the sake of obtaining new
varieties, by layers to obtain strong plants the same
year, by cuttings to get plants with tops proportioned to
their roots, and by grafting and budding where inferior
sorts have been planted, that the nature of the vines may
be changed without loss of time, or to have a number
of sorts on the same root, or by growing the weak sorts
on the more robust. The beginning of March is consi¬
dered the best time for grafting the vine in the open air,
and the whip mode or approach grafting is preferred.
Cuttings with single eyes are considered the best, and
for this purpose ripened wood is chosen cut slopingly at
both ends at equal distances from the bud, they are
then planted in pots and buried with earth except the
eye, and a litile bottom heat applied ; vines, however,
will strike by any of the modes of making cuttings or
layering. In growing vines in the open air they require
a dry bottom, and in soil that is rich and deep the vine
will grow luxuriantly and produce large berries, but in a
dry gravelly or chalky soil it will produce smaller berries,
but of better flavour. South walls are always the best
aspect for vines, and horizontal training is preferred
for them in the open air. Training the shoots of
HORTICULTURE
113*
Horticul- vines along the surface of the soil has been practised and
ture succeeded. The black Hamburg and sweet water are
considered the best for an open wall. Timely summer
pruning, by assisting the ripening of the wood, is the
great secret in ripening grapes in the open air. As
standards, vines maybe grown in extensive plantations as
in vineyards, and the plants may be trained and pruned
in the manner of raspberries, and tied to stakes. The
south face of a hill is best adapted for this purpose. Poor
gravelly and rocky soils in warm situations will produce
excellent grapes. In forming vineyards the plants must
be set in rows at distances according to the nature of the
soil, and sort planted. If formed on the steep of a hill,
the ground should be laid out in terraces like steps, sup¬
ported each by a wall, against which the vines may be
trained, or as espaliers against rails. The kinds best
adapted for a vineyard in Britain are the clusters, sweet
water. Burgundy, and Miller's grape.
Berherideous Fruits.
Berberry. Berberry {Berberís vulgaris of Linnaeus) is found in
Britain in hedges and thickets, particularly in chalky
counties. The fruit is used for garnishing, pickling, and
preserving in various ways. The tree is principally pro¬
pagated by suckers, but it may also be reared by layers,
seeds, and cuttings. It will grow in any kind of soil,
although it prefers one dry and light.
Amygdalaceous or Stone Fruits.
Almond. Almond {Amygdalis communis of Linnaeus) is said
to be a native of Mauritania. The principal difference
between the peach and the almond is in the fruit, which
is flatter, with a dry, coriaceous covering, which
opens spontaneously when the kernel is ripe, instead of
a rich, fleshy pulp. The tree is mentioned by Turner in
1548, which is probably about the time of its introduction
to England. It is not, however, worth cultivating in
this country except as an ornament or curiosity ; it
forms, however, in France, Italy, and Spain an article
of general culture. The kernel of the almond is the
only part used. The tender shelled is the kind in most
repute, and the next to that is the sweet and Jordan.
The propagation of the almond is the same as that of
the peach, by seed for new varieties, and stocks for
grafting or budding. Plum stocks are preferred for
moist soils, and peach or almond for dry soils. The
almond tree is generally planted as standards for orna¬
ment, but when fruit is the object they should be
trained against a west or east wall like the peach. The
tree bears principally on the young wood like the peach,
and upon spurs from the old wood, and it is therefore
pruned and trained like the peach. The fruit generally
ripens in September.
Peach Peach {Pérsica vulgaris of Miller) is said to be a
native of Persia, and is supposed to have been intro¬
duced to Britain in 1562. The tree is of quick growth
and of short duration, blossoming in April, and ripening
its fruit in August or September under ordinary circum¬
stances, In Media the peach is considered unwhole¬
some, but when ])lanted in Egypt becomes pulpy and
delicious, according to Dr. Sickler. Mr. Knight con¬
cludes this to have arisen from those peaches being only
swollen almonds, the tuberes of Pliny, which are known
to contain a large portion of prussic acid. In most parts
of Asia the peach has been cultivated time immemorial ;
the Romans appear to have brought it direct from
Persia during the reign of Claudius. It is first men¬
tioned by Columella, and afterwards by Pliny. The
best peaches in Europe are said to be ("hose grown in
Italy on standards. In England there are but few kinds
of peaches come to perfection in the open air, but all the
sorts do well by the aid of flued walls or glass. The
peach is well known as one of our best des£»ert fruits ; it
also makes a delicious preserve. The leaves steeped in
spirits communicate a flavour of noyeau. In Maryland
and Virginia a kind of brandy is distilled from the peach,
but the feeding of pigs is the principal use to which the
fruit is applied in those countries. According to Miller,
a good peach should have the flesh firm, the skin thin,
of a deep red colour on the side next to the sun, and
yellowish-green next to the wall, the pulp of a yellowish
colour full of high flavoured juice, the fleshy part thick,
and the stone small. There are instances of peaches
and nectarines growing on the same tree, and a single
fruit has been known to partake of the nature of both.
The varieties both of the peach and nectarine are innu¬
merable, from the facility of rearing new sorts from the
stones: they are separated into two divisions, viz. free¬
stone peaches, the flesh of which separate readily from
the stone; and cling-stone peaches, so called from the
flesh adhering firmly both to the stone and skin ;
the varieties of nectarines are also separated in the same
way as free-stones and cling-stones. The kinds best
adapted to an open wall are the following. Free¬
stones: 1. Acton Scot ; 2. Barringt on ; 3. Braddick's red ;
4. Early Downton ; 5. George the Fourth ; 6. Malta ;
7. Noblesse; 8. Royal Charlotte; 9, Royal George ;
10. Spring grove; 11. Red Magdalene ; 12. Grimwood's
Royal George; 13. Galande ; 14. White Magdalene.
Of cling-stone peaches the following : 1. Old Newington ;
2. Tonbridge. The peach is propagated from the stone
for new varieties and tor stocks. When reared for new
varieties, the young trees may oe made to bear when
three years old, and for this purpose the trees should be
retained in pots, and buds from them inserted in older
trees. Mr. Knight, by leaving on the lateral branches
near the extremities of the shoots, and by exposing the
leaves as much as possible to the sun in order to pro¬
mote the ripening of the wood, procured blossom buds
the first year from seed. The peach tree is generally
budded on Damask plurn stocks, but the more delicate
kinds on apricot stocks, or on seedling peaches, almonds,
or nectarines. Seedling nectarines and apricots form the
best stocks for peaches according to Mr. Knight. Bud¬
ding should be performed in July or August near the
bottom of the stock for wall trees, and three or four feet
high for riders. A mixture of mellow loam and vege¬
table mould is considered the best soil for the peach,
which may be further improved by incorporating some
decomposed dung, and this soil should be made good
three feet deep. Trees trained in the nursery two to
four years are recommended as the best for finally trans¬
planting. The best time for removing peach trees is in
autumn, after the fall of the leaves, but they will also
succeed in early spring. As peach trees bear their
blossoms on the wood of the preceding year, a supply of
every year's shoots must be trained in for succession.
In May, June^ and the following months, the shoots of
the same season should be regulated, at the same time
preventing improper guowths, cutting out ill-placed or
weakly branches, as well as very strong shoots, training
in plenty of lateral shoots at full length, three inches
asunder, for the following year's bearers. Winter prun«
ing should be completed in February or early in March.
Most of the shoots left should be shortened, leaving the
2
114*
H O R T I C
U L T U R Ë.
Horticul¬
ture.
Kfdarine.
Apricot.
strongest longer than the others. The terminal branch
should be always cut above a shoot bud that it may advance
for a leader. As many shoots should be lef t as will lie from
three to six inches distant. In training peach trees, the
fan method is principally followed. If more fruit set
than the trees can support, thin them when about the size
of small gooseberries. As the blossoms are liable to be
injured, there are various methods of protecting them, by
netting, by branches of evergreens, or by the application
of cold water from a garden engine before sunrise when
the least appearance of frost is discovered on the blossoms
or young fruit, which operation prevents injury. Others
})roiect the blossoms by detaching the branches of the
trees from the wall in autumn, and not re-nailing them
till late in spring, by which means the time of blossoming
is retarded until the season is considerably advanced.
The insects which attack the peach tree are kept down
by watering the leaves, by fumigating with tobacco smoke,
and dusting with sulphur has been found a good remedy
for mildew. The renewal of the soil, however, is the
only effectual remedy. The ripening of the peach is
greatly accelerated in the open air when planted against
allot wail, and applying gentle fiivs in cold aiolst wea¬
ther in August and September.
Nectarine {Pérsica lœvis of Seringe) is also a
native of Persia like the peach, of which it is only con¬
sidered a variety. It is distinguished from it by the
smooth skin and rather firmer flesh. In other respects
its history as well as its culture are the same. The
varieties best adapted for culture on an open wall are
the following. Among the free-stones : 1. Balgone ;
2. Downtou ; 3. Fairchild's^ 4. Hoy's seedling; 5.
Mui'jey; 6. Pitmaston orange; 7. Hunt's tawny;
8. Temple's; 9. New white; 10. Old white ; 11. Vio¬
lette grosse ; 12. Violette hâtive ; 13. Fairchild's early ;
14. Elruge; 15. Da Tellier's ; 16. ßrinion ; 17. Scar¬
let. The following are among the clingstones: 1.
Aiton's seedling ; 2. Golden ; .3. Impératrice ; 4. New-
ington ; 5. Early Newington ; 6. Roman; 7. Royal
Buckfasl ; 8. Tawny.
Apricot {Armeniaca vulgaris of Lamarck) is said to
be a native of Armenia, but Sickler assigns it a parallel
between the Niger and the Atlas, and Pallas states it to
be indigenous to the whole of the Caucasus. The apricot
it appears was first procured from Italy by Wolf, gar¬
dener to Henry VIH. It was known in Italy in the
time of Dioscorides. The fruit is used at the dessert,
but jellies, marmalades, and preserves are also made of
it. The varieties of apricot are very numerous, but the
following are the most generally cultivated: I. Breda;
2. Moorpark ; 3. Red masculine ; 4. White masculine ;
5. Large early; 6. Roman; 7. Boyal; 8. Brussels;
9. Shipley's; 10. Montgamet ; 11. Orange. New
varieties and stocks are procured from the stones, and
approved sorts are perpetuated and increased by bud¬
ding on muscle or plum stocks, or on seedling apricots,
which is performed from the middle of June to the end
of July ; for dwarf trees the bud is inserted low down on
the stock, and for riders, four feet from the ground.
Trees trained two or three years in the nursery are pre¬
ferred for final transplanting, and the best time for re¬
moving the trees is in autumn, after the fall of the leaf,
until March; the best period, however, is autumn.
Apricots are generally planted against walls with an
east or west aspect. Tfie Breda and Brussels are some¬
times planted as standards or espaliers in waim situa¬
tions. The borders in which the trees are planted should
be six or eight feet wide, and from two to three feet deep.
The soil in which the apricot thrives best is light rich
loam on a dry bottom. The apricot bears the blossonîs ^
on the shoots of the preceding year, and on spurs from
older wood. The summer pruning is principally per^
formed with a view to regulate the young shoots, and
removing all ill-placed branches, retaining a proper
supply of lateral shoots with a good leader to each
mother branch. Winter pruning may be performed from
the fall of the leaf to March, and it consists of a general
regulation of the last year's shoots, and the older branches,
always retaining a leading shoot at the end of each mo¬
ther branch, but all the shoots retained for bearers should
be shortened, which will cause them to throw out lateral
shoots. On old trees, where the fruiting spurs are too
thick, they should be properly thinned. As each tree is
pruned, nail it, laying in the branches or shoots from
three to six inches distant. Espaliers should be pruned
in the same way as recommended for wall trees. In
training apricot trees the fan method is generally pre¬
ferred. The diseases and insects which attack the apri¬
cot are the same as that of the peach, and the remedies
are the same. When the fruit grows in clusters, they
should be thinned to three or four inches apart while
young. The apricot does not force well, and is therefore
seldom tried.
Plum {Prunus domestica of Linnaeus) is a native of Phioi.
most parts of Europe. It is frequently to be met with
in Britain in hedge.s, but whether indigenous or natu¬
ralized is unknown. It is, however, supposed to have
originally come from x^sia Minor, but according to Pliny
it was brought from Syria into Greece, and from thence
to Italv. The natural colour of the fruit is said to be
black, but the varieties in cultivation bear yellow, blue,
red, and green fruit; the forms as well as the flavour
of these varieties are also very different. The best
kinds are esteemed delicious dessert fruits, and the others
are used in pies, tarts, and conserves, and a kind of
wine is also prepared from them. When perfectly ripe
they are by no means unwholesome, but in the imma¬
ture state they are more liable to produce diarrhoea
than any other fruit whatever. In the state of prunes
they are laxative and cooling. The varieties of the plum
in cultivation are innumerable, but the following are the
most generally esteemed. The letter T. indicates they
are fit for a dessert or table, P. for preserves, and K. for
kitchen use ; but when two of those letters are attached
to any of the sorts it indicates the fruit is fit for both
purposes.
Yellow or greeriish-yellow plums.—I. White bullace, Yellow o?
K. P. ; 2. Coe's golden drop, T. P. ; 3. Dennison's greenish«
late, P. ; 4. Drap d'or, T; 5. Guimaraen, P.; 6. Mi- y®how
Tabelle, T. ; 7. Peter's large yellow, T.; 8. Washing-1^
ton, T.; 9. Downton impératrice, T. P.; 10. White
perdrigon, P. ; 11. Saint Catharine, T. P. ; 12. Yellow
magnum bonum, K.
Green plums,"—\. Green gage, T. ; 2. White Or-Green
leans, K.
Purple plums.—1. Reine claude violette, T. ; 2. Coe's Purpíe
fine late red, T. ; 3. Kirke's, T. ; 4. D'Agen, T. P. ; pl*"»»»
5. Blue impératrice, T. K. P. ; 6. Imperial diadem, T. P. ;
7. Orleans, K, P. ; 8. Blue perdrigon, T. P. ; 9. Roy-
ale de Tours, T. K. ; 10. Saint Martin rouge, T. P. ;
11. Virgin, T; 12. Damson, K; 13, Hungarian prune,
P.; 14. Isabella, T. P. ; 15. Qwetsche, K.P.; 16.
Qwetsche de Brème, P. ; 17. Wine sour, P.
The cultivation of the plum in orchards seems to be
deserving of attention on account of the varied and ge¬
neral use of the fruit. All the best varieties are increased
HORTICULTURE. 115*
IlorticuU by grafting, or budding on free growing plum stocks.
The damsons and other baking plums are propagated
by suckers. Grafting the plum is performed in Febru¬
ary and March, and budding in July and August.
From seed the plum is reared both for new varieties
and for stocks. The soil in which the tree suc¬
ceeds best is neither too moist nor too dry, too heavy
nor too light, for in either extreme they will not thrive.
Abercrombie recommends fertile gaiden soil. The
more hardy kinds are cultivated as standards, and
the finer or more tender sorts against walls, or es¬
palier rails. The plum is sometimes forced, but the
blossoms, like that of the cherry, are difficult to set.
The aspect of walls for the plum should be south for
early fruit, and east or west for later fruit. Trees of
from one to three years old from the graft or bud are
preferred for final transplanting. Against walls and
espalier rails, the trees should be planted at such dis¬
tances, that the branches may have room to extend at
full length. They produce their blossoms on small
spurs along the sides of the branches of two or three
)ears' growth, and the same spurs will continue fruitful
for some years. On walls and espalier rails, the
branches should be trained horizontally at their full
length, only cutting out those that are irregular, or too
crowded, or such as shade the fruit. Standards should
also be allowed to extend at full length, only thinning
out crowded or ill-placed branches ; but in no case
should plum trees be cut until the buds begin to break,
at which time young trees may be headed down to five
or more eyes, to form a head, always leaving an odd
shoot to form the leader. The blossoms are sometimes
protected in the same manner as peach-tree blossoms
are. The fruit of some of the more early sorts ripen in
July, but the g:reater mass in August and September,
and some kinds are even as late as October or Novem¬
ber. Plums should be used as they are gathered, as
they do not keep long in perfection. Gum and canker
are the most common diseases to which the plum is
luble. and the only known remedy for which is heading
down. When the plum is forced, the same treatment is
followed as that recommencled for the cherry.
Ch«nv. Cherry^ (Cerasus^) Merisier or bird cheTry, {Cem-
sus avium of Moench,) B'garreau and heart cherry,
{Cerasus duracina of De Candolle,) Gean, (Cerasus
Juliana of De Candolle,) Morello, May duke, and
Kentish cherry, {Cerasus caproniana of De Candolle.)
All the above species are said to be natives of Europe.
The cultivated cherries are said to have been brought
to Italy by Lueullu.s, in the year 73 A.c., from the
town of Poiitus in Asia Minor, then called Cerasus, and
is also said to have been introduced to Britain one hun¬
dred and twenty years afterwards. The cherry tree is
cultivated both against walls and as standards, and has
been forced upwards of two centuries. Cherries are a re¬
freshing and highly grateful dessert fruit, and also afford
pies, tarts, and other useful preparations, in cookery and
confectionery. Steeping cherries in brandy qualifies
its flavour and improves its ttrength. Wine is made
from the juice, and spirit from the fermented pulp.
The gum of the cherry tree is said to be equal to gum
Arabic. The varieties of the cherry cultivated are innu¬
merable, but the following are the most approved. The
letter T. attached indicates the fruit is fit for the dessert
Bigarreau or table, and the letter K. signifies they are only fit for
and heart kitchen use.
«berries. Bigarreau and heart cherries^ (Cerasus duracina of
De Candolle.) 1. Bigarreau à gros fruit blanc. T. ; 2. Hortic«!
Bigarreau gros monstrueux, T. ; 3. Elton, T. ; 4.
Churchill's heart, T. ; 5. Bigarreau, T. ; 6. Bigarreau
Napoleon, T.; 7. Black Tartarian, T. ; 8. Black heart,
T.; 9. White heart, T.; 10. Amber heart, T.; îî.
Harrison's heart, T. ; 12. Turkey heart, T.
Morello and May duke cherries, (Cerasus caproni- Morello
ana of De Candolle.) 1. Adam's crown, T.; 2.
D'Aremberg, T. ; 3. Belle de Choisy, T. ; 4. Carna-^
tion,T. ; 5. English bearer, K. ; 6. English cherry, K.;
7. English preserve, K. ; 8. Jeffries duke, T. ; 9.
D'Ostheim, K. ; 10. May duke, T.; 11. Downton, T.;
12. Flemish, K. ; 13. Kentish, T. ; 14. Kentish drier,
K.T. ; 15. Early purple griotte ,T. ; 16. Griotte de Turque,
T.; 17. Griotte de Ratafia, K. ; 18. Morello, K.T.
The approved varieties of them are increased and per¬
petuated by grafting and budding on stocks of black or
wild red cherries, which are stronger, hardier, and
of longer duration than any of the garden or cultivated
kinds. Some graft and bud on bird cherry and Morello
cherry stocks, which is said to have the same effect that
paradise stocks have on the apple—that of dwarfing the
tree and rendering it more prolific. New varieties are
obtained by rearing trees from the stôiies of cultivated
cherries; but stocks reared from the stones of black
or wild cherries are preferable. No tree sports more
from seed than the cherry, and, as Mr. Knight observes,
is capable of acquiring a higher degree of perfection
than it ever has yet attained; and according to the same
horticulturist good new varieties are much wanted, as
the best old kinds are everywhere in a state of decay, so
that neither healthy nor productive trees can be obtained
from them by grafting or budding. Cherry stones
should be sown in light earth in autumn; but if they
are preserved in sand till spring, they will vegetate the
same season. In the second autumn after they are
reared, the young trees should be taken up and planted
in rows three feet distance, and if intended for dwarfs
they will be fit for budding the succeeding summer, but
if intended for standards they will require to stand two
or three years in the nursery rows, for they require tobe
grafted or budded at least six feet from the ground.
Grafting, aa usual, is performed in spring and budding
in summer. The soil in which the cherry thrives best
is dry and sandy, and the situation elevated. May duke
cherries thrive in any soil and aspect. In Kent the
trees are planted in deep loam, lying on a rocky bottom.
Mellow garden or orchard ground also suits the cherry.
Some kinds for early fruiting are planted against walls,
but they all do well as dwarfs and on espalier rails.
Several kinds, as the May dukes and Morellos,
acquire a larger size and better flavour against a
wall. To have fruit in May or June the early kinds
should be planted against a south wall, and others
against east and west walls, for fruit in succession, and
on a north wall for fruit in September and October, for
which the Morello is best fitted. The proper season
for transplanting cherry trees is from the end of October
to February. The trees produce their blossoms on
short spurs along the branches of from two to three
years'growth, and therefore bearing branches are never
shortened where there is space for their regular extension.
In pruning, all crowded and ill-placed branches and de¬
cayed wood should be removed. Summer pruning of
wall trees begins in May and June for the purpose of
regulating the young shoots, retaining only a sufficient
supply of young lateral and terminal shoots for sekctioîà
116*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- i« winter pruning, which consists of regulating both old
ture. and young wood ; and as the new shoots will come into
a bearing state in the first or second year, all worn-out
bearing branches should be removed to make room for
them. As the Morello cherry bears on the shoots of the
preceding year, a competent supply of these should be
retained in pruning, cutting out the old worn-out bearers
to make room for new ones. Branches of cherry trees
should never be trained too close to each other, but so
as to admit light and air freely. In many places
cherries are cultivated in orchards. When nearly ripe
the fruit is liable to be attacked by birds, therefore the
trees against walls and espalier rails may be protected
by nets. The diseases of cherry trees may be prevented
in a great measure by proper culture and management.
Rosaceous fruits.
Raspberry. Raspberry (Rubus Idœus of Linnseus) is indigenous
to many parts of Scotland and Wales, in woods and low
situations, the stems of which are biennial, but the
roots are perennial. The fruit is grateful, but sugar
improves its flavour. It is esteemed made into sweet¬
meats, as well as in jams, tarts, and for sauces; they
also dissolve the tartar of the teeth. The red and yellow
Antwerp raspberries are not exceeded by any other
varieties yet known. Among the reds, however, the Bar-
net, Bromley-hill, Cornish, and double bearing, are
nearly equal to the red Antwerp. The varieties are in¬
creased by suckers of one year's growth which are de¬
tached with roots from the old plants from autumn to
spring, and these suckers will produce fruit the same
season : plants reared from seed bear the second year.
The plant will grow in any garden soil, but it is better
to be rather moist than otherwise. If the soil be
trenched deep, sufficiently manured, and mixed well with
peat, the raspberry bushes will thrive well, but the soil
in which they thrive best is mellow loam. Those
set in plantations by themselves in rows four to six
feet apart and three to four feet asunder in the row,
succeed best, either in open or partially shaded places.
Ill three or four years after planting the bushes are in
full perfection and continue so for six or seven years,
after which they generally begin to decline. In the fu¬
ture culture all that is necessary to be done is to remove
all unnecessary and straggling suckers, and keeping
them clear of weeds. By destroying all the suckers as
they rise large fruit is obtained, but at the expense of
the plantation, for where this method is practised two
plantations are requisite, one to produce fruit and the
other to produce suckers for fruiting the following year.
In winter all the dead stems or those which have pro¬
duced their fruit should be removed and all the young
shoots regulated, which may be performed from Novem¬
ber till April. Every shoot left should be shortened,
and these should not exceed six of the strongest to each
stock. If trained against espalier rails or walls the
fruit will be larger and earlier. In spring a little rich
compost dug in about the extremities of the roots will
conduce to a plentiful crop of fruit. As the fruit be¬
comes ripe it should be gathered for immediate use,
because it becomes mouldy and maggoty in two or three
days after it is fully ripe.
Cloud' Cloudberry (Rubus chamœmorus of Linnaeus) is a
berry small perennial herbaceous plant, a native of the moun¬
tains of Scotland, north of England, and Wales. The
fruit is large, of a dull orange colour, and of a pleasant
acid taste. The snow preserves the fruit, which is Hortkul-
used by the Laplanders through the winter. The Nor-
wegians pack them in vessels and send them to Stock-
holm, where they are used in desserts and made into
tarts. They are the most grateful kind of fruit gathered
in the Highlands of Scotland. The plant is cultivated
in gardens with difficulty, but it is supposed that by
crossing the flowers with the pollen of the bramble
or raspberry, tlie plants reared from seed so impreg¬
nated, might become a valuable accession to garden
fruits.
Strawberry, (Fragaria of different species.) By some Straw
botanists all or most of the species are considered berry,
meiely as varieties. Mr. Knight considers the Chili,
(Fragaria Chilensis of Ehrart,) the pine, {Fragaria
grandiflora of Ehrart,) the scarlet, (Fragaria Virginiana
of Linnaeus,) the first supposed to be a native of Chili,
the second of Surinam, and the third of Virginia, to be
varieties of one species. All the species hybridize to¬
gether indiscriminately. The fruit has received its name
from laying straw between the rows, which keeps the
ground moist and the fruit clean. The species are na¬
tives of the temperate and colder parts of Europe, Asia,
and America. The fruit, though termed a berry, is,
strictly speaking, a fleshy receptacle studded with the
carpella called seeds. It is fragrant, delicious, and nou¬
rishing, and is generally esteemed one of the most
wholesome fruits. It dissolves the tartar of the
teeth, and has been found to relieve the gout and
stone. The plant is propagated by the runners and by
the suckers, which will bear fruit the first year of plant¬
ing, and in the second will be in perfection. The wood
and Alpine strawberries reared from seed are said to
bear finer fruit thau are produced by runners. Seeds,
if sown as soon as gathered, will produce plants which
will come into bearing in the following year. Straw¬
berry plants thrive best in a compartment well exposed
to the sun and air, but are sometimes planted in single
rows as edgings to borders. In all cases they should
be replanted every fourth or fifth year. The wood and
Alpine strawberries are generally grown in cool shady
places, and consequently produce their fruit late in the
season, after other kinds are done bearing, which is
desirable. The ground in which all kinds of strawberry
plants are to be set should be well manured and dug ;
and the best method of suppljing sets for final trans¬
planting, is to plant out sets in a compartment the
previous season. After they are planted they are
kept clear of weeds, and the runners cut away three
times in the course of the season, and in the autumn
the rows should be dug between, and in the spring
some loose straw or long dung should be scattered be¬
tween the rows. A short time before the fruit ripens
the runners should be cut away to strengthen the root ;
and after the fruit is gathered all the new runners should
be taken off as well as the outside leaves of the main
plants, hoeing and raking the beds afterwards. In the
autumn, unless the plants appear over strong, some
dung should be dug in between the rows. A light
loamy soil and an open situation are best adapted to
pine and scarlet strawberries. A light soil well dunged
answers for hautbois, for excess of manure does not drive
it into leaf like the pines. There are, however, several
kinds of hautbois ; one has the male and female organs
in the same blossoms, and the other has them in different
blossoms and on different plants, which is considered
the most prolific. In growingthis last kind of hautbois
HORTICULTURE. 117»
iíOTticul-
ture.
Alpine and
wood stvaw-
berriea.
Green pine
strawber¬
ries.
Hautbois
strawber-
rits.
Scarlet
straw ber-
I ies.
Black
straw-
beiries.
Pine and
Bath stiaw-
berries.
Chili
strawber-.
ries.
it is necessary to plant one male for every ten female
plants to insure success. The wood and Alpine straw¬
berries succeed best in a rather moist rich soil, in a shady
situation. Strawberry plants do best in beds with wirie
alleys between, four rows in each bed. To have the
fruit in perfection it should be gathered in dry weather,
and should be used the same day it is gathered.
The most approved varieties are the following
Alpine and wood strawberries, (Fragaria vesca of
Linnaeus.) 1. Red Alpine; 2. White Alpine; 3. Ame¬
rican Alpine ; 4. Red wood ; 5. White wood.
Green pine strawberries, {Fragaria collina of Ehrart.)
1. Green pine; 2. Williams's green pine.
Hautbois strawberries (Fragaria elatior of Ehrart.)
1. Black hautbois; 2. Brown hautbois; 3. Common
hautbois ; 4. Prolific, or double bearing ; 5. Ronnd
fruited muscatelle.
Scarlet strawberries^ (Fragaria Virginiana of Lin¬
naeus.) 1. American scarlet; 2. Autumn scarlet; 3.
Bishop's seedling; 4. Black roseberry; 5. Princess
Charlotte; 6. Coul's late scarlet; 7. Garnstone scarlet ;
8. Grove-end scarlet; 9. Melon; 10. Old scarlet ; 11.
Roseberrv, or Scotch scarlet.
Black strawberries.—]. Downton; 2. Elton seed¬
ling ; 3. Knight's scarlet-fleshed ; 4. Pitmaston black ;
6, Sweet cone ; 7. Black prince.
Pine and Bath strawberries, (Fragaria grandiflora of
Ehrart.) 1. Bath scarlet; 2. Bostock ; 3. Chinese; 4.
Keen's seedling ; 5. Old Pine ; 6. Bath.
Chili strawberries, {Fragaria Chilensisof Ehrari.) 1.
Scarlet Chili; 2. Large blush Chili ; 3. Wilmot's su¬
perb ; 4. Yellow Chili ; 5. Black Chili.
Pomaceous fruit.
Pear {Pyrus communis of Linnaeus) is found wild in
Britain and other parts of Europe, and in its native state
is a thorny tree. It grows almost in any kind of soil, and
is much longer lived than the apple. Ina dry soil it will
exist for centuries, and remain healthy and iruitfui. As a
dessert fruit the pear is preferred to the apple. It is also
used for baking, compôts, and marmalades. Pears
dried in an oven will keep upwards of a year with or
without syrup, a method very generally followed in
France. Perry is made from the fermented juice of
pears in the same manner as cider is from apples.
Dessert pears should have a sugary aromatic juice and a
soft subliquid pulp, or melting as in the beurrës.
Kitchen pears should be larger, firm, and rather austere
than sweet, as the wardens. The Romans in the time
of Pliny possessed thirty-two kinds, but the varieties now
cultivated are innumerable. Many new sorts have been
added within the last ten or twelve years, mostly from
Belgium, so that a great number of the old kinds, formerly
reckoned excellent, are now considered only as second
rate; and most of these new sorts produce abundantly
and in great perfection on standards instead of requiring
the assistance of walls as the best old kinds did. The
following list contains the most approved varieties :—-
Dessert or Dessert, or table pears.—1. Ambrosia ; 2. Aston town ;
table pears. 3. Belle et bonne ; 4. Autumn bergamot; 5. Gansel's
bergamot ; 6. Beurré d'Amalis ; 7. Beurré d'Aremberg;
8. Beurré d'Argeiison; 9. Beurré beauchamps ; 10.
Beurré Boso; 11. Brown beurré; 12. Beurré capiau-
mont; 13. Beurré crapaud; 14. Beurré Diel; 15.
Beurré raneé ; 16. Beurré Duval; 17. Easter beurré;
18. Beurré Van Möns ; 19. Bishop's thumb.; 20. Bon
Chrétien fondant; 21. Burgermiester ; 22. English Horticul
caillot à rosat ; 23. Chaurnontel ; 24. Citron des car-
mes; 25. Colmar; 26. Autumn colmar ; 27. Crassane;
28. x^lthorp crassane ; 29. White crassane ; 30. Down¬
ton; 31. Doyenné grey; 32, Doyenné white; 33.
Duchesse d'Angoulême ; 34. Echasserie; 35. Figue
de Naples; 36. Flemish beauty; 37. Fondante Van
Möns ; 38. Forelle ; 39. Garnon's ; 40. Forme de
délices; 41. Summer franc réal; 42. Henri Quatre;
43. Hessel; 44. Incomparable; 45. Jargonelle; 46.
Longueville; 47. Louise bonne; 48. Marie Louise;
49. Knight's monarch; 50. Muscat Robert; 51. Na¬
poleon; 52. Winter nelis; 53. Ne plus meuris; 54.
Parmentier; 55. Passans de Portugal ; 56. Passe Col¬
mar ; 57. Pitfour; 58. Rousselet de Rheims; 59. Saint
Germain; 60. Saint Chislain; 61. Seckle ; 62. Sucre
vert; 63. Summer rose; 64. Swan's egg; 65. Vallée
franche ; 66. Virgoulense ; 67. Welbeck ; 68. White-
field , 69. Windsor; 70. Wormley grange.
Kitchen or baking pears.—1. Bellisime d'hiver ;
Belmont; 3. Bequene masque; 4. Bergamotte Suisse;
5. Bezi d'Heri ; 6. Spanish bon Chrétien ; 7. Chaptal ;
8. Franc réal d'hiver; 9. Uvedale's Saint Germain;
10. Windsor.
Perry pears.-^1. Barland; 2. Teinton squash.
Pear trees are reared from seed for new varieties and
for 'Stocks. To procure seeds from which to rear new
varieties the blossoms of one good kind should be im¬
pregnated by the pollen from another. Trees of the pear
from seed require double the time to come to a bearing
state than apple trees do. Seedlings for stocks should
be reared from seed obtained from peiTy makers, but
those reared from the seeds of the wild pear are prefer¬
able as being much more hardy and durable ; the seed¬
ling trees are afterwards treated in the same manner as
crab or apple stocks. Grafting and budding is ge¬
nerally performed on seedling pear and wild pear stocks,
hut it is also performed on quince stocks for the pur¬
poses of dwarfing, and bringing the trees earlier into
bearing. The pear succeeds well also on apple, medlars,
and service stocks. Those on the quince stocks thrive
best in a moist soil. Grafted on the white thorn pear
trees bear early; on stocks reared from seed of the cul¬
tivated pear they grow luxuriantly in good soil on a dry
bottom, but those on the wild pear stocks grow less
rapidly, but are deemed more durable and will thrive on
the poorest soil. For final planting some recommend
trees one to six years old from the time of grafting or
budding. Forsyth, however, says the oldest that can
be found in a nursery with strong stems are best. A
dry deep loam is reckoned the best soil for the pear, and
gravel or sand a good subsoil, but clay is had. For wall
trees the soil should be made two or three feet deep, but
for an orchard one and a half foot deep will do. South¬
east and west walls are recommended for the best early
autumn and winter pears. Final planting may be per¬
formed from October till March. The blossoms of the
pear tree being formed upon spurs along branches of
one or more years old, they should be left to extend
at full length. In pruning standard trees the only object-
is to keep the head moderately open and clear of dead
wood. In the summer pruning of wall or espalier trees
the superfluous and ill placed shoots should he rubbed
off while young and spongy, training in the branches
left at full length; but when a vacancy occurs in any
part of the tree, some of the contiguous shoots should
be shortened in June to five eyes, in order to supply
118*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- new shoots to fill up. Winter pruning may be per-
iure. fovnied from November to April, and consists of cutting
off the superabundant and irregular young branches,
taking care to preserve the fruit spurs at the sides and
ends of the bearers. Mr. Knight, in training the
branches of pear trees perpendicvilarly downwards, found
it accelerate their fruit-bearing state. Old trees may be
restored by re-grafting on every principal branch. The
diseases and insects which attack the pear tree are the
same as those to which the apple tree is subject, and
the remedies are the same.
Appie. Apple^ (Pyrus malus of Linnaeus,) in its wild state, is
a native of most parts of Europe, and the improved kinds
form an important branch of culture in Britain and
other countries for the kitchen, the table, and the manu¬
facture of cider. The wild apple iè called a crab, which
is a native of Britain in hedges. It is not known from
whence the cultivated apple originally came, but il was
probably introduced by the Romans, for they had twenty-
two varieties in the time of Pliny. According to Stow
carps and pepins were introduced into England by
Maseal in 1572. The apple tree is supposed by some
to attain a great age, but Mr. Knight considers two hun¬
dred years as the ordinary duration of a healthy tree
grafted on a crab stock. Of all the fruits produced iti
Britain none can be brought to so high a degree of per¬
fection with so little trouble as the apple, there being so
many excellent kinds in cultivation calculated almost for
every soil and situation. Some sorts ripen their fruit in
the beginning of July, and others which ripen later will
keep good till summer, and unlike other fruit those which
ripen latest are the best. The uses of apples are various,
as for pies, tarts, sauces, for the dessert, and the fer¬
mented juice forms cider. In confectionery apples are
used for comfits, marmalades, jellies, and tarts. Com¬
mon crab apples are said to make a very good wine
with the addition of sugar. The pulp of apples beat up
with lard forms pomatum. The fruit is extremel) whole¬
some when cooked, and is efficacious iu indigestion and
fevers. Apples for the dessert should be firm, juicy, and
well shaped, with a sharp flavour ; those for kitchen use
should have the property of falling, that is, forming a
pulpy mass when baked or boiled ; those for cider should
possess a considerable degree of astringency. Mr.
Knight found that the specific gravity of the juice re¬
cently expressed indicated very accurately the strength of
the future eider. Tusser, in his list of fruits published
in 1573, mentions apples, and Parkinson in 1629 gives
the names of fifty-seven sorts, and Evelyn says that it
was through the industry of Harris, fruiterer to Henry
VHI. that the fields and environs of about thirty towns
iu Kent were planted with apple trees from Flanders.
Gibson mentions that Lord Scudamore, in the time of
Charles I., collected scions of cider apples in Normandy,
and on his return encouraged the grafting of them
throughout the county of Hereford. (See the article
Cider.) Hartlip gives the names of two hundred varie¬
ties, and says he verily believes that there are five hun¬
dred kinds in the island ; but since that time the list of
apples has greatly increased from the continual acces¬
sion of kinds both from the continent and North Ame¬
rica, as well as the great number reared from seed in
this country. According to Mr. Knight a variety of
apple has a limited duration, therefore many of the
sorts mentioned by Parkinson and others are not now
to be found, or are so degenerated and diseased as no
kinger to deserve the attention of planters. He observes
that the moil, the red streak, with the miisis and golden Horticm-
pippin, are in the last state of decay, and the store and
others are fast hastening after them, and he therefore
concludes that all apples propagated by grafting or bud¬
ding will partake in some degree of the same life which
will attend that life in its youth, maturity, and decay, con-
seq-^ently the only method of having vigorous and healthy
apple trees is to rear good varieties from seed. This
should be done by crossing the blossoms of one kind
with the pollen of another and by having constantly a
supply of seedlings rearing, and as they show fruit the
best sorts should be selected and the inferior kinds used
for stocks. The varieties of apple are without end, but
the following are those most generally esteemed.
Dessert or table apples.—1. White Astracán; g». Dessert or
Beachamwell; 3. Borsdorffer; 4. Breedoii pippin;
Bungewood pippin; 6. Cambusnethan pippin; 7. *
Christie's pippin; 8. Cley pippin; 9. Cockle pippin;
10. Cornish aromatic ; 11. Court pendu plat ; 12 Court
of Wick: 13. Deptfjrdinn; 14. Downton ; 15. Duchess
ofOldenburgh; 16. Dutch mignon; 17. Essex pippin;
18. Fletcher's kernel; 19. Fearn's pippin; 20. jPar-
leigh pippin; 21. Feuouillet gris; 22. Cornish gilli-
flower; 23. Coe's golden drop; 24. Golden Harvey;
25. Golden pippin; 26. Franklin's golden pippin; 27.
Hughes's golden pippin ; 28. Tunbridge golden pippin ;
29. Haggerston pippin; 30. Hick's fancy; 31. Hut¬
chinson's spotted ; 32. Red Ingestrie ; 33. Yellow In-
gestrie; 34. Isleof Wight pippin ; 35. White June-eating;
36. Kerry pippin ; 37. Leyden pippin ; 38. London
pippin; 39. Longueville's kernel; 40. Male carle; 41.
Early red Margaret; 42. Margil ; 43. Newtown pip¬
pin; 44. Braddick's nonpareil, as well as all other
kinds of nonpareils ; 45. Nonsuch park apple ; 46.
Oslin ; 47. Padley's pippin ; 48. Irish peach apple ; 49.
Adam's pearmain, and most other kinds of pearinains ;
.50. Old pomme roy; 51. Devonshire quarenden ; 52.
Reinette d'Aizerma; 53. Reinette carpentin; 54.
Golden reinette; 55. Ribston pippin; 56. Bowyer's
russet, and most other sorts of russets; 57. Stone pip¬
pin ; 58. Stony Royd pippin ; 59, Tenterden park ; 60.
Summer thorle; 61. Thoresby seedling; 62. West
Grinstead pippin ; 63. Wormsley pippin.
Kitchen apples.— 1. Alexander; 2. Baddwin's; 3. Kltchea
Norfolk beaufin; 4. Beauty of Kent; 5. Bedfordshire
foundling ; 6. Belle bonne ; 7. Bess pool ; 8. Blenheim
pippin; 9. Large yellow bough ; 10. Broad end ; 11.
Bur knot; 12. Calom malingre; 13. Caroline; 14.
Carlisle codling; 15. Dutch codling; 16. Keswick
codling; 17. Kilkenny codling; 18. Mark's codling;
19. Winter codling; 20. Cole; 21. Dumelow's seed¬
ling; 22. Green falwood; 23. Glammis castle; 24.
Gloria mundi ; 25 ; Hawthornden; 26. Holland pip¬
pin; 27. King of the pippins ; 28. Monstrous leading-
ton; 29. Lucombe'sseedling; 30. Kirk's Lord Nelson;
31. Minshul crab; 32. Nonsuch; 33. Northern green¬
ing; 34. Autumn pearmain; 35. Baxter's pearmain;
36. Winter pearmain; 37. Pennock's red winter; 38.
Reinette blanche d'Espagne; 39. Reinette de Canada;
40. Ribston pippin ; 41. Golden Kussel; 42. Rymer;
43. Sugar-loaf pippin ; 44. Waltham Abbey seedling ;
45. Watson's dumpling; 46. Woolmar's long; 47,
Large early yellow bough ; 48. Yorkshire greening.
Cider apples.—1. Siberian bitter sweet; 2. Buck's Cider ap-
county; 3. Coccagee; 4. Coquerel plat; 5. John plea.
Apple; 6. Rostocker; 7. Royal wildUng; 8. Ros-»
kerle.
H o R T I C
U L T U R E.
119*
Horticul- In propagating the apple from seed, choice should be
J made from sorts whose qualities it is desired to per-
petuate or improve. A small apple crossed by a large
sort is most likely to produce a new variety, but it is
almost as sure to be worthless ; the most proper kinds
for crossing should have a great many qualities in
common, as size, shape, flavour, &c. The plan of cut¬
ting away the stamens from the flower intended to be
impregnated, and when the stigmas are mature intro¬
ducing the pollen of that intended for the male parent,
is the most certain method of producing new varieties of
excellent quality. Mr. Knight obtained a great num¬
ber of excellent kinds by this last mode, from the seed
of the orange pippin impregnated with the pollen of the
golden pippin. The seed should be sown in autumn
in pots or in beds of light earth, and at the end ot the
first year the seedlings so reared should be planted into
nursery rows, and afterwards they should be removed to
where they are intended to produce their fruit, at six or
eight feet distant every way. The less pruning seedling
trees have, the sooner they will come into a bearing
state ; the weakest shoots should only be removed. Ring¬
ing is performed on seedling trees for the same purpose
by some horticulturists. According to Mr. Knight,
the common practice of only selecting those seedlings
which have broad roundish leaves after two or three
years' growth is bad, for although the width and thick¬
ness of the leaf indicates pretty correctly the size of the
future apple, it by no means gives any idea of the future
merit of the fruit. Codlings are found to change less
from seed than any other sorts, and seldom for the
worse. Some kinds of apple may be grown from cut¬
tings, as the codlings and bur knot. Trees reared
from cuttings are supposed not to be liable to canker,
and such trees are said to be most proper for forcing.
These cuttings should be taken from young wood
from six to eight inches long, having a portion of the
older wood at the lower end, cutting out the lower buds,
and when planted placing a hand-glass over them after
watering, or in a shady border without a hand-glass; the
beginning of February is the best time for planting cut¬
tings, Apple trees may also be reared by layers and
suckers, the latter mode is confined to the Paradise stock
and creeping apples for stocks. But grafting and budding
are the most general practice of propagating the apple
tree. In rearing seedling apple trees for varieties, the
Rev. J. Venables sows the apples instead of pips, that
the ground may be enriched around the pips with the
saccharine juices of the fruit, and supply the young
tree with its earliest nutriment; trees raised in this
manner are more likely to produce good fruit than by
sowing the clean pips. All kinds of stocks require to
stand in the nursery rows till they are about half an
inch thick at the height they are intended to be grafted
or budded ; for full standards and riders they will
requiie three or four years' growth before they will be of
sufficient height (six feet) for grafting, for half standards
two years, and for dwarfs one year. All side shoots
should be rubbed off, and all suckers removed as they
appear to the height at which they are intended to be
grafted or budded. For budding, stocks do not require
to be above half the diameter requisite for grafting. A
soil almost similar for the nursery to that in which the
trees are intended finally to grow is considered the most
proper where it can be had. Pasture ground or unma-
nured meadow land should be preferred to old tillage,
and a loam of moderate strength and considerable depth
VOL. VI.
is preferable to all other soils, for trees in a poor soil Horticul-
become stunted and unhealthy, and those in a very rich ture,
soil are liable to disease and canker. Scions for grafting
should be cut from the parent tree during winter, and
not later than the end of December, and stuck in the
ground by their lower ends till wanted, because if left
on the tree the buds swell with the increasing influence
of the sun, and the vigour of the scion would thereby be
diminished. Instead of grafting six feet high on stocks
for standards, that process may be performed near the
ground and a single shoot trained from the graft until it
has attained the height at which the branches are wished
to diverge. It is best that no more than one scion
should be inserted on each stock, except when the stock
is too large, then a graft may be inserted on each prin¬
cipal branch. Miller and Knight are in favour of graft¬
ing near the ground, while others agree in leaving a
stem below the graft. Grafting is generally performed
from the end of February to the end of March, and the
season for budding is July. There are no advantages
10 be derived from transplanting the stocks oftener than
fiom the seed-bed to the nursery where they are grafted
or budded, and from thence to where they are finally to
remain. The choice of kinds depends upon the object
in view, as well as on soil, situation, climate, &c. The
time at which apple trees may be finally transplanted
with most safety is from November till the end of Fe¬
bruary. Any common soil ou a dry subsoil in an open
situation will suit apple trees. When the soil is moist it
should be rendered as dry as possible by draining before
planting, and shallow trenching in cold wet soils is said
to be of advantage. In deep loam and marly clay apple
trees attain the largest stature. The blossoms being
borne on small lateral and terminal spurs or short
stunted shoots, which continue fruitful for many years
together, the tree should be pruned accordingly.
Pruning consists of removing shoots too much extended,
irregularly placed or deformed branches, or a good
shoot may be shortened in order that it may throw out
branches and fill up any vacant space ; but to shorten
or cut away any shoots without any of these objects in
view would only be cutting away the bearers and produce
useless wood shoots. Espaliers and wall trees require
both a winter and a summer pruning, which in sum¬
mer consists of laying in all the shoots of the same year
that are likely to be wanted, pinching them off where
too thick or ill placed ; in winter all the branches, both
old and new, are regulated, cutting out all superabundant,
decayed, unfruitful, or diseased branches and wood, care¬
fully preserving the fruit spurs, and afterwards training all
the left shoots regularly. Forsyth recommends heading
down old unfruitful trees to within two feet of the
ground, and grafting them in the crown or cleft method.
The unproductiveness as to fruit of the better kinds of
pear and apple trees being a subject of complaint, the Rev.
J. Swayne has impregnated the stigmas of the unfruitful
trees with the pollen of fertile ones with entire success,
and produced large well formed fruit without any change
either in flavour or appearance. In closely planted and
nnpruned orchards lichens grow on the trees, which is
also produced from damp and uncultivated soils. The
mealy bug, apple bug, or American blight is one of the
most injurious insects, for which there is no known
remedy except that of brushing them off, but judicious
soil, culture, and pruning is the best preventive. The
room in which fruit is stored should be well ventilated,
and for this purpose \t ought to have a fire-place or a
120*
HORTICULTURE.
Hûrticul- regularly tilled up with shelves which should
ture. be formed of open work on which the fruit sieves should
be placed.
Quince. Quince (Cydonia vulgaris of Persoon) is indigenous
to the south of Europe, and is mentioned by Tusser in
1573. The fruit has a pleasant apple smell but an aus¬
tere taste ; it is not eaten raw, but stewed in pies or
tarts along with apples. It likewise forms an excellent
marmalade and syrup. In nurseries the plants are much
used as stocks for the pear tree. The following are the
varieties in cultivation : 1. Common; 2. Apple-shaped;
3. Pear-shaped; 4, Portugal; 5. Orange. The tree is
principally propagated by layers and suckers, but also
by cuttings, and approved sorts may be increased by
grafting or budding. All varieties of the quince grow
best in a soft moist soil, in a sheltered situation. The
tree is always planted as a standard when grown for
fruit. The time of planting, grafting, and method of
pruning are the same as for the apple tree.
Service tree (Pyrus domestica of Smith) is a native
of the mountainous parts of Cornwall and the moor¬
lands of Staffordshire. It is a tree of slow growth and
is said not to arrive at a fruiting state until sixty years
old. The fruit in its unripe state is austere, but when
mellowed by frost or keeping it becomes soft and edible,
resembling the medlar. The varieties known are the
pear-shaped, apple-shaped, and berry-shaped. The
tree should be grown as a standard, and otherwise
treated like the apple tree. It is also propagated like
it, and will succeed if grafted or budded on the same
kind of stocks. In about a month after gathering the
fruit becomes mellow and fit for use.
Granateous Fruits,
Püinegra- Pomegranate {Púnica granatum of Linnieus) is a
nate. native of Barbary, from whence it has migrated into the
south of Europe, where it now appears indigenous. The
varieties known are the single scarlet, double scarlet,
single white and double white, and the yellow-flowered.
There is no tree more showy than the pomegranate when
in blossom. It thrives best in Britain planted against
a south wall. All the varieties are readily propagated
by cuttings or layers, and the rarer sorts are sometimes
increased by grafting on the commoner kinds. The pulp
of the fruit is sub-acid, allaying heat, quenching thirst,
and is gently laxative.
Gi'ossidarious Fruits.
Goose- Gooseberry {Ribes grossulana of Linnaeus) is found
berry. ^ripi many parts of Britain, most parts of Europe,
and in the north of Asia, generally in hedges and
thickets. Some derive the name gooseberry from gorse-
bery, from having the prickly habit of gorse or furze, and
others from the use of the young fruit as sauce to geese.
The gooseberry is cultivated to greater perfection in
Lancashire than in any other part of Britain, and next
to Lancashire is Scotland, in France and Italy it is
scarcely known, the climate probably not suiting it. In
Lancashire almost every cottager cultivates gooseberries
more with a view to prizes than any thing else, given at
what are there called " Gooseberry prize meetings
these prizes vary from one to ten pounds. In the
immature state the fruit is valuable for pies, tarts,
sauces, and creams ; and when ripe it forms a rich dessert
fruit, and preserved with sugar or made into jam. Un¬
ripe gooseberries can be preserved in bottles of water Hortieüí
for winter use. Gooseberries are first mentioned by
Tusser, in 1573 ; but the varieties were then few in
number, but since they have become innumerable,
the following are considered established, and merit
cultivation. In the selection of kinds, although large
gooseberries make a fine appearance, they are often de¬
ficient in flavour compared with some of smaller size ;
§1. Smooth green berries—1. Massey's heart of oak;
2. Green walnut; 3. Large smooth green ; 4. Pitmas-
ton green gage. §2. Hairy green berries—1. Green
Gascoigne or early green; 2. Glenton's green ; 3. Green
seedling ; 4. Gregory's perfection ; 5. Hepburn's pro¬
lific; 6. Hopley's Lord Crew. §3. Smooth yellow ber¬
ries— 1. Dixon's golden yellow; 2. Yellow ball.
§ 4. Hairy yellow berries—I. Sulphur or rough yellow ;
2. Smooth yellow; 3. Yellow Smith. §5. Smooth
white or greenish-white berries—1. White damson;
2. Cook's white eagle; 3. Crystal; 4. White fig.
§6. Hairy white or greenish-white berries—1. Large
early white ; 2. Peer's Queen Charlotte ; 3. Compton's
Sheba queen ; 4. Moor's white bear ; 5. Taylor's bright
Venus; 6. White Champagne ; 7. Saunders's Cheshiie
lass; 8. Hedgehog; 9. White crystal ; 10. Early white;
II. Cleworth's white lion ; 12. Princess Royal.
§7. Smooth red berries—1. Red Turkey; 2. Rider's
scented lemon ; 3. Small red globe or smooth Scotch.
§ 8. Hairy red berries—1. Melling's crown bob; 2. Berry's
farmer's glory ; 3. Keen's seedling; 4. Knight's Mar¬
quis of Statford ; 5. Miss Bold ; 6. Red Mogul ; 7. Red
rose. Both early and late gooseberries should be culti¬
vated in order to prolong the season. Wilmot's early
red is said to be the best kind for tarts in May. Goose¬
berry bushes are propagated by seed for new varieties,
and for this purpose the seed of a choice variety is sown
in autumn or early spring, and in the following spring
or autumn the young plants will be fit to transplant into
nursery rows tor fruiting ; but by cuttings for perpe¬
tuating and increasing established kinds. Autumn is
the best time of planting these cuttings, and all the buds
of each should be removed except three or four of the
uppermost ones. Cuttings will also succeed if they are
planted in June, provided they are properly watered and
shaded. Any good soil on a dry subsoil and well ma¬
nured suits the gooseberry; if moist, the fruit will be¬
come larger but not of so good a flavour. The best
season for transplanting is from October to March ; the
bushes of three years old from cuttings are best for final
planting. They should be planted in single rows six or
eight feet apart in the kitchen garden to divide quarters ;
but when the object is large quantities of fruit for mar¬
ket, plantations ought to be made in parallel rows. By
planting and training against south walls or espalier rails
early fruit may be obtained, and on north walls for late
fruit. The bushes produce their blossoms on the preced¬
ing year's shoots, and on those of several years' growth,
but the largest berries are found on the younger wood
which should be left at full length. All that is required
in summer pruning is thinning the branches when too
crowded, but winter pruning consists of removing all
cross or ill placed young shoots and all water shoots, at
the same time shortening rambling and straggling
branches, taking care to leave a sufficient supply of the
best placed shoots of the preceding summer. The su¬
perfluous branches may be cut down to two or three
eyes, which will cause them to send out fruit spurs in
spring. Caterpillars of various kinds are well known
HORTICULTURE.
121*
Hortîcul- enemies to the gooseberr3^ Washing- the bushes with
ture diluted hot lime water by a hand engine is advisable, and
after this has been done a little hot lime should be
sprinkled around the root of each bush. By placing mats
over the bushes when the fruit is ripe the berries will keep
good till Christmas on the bushes. The Warrington
red and Mogul yellow are said to keep well in this way.
Gooseberries may be forced by planting the bushes in
pots or boxes, and placing them in a forcing-house or in
a pit, and the fruit will ripen in April.
Red and Red and white currants {Ribes rubrum of Linnaeus)
white cur- is found wild in several parts of the north of England
raats. Scotland in bushy places about the banks of
rivers. In the wild state the berries are red and small,
but culture has produced both white and pale red ber¬
ries of a larger size. According to Professor Martyn,
the currant does not seem to have been known to the
ancient Greeks or Romans, and in the southern nations
of Europe there is no appropriate name for it to this day.
The English name of currant is evidently derived from
the similarity of the fruit to the Corinth grape, or small
grape of Zante, the Corinths or currants of grocers. In
Britain currants have been long in a state of cultivation.
The berries possess an agreeable acid taste, and therefore
are acceptable at the dessert ; and they are also much
used in making jellies, jams, and wines. In Paris
the juice of the red currant is a common beverage
in summer. The only varieties worth cultivating are
the red and white Dutch. The currant, like the
gooseberr}^ is propagated by seed to obtain new va¬
rieties, and by cutting to perpetuate and increase old
established sorts. The bushes will grow well in almost
any soil and situation, and by planting both in open
as well as shady places ripe fruit may be had in perfec¬
tion from June to Noveuiber. The time of transplanting
the bushes is from the fall of the leaf to March, and like
the gooseberry they are planted in single rows in the
kitchen garden to divide main quarters, or in plantations
by themselves. They also do well trained against a
wall or on espalier rails, facing the south for early fruit
and the north for late fruit. The blossoms are borne
both on old and young wood, but the fruit produced on
the younger branches is always the finest. The sum¬
mer pruning consists of thinning the superfluous shoots
of the same year's growth, and removing all root suckers.
In the winter pruning, all cross and irregular placed
branches should be cut away, and the superfluous good
lateral shoots cut down to one or two buds, at the same
time removing all naked old bearers, taking care to provide
young ones in succession, and shortening those shoots
which are too much extended, and the spurs of old
branches may be thinned where too thick. Macdonald,
gardener at Dalkeith Park, found that by cutting off with
hedge shears the young shoots to within five or six inches
above the fruit just when they begin to change colour,
sun and air thus gets to them, and by which means the
berries are said to become larger and of better flavour.
O
The common method of training currant bushes on walls
or espalier rails, is to have two leading bottom shoots
trained horizontally half a foot from the ground, and all
upright shoots from these trained perpendicularly, but
the common fan mode of training appears to be equally
good. Washing currant bushes with diluted quick-lime
water will keep them free from caterpillars and other
insects. The fruit should be collected in dry weather,
as they lose their flavour in wet weather. Currants may
be forced in the same manner as gooseberries.
Black Currant (^Rib es nigrum of Linnaeus) isa native Horticul-
of several parts of Scotland and the north of England
on the banks of rivers. The berries have a peculiar
flavour and are eaten in puddings and tarts, and are
made into jellies and wines, and in Ireland they are put
into whiskey. The Russians, by fermenting the juice with
honey, form a strong agreeable wine. There are several
varieties,but that most cultivated is called theblackNaples.
The bush is propagated by cuttings, and bears its blos¬
soms exactly in the same manner as the red currant, and
consequently is pruned and otherwise treated like it, and
it may also be forced in the same manner. A few plants
only are required, and these should be grown on
the edge of a shady border or trained against a north
wall.
Sambuceous Fruits^
Elder (ßambucvs niger of Linnaeus) is a native of Elder.
Britain in moist places, as along the banks of ditches
and in damp woods. The fruit is in great demand for
making elder wine of the expressed juice. There are
several varieties, but the black and white berried are the
most common. The tree will grow in any soil or situa¬
tion, and is generally increased by cuttings. The Ifuit
ripens in September and October.
Corneous Fruits.
Cornelian cherry (Cornus mascula of Linnaeus) is Corneliau
indigenous to most parts of Europe, Britain excepted, cherry.
The shrub was formerly cultivated for its fi:'uit to make
tarts, having an agreeable acid flavour, and rob de cornis
was formerly kept in the shops. The cornelian cherry
is common in shrubberies, and produces its flowers in
the beginning of February. The bush will grow in al¬
most any soil and situation, and is readily propagated
by cuttings planted in autumn.
Olivaceous Fruits.
Olive^ (Olea Europœa of Linnaeus,) in its wild state, Olive,
is a native of the south of Europe, but the cultivated
varieties are said to have come originally from Asia.
They are naturalized in different parts of the south of
Europe, where they are found in hedges and woods.
The cultivation of the olive abroad is similar to that of
grass orchards in Britain. With protection against
frost, the olive may be grown against a south wall. In
Devonshire some trees stood many winters in the open
ground as standards, but without ripening their fruit.
Vaccineous Plants.
Cranberry (Oxycoccus palustris of Persoon) is a Cranberry,
small creeping shrub a native of turfy mossy bogs in
Scotland, Ireland, and the north of England, and other
parts of the north of Europe, as well as of North America.
The berries are red, of apeculiar acid flavour, grateful to
most people in the form of tarts, for which purpose they
are largely imported from Russia. Cranberries of
British growth were formerly sold in large quantities in
many towns, but latterly the plants have been almost de¬
stroyed by the extensive inclosures and draining of their
native bogs. In Sweden these berries serve only to
boil silver plate to its due degree of whiteness, their
sharp acid destroying the superficial particles of the
copper alloy. The plant may be treated and otherwise
Q* 2
122*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- cultivated in the manner recommended for the American
ture. cranberry.
American cranberry {Oxycoccus macrocarpus of
American p^ps];l) is a prostrate shrub, much larger than our na-
" live cranberry. It is a native of bojçs in a sandy soil
ïies. " n J
from Canada to Virginia. The berries, which are also
much larger and of a deeper red, are used in America
for making tarts, and are exported from thence to Eu¬
rope, but are inferior to Russian cranberries. The best
way to have American cranberries in Europe is by cul¬
tivating the plant in an artificial bog with plenty of
water as first contrived by Sir Joseph Banks. A very
few square yards will yield as many cranberries as any
family can use. If the berries are allowed to hang on
ihe bushes till October, at which time they will have
become perfectly ripe, they will then be even better than
those imported from Russia, and they may be kept dry
in bottles throughout the year. Wherever there is a
pond the margin may be prepared for the culture of
cranberries. All that is necessary is to drive a few
stakes two or three feet within the margin of the pond,
and to place some old boards within these, so as to pre¬
vent the soil of the bed from falling into the water,
laying small stones or rubbish in the bottom of the bed
so formed, and peat earth to the depth of three inches
above that, and about seven inches below the surface of
the water. In such a situation the plants grow readily,
and in a year or more entirely cover the bed by means
of the runners which take root at every point.
Cowberry. Cowberry (Vaccinium vif is idœa of Linneeus) is a
small shrub indigenous to Scotland, Wales, and the
north of England. The berries are austere and are less
palatable in tarts than either the cranberry or bilberry,
but excellent in a rob or jelly for colds and sore throats,
as well as to eat with roast meat, and it forms a sauce for
venison superior to currant jelly. In gardens it may be
cultivated in a moist shady border of bog or peat earth
like the bilberry.
Bilberry or Bilberry or bleaberry (Vaccinium myrtillus of Lin-
bleaberry. naeus) is a small bush a native of Britain, in mountain
woods, heaths, and moors. The berries are bluish-black
and covered with a mealy bloom ; they are eaten in
tarts or with cream, or made into jellies. The plant may
be successfully cultivated in gardens in a shady border
of peat or bog earth.
Moreous Fruits.
Mulberry. Mulberry {Morus nigra of Linnaeus) is a native of
Persia, and first mentioned byTusser in 1573 as being
cultivated in Britain. The fruit, called a sorosis by
botanists, has a peculiar aromatic flavour, and is some¬
times used at the dessert. The tree may either be pro¬
pagated by layers, cuttings, and suckers. A branch of
any age will strike root, the older the sooner. The pur¬
pose of grafting the mulberry tree is to insert a bearing
branch on a young tree, which would not otherwise bear
fruit for many years. The tree thrives in any rich, light
soil, or in deep sandy loam. The mulberry tree is gene¬
rally grown as a standard in open places, but sometimes
it is trained against a wall or espalier rail, which is
found to improve both the flavour and size of the fruit.
Forsyth recommends planting standard trees in orchards
and in lawns. Trees against walls and in kitchen
gardens, if dug about the roots in autumn and assisted
with manure, will improve the fruit. The tree produces
its blossoms on short shoots of the same year's growth.
and on spurs in older wood, and therefore in pruning Horticul
standards the young shoots should be shortened, and ture,
the irregular, ill placed, and too crowded branches
should be removed. The object in pruning wall or es¬
palier trees is to cut out old barren branches, and train
in a succession of young ones every year. The fruit
should be used as gathered as it does not keep. The
mulberry tree is readily forced under glass, as its blos¬
soms set freely in different degrees of heat, and the same
temperature which will ripen the earlier kinds of grape
in July will ripen mulberries in June.
Ficeous Fruits*
Fig {Ficus carica of Linnaeus) is a native both of Fig.
Asia and Barbary, but is now almost naturalized in
many parts of the south of Europe. The tree forms an
important article of cultivation in the regions of the Me¬
diterranean for drying the fruit. It is first mentioned
by Tusser, 1562, as being in England. The first trees
are said to have been brought from Italy by Cardinal
Pole in 1525, (the white Marseilles kind,) in the reign of
H enry VIII., which still exist in the palace garden of the
Archbishop at Lambeth. On the coast of Sussex, and in
other places, there are orchards of fig trees. The culture
of the fig was, however, little understood until the time
of Miller, who introduced several kinds from Italy, but
since then the fig has been forced with great advantage.
The fig tree is said to have the power of rendering meat
tender, like the papaw tree. The fig is both eaten green
and dried at the dessert. The varieties have become
innumerable in consequence of new kinds being readily
obtained from seed; the following are considered the
best: 1. Black Ischia; 2. Black Italian; 3. Large
blue ; 4. Brown Turkey ; 5. Brunswick ; 6. Chestnut ;
7. Malta; 8. Murrey; 9. Small brown Ischia; 10. Mar¬
seilles; 11. Large white Genoa ; 12. Nerii; 13. Small
early white ; 14. Early white; 15. Green Ischia. Fig
trees may be increased by all the known methods of pro¬
pagation, by seed for new varieties, by layers, suckers,
and cuttings to perpetuate established kinds. A cutting
taken from a well-ripened fruitful branch will come into
bearing the second year ; the same advantage can be de¬
rived from layers of proper shoots. Grafting and bud¬
ding may be adopted in changing the nature of trees,
by inserting grafts or buds of a superior variety. In
Britain the culture of fig trees in the open air is not
much attended to, for the fruit produced is so much in¬
ferior to that grown under glass. Loam on a dry
subsoil suits the fig tree better than any other soil,
and the situation in which they are planted should be
open. As standards, the trees require to be planted in
a warm sheltered place ; these are generally trained with
a single stem, which is allowed to branch at top into
a conical head. The trees against walls or espalier
rails should be trained in the fan or horizontal manner.
Fig trees produce two crops of fruit annually, although
the second never comes to maturity in the open air in
Britain ; the first crop is borne on the shoots of the pre¬
ceding year, and the second on the shoots of the same
year. In Britain that mode of pruning should be
adopted which will produce the greatest portion of what
are called Midsummer shoots, and for that purpose the
spring shoots should be cut or broke off. The young figs
which appear on the Midsummer shoots should be re¬
moved as soon as they can be distinguished, and if this
is performed in time the embryoes of young figs will be
HORTICULTURE,
123*
Horticul- formed for the following spring. In all cases fig trees
ture. require protection from frost,and any method will answer.
Some tie all the branches together and cover them over
with straw or haulm of herbaceous plants, and tie the
whole up in a conical form ; others by sticking in the
branches of evergreens among the shoots, by burying the
shoots in the ground, or by tying painted paper round
the branches. Ringing is said to accelerate the ripen¬
ing of the fruit as well as the fruitfulness of the tree.
Nuts.
Walnut. Walnut {Juglans nigra of Linnaeus) is a native of
Persia, and is said to have been introduced to Britain
from France before the year 1562, but is now almost
naturalized. The young unripe fruit is used for pick¬
ling, and the kernel of the ripe fruit at the dessert. An
oil is expressed from the kernel in Spain which is used
by painters instead of almond oil. There are several
varieties of the w^alnut cultivated, the thick shelled, the
thin shelled, and the high-flyer; the last is considered
the best. The tree is generally propagated from the
nut, but by grafting it may be brought much sooner
into fruitfulness. Budding may also be performed with
success, according to Mr. Knight, on two years old wood ;
the bud to be inserted should be taken from those minute
ones found at the bottom of the shoots of the preceding
year. Ihe nuts should be sown in autumn or early
spring, and after one year's growth the young trees
should be planted out in nursery rows, and after two
years' growth in the rows may be finally transplanted.
The tree grows well in almost any soil. Ringing is
often resorted to in order to force the tree into a bearing
state, and the ringed part plastered over with loam
mixed with cow dung. The nuts ripen in September or
October.
Chestnut. Chestnut {Castanea vesca of Linnœus) is said to
have been brought originally from Sardis to Italy by
Tiberius Caesar. It is, however, considered both a
native of Italy and France, and naturalized in Britain.
The tree attains so great an age that some of them are
considered the oldest trees now existing of our globe.
The nut is eaten roasted with salt, and in some places
bread is made from the pounded kernels. The tree is
reared from the nut; but by grafting and budding its
fruit-bearing state is accelerated It will grow in any soil,
provided the sub-soil be dry. Chestnut trees are grown
in avenues, in orchards, and in pleasure grounds and
lawns. There are several varieties in cultivation. The
nuts ripen in September and October. Jn pruning, all
that is necessary is to cut out all ill-placed branches.
Filbert., {Coîijlus avellana of Linnaeus,) in its wild
state, is a native of thickets, and in which state it is called
hazel-nut. There are several cultivated varieties of the
filbert, but the following are considered the best :
I. Cobnut; 2. Gosford ; 3. Red filbert; 4. White fil¬
bert ; 5. Downton ; 6. Spanish. Filbert trees are ge¬
nerally planted in orchards, and in slips round kitchen
gardens. By some a poor stony soil is chosen for the
filbert, but by others a deep hazel loam on a dry subsoil
is preferred, and which is recommended to be manured
every year. Filberts are propagated by seed for new
varieties and stocks, and by suckers, layers, and by graft¬
ing to increase established varieties. The nuts should
be sown in autumn or early spring. The trees are ge¬
nerally planted and trained as standards, and they bear
their blossoms on the ends of the young shoots^ or on
short spurs which issue from the branches of the pre- Horticul-
ceding year. Like all other deciduous trees the best
time for transplanting them is from the fall of the leaf ' '
to March. The trees are pruned in the manner ol
gooseberry^ bushes, with a short stem at bottom, and a
head in the form of a bowl, the branches being well
thinned, at the same time attention should be paid to
their mode of bearing. Sometimes there is a deficiency
of male blossoms on filbert trees which may be pre¬
vented by planting a few common hazel-nut trees among
them, which are known to produce always a super¬
abundance of male catkins.
Orchard is a separate inclosed plantation of fruit Orchard,
trees. The best site for one is land sloping to the east
or south well sheltered. A loamy soil is preferred, but
any soil that will produce a good crop of corn will an¬
swer. When the subsoil is wet or clayey it requires to
be well drained. Before the trees come into a bearing
state, the ground may be cropped at such distances from
the trees as the crops may not be shaded, nor the roots
of the trees injured by digging too near them, the trees
being planted generally about thirty feet apart, all
which time a moderate quantity of manure should be
dug in. But when the trees have come to a proper
state of bearing, which is generally about the eighth year
after planting, the ground should be sown down in grass.
The object in pruning orchard or standard trees is the
formation of a proper head, which ought to be propor¬
tioned to the strength of the stem, having the branches
well distributed, with the head open in the centre so as
to admit of a free circulation of air and admission of
light.
Forcing Department.
This is the most important department in horticulture,
and in the success of which the principal part of the art
depends. The term forcing has been applied to all the
operations in which glazed structures are concerned, but
strictly the term should be confined to structures where
artificial heat is applied to excite and mature vegetation
at unusual seasons. Hot-houses and frames are arti¬
ficial habitations for plants, and are the most important
part of garden structures, requiring much skill in their
management. The principal object of these structures
is to produce artificial heat, moisture, and atmosphere
that will resemble as near as possible the climate in
which any particular plant naturally grows, or in forcing,
strictly speaking, the seasons at which the particular
fruit grows and ripens in the open air. The power of
regulating the temperature, admitting air, and producing
a proper degree of moisture, as well as free access to
light, are all necessary to success in forcing. Where the
object is only to imitate the native climate of the plants
grown, the structures are generally green-houses, con¬
servatories, stoves, dry stoves, &c., but when the object
is to excite and mature vegetation out of season, then
the structures are termed forcing-houses, hot-beds, &c.
The principal agents of vegetable life and growth being
heat, light, air, soil, and water, therefore forcing depends
upon the perfection with which these are supplied. Such
heat is necessary in winter and early spring in addition
to that of the sun, as to raise the air inside of hot-houses
to the degree of temperature required by means of
smoke or heated air circulating through flues composed
of brickwork, or by the circulation of steam or hot water
through iron pipes or tubes, by means of ignited fuel
124*
HORTICULTURE.
H;>rticul- fjeat is sometimes applied from the fermentation of
dung, tan, leaves, or other vegetable substances, applied
large body within the house or around part of it,
or under and around it as in the case of hot-beds. Ac¬
cording to the experiments of Mr. Stephenson, of Edin¬
burgh, the breadth of a flue should be nearly double
that of its height to obtain the greatest quantity of heat,
and as hot a r has a tendency to ascend, the flue should
be placed in the front part of the house but as far from
the wall as convenient, so as to allow a free emission of
caloric from every part of its surface. In all cases the
furnaces are placed behind the houses, and generally
under back sheds, and they are principally constructed
in such a manner that the upper part of the arch is on a
level with the lower part of the flue, but to produce a
greater heat the furnace should be sunk so as to produce
a rise of one foot to the mouth of the flue, which in¬
creases the drauffht and causes the fire to burn. A
V. '
furnace has been invented by Mr. Withey, which has
the power of carbonizing the greater part of the fresh
coal, that is, the gas is separated from it and inflamed,
leaving only coke. This furnace does not only consumes
the most of the smoke but effects a great saving in fuel.
The fuel is supplied by a door and pressed down an in¬
clined plane towards the grate, and in this way the
whole surface of the coal along the inclined plane is con¬
stantly kept in a state of fire, the flame having a ten¬
dency to ascend.
Steam. is applied to hot-houses in producing an arti¬
ficial climate, and is found more congenial to vegetation
tlian heat produced by hot air in flues, being more
equitable and pliable. The pipes laid down for steam
have also a neater appearance than brick flues, besides a
great saving in fuel. By means of a valve the hot¬
house may be filled at pleasure with the moist vapour
of steam which is found to contribute to the health and
vigour of plants. The steam is generated in a boiler
furnished with safety valves, and heated generally by a
smoke-consuming furnace. The boiler is usually sup¬
plied with water from a cistern which is placed above it,
which is made to regulate itself by a valve in the feed
head, which is opened by the sinking of a float that
descends in proportion to the water dissipated, and rises
again whenever a sufficient supply of water is admitted.
Steam may be conveyed a considerable distance, one
boiler being sufficient for heating all the hot-houses
placed near together, but a second boiler is generally
kept in readiness in case of any accident with the first.
Steam may be conducted from the boiler in one or more
parallel pipes, and these are arranged in the same man¬
ner as brick flues, and are sometimes placed on them
and inside of them when these already exist. The pipes
are supplied with valves to admit, exclude, and regulate
the heated vapour according to circumstances. Steam
pipes are sometimes applied to supply bottom heat to
pits in hot-houses.
Hot water Hot water circulation of hot water in iron pipes
or siphons is a more recent application than steam in
producing an artificial climate in hot-houses, and is
found to possess all the properties of steam heat, besides
the advantage of being more steady, and less affected by
exterior temperature than it, and it is found not at all
liable to burst the pipes, as water does not cool so ra¬
pidly as steam or hot vapour. Further, hot water has
this advantage over steam, that as soon as heat is con¬
veyed to the boiler the circulation commences instantly,
and by which means heat is immediately communicated
to the house, but no heat can be received from steam Hortit ui
until the water is made to boil. The first application
of healing hot-houses by steam appears to have been
first attempted by Wakefield, of Liverpool, but hot
water as a medium of conveying heat was first introduced
by Bonnciuain, in 1777, to ihe hot-houses in the Jardin
des Plantes at Paris, about the time of the first revolu¬
tion, and was first adopted in Britain by the Count
Chabannes at Bromley in 1816. Mr. Atkinson was the
first who applied it successfully in this country, but
since that time the application of it, both in hot-houses,
dwelling-houses, and manufactories, has spread rapidly.
It is found that it will circulate irregularly i point of
horizontal direction both below and above the level of
the boiler. Broad flat pipes have been used instead
of cylindrical ones as giving a greater surface for the
emission of caloric. Water has also been made to cir¬
culate in hermetically sealed tubes of about an inch bore,
having the ends coiled up in a recess close to the furnace
according to Perkins's method, but this has been found
too expensive for general purposes, as may be seen by
inspecting the large conservatory in Kew gardens. The
common as well as the best and simplest method of cir¬
culating hot water in hot-houses is to have two open
vessels or cisterns, one above the fire which may be
termed the boiler, and the other at the extreme ends of
the pipes which connect them. The vessels or cisterns
being open at top, one pipe is fixed to the lower part of
both vessels and the other to the upper part. The ves¬
sels or cisterns, and consequently the pipes, being filled
with water, and heat applied to the vessel above the
furnace, the surface of the water contained in it will rise
to a higher level, its density decreasing in consequence
of its expansion, motion commences along the upper
pipe, and the change this motion produces on the equi¬
librium of the fluid causes a corresponding motion in
the lower pipe, and this motion will continue in both
pipes until the temperature be the same in both vessels ;
but if the water is at boiling heat, the ebullition from the
heat of the fire in the one assists the motion in both.
As far, however, as the circulation of hot water is con¬
cerned, neither two pipes nor two vessels are necessary,
being principally for reserving a mass of hot water, a
pipe formed of two legs and a boiler being all that is
necessary, or a single straight pipe will do, for the hot
water will circulate on the top while the colder water will
return to the boiler by the bottom in the same pipe. To
circulate hot water in ascending and descending pipes,
it is necessary that the boiler be closed ; but this mode is
not of much advantage to hot-houses, and therefore
seldom applied. Boilers should be so constructed
as to have the largest surface exposed to the action of
the fire. Kewley's method of circulating hot water in a
siphon is considered good, but certainly not equal to the
common mode for hot-houses, as it is more liable to go
out of repair, and also requires much more attention.
The siphon is curved at the extreme end, consequently
forms two legs, the open ends of which are introduced
into the boiler, one above the other, the upper leg being
that by which the heated water ascends, the lower one
that by which it returns to the boiler ; on the upper part
of this siphon an air-pump may be placed, or a brass
cock may be introduced instead on the upper surface of
the upper leg having a funnel placed over it and stop¬
pers of any kind being put into the open ends of the
siphon ; it may be filled with water from this funnel.
The use of the air-pump is to exhaust the siphon, in
HORTICULTURE.
125*
Horticul- order that it may be filled with water by exhausting' the
air which always collects in the highest part of any tube
in which water circulates.
Air,—Hot-houses are supplied with air by the portion
of atmosphere within the house. It may be either raised
in temperature or renewed at pleasure by opening the
sashes or doors, or by ventilators of different descriptions.
Light. Light.—All plants require abundance of light, and in
hot-houses this is admitted by constructing them of
glass, and plants will not thrive if placed at any great
distance from the glass. For the roofs of hot-houses,
gardeners generally prefer an angle of 45° for the slope ;
but Mr. Knight prefers, in forcing-houses particularly,
such a slope of roof as shall be at right angles to the
sun's rays at whatever season it is intended to ripen
the fruit ; therefore, having determined at what season
the fruit is wanted, the slope of the roof should be such
as to have the rays of the sun all perpendicular, accord¬
ing to the sun's declination at that particular period.
Roofs. Roofs.—The material for fixed roofs are commonly
iron, as being less bulky than wood or other materials,
but movable roofs are commonly composed of timber.
All metals have a power of conducting heat, and to lessen
this power in iron roofs is to give it a thick coating of
paint. In glazing, the lap-over in each pane should
not be more than the sixteenth of an inch, for broad laps
retain a great quantity of moisture and dust. The latest
and greatest improvements made in hot-houses was by
Sir George Mackenzie, in 1815. The forms of glass
roofs best calculated for the admission of light and the
sun's rays is a hemispherical figure, which has given
rise to the curvilinear form. The principal cause for
the improvements of hot-houses may be traced to their
construction not being under the control of mansion ar¬
chitects as formerly. Fitness for the end in view is
better than the display of architectural forms.
Trellises. Trellises in forcing-houses are of the greatest use for
training and spreading out the branches of fruit trees, so
as they may obtain in every part the greatest influence of
the sun. A trell is may either be composed of metal or wood,
and its situation in forcing-houses is generally against
the back wall, close under the glass roof or in the middle
of the house, or all these modes maybe used in the same
house ; the most general plan, however, is placing it
under the glass rimf, but at such distances from it accord¬
ing to the size of the leaves and length of the foot-stalks
of the leaves of the plants trained on it as keep them
clear of the glass. Back trellises are only used for tem¬
porary crops until the plants trained on the trellis under
the glass have covered the roof, or for figs, which are
found to succeed better under the shade of other trees
than any other fruit tree.
Pits, Pits, in hot-houses, are enclosures in the centre for
holding tan or other fermentable substances, or sand or
ashes to place plants upon. Pits may be heated by
steam or hot-vvater pipes or brick flues. Borders in hot¬
houses are formed on the ground level, and are com¬
posed of earth for the growth of plants, or ashes or
gravel to place pots upon. Shelves in hot-houses should
be placed near the ground or close under the angle of
the roof so as to prevent as little as possible the exclu¬
sion of light. For forcing strawberries or French beans,
shelves may be placed under the roof in vine or peach-
houses ; stages are generally placed in houses for setting
pots upon ; they are usually a series of steps, but broad
stone or wooden ledges with turned-up edges covered
with sand or gravel aie generally preferred.
Water in hot-houses is commonly kept in cisterns or ílorticul-
tanks, that it may have the benefit of the heat, and taken
from them as wanted by pumps, or watering-pots, or
the tanks may be elevated and pipes made to branch
from them to different parts of the house, having cocks
at certain distances for drawing supplies, which is the
most convenient mode. These reservoirs are supplied
mostly from the rain which falls from the roof. The
Messrs. Loddiges, at Hackney, have invented a method
for producing an artificial shower in hot-houses by con¬
ducting small pipes horizontally along the roof at dis¬
tances of six feet; these pipes are finely perforated by
a needle, and according to the supply of water one
or more of the pipes may be set to work at the same
time.
Mushroom differs from the other forcing-houses Mushroom
in requiring very little light. An open shed supported house,
on props is the simplest and most common form, under
which mushrooms are grown in ridges, covered by straw
to maintain the requisite temperature. For growing
mushrooms in winter, a flued shed or house is an im¬
provement. The situation should be dry. As mush¬
rooms require more air than light, the house ought to
be provided with two or more windows or valves to
admit it. In Germany mushrooms are grown on shelves
and in boxes under the stages, or other d-ark parts of
forcing-houses. A mushroom house may be formed so
as to have a path in the centre and shelves one above
another on each side of the pathway for growing them,
heating it by a flue.
Situation of the forcing ground.—In general forcing- situation
houses are placed against a north wall of the kitchen of the
garden, or against cross walls, or in a slip on the east forcing
or west side of the garden or to the north of it, but it is
best to place them against the south or cross wails. In
extensive establishments an enclosure is entirely devoted
to this department. Forcing-houses should never be
mixed with houses for plants or ornament. The melon
ground is generally situated in the slip.
The substances used in forming hot-beds are stable The sab-
dung in a recent state, tan bark, leaves, and grass ; but stances
the first is in most general use after having undergone
its most violent state of fermentation. Leaves, however,
are a good substitute fordung. Stable dung requires to
lie a month in ridges, and to be turned over two or three
times before it is fit for melon or cucumber beds. Tan
and leaves in general require to lie a month. In winter
these processes are best performed under cover, as in
sheds or in vineries which are beginning to be forced, or
in vaults under pine pits ; but for Macphail's pits or for
linings a fortnight will be sufficient ; but dung may be
formed into linings at once without any previous fer¬
mentation. Ashes mixed with dung as well as one-third
of lime and two-thirds of dung are said to form a more
lasting and regular heat than dung by itself. The heat
of hot-beds is revived by a collateral lining of fresh
dung, the old dung of the bed being previously cut down
close to the frame.
Compost ground is generally placed in a situation Compost
screened from the general view, but at the same time grouna.
exposed to the free action of the sun and air, and as
near to the forcing-houses and melon ground as pos¬
sible. Gushing says, loam, peat, and sand seem to be
the three simples of nature most requisite for the pur¬
pose of the growth of vegetables, to which mollifiers are
added, that is, vegetable leaf mould and well rotted
dung, and from the judicious mixture and preparation
126*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticui-
ture.
Forcing
vines»
of these a soil may be produced which will suit plants
introduced from any quarter of the globe.
Forcing vines,—The vine being easily cultivated it
will succeed in almost any form of house, provided the
plants be trained near the glass on a trellis parallel
with it. A steep roof is preferred for the earliest crops
because it admits most light of the sun during the
short days ; of course such a house must be necessarily
narrow on account of the steepness of the roof. The flue
or pipes should pass along the front, and afterwards
make one or more turns on the back wall. Mr. Knight
recommends the roof to be at an angle of 35° to ripen
the fruit in July, but most gardeners prefer an angle of
45°, which is that commonly adopted for summer fruit.
The roofs may be fixed, provided there are proper ven¬
tilators on the back wall. The opinions with regard to
the culture of the vine are numerous. The soil for the
border may be composed of one-fourth garden or mea¬
dow loam, one-fourth of turf and sweepings of roads,
one-eighth of vegetable mould or rotten tan, turned over,
broken with the spade and well mixed together, to
which may be added a moderate quantity of lime or shell
marl; the border may be covered with two inches of
gravel on its surface, a mode adopted by Speechly, a
celebrated vine grower. W. Griffin, who has received a
medal from the Horticultural Society for the growth of
grapes, makes his compost of one-half good loamy turf
well rotted, one quarter of old dung, and one quarter of
brick or lime rubbish, the whole being well broken and
incorporated, but either of the above-named composts
will suit the vine. The borders should be from three
to six feet deep, and should not be narrower inside and
outside of the house than twenty feet, and if the bottom
is not naturally dry it should be well drained and lined
six inches deep with brick rubbish or covered with brick
before the compost is thrown in. Vine plants reared
from buds trained to a single stem are preferred, but
when they have to be sent from a great distance, cut¬
tings are considered better adapted. About the end of
June, at which time vines will have made long shoots,
some of these may be selected and bent down, and the
flexure introduced into a pot filled with earth, taking care
that a portion of the former year's wood with a joint be
placed into the soil of the pot ; after which the earth in
the pots must be kept moist, and in a week or ten days
the shoots will have made sufficient roots so as to be
safely detached from the parent ; and it frequently happens
that the shoots so struck contain one or more bunches of
grapes which will come to perfection ; and a grape-house
may therefore be filled by this means with fruiting plants
in three months, which cannot be done in the ordinary
way in less than three years. The best and most ge¬
neral mode, however, is to select the plants from a nur¬
sery, and have them planted in pots or tubs filled with
rich soil the year previous to final planting. When vines
are trained to a back wall they are planted in a border
within the hou.se, but if trained to trellises under the
glass they may either be planted outside or inside of the
house ; the former is the most prevalent plan, but in
vineries inside planting seems to be preferable ; but where
vines are trained to the rafters in pine stoves, of course
outside planting must be adopted, in order that the
vines may be drawn out when in a dormant state.
Before planting them they should be carefully turned
out of the pots, reducing the ball a little, and at the same
time singling out the matted roots, and covering them
with earth just as deep as they were before, taking care
to spread the fibres out previous to covering them with Horticul-
earth, and afterwards settling the whole with water from
the rose of a watering-pot. Mr. Judd {Hort, Trans, iv.
p. 4) makes holes in his border in May, and puts a
barrowful of old rotten tan in each, and in the middle
of each he sets a plant with the ball attached two feet
distant from the wall on its side, so that the stem may be
in a horizontal position, and the part of the stem to be
covered with earth is slit or tongued at every eye, and
the top of the shoot is then drawn through the hole in
the wall. Vines in pots may be planted at any season,
but autumn and spring is preferred. The distances at
which they are finally planted from each other depend
upon the kind of vine ; six feet distance is sufficient for
weak growing kinds, and twelve for strong growing
ones. Gardening authors generally lay much stress
upon the mode of pruning and training, but good crops
depend more upon soil, climate, and management. They
may be either pruned in the long or new method, or the
spur mode, or in the manner of peach trees. Pruning
in summer depends upon the necessity of admitting air
and light to the young v/ood and fruit ; and for this pur¬
pose they require constant attention so as not to allow
the plant to be crowded with superfluous branches and
leaves, and no more fruit should be allowed to remain
than the plant is able to bring to perfection. The berries
in the bunches should also be thinned to give those left
room to swell. The shoots should also be pinched off
at the points when grown to the extent required, and
the bearing laterals should be pinched off at the second
joint above the bunch of fruit ; some, however, prefer
pinching off just above the next joint or leaf. All water-
shoots should be rubbed off from the older wood, as well
as all inferior laterals and tendrils. After selectincr the
^ D
shoots to be trained for the production of fruit the next
season, and others necessary for filling up vacancies on
the trellis from the bottom, these shoots should be laid
in at a foot or a foot and a half apart, at the same time
rubbing off all others that have no clusters. For all
these purposes the plants require to be looked over every
three or four days. If the short branches on which the
clusters are borne sprout again, they should always be
stopped by pinching off the young shoots. The leaf
accompanying each cluster should be carefully preserved
or the bunch of fruit will come to nothing. If pruning
is performed timely, that is before the flow of the sap,
vines are not liable to bleed, therefore the plants should
not be pruned until the wood is perfectly ripe in autumn,
nor too late in spring, but if bleeding do take place, the
wound should be seared and covered with melted wax or
warm pitch ; but the vine when in full leaf is not at ail
liable to bleed, at which time any branch maybe lopped
off with safety. The borders outside of the house should
be stirred with a fork, but not so deep as to injure the
roots, and when it is necessary to recruit the soil, the
exhausted part should be dug up and fresh soil worked
in. Well rotted cow dung is admitted to be an excel¬
lent manure for the vine, as well as drainings of dung¬
hills. In autumn the outside border should be covered
to a good thickness with stable-yard litter, the juice of
which will be washed down to the border by the rain,
and at the same time it keeps severe frosts from injuring
the roots till spring is so far advanced that the roots can
sustain no further injury, when it is removed. Before
laying on the dung, it is best to stir the border with a
fork. The best gardeners do not crop vine borders,
except by the most temporary vegetables. If the object
HORTICULTURE. 127*
Horticul- is to obtain grapes moderately early, the best time of
ture commencing to force is the beginning of March, for when
begun earlier success is more doubtful from the state of
the weather and shortness of the days, except where there
are a number of vineries, when forcing commences in
December, and successively in January, February, &c.
Some begin in August to procure ripe grapes in March
and April, but this can only be done with great care, by
making gentle fires, and admitting a circulation of air
at every favourable opportunity. To have vines to be¬
gin to force at this period the earliest crop of grapes
should be over in J une, the sashes laid aside, the plants
pruned, and the house put in order in August. Grapes
generally ripen in five months from the time of begin¬
ning to force, but when short days compose a part of
the course six months will be required, for if forcing is
begun in November the grapes will not be ripe till April.
Mr. Aeon, (Hort, Trans, vol. vii. p. 1,) by beginning
in September, finds his grapes begin to ripen in March,
and continue to be gathered till May, the vines being
trained horizontally on an arched trellis at a consider¬
able distance from the glass, some on the walls and
some on the rafters ; but these last are introduced into
the house six weeks after the forcing of those on the trellis
have commenced, and they yield a succession of crops
which begin to ripen early in May, when he shuts up
his late vinery, at which time the bunches have become
visible, and trains the vines on a trellis near tlie glass,
giving plenty of air during summer but more cautiously
during autumn, by which means the fruit will be
ripened before the dark weather comes on, which will
keep good on the vines for months and may be con¬
tinued till the end of March. Outside stems of vines
should be always defended from frost by bandages of
straw, or moss, or dry litter placed over the roots. In
beginning to force, the temperature should be 50° min.
and 55° max., and in a week raise it to 55° min. and
60° max., at which it should remain until the time of
btidding, after which it should be raised to 60° min. and
64° max. from fire, and 68° from sun heat, and by the
time the blossoms expand it should be raised to 66° min.
and 72° max. by artificial means, and by the sun's in¬
fluence 80° ; after the fruit is set the min. should be 75°.
Air should be admitted freely by the sashes when begin¬
ning to force, but after the foliage begins to expand
air should be principally given by ventilators until the
blossom is over and the berries begin to set, or until the
season becomes more mild, When the fruit is setting,
air need not be admitted so freely, as grapes are found
to set better in a high moist temperature, therefore a
moderate circulation by the ventilators will be sufficient
unless in warm sunshine, when it will be necessary to
open a few of the sashes at top to rarefy the air and
keep the temperature within bounds. Air is increased as
the fruit advances, and at the time of ripening more
freely than before, to give the fruit flavour, for on this
and withholding water that entirely depends. The vine
requires in its growing state a plentiful supply of water
at the roots, and occasionally all over with a syringe or
engine. If the wood is not perfectly ripened in August,
gentle fires should be lighted morning and evening so
as to keep the mean temperature to 70° giving plenty of
air, but when the growth of the plants is over, the house
should be exposed at all times except during severe
rains, as vines always do best if exposed to the influence
of the weather while in a dormant state. Vines forced
in a pinery shoiild be always withdrawn after the fall of
VOL. VI.
the leaf. Mr. Knight is favourable to putting the vine Horticul.
into a state of repose as early as possible in the autumn
preceding the season in which it is to be forced. Vines
may be forced by means of dung or other fermenting
substances placed in the area of the house, a quantity
of new dung being introduced at every turning to
keep up the heat. Vines are sometimes also forced in
hot-beds and other glass cases by placing the hot-bed
near a wall where a vine previously exists, introducing
some of its branches through holes made for the pur¬
pose in the side of the frame in April, and when the
grapes are nearly ripe the sashes should be withdrawn
through the day in fine weather. The ripening of grapes
is accelerated on walls by constructing temporary glass
cases against the vine and wall, and sometimes a tem¬
porary flue is constructed by which means good crops
are obtained. Vines are often also forced in pots, but
for this purpose the soil must be very rich and often
supplied with liquid manure ; these pots may be either
placed in a forcing-house, stove, or flued pit. The red
spider is the greatest enemy of the vine, but by using
the following composition the larvœ of it and other
insects are destroyed ; viz. soft soap two pounds, flour
of sulphur two pounds, nux vomica four ounces,
turpentine a gill, all boiled in eight gallons of water.
The mixture should be laid on milk warm with a hair
brush, then with a sponge ; every part of the plant should
be anointed as well as the trellis walls and flues. Water¬
ing with a syringe or engine is also a good preventive
of red spider as well as of the green fly. To protect
the fruit from wasps and birds, gauze or net frames
should be employed, or by fixing gauze bags round each
bunch. Grapes should never be cut until they are per¬
fectly ripe, and if the house is kept dry and cool grapes
will hang and keep good a long time. Lighting a
gentle fire in the day-time to dispel damp has been found
to preserve grapes. The following is a catalogue of the
grapes grown in Britain ; those considered the best for
forcing are marked with a star.
Grapes with round black berries.—I. Early black. Grapes
or July grape; 2. Black muscadine*; 3. Black grape
of Tripoli ; 4. Black Damascus; 5. Black Lisbon* ;
6. Blue Frontignac; 7. Black sweet water; 8. Black
Morocco; 9. Claret; 10. Black prince; 11. Turner's
hardy; 12. Black Corinth or Zante; 13. Turner's
early black.
Grapes with long black berries.—1. Black muscadel ; Gm pes
2. Black Hamburg*; 3. Purple Hamburg; 4. Small
black cluster, or black morillon ; 5. Miller's Bur-
gundy ; 6. Large black cluster ; 7. Black raisin* ; 8.
West's St. Peter, or black Lombardy* ; 9. Black cor¬
nichon; 10. Damson grape ; 11. Frankenthal.
Grapes with round white or green berries.—\. Royal Grapes
muscadine ; 2. Malmsey muscadine ; 3. Common ^^^.h round
white muscadine, or Chasselas; 4. White Frontignac ;
5. White sweet water* ; 6. White Corinth ; 7. Pit- fies?"
maston white cluster; 8. Scotch white cluster; 9.
Scarlet-leaved white cluster; 10. Kismush grape; 11.
Stillward's sweet water.
Grapes with long white or green berries.—1. White Grapes
muscat of Alexandria* ; 2. Tottenham muscat grape* ; long
3. White muscat of Lunel* ; 4. White morillon, or
white tokay* ; 5. W hite raisin, or white Hamburg ; 6.
White Syrian*; 7. Verdelho*; 8. Greek grape; 9.
Canon-hall muscat.
Grapes with red, rose-coloured, blue, greyish, or striped Grapes
berries.—1. Red muscat of Alexandria*; 2. Red mus- with rose-
128*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul¬
ture.
coloured,
blue, grey¬
ish, or
striped
berries.
Forcing
the peach
and aec-
taiine.
cadel ; 3. Red Frontignac; 4. Grizzly Frontignac ;
5. Red Hamburg*; 6, Giles's seedling Hamburg; 7.
Red parsley-leaved muscadine ; 8. Aleppo or striped
Aleppo; 9. Red Syracuse; 10. Blue Tokay*; 11.
Red Smyrna; 12. Brick grape, or red Rhenish; 13.
Red Chasselas; 14. New muscat of Jerusalem; 15.
Variegated Chasselas ; 16. Striped muscadine.
Forcing X,, peach and nectarine.—A peach-house may
be of any form provided the sashes are movable that they
may be taken oil' in order to give colour and flavour to
the fruit when nearly ripe, as well as to expose the trees
when in a dormant state. It may either be heated by
flues, or steam or hot-water pipes. When peach trees
are trained in the manner of vines up the roof under the
glass on a trellis, no upright glass in front is required.
In a late peach-house, however, there may be upright
glass in front, and the trees in front trained half-way up
the roof like vines, and those planted behind trained to
trellises against the back wall. The border in the house
should be three or four feet deep, fllled with loamy soil
mixed with well-rotted manure, and a little shell marl
may be mixed with it, and if the bottom of the border
is not naturally dry it should be drained and paved.
The breadth of the border should be the width of the
house inside, and ten feet beyond the house on the out¬
side in front. The following kinds of peaches are
generally recommended for forcing. Of cling-stone
peaches: 1. Late admirable; 2. Old Newington ; 3.
Portugal ; 4. Golden ; 5. Catharine ; 6. Pavie de
pompone. Of free-stone peaches: 1. White nutmeg;
2. Grosse mignonne ; 3. Belle chevreuse ; 4. White
Magdalene ; 5. Double Montagne ; 6. Chancellor ; 7.
Early admirable ; 8. Malta; 9. Royal George; 10.
Noblesse; 11. Late admirable; 12. Late purple; 13.
Early purple ; 14. Smith's Newington. The best way
is to make choice of trees before a house for peaches
and nectarines is built, and no tree should be planted
in the house until the fruit of it has been tasted and ap¬
proved ; they should be well trained and about four
or ñve feet high and in a healthy state, and if they
have been transplanted several times since they were
budded, they will be safer to lift and easier planted in
the house ; and if this is performed carefully, the trees
will be but little retarded in their growth ; and after they
have been lifted holes should be made in the border
of the house about a foot deep and four feet wide,
into which the roots are to be placed, arranging the
fibres at full length in a horizontal direction before
filling in with mould, previously cutting even any injured
or broken parts ; they should not be covered with earth
to a greater depth than six inches at their extremities
and four inches near the stem. Nicol and others prefer
clean healthy dwarfs one or two years trained, and
riders three or four years trained, because the latter
being temporary it is desirable to have them produce
fruit immediately, as they will have to be removed after
standing four or five years, should the dwaifs thrive. In
a house thirty-five feet long three dwarfs are considered
sufficient, and if forty feet long four dwarfs should be
planted with riders between. As soon as the wood is
ripened and the leaves have fallen is the best time for re¬
moving and planting peach and nectarine trees, that is in
November and December, but they may be planted until
March with safety. Abercrombie recommends trees
for early forcing to be planted in a front border so as to
be trained on a trellis under the roof like vines, but
those intended for late forcing he prefers planting near
the back wall, and training them to upright trellises. Horticul
In late peach-houses dwarfs should be trained half-way
up the roof like vines on a trellis, and dwarfs with riders
between them on a trellis against the back wall and
trained to the top ; for in this way the trees on the back
trellis would not be shaded by those on the trellis in front,
and by this means also the greatest extent of unshaded
surface and fruit is obtained. The fan method of training
peach and nectarine trees in houses is generally pre¬
ferred. Pruning may be performed from the fall of the
leaf till the buds begin to swell in spring, but many
prefer the latter time, when blossom buds can be distin¬
guished from leaf buds. In a newly planted house
Nicol recommends heading down the plants and cutting
the trained trees about the end of March ; he cuts back
the shoots on the lower branches of dwarfs to two or
three buds that the trellis may be furnished with young
wood at bottom, and the shoots on the upper branches
are shortened one-third or according to their strength,
making the weaker the shortest, but if the tree is in any
way diseased, the branches should be cut as far back as
to get rid of the diseased part. Riders should not be
cut so much as dwarfs, the object of which being to
throw them into a fruitful state and not to make strong
wood, for if the shoots be moderately strong and well
ripened a good crop may be expected. In all cases the
young shoots should be trained or laid in as they advance
in growth about nine inches apart in dwarfs, but closer
in riders. The winter pruning of bearing trees is best
performed just after the fall of the leaf, but if the shoots
have been properly laid in in summer very little pruning
will be required at this time ; only a few of the lower
shoots may be shortened for the purpose of providing a
supply of young shoots for next year, and thinning out
such shoots as have been left too thick, taking care to
lay in those left at full length. In some parts of a tree
there are old branches containing but few young shoots;
these may be cut out, provided the neighbouring
branches be sufficiently furnished with young shoots to
fill up the vacancy occasioned ; and for this purpose the
shoots should be shortened more or less according to
the size of the vacancy to be filled, in order that the tree
may be complete in all parts. In summer all ill-placed,
deformed, or very luxuriant shoots should be pinched
off, leaving a leader, however, to every shoot of last
year, and at the same time laying in a competent supply
of laterals. If any blank is to be filled up, some well-
placed shoot should be shortened in June which will
throw out laterals. According to Sir Joseph Banks,
much advantage is derived by rubbing off the leaf-buds
from fruit-bearing branches, leaving only as many as are
wanted to produce wood for next year. The fruit should
be thinned after the stoning season is over, as directed
for wall trees. All leaves and shoots which shade the
fruit should be removed or thinned. After pruning, the
border should be forked and a little dung or compost
added if required. In winter the part of the border
outside the house may in addition be covered with
dung, and that part inside may be watered occasionally
with drainings from a dunghill. It generally requires
four months from the rise of the sap to produce mature
fruit in the earliest varieties, but in the later kinds six
months ; therefore to have early kinds to ripen by the
end of May, forcing should be commenced about the
21st of December, but the sashes maybe put on a week
previous, admitting a constant circulation of fresh air to
prepare the house. For a general crop most gardeners
HORTICULTURE.
129*
Horticul- recommend beginning to force in February, for it is
ture. always found safer to force too slow than too fast. In
regard to temperature 42° min. and 45° max. is a good
beginning, and rise in a fortnight to 45° min. and 50°
max. from sun heat, and in the course of another fort¬
night the temperature should be augmented from 3° to
8°, so as to have it at the close 53° min. and 56° max.
admitting air in some degree daily ; and when the trees
are in blossom the heat should be allowed to rise to 55°
min. and 60° max., which temperature should be con¬
tinued until the fruit is set, when it should rise to 60°
min. and 65° max. in order to allow air to be given, but
the max. should never be allowed to exceed 70° ; a free
circulation of air should rather be given if the weather
permit, but when the sun shines it may be allowed to
rise to 75°. Mr. Knight says that neither peaches nor
nectarines acquire a full flavour unless they are exposed
to the full influence of the air and sun without the inter¬
vention of glass ; he therefore recommends taking off
the lights in sunshine, and replacing them during night
and rain ; this he thinks preferable to wholly remov¬
ing the lights as some gardeners do. Plenty of air
should be admitted during the whole process of forcing
in sunshine, and a constant stream before beginning
to force, and when the fruit is set and swelling air should
be given every day, taking care to keep the house dry
when the fruit begins to ripen. During the first month
of forcing air may be admitted freely every day by the
sashes, even if the weather is frosty, until the flowers
begin to expand, when it should only be admitted by
the ventilators, unless in mild weather and until the
season becomes settled. While the trees are in blossom
water should be thrown on the flues or pipes, or pans
filled with water should be placed in some hot part of
the house in order to create steam as a substitute for
watering over the leaves, at the same time gently water¬
ing the border around the roots with water warmed to
the temperature of the house until the fruit is set, but
the border may be kept rather moist before that time.
When the fruit is set the trees may be watered all over
in the mornings with water 65°, which should be dis¬
continued when the fruit begins to ripen, but again re¬
commenced when the fruit is all gathered ; however,
newly planted trees should be freely supplied with water
throughout the season to promote their growth, and
water from an engine should be applied with force to the
branches to suppress the red spider once in two or three
days. In a fruit-bearing house when the fruit is set
water should be supplied to the roots of the trees freely
twice a week, increasing the quantity as the fruit swells,
and the operation of the engine should be continued to
the foliage, but when the fruit is swelled water should
be withheld both from the roots and leaves. The red
spider is the principal enemy of peach and nectarine
trees, but they are also sometimes attacked by blight,
mildew, and the thrips. For the blight, the distem¬
pered leaves and ends of the shoots should be removed.
Watering all over the branches with an engine two or
three times a week, if the weather is hot and dry, will
check the increase of the red spider and other insects.
Fumigating the house with tobacco smoke once a week
keeps down the green fly. When mildew appears,
dusting the diseased parts with a little sulphur is the
best known remedy; but if gum and canker attack the
trees, the decayed wood should be cut out so as to expose
the wood to the sun and air in order to dry it, which
assists the tree in casting off the unwholesome juices.
In November, when the winter pruning is finished, the Horticul
plants and trellis may be anointed with the composition
recommended for vines. Peaches and nectarines can
never be eaten in perfection if allowed to ripen on the
tree, they therefore should be gathered before they are
quite ripe and placed in a dry airy room for two days
before they are used. It is not often necessary to assist
the ripening of the wood either in peach or nectarine
trees by artificial heal, except in some late kinds or
young trees where a little fire heat may be applied until
the leaves fall. All kinds of peach and nectarine trees
are well adapted for forcing in large pots or tubs. Small
plants to come into fruit either before or after those
planted in the borders may be excited in a distinct
house ; the soil for this purpose should be richer and
lighter than that recommended for the borders, and
liquid manure should be freely supplied. They are
best forced in the peach-house, but will succeed in a
vinery or other forcing-house. The pots should be
regularly supplied with water, for which purpose some
place saucers under the pots, but others again cover the
surface of the earth in the pots with moss or fresh cow-
dung, or rotten stable dung, and keeping it moist.
Sometimes these trees in pots are trained to fan-trellises,
but in general they are pruned as dwarf standards, which
is preferable. When the fruit is nearly ripe the pots should
be removed to a cooler and more airy situation, or if
in flued pits the sashes may be taken off a part of every
fine day. The best flavoured peaches have been ob¬
tained from trees in pots, according to J. Williams,
placed in a vinery from February till the first week in
June, when the pots were removed to the open air,
and afterwards shaded for ten days. Peach trees
are sometimes forced by dung or other fermenting
substance. The trees do well as standards planted in
the middle of a house, and the flavour of the fruit is
acknowledged preferable to those grown on trellises, on
account of the more free circulation of air in every part
of the tree.
Forcing the cherry.—Any form of house will answer Forcing
for cherry trees. Some gardeners grow cherry trees in the cherry,
houses placed south and north, glazed on all sides;
others grow them in pits and in movable glass cases.
For early forcing, the house, according to Loudon, Ency,
Gard., may be ten or twelve feet wide, twelve or four¬
teen feet high, and thirty or forty feet long ; the
parapet wall a foot or a foot and a half high, the upright
glass two or two and a half feet high, the flue or pipes
to stand on the same foundation as the parapet. To the
back wall a trellis is to be placed for training the trees
to, the border in front to be planted with dwarf cherry
trees, apricots, and figs. The front and side flues to be
furnished with latticework over them for pots of straw¬
berries, kidney beans, &c. Although the cherry tree is
a native of Britain, no fruit is more difficult to force, the
blossoms being so liable to fall off before the fruit sets,
and even the fruit after they have become as large as
peas. The border of the cherry-house should be the
whole breadth of the house, and about three or four feet
deep, and the bottom should be drained and paved if
not naturally dry. The compost should be light mellow
earth or sandy loam, made rather rich with well rotted
stable dung, and if a small portion of lime or marl be
added it will answer much better. In forcing, prefer¬
ence is generally given to the May duke cherry, but the
morello sets its fruit more readily and acquires superior
size and flavour by forcing. Dwarf standards are
R* 2
130*
HORTICULTURE.
Hoîticul- generally preferred for forcing, but Nico! chooses healthy
young plants that have been trained against a wall two or
three years. Torbron, who has been very successful in
forcing cherries, plants his trees in rows, the tallest in
the back row and the shortest in the front one, so that
their tops slope gradually to the front. Nicol prefers a
trellis close to the back wa.ll, against which he plants
trained dwarfs with riders three or four years trained
between, and plants dwarf standards in the border that
have been kept in pots, the largest five feet high. In
planting these the balls should not be reduced and only a
few of the under roots spread out, because if the ball is
too much reduced and all the roots spread out the trees
would be thrown into wood, therefore the intention
would be thwarted, which is to have the plants dwarf
and fruitful and growing as little to wood as possible.
Along with these two or three apricot trees dwarfed in
pots may be planted, the temperature for cherries also
agreeing with that tree. The dwarfs and riders to be
planted against the back trellis should be raised with good
roots, replanting them in the house just as deep as they
were before, spreading out their fibres and covering them
with mould. The whole should have moderate water¬
ings given to them and a free circulation of air every
day, protecting them from snow and much rain. The
plants should be anointed with the liquor recommended
for vines. It is better not to force the house the first
year after planting, nor to prune the trees till March.
The best time for transplanting is as soon as the wood
is ripe and the leaves have fallen, but never later than
February. In pruning dwarf trees trained to a trellis,
each shoot of last year should be shortened back to
three or four buds, that the trees may push out strong
young branches to fill the trellis from the bottom. The
dwarf standards in the border should not be cut so much,
the longer and weaker shoots only should be shortened,
and the riders on the trellis should be treated in like
manner; being temporary, their object is to bear fruit
as soon as possible. In November following the trees
should be pruned for the succeeding season, and the
trained dwarfs well headed in. No ripened shoots on
standards should be shortened, except a few at the ex¬
tremity of the tree. Cherry trêiès which have been
forced make very little wood, and therefore all the prun¬
ing they require is to thin out the spurs where too thick
and removing water shoots, but when vacancies occur
the contiguous shoot or shoots should be shortened in
order that branches may be produced to fill up. In
summer very little pruning is requisite ; pinching oíF
water shoots as they appear, and laying in such branches
as are required to fill up vacancies, is generally all.
After pruning in autumn the border should be forked,
and some well rotted dung and sand worked in to im¬
prove the soil if found necessary, and in summer it may
be slightly stirred and the weeds removed ; that part of
the border outside of the house should be covered with
stable dung during the early part of the season. The
time of beginning to force cherries is sometimes in De¬
cember, but more generally in January, February, and
March. Some gardeners admit of gentle forcing the
first spring after planting, but prefer deferring it to the
third year. When cherries are to be ripened early,
Torbron puts on the sashes of the house about the begin¬
ning of Dœember, and lights fires about the third week
of the same month. The temperature should be at first
35*^ to 40® min. and 42° max. in the first week, but gra¬
dually advancing the three following weeks to 42° min.
and 45° max. In sunshine, air should be admitted Hortu-ul-
freely rather than allow the temperature to exceed 52°.
In the fifth and sixth week the temperature should be
gradually elevated to 45° min. and 48° max. from fire
heat, and 55° from sun heat, until the trees are in blos¬
som, and after the blossoms are expanded and until the
fruit is set remain at 48° min. and 52° max. from fire
heat. At this time admit as free a circulation of air as
the weather will permit, and when the sun is shining do
not, if possible, allow the air within the house to exceed
60°. As the fruit is swelling, the heat may be raised to
60° min. and 65° max. In February it is desirable to
give gentle sprinklings of water by a syringe or engine
two or three times a week in the evening, but while the
trees are in blossom sprinklings with water should be
discontinued, but water may be thrown on the flues or
pipes in order to produce steam or moist vapour ; but
when the fruit is stoned, watering from an engine or
syringe should be resumed and applied with force, until
the fruit is nearly ripe, in the morning to subdue the red
spider. Water should also be occasionally supplied to
the roots. After the fruit is ripened and gathered, wa¬
tering with the engine should be resumed and continued
until the leaves drop, at the same time keeping the
border moderately moist until the house is uncovered.
In forcing cherries a free circulation of air is absolutely
necessary, for the blossoms either become abortive or
fall off as well as the young fruit, from no other cause
than a stagnant atmosphere, therefore particular atten¬
tion should be paid to its admission, and the house
should be so constructed that this may be easily done,
so that the current of air may be increased or reduced as
required several times in one day. It must be admitted
freely when the weather is mild and calm during the
time the trees are in blossom, and also near the time of
the fruit ripening. With regard to insects, syringing
the leaves and branches with water is the only remedy
for the red spider, and fumigating with tobacco smoke
oncea week for the black fly, and the only known
remedy for the bug, which rolls itself up in the leaves, is
carefully picking them off as they appear. As cheriies
will remain good on the trees some time after being* ripe,
for this purpose the house should be kept cool, dry,
and well aired. Where a south wall is furnished with
May duke cherry trees, a temporary glass case may be
placed against it, and a temporary flue may be built on
the surface of the border inside the glass case, and in
this way cherries may be forced with success. Most
gardeners approve of planting cherry trees in large pots
or tubs. A few dozen of plants treated in this manner
will produce a great deal of fruit in succession, by di¬
viding them into three or four classes, and by shifting
the pots or tubs from one house to another ; as for
instance, in January twelve of them may be placed in a
green-house or airy part of a peach-house, giving them
water at the roots and syringing once in two days at the
tops, and if the roots are watered occasionally with the
drainings of a dunghill it would be conducive to the
health of the plants. These plants should remain until
the fruit is set and stoned, after which they should be
removed to a vinery or stove to ripen their fruit, taking
care to place them near the light in an airy situation.
In February a second and third dozen, and in March a
fourth, may be taken into the house and treated in like
manner. Mr. Law {Hort. Trans. Ser. 2, vol i.) finds
the following method of forcing cherries very successful :
he puts trees already in pots into the house, giving theni
HORTICULTURE. 131*
Hoîticul- Yery little water at tlie close of the year, by which he
finds them better prepared for blooming in the spring.
of the pots is according to the size of the
plants, and the soil which he uses is by no means rich,
for highly manured soil he finds causes the trees to gum
and make too strong shoots. When beginning to force
he waters but sparingly, but admits as much air as the
state of the weather will permit both by night and by
day, for he finds alternate ventilation by day and con¬
finement by night tobe very injurious. In frosty wea¬
ther he increases the temperature by fire so as to enable
him to give a constant supply of air without allowing
the temperature to fall below 32°, and in this manner he
proceeds slowly until the blossoms are set, and subse¬
quently raises the temperature to 55° and afterwards to
70°, at the same time increasing the moisture of the at¬
mosphere, taking care to keep the ventilation as abun¬
dant as he possibly can. By this means Mi. Law finds
his crop certain and abundant without the use of any
bottom heat.
Forcing Forcing strawherriea,—This fruit is forced in every
strawber- description of forcing-house ; but where large supplies
nes. .jj.g required it is best to apply a flued pit to their sole
cultivation. Of all kinds of forcing-houses the temper¬
ature of the peach or cherry-house is most congenial to
strawberry plants. The plants may be gently forced in
a melon pit till the fruit is half grown, when they
may be removed to a house of higher temperature. The
soil in which strawberries succeed best in pots is strong
loamy earth holding manure in solution. The sorts
generally forced are the Alpines, Wood's, Bath scarlets
and common scarlets, and pines, but it is generally ad¬
mitted that Keen's seedling and the old pine answer
best for forcing. Strawberry plants should be potted
eight or ten months before they are placed in any
forcing-house or pit, but strong established plants may
be taken up with balls of earth attached and potted, and
immediately afterwards be placed in a forcing-house.
The Alpines are usually reared from seed, which may be
sown in January in frames or boxes to be placed in a
gentle heat; and after the young plants have come up,
the frames or boxes should be removed to a colder situa¬
tion, and in the following May they are planted in pots
six inches in diameter and six inches deep, three plants
in each pot, and in the following October they will be
in blossom, when they should be placed under shelter,
and about the latter end of November in a forcing-house,
where they will produce fruit throughout the winter.
The scarlets should be planted in pots of the same size.
In May or June runners of the previous year should be
taken and planted in pots, picking off the blossoms as
they appear, and placing them in a shady situation till
January, when they may be removed to the forcing-
house and placed on shelves eighteen inches from the
glass with a pan under each pot. The pines should be
potted and treated in the same manner as the scarlets
uîitil they are removed to the forcing-house in February
or March. Mr. Knight prefers runners, and prepares
them for forcing by planting them in rows one foot
apart and four inches from plant to plant in the row, in
ground trenched, but superficially manured, and in the
end of February the plants are carefully taken up and
potted and immediately subjected to artificial heat. In
all cases the plants should be watered as soon as potted,
if fruit is wanted early, the plants are placed in a hot¬
bed or pit in October, but strawberries excited before
Jan lary are seldom worth the trouble. Forcing should
in all cases be begun nine weeks before fruit is wanted, Horticui-
for this is the space of time required from the first excite-
ment of the plants to the ripening of the fruit. From
January to the end of March sufficient reserve plants in
pots should be provided for removal into the forcing-
house every three weeks till the middle of March, but
the plants taken into the house in the latter month bear
fruit in higher perfection than plants forced earlier.
When forcing is begun the temperature should be 40°,
raising the heat afterwards in the same manner as re¬
commended for the cherry-house. When forced in pits
the pots may be plunged in a bark bed, and the temper¬
ature by the aid of flues should be 50° to 55°, and by
sun heat 56°. Some prefer beginning with the heat of
a frame on dung or a pit, afterwards removing the
plants to the peach-house to remain until the fruit is set,
when they are removed to the vinery to ripen. The
scarlets bear more heat than other sorts. Air and
water should be plentifully supplied at all times until
the fruit begins to ripen, when water should be withheld
lest the flavour of the fruit become insipid. The best
way of supplying water to strawberry plants is probably
by placing pans under the pots. After the fruit has
been gathered the pots should be rettioved and plunged
in a shady border, giving them a good watering, and at
the same time cutting oif the leaves, and if treated in this
manner they will produce in the following year as good
a crop as when first potted. If the plants are not
wanted for forcing they should be taken out of the pots
and planted in the open ground, and they will bear a
good crop in the autumn of the same year, particularly
the scarlets, the warm rains of July and August proving
highly favourable to the growth of the fruit, and as there
are no other strawberries to be had at this season but
Alpines and Wood's, the scarlets make a pleasing
variety at the dessert.
Forcing figs.—A house for this purpose is seldom Forcing
expressly built, because fig trees are generally forced in figs-
pots or tubs which are either placed in a peach or cherry-
house. The soil recommended for the cherry tree suits
the fig also. The following are the kinds recommended
for forcing: 1. Pregusata; 2. Figue blanche ; 3. Brown
tokay. Plants two or three years trained on walls are
best for planting against trellises, but standard trees are
preferred. In pruning, rubbing off all unnecessary
young shoots to give the tree air and strengthen those
remaining is all that is necessary. In summer all leaves
that shade the fruit should be removed, as well as all
suckers and young shoots from the main stem as soon
as they appear. The border in which the trees are
planted should be forked up and manured if found ne¬
cessary after the fruit has been gathered. In training fig
trees the fan method is preferred. The time of beginning
to force the fig is of course the same as that for the cherry,
as well as the temperature and air of the house in which
the trees are planted. The border should be kept suffi¬
ciently moist, and the syringe or engine applied to the
leaves occasionally to keep down the red spider, until
the fruit begins to ripen, when it should be withheld.
Fig trees in pots require to be planted in rich soil. From
the time of beginning to force to that of the fruit ripen¬
ing about six months is required, for if begun in
January the fruit will be ripe in June or July. The
second crop of figs is always much greater than the
first, and more to be relied upon. When the fruit is
gathered, the glass is removed and the wood exposed to
the influence of the atmosphere until winter when the
132^
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- glasses are again put on. The plants in pots or tubs
ture. should be low and bushy, and they may be either set
on the curbs or plunged in a bed of tan or leaves made
in the area of the house. They should be kept in a
greenhouse or frame until February or March, when
they may be removed to a forcing-house where they are
intended to ripen their fruit, and in this manner they
may be treated every year. Fig trees in pots, according
to Nico], may be treated in the way directed for cherry
trees in pots. About thirty plants would be a good stock
for that purpose. The first division might be placed in
a cherry or peach-house about the middle and latter end
of January, and so on. It is necessary that the plants
should have been two years in pots before beginning to
force them, that the pots may be well filled with roots.
Forcing Forcing melons.—The melon {Cucumis melo of Lin-
nseus) is a tender annual plant producing one of the
richest fruits brought to the dessert. It has been cul¬
tivated in Britain since 1570 for the sake of its fruit.
It was originally brought from Jamaica, and was at first
called musk melon to distinguish it from the water
melon, but the precise time of its introduction is un¬
known. To grow the fruit in perfection the aid of
artificial heat is necessary in every stage of its growth.
There are a great variety of melons cultivated, but the
best sorts are included under the name of Cantaloups ;
they are of a roundish form and warted and netted on
the outer rind, and those called the Romanas are next in
estimation, the form of which is generally oval, middle
sized, and regularly netted, and the plants are great
bearers. Many varieties of both sorts formerly in
esteem are now degenerated or supplanted by others of
Spanish and Persian origin. The following list com¬
prises the most generally esteemed sorts : Of Canta¬
loups: 1. Early; 2. Silver; 3. Large black Holland ;
4. Montagne; 5. Netted; 6. Orange; 7. Black rock;
8. Carbuncled rock ; 9. Lee's rock ; 10. Scarlet fleshed;
II. Italian green fleshed ; 12. Ionian green fleshed ;
13. Hardy ridge; 14. Early rock; 15. Golden rock;
16. Silver rock. Of Romanas : 1. Fair's Romana ;
2. Lee's Romana ; 3. Smooth scarlet fleshed ; 4. Wind¬
sor scarlet fleshed ; 5. Large netted Romana ; 6. Early
Polignac ; 7. Carthagena; 8. Cephalonia; 9. Goree.
Of Maltese melons : 1. White Maltese ; 2. Yellow
Maltese ; 3. Winter Maltese, or Candian melon. Of
Persian melons: 1. Daree; 2. Dampsha ; 3. Large
Germek; 4. Small Germek ; 5. Kurchaing; 6. Sir
Gore Ousley's Persian; 7. Sweet melon of Ispahan;
8. Salónica. Of water melons : {Cucumis citrillis of
Linnaeus:) 1. Yellow-fleshed water melon; 2. Red-
fleshed water melon. Mr. Knight thinks it would be
strange if every large and excellent variety of melon did
not degenerate under the ordinary modes of culture, for
they necessarily must have been the production of
a high state of culture, and consequently of abundant
food, and a continuance of the same must be necessary
to prevent its receding in successive generations from
that state. Abundant food is always given by British
gardeners to the melon plant, but sufficient light can
only be obtained during a part of the year, and therefore
it rarely, and probably never, has obtained that high
state of growth and perfection which it is capable of ac¬
quiring, by any British gardener. Mr. Knight has cul¬
tivated the sweet Ispahan in brick pits, surrounded by
hollow walls through which warm atmospheric air at all
times enters, putting each plant in a separate pot, and
suffering it to bear only one melon, but the fruit will set
well enough in a common hot-bed frame ; the rind being Horticul-
thin it is apt to sustain injury on the lower side, and in
order to prevent this the fruit should be raised a little
above the ground by some means so as to allow the air
to pass under it. Very valuable varieties of melons
may be obtained, for one generation at least, by cross
breeding among the smaller and more hardy varieties of
green and white-fleshed melons and the large Persian
kinds. It is generally supposed that the offspring of
cross-bred plants, as of animals, usually present great
irregularity and variety of character, but if a male of
permanent character, of course not cross-bred, be se¬
lected, that will completely overrule the disposition to
sport irregularly in the cross-bred kinds, the permanent
habit always prevailing over the variable. The finer
varieties of melon are generally supposed to be plants
of as easy culture as the pine apple, but experience has
proved the contrary, for if the leaves of the melon plants
be exposed to the influence of the sun in a bright day
which has succeeded a few cloudy ones for a short time
only the plants are frequently irreparably injured; if
the air of the bed be a little too damp the stems often
canker, and if kept too dry the plants are injured by the
depredations of the red spider. It is a matter of great
importance to procure proper and true seed of the kind
wanted. The culture of the melon is an object of emu¬
lation among gardeners. Ripe fruit may be obtained at
any season by forcing, but the earliest general crops are
seldom ripe before May, and the latest generally cease
in October. Melons have been grown successfully by dif¬
ferent modes of culture,and in various kinds of soil and ma¬
nure, but the principal agents are plenty of atmospherical
heat, sufficient external air, and water. The methods of
culture which are most simple and least expensive should
be preferred. Loam rich in vegetable rudiments with a
mixture of sand, but not too light, is the soil recom¬
mended by Abercrombie. Any kind of rich loamy earth,
not too light, mixed with well rotted dung, will, however,
answer the purpose. Earth dug from the surface of a
common where sheep and cattle have long been pas¬
tured well broken and allowed to lie a few months
before it is used will suit melon plants, and will require
no manure the first season. Nicol recommends one
half loam from a common, a quarter light sandy earth,
an eighth vegetable mould, and an eighth of well rotted
dunff. The mould intended for both melons and cu-
O
cumbers should be well incorporated, exposed to the
frost, and frequently turned over before it is used. In
Persia, where melons are grown in great perfection, it
appears that pigeon's dung is the principal manure for
melons. In fifteen weeks from the time of sowing seed,
ripe melons may be cut, but when many short days fall
in the course of forcingeighteen weeks may be required,
but at a later period ten weeks is sometimes sufficient.
As nothing is gained by beginning to force too soon,
the early crops are commonly sown from the middle of
January and beginning of February, succession crops
in March, and late summer crops in the middle of April«
The seed is generally sown in pans or pots after having
proved the temperature of the hot-bed in which they are
to be placed, but the pots should not be plunged to
their rims at first, for fear there be too strong a heat.
Seeds that are two or three years old are preferred to
those that are younger, because it has been found that
plants produced from the latter run too much to vine ;
but melon seed will vegetate even after lying twenty
years. As soon as the plants appear above ground air
HORTICULTURE.
133*
Hortícul- should be given with caution, and when the seed-leaves
ture. are about half an inch broad, the plants should be
pricked out into other pots five inches in diameter, three
in each ; the pots are then to be plunged more or less
into the earth of the bed according to the heat, at the
same time giving a little warmed water to the roots.
Air should also be given by tilting the light of the frame
behind according to the external temperature, more freely
in sunny than in cloudy weather, shutting closer or
quite close as the evening advances, and if the weather
is very cold the glass should be covered by mats, which
should be taken oíF in the morning, as soon as the sun
is high enough to reach the frame. When the earth
appears dry, occasional light waterings should be given,
and when the young plants have produced the first
rough leaves, the bud in the centre should be stopped
by pinching it out, which promotes the issue of lateral
runners. The heat in the bed may be supported by
applying an outside casing of straw round the sides, but
as the heat declines, the casing of straw should be re¬
moved, and a lining of hot dung applied in its stead,
but care should be taken not to allow the rank steam
of the lining to enter the bed, which may be prevented
by allowing the ends of the mats to hang over. Four
feet high is sufficient for a melon bed, and after it has
stood a week it should be trodden down and levelled
and the frames placed upon it. Moulding the surface
of the bed for ihe reception of the plants should be per¬
formed by degrees to eight, ten, or twelve inches deep,
first placing the mould in little hills one in the centre
of each light, covering the intervals only two or three
inches deep at first till the general heat of the bed has
subsided, and when the earth in the little hills is
warmed by the heat of the dung, and the young plants
having shown lateral runners, they should be turned
out of the pots with the balls entire and inserted in
the centre of each hill, afterwards giving a gentle water¬
ing over the hills and round the roots, at the same time
avoiding to wet the leaves and stalks of the plants, after
which the frames should be shut down close until the
steam arise, but after this a little air may be given. If
the leaves of the plants flag, place something over the
glass to shade them until they are fully rooted, which
will be in the course of two or three days. The tem¬
perature for melon plants from the time of germination
to the time of fructification is 65°, and to fruit in 75°.
Nicol's medium heat is 70°. The proper heat should
be kept up by repeated linings till July, when the heat
of the sun generally will be sufficient to ripen the crop.
The greatest care is necessary not to burn or over heat
the plants ; and for this purpose they should be examined
every day to ascertain the heat of the bed, and if found
too powerful water should be poured all round each hill
on which the plants are growing to lower the heat until
the bed has declined in the middle, after which watering
should cease, and earth should be added to the hills by
degrees until the whole surface of the bed is covered
nearly to the same depth. When the heat in the bed
has declined too much, it must be increased by fresh
linings as before stated. As long as steam is perceived
to rise from the bed an aperture should be left for its
escape even at night, but at the same time guarding
against the influence of cold air by mats, but fresh air
should be admitted by tilting the glasses more or less
every favourable opportunity according to the season,
but shutting close when the weather is cold. After the
heat of the bed has become sweet, shut close at night,
except in very hot weather, when the glasses may be even Ho:ticiil-
taken off all night and put on again in the morning, by
which means the plants will be refreshed by the dew.
Water should be gently given at first, but should be
increased as the growth of the plants advance, but very
sparingly during the setting of the fruit. Before the
middle of May water should be given in warm morn¬
ings, but after that time evening waterings are best.
The water should be warmed to the temperature of the
bed, and the frames should be kept close for a time after
watering, and if the sun is strong at the time a Ejjat
should be thrown over the lights ; but as a strong steam
will be the consequence, the mats should be removed in
an hour or two afterwards and the glasses tilted to give
vent to the steam, and influence to the air. As the fruit
begins to ripen, such waterings should be given as barely
to keep the plant from flagging, and they should be
withheld altogether as the fruit turns colour. Mr.
Knight finding that the leaves of melon plants sustained
great injury from the weight of the water falling from
the watering-pot, pours the water on tiles which are
placed on the surface of the bed. As the plants advance
in the first runners three or four joints, if no blossom is
shown, they should be stopped by pinching them off
above the third joint, in order that they may push out
laterals, and as the runners extend they should be
trained over the surface of the bed with pegs, taking
care to cut out the superabundant and unfruitful shoots,
that is the very weak and very luxuriant ones, for the
middle-sized ones are generally found the most fertile,
but they should never be too much lopped. All bruised,
damped, or decayed leaves should also be removed as
they appear, at the same time keeping the plants clear
from weeds. The plants should, however, be always
kept moderately clear of leaves and stems, and the shoots
should be shortened a joint or two above the fruit, as
well as long shoots before showing fruit, provided there
be the embryo of another shoot coming out at the side,
for the fruit will not swell well unless there be a growing
shoot called a leader before it, and this leader may be
stopped above a joint, and if the plant is in health it will
produce another. If the kind of melon be large, no
more than one or two should be left on a plant to swell
at the same time, and if small, three or four are sufficient.
Mr. Knight, as soon as a sufficient quantity of fruit is
set, between twenty and thirty pounds on each plant, (the
Salónica kind,) he says no further production of foliage
should be allowed, and for this purpose he pinches off
the laterals as soon as produced whenever more foliage
cannot be exposed to the light. He says no further
part of the full grown leaves should ever be destroyed,
however distant from the fruit or even growing on a
distinct branch, for he considers they still contribute to
the support of the fruit on whatever branch they may be
placed. As melons, like cucumbers, produce unisexual
blossom, the setting of the fruit is assisted by impreg¬
nating the female blossoms with the male flowers, but they
will also set naturally in the season, when the glasses are
required to be almost constantly open. Some gardeners
are of opinion that melons impregnated naturally do not
swell so well nor produce so handsome fruit as when
impregnated artificially. When the fruit has attained
the size of a walnut, a flat tile or piece of glass is placed
under each. Ripe melons are distinguished by their
full size, and sometimes by turning yellowish, but better
by the pleasant odour which they exhale, and by the
footstalk cracking at the base of the fruit. On these
134* HORTICULTURE
Horticul- indications the fruit should be cut before too ripe, that
it may eat with a sharp flavour, and the morning is con¬
sidered the best time for cutting the fruit. Seed of par¬
ticularly fine kinds or approved sorts well ripened
should be preserved, washing them from the pulp,
afterwards drying them and putting them apart in paper.
Care should be taken that the kinds from which seeds
are saved be genuine, for when different kinds are grown
in the same frame or near each other this can never be
the case.
When the fruit of the first crop has been cut, a se¬
cond crop may be obtained from the same plants ; if the
first crop has been cleared away before the middle of
June, the second crop will come in at a very good
season. For this purpose the plants should be pruned
as soon as the fruit is gathered, shortening the healthy
runners at a promising joint, after which renew the
surface of the mould partially three inches, at the same
time watering the plants copiously, shutting down the
glasses at nights and shading them in the middle of
hot days until they have pushed new shoots and roots ;
afterwards the same course of culture and treatment
should be followed as for the first crop. Sometimes
this second crop is superior to the first. A second crop
may also be obtained from cuttings made from the ex¬
tremities of the shoots of the old plants after the first
crop is ripened ; these cuttings are planted in small
pots filled half-way with mould, and placed in a hot-bed
to strike root, and when the old plants in the bed are
removed the old soil is taken out, and fresh soil placed
in its stead, and as soon as the cuttings are struck they
are taken out of the pots and planted in the middle of
the lights just in the same way as seedlings, and their
after treatment is the same. The cuttings will show
flowers in the courseof a week after they are replanted, and
by this means an excellent and quick crop is procured.
Mr. Knight having erected for the culture of his
Persian melons a small hot-house heated by a flue, he
sets a single plant in each pot, placing them along the
flue with a brick under each, and trains the vines of
the plants to a trellis, and by this means even three
crops may be obtained in the same season from the
same plants. The only way to prevent these melon
plants from being infested by insects or injured by
disease is to keep them constantly in a vigorous growing
state. In warm weather they should be watered all
over the fruit and leaves till the earth in which they
grow be thoroughly moistened.
A glazed pit to receive either stable dung or tanners*
bark is calculated to ripen superior fruit. The well of
the pit may be formed of a nine-inch wall, or strong
planks three feet in depth, and a low glass case fitted
to it. The plants to be ridged out in the pit in the
usual manner ; and when the heat has declined, a lining
of hot dung should be added outside of the pit if enclosed
by boards, but if enclosed by a wall as much of the
dung and earth within should be thrown out as to ad¬
mit of a lining of new dung. Melons are also grown
in pits heated by flues, such as are used for nursery
hot-houses, or water or steam pipes, and the bed of the
pits may either be filled with tan, dung, or leaves, and
earthed over like hot-beds, and the plants set in the
mould in rows four feet apart, or three plants in a clump
in the centre of each light. The future management
of the plants in pits is the same as those in hot-beds,
until September, when it will be proper to apply heat,
and by these means good melons are often to be had in
October and November. Melons may also be cul- Horticul-
tivated in M'Phail's pit, which is explained under
Cucumber.
Melons are often cultivated in hot-bed ridges in the
open ground, under hand-glasses, for late fruit. The
plants for this purpose are reared on a hot-bed from the
middle of March to the middle of April in the usual
way, and from the middle of April to the third week in
May, or when the plants are five or six weeks old they
will be fit to ridge out. With well prepared stable
dung, or with a mixture of stable dung and well fer¬
mented leaves, build a bed four feet wide and two and
a half feet thick, and the length according to the num¬
ber of hand-glasses to be used, and when the bed of
dung or leaves is brought to a sweet, well-tempered
heat, it should be covered over with mould ten or twelve
inches in depth ; the glasses are then placed along the
middle of the ridge, keeping them close until the dung
has warmed the earth under them, and the same or
next day the plants may be inserted with balls in the
usual way in the centre ; their after treatment is almost
the same as for plants in hot-beds. Air is given by
tilting the glasses and covering with mats in cold wea¬
ther and heavy cold rains. If the minimum tempera¬
ture fall below 65° at night, the side of the bed should
be lined with hot dung, covering the lining with mould
at top. When the runners have extended and filled the
glasses they must be trained beyond them. When the
weather is settled in June the glasses should be raised by
props to remain day and night but covering with mats
on cold nights, for which purpose the beds should be
arched over with hoops or rods to support the mats, or
oiled paper frames may be made to place over the
beds, in which case the glasses should be removed in
June and the frames substituted; but if no oiled
paper frames are used the glasses must be kept con¬
stantly over the hearts of the plants. Melons grown in
this way ripen in July and August, but more generally in
September. The crops coming in at the decline of sum¬
mer must be guarded from cold at nights and assisted
by fresii linings. In warm situations melons may be
grown on ridges or shallow beds of half-spent dung in
the open air like cucumbers ; the plants for this pur¬
pose are reared and treated in the ordinary way, and
finally transplanted about the first or second week of
May. The beds should be at least four feet wide, and
one foot higher at the back than in front, and hand¬
glasses four feet apart, with two or three plants under
each, are placed along the centre of the bed.
Forcing cucumbers.—The cucumber is a tender an¬
nual, a native of the East Indies, and was introduced
to Britain in 1573. If sown in the open ground in
May the plants will produce flowers in July and Au¬
gust. The cucumber is nearly of as great antiquity as
the vine, for Moses mentions it as abounding in Egypt
when the children of Israel were there : Numbers^
ch. ii. in England it is cultivated extensively in
forcing frames and in the open air, particularly near
large towns. In Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire whole
fields are seen covered with cucumbers without the aid
of dung or glass, and the produce of which is used for
pickling. The green full-grown fruit is used as a salad ;
it is also salted when half-grown, and preserved in vine¬
gar when young and small. The following are the
names of the varieties usually cultivated : 1. Early
long prickly; 2. Early short prickly; 3. Cluster; 4.
Smooth green Roman; 5. White Turkey; 6. Long
HORTICULTURE
135*
Horticul- green Turkey; 7. Nepaul ; 8. Largest green pricklv;
9. Dutch or white short prickly. To produce cucum-
bers at an early season is an object of emulation among
gardeners like the melon. The cucumber is cultivated
in hot-beds» pits, hot-houses, and under hand-glasses, and
is forced by the heat of fire, hot water, steam, and
dung ; but the heat of dung is the most genial to the
culture of the cucumber, and the only means by which
it can be advantageously cultivated. The plant will
grow in any soil, but not with the same degree of vi¬
gour, provided sufficient heat, light, water, and air be
supplied. Abercrombie recommends one-third of rich
top spit earth from an upland pasture, one-third of
vegetable mould, one-sixth of well decomposed stable
dung, with a small quantity of sand. Mould prepared
from the decayed leaves of trees of different kinds
M^Phail found to suit the cucumber plant better than any
other, without any admixture. Acton recommends one-
third of light loam a few months from a common, one-
third of rotten stable dung, and the other third of equal
parts of leaf mould and heath earth, the whole well
mixed together. Mr. Allen {Gard, Mag. vol. i.) con¬
siders the obvious defects in the usual mode of growing
cucumbers to be compost of too light a nature, and
dung not sufficiently worked before it is earthed over ;
his soil is loam and rotten dung well mixed. Seed
should be from two to four years old before it is sown,
for plants raised from younger seeds run too much to
vine ; they are generally reared on a one-light frame
placed in a sheltered situation, for high winds have a
powerful effect upon it ; the heat in some parts of the
frame will be greatly abated by it, and in other parts it
will be stronger, having been driven into corners, by
which means some of the seedlings will be retarded in
their growth, while others will be destroyed. When
the bed is in a fit state for moulding lay five or six
inches of compost over its surface ; the dung may be
about five feet high at back and four feet in front. The
seed may be either sown in the earth of the bed, or in
pots, two or three in each, which should be plunged a
little in the earth of the bed, or in broad pans. The
frame should be matted at night in the ordinary way.
Seedlings require to be reared ten or twelve weeks be¬
fore they produce fruit. The end of January and the
beginning of February is a good time for commencing
to force for the earliest crops, and for secondary and
main crops they may be started in the subsequent months
as required. To have a constant succession, seedlings
should be reared twice a month. As the season ad¬
vances the length of the course of forcing will be re¬
duced to eight, seven, and even six weeks. Cucumber
plants may be made to produce fruit from the middle of
March till the middle of September; but from the mid¬
dle of September to the middle of March their produce
of course will be more scanty. Plants reared from seed
in October will produce fruit in February or March,
and will continue to bear until the following October, if
they are kept in frames and supplied with plenty of
heat and water; however, sowing in January is quite
soon enough, for if sown before that time it is striving
against the stream to little purpose, according to Nicol.
Instead of rearing from seed plants may be struck
from cuttings and kept on from year to year. These cut¬
tings are best when taken from the tops of bearing
shoots and planted in pots, which are to be plunged
in a gentle heat ; this is considered the best mode of
propagation for a winter crop of fruit. The minimum
VOL. VI.
temyjerature for a seed bed should never be lower than Horticul-
58° at the coldest time of night, and the maximum in
the daytime should be about 65°, because air admitted
while the sun shines will do more good to the plants
than a higher temperature. According to Abercrombie
some keep their seed bed some degrees higher. When
the seedlings have shown the first rough leaves they
should be taken up carefully and planted two or three
in a small pot, afterwards giving them a little water,
plunging the pots into the bed, and when the plants
have grown one or two joints the tops should be pinched
out. The mats which the frames are covered with at
night should always be removed by sunrise. As soon
as the heat begins to rise in the bed and steam begins
to appear, the light should be tilted every day, in what¬
ever state the weather may be, until the plants break
ground, but with great care in cold and frosty weather.
Water should be supplied to the plants once in two or
three days. When the heat begins to decline in the
bed it must be augmented by linings. The height and
width of a fruiting bed should be made according to the
season, and of course according to the size of the frame
to be placed upon it; as for instance, in January four
feet high in front and four and a half feet at back, and
six inches broader than the frame all round. In Fe¬
bruary, three feet three inches in front and four feet at
back, and four inches broader than the frame all round.
In March, three feet in front and three and a half feet
at back, and four inches wider than the frame all round.
The frame and glasses should be put on in all cases
as soon as the body of the dung is built up, at the
same time tilting the glasses a little to draw up the
heat and give vent to the steam, and so to remain until
the bed is reduced to a regular temperature, which
may be ascertained by the thermometer, or by sticks
thrust into the bed and drawn up quickly and tried by
the hand ; it may also be ascertained by the mild smell
of the vapour rising from the bed. When this has
been done, which will be in a week or ten days after the
bed has been built, a small hill of mould should be put
in the centre of each light six or ten inches in height,
the intervals between the hills should be earthed over
afterwards two to four inches deep when the heat is
ascertained to be within safe limits, which is known by
the mould not becoming white at top or cracking.
Some place a layer of turf with the sward downwards,
between the dung and the mould of the hills, which
must be of great advantage by preventing the heat of
the dung from burning the roots of the plants and the
mould in the hills.
Mr. Allen {Gard. Mag. vol. i.) makes his earliest
beds in December and January, placing round flat
mats, fifteen inches in diameter, which are formed bv
' y
coiling bands of straw in the centre of each light, on
O O '
which he makes the hills of earth in which the plants
are set, which prevents the mould in the hills and the
roots from being burned, the earth being kept within
the bounds of the mats. The frames are raised as the
plants grow, and the heat is kept up by renewing the
linings once a week, and forking the dung inside the
bed beyond the mats. In a month before the beds are
made up the dung should be laid in a heap, turned
three or four times and shaken to pieces with a fork,
and the outside turned into the middle and the middle
to the outside, that the whole may have a regular fer¬
mentation, and if dry it should be made moderately
moist with water. Some form a stratum of wood one
s*
136*
HORTICULTURE.
Plorticul- foot high under the bed, composed generally of old roots
of trees, to act as a drain. After the plants are set they
should be shaded with mats until they have struck new
roots, covering the glasses, however, every evening with
mats. The following table of temperature for every
month in the year is given by M'Phail, which will suit
the cucumber in whatever kind of structure it may be
grown.
Morning. Noon. Evening.
0
O
0
O
o
O
January,
50 to 86
56 to
86
54 to 77
February,
68
88
66
33
90
58
33
84
March,
62
53
83
65
33
90
62
33
85
April,
69
33
84
68
33
93
64
33
90
May.
67
35
79
70
3.
90
66
33
95
June,
62
3»
85
80
33
98
67
33
90
July,
61
33
79
72
33
105
69
3»
95
August,
60
3J
78
80
'3
96
70
33
89
September,
69
33
80
74
33
100
72
33
97
October,
64
SJ
81
71
33
101
68
33
89
November,
62
s>
82
65
33
92
61
33
80
December,
65
33
88
64
33
77
58
33
71
If the heat decline on the bed, it must be supported
by timely linings of fresh dung applied to the sides,
fifteen or eighteen inches wide, and equal in height to
the beds ; generally the back of the bed is lined first,
and the front and sides in a week or a fortnight after¬
wards, as may seem necessary by the degrees of heat in
the bed, previously cutting the dung of the original bed
down quite close to the frame. The glasses require to
be also covered with mats or other materials at night
till June. Air should be admitted in mild weather, and
more freely during sunshine, by tilting the lights gra¬
dually in the forenoon and as gradually shutting them
again in the afternoon until they are quite close at
night, unless the heat and steam be great, in which case
they may be occasionally left open half an inch at
night.
Cucumber plants delight in a sweet wholesome air
and plenty of heat and water, and without them they
will not succeed. All the water given to cucumber
plants should be warmed to the air of the bed in early
forcing, at which time it should be supplied in the fore¬
noon of a mild day ; but when the season is more ad¬
vanced it may be given either in the morning or even¬
ing. The quantity of water to be given will depend
upon the heat of the bed, the strength of the plants, and
the temperature of the external air ; as in gloomy
moist weather they require less water than when it is
clear and dry. If water be given in too great a quantity
or too often, it will hinder the fruit from setting and
swelling, and if too little be given the plants will grow
weak and the fruit hollow. Both Mr. Knight and Mr.
Mearns use water impregnated with sheep's dung,
which they found of great advantage to the growth of
the plants ; but when this is used no water is given
over the leaves but only applied to the roots. When
the plants begin to push runners, that is after their tops
have been pinched off, earth should be added to the
bed, so as to make its surface almost equal to the level
of the hills in which the plants are set, laying in the
mould in a sloping manner from the back of the bed.
When plants have extended the first runners three
joints without showing fruit, they should again be
stopped by pinching off their tops, which will strengthen
the plants and create in them a disposition to bear. As
fertile runners extend they should be trained out regu- Horticul-
larly along the surface of the mould fastening them
down with pegs. Every shoot should be furnished with
a leader, without which it will become unfruitful,
and therefore should be cut out. The bed should be
kept moderately thin of shoots and leaves. When the
secondary runners have made two joints, their tops may
be pinched off above the second joint. Cucumber
plants being furnished with tendrils, they may also be
trained to branchy sticks in an upright manner. The
flowers of the cucumber being unisexual, the male
blossoms should be detached as soon as expanded and
placed close to or above the stigma of the female flower,
in order that it may be impregnated by its pollen, and
thus proceed to set the fruit as the blossoms of both
sexes open. The best time to perform this operation
is the early part of the day, using a fresh male flower
for each impregnation, unless they are scarce.
Cucumbers generally attain their proper size for use
from fifteen to twenty days after setting. But in plants
more fully exposed to the air impregnation is effected
by insects, wind, &c. The female blossom is readily
distinguished from the male one by being furnished
with the rudiment of the young fruit at its base, and by
the absence of stamens. When the fruit is set and
swelling, a fragment of glass or tile is placed under
each to keep it from contact with the mould. A fine
bloom may be produced on the fruit by proper treat¬
ment and a good supply of foliage all over the bed, and
particularly over the fiuit. Seed is generally selected
from the best formed fruit and most productive plants,
which is allowed to continue to grow till it becomes
yellow, and when the fruit has lain two or three weeks
after cutting, it should be cut open and the seeds taken
out, washed from the pulp, dried, and laid apart in paper
till wanted. The thrips attack early cucumbers, the only
remedy for which is fumigation, and plenty of water is
the only preventive of red spider.
The following method is given by M'Phail for
growing cucumbers under hand-glasses, and that which
is generally practised. The seeds are sown in a hot-bed
in April, and when the plants come up they are set in
pots two or three in each, kept properly watered, and
stopped above the first or second joint by pinching. In
May a trench is dug about two feet deep and three feet
broad, and the length according to the number ot glasses
to be used ; this trench is then filled with warm dung,
which is covered with about a foot thick of good earth ;
the glasses are then set on three feet apart, and when the
mould has become warm from the heat of the dung
below, the plants are turned out of the pots and planted
in the mould under the glasses with the balls attached ;
a little water is then given, and the glasses replaced,
and when the plants have begun to grow the glasses
are tilted a little on one side to admit air, which is more
plentifully supplied as the season advances, to harden
the plants so that they may be able to endure the open
air. When the plants have filled the glasses, the runners
are trained out horizontally, to allow the glasses to
be raised upon props. After which the plants require
nothing more than to be supplied with water in dry
weather, and to stop the shoots when they have run too
thin of branches, at the same time thinning the leaves
and branches where too crowded. Abercrombie, how¬
ever, recommends raising the bed on the level ground
instead of sinking it, so that a lining of fresh dung may
be added when the heat declines. At first the plants
HORTICULTURE. 137*
Horticul- should be protected by covering the glasses with mats ;
ture. oiled paper frames are a good substitute for glasses.
In cultivating cucumbers M'Phail's pit has some
advantages over the common hot-bed, there being no
chance of burning the roots of the plants or the mould,
as the linings are placed outside the pit and no dung
under the plants ; and the pit is so formed that no per¬
nicious steam can get into the bed, and consequently it
matters little what the linings are composed of provided
it produce the required degree of heat. When the bed
is built, the frame is placed upon it and fixed with
mortar, and the flues are well washed and rubbed with
a thick grout made of lime and water which fills every
aperture. A sheltered situation is necessary for this
kind of pit. The pit is about three feet deep below the
surface of the flues ; this may be entirely filled with brick¬
bats, small stones, or any kind of loose rubbish, for the
purpose of draining the mould which is placed on its
surface, and above this is placed four feet deep of vege¬
table or leaf mould, on which the hills that are to
receive the plants are made in the ordinary way.
Raising the hills near to the glass is necessary because
of the sinking of the soil below. The lining of dung
is applied a few days before finally planting, in order
that the mould may be properly heated. The linings
should be made about three feet broad at the base, and
tapering to thirty inches at top, and they should seldom
be raised above the level of the mould in the frame, nor
should they be suffered to sink much below it, and when
the heat declines, fresh linings are to be added as in the
common hot-bed, and the treatment of the plants is the
same as in the common hot-bed.
Cucumber plants after being reared on a hot-bed in
August or later may be grown in a stove for a winter crop,
and shifted from size to size of pot as they advance, and
the shoots trained to upright lath trellising. The pots
should be set over the flues or water-pipes placing a
pan under each. Some make beds for cultivating
cucumbers for winter use in a vinery in the ordinary
way. In August or September the seeds are sown on a
hot-bed, and the plants are treated in the usual manner
until they are fit to ridge out, which is generally about
the beginning of November, at which time the vines are
withdrawn from the house, and the dung-bed is built in
the pit and the frame placed on it, and the surface of
(he bed is moulded in the usual way, and after the steam
of the dung has subsided the plants are set and the
lights are put on the house, and fires are made in the
evening to warm the house from 50° to 60°, and in severe
frosts to 70°. In the mornings of the coldest and
shortest days, such a fire should be made as to keep the
house to 70°, giving air from eight o'clock to half-
past nine o'clock in the morning by opening the front
sashes and top lights of the house ; after this time and
during the remainder of the day air should be given by tilt¬
ing the lights of the frame in mild weather, and during
sunshine the lights of the frame may be entirely left otf
for some hours each day, and after forming new linings,
the top lights of the house may be left open all night to
permit the escape of rank steam. In this way a certain
crop of cucumbers may be obtained through the winter
at one-third the expense of the usual method. In March
following the vines are again introduced, and will break
well in consequence of the genial steam from the dung.
Choko. Choko {Sechium edule of Swartz) is a native of the
West Indies. The fruit is used in soups, or boiled and
eaten as a substitute for turnips. It is cultivated to
some extent in Jamaica, where it .is principally used for Horticul-
feeding hogs. It might be cultivated in Britain for use
in the manner of the cucumber or melon.
Vegetable marrow^ {Cucurbita ov if er a of Linnaeus,) Vegetable
Vumpkin or Pompion, {Cucurbita pepo of Linnaeus,) marrow
Squashy ( Cucurbita melopepo of Linnaeus,) as well as
other species and varieties of gourd, may be cultivated in
the following manner. The seed of all may be sown in
April in a hot bed, under a frame or hand-glass, and in
May the plants so reared will be large enough for trans¬
planting on a trench filled with horse dung under hand¬
glasses like cucumbers, or the seed may be sown in
May under hand-glasses without any bottom heat to
rear plants for transferring to a favourable situation, or
still later seed may be sown in the open ground under a
south wall where the plants are to remain. The smaller
fruited kinds do best if trained to upright poles or
trellis-work. As the vines extend they are trained along
the surface, and fastened down with pegs at every joint,
and they will throw out roots. Plenty of water should
be given in dry warm weather. In dry seasons they
form an excellent substitute for cabbages or turnips.
The tender tops are preferred to greens or spinach,
and make a much more delicate dish than the fruit.
Mr. Gray {Gard. Mag. vol. i.) grows vegetable marrow
and other gourds in the alleys between asparagus beds,
and he thinks their large leaves protect the roots of the
asparagus plants from the sun, and the asparagus stems
form at the same time shelter to the leaves of the gourds.
The people in some country villages in England grow
pumpkins and gourds on dung-hills, and train the run¬
ners along the surface.
Forcing mushrooms»—The cultivation of the mush- Forciisg
room comes under the head of forcing, as it has never mush-
been produced by any other artificial mode of culture than
on ridges or layers of warm dung. Its mode of propa¬
gation is unlike that of other esculent vegetables. In the
mushroom there is nothing like seed visible, for in fungi
the sporules or seeds are in the substance of the plant,
and the whole of which may be viewed as organs of re¬
production. The droppings of horses are found to
produce mushrooms more readily than the dung of
other animals. The spawn of mushrooms is a white
fibrous substance found in reduced dung and other nidus
fitted to nourish it, and these threads produce tubercles.
Spawn when once procured may be extended as spawn
without producing mushrooms. Nicol recommends the
following plan of making beds for mushrooms. First Making
laying the bottom with ashes, stones, gravel, or brick- spawn,
bats, to keep the bed free from damp underneath, over
which he lays a course of horse droppings six inches
thick fresh and unbroken from the stable, and the drier
the better, but the dung must not be allowed to
ferment, and for this purpose the bed should be exposed
as much as possible to the influence of the air, but at
the same time defending it from wet if in the open air.
When the dung is quite dry, and consequently past all
chance of fermentation, it is covered with light dry
earth, the more sandy the better, to the depth of two
inches, after which another course of horse droppings is
laid upon that, and earthed over as before when dry, and
then a third course oí droppings which is also earthed
over as before, which finishes the bed, which is generally
productive. The bed should be a little rounded, in order
that the centre may not be more moist than the sides,
this might be done in forming the basement, which
would make the bed of equal thickness in all parts. Such
s* 2
138*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- 2l bed does not require to be spawned, as it will generate
> . spawn. In five or six weeks from the time the bed
has been finished, if in a stable, dry cellar, or fined pit, it
will begin to produce, but if made up in a colder situa¬
tion, it will require two or three months. Mushroom
spawn is found in perfection naturally in downs, in
horse-mill tracks under shelter, in dry half rotted dung
heaps in August and September ; it is found in cakes or
lumps, and if kept dry and well aired it will keep good
for three or four years. The dung of horses fed chiefiy
on dry food generates spawn more readily than when
fed on green food ; the month of March is therefore
generally the most proper time, the cattle not having
much green food at the time. By taking at that time
two barrow loads of cow dung, one load of sheep, undone
of horse dung, drying them well, and breaking them so
small as to pass through a garden sieve, and afterwards
mixing them well and throwing them up into a conical
heap in a dry shed or under shelter, treading the heap
as it is thrown up, which will prevent it from heating too
much, will readily produce spawn. The nearer the bed is
kept to from 55° to 60° Fahrenheit the greater will be the
success ; the mushroom being impatient both of too much
heat and too much cold, for this purpose the heap may be
covered with horse litter in a state of fermentation to the
thickness of four inches all over, or if the shed in which
the heap is placed be warm, old mats may be used instead
of dung. If the bed has been properly managed, the
spawn will have begun to run in one or two months ; the
time, however, depends upon the state of the temperature
kept up in the heap. This last is the method followed by
Mr. Wales, which is fully explained in the Memoirs of the
CaledonianHortimlturalSociety. The method Mr.Wales
follows in preserving artificial spawn is, that he takes of
horse dung without litter three barrow loads, two barrow
loads of mould formed of rotten tree leaves, one barrow
load of old tan bark, one barrow load of sheep's dung,
mixing all well together till it is of the consistence of
mortar or grafting clay ; a small frame is then taken,
such as is used by brickmakers for moulding, six inches
long, four broad, and three deep ; a portion of the
mixture is then forced into the mould, taking care to wet
the sides of the mould so that the spawn bricks may
readily come out. After the bricks are made and have
stood two hours, three holes are made in the centre of
each brick with a blunt dibble an inch from each other,
and about half way through, for receiving the spawn.
The bricks are then laid upon boards as they are made
that they may be carried out of doors in fine weather to
dry, which is accelerated by turning them on the board,
for if the least damp be left in the brick the spawn will
inevitably perish. When the bricks are perfectly dry
and firm, fresh horse litter is taken which has been laid
up in a heap to sweeten as if for hot-beds, and spread a
course of it six inches thick, on which lay the bricks.
The horse litter which is prepared for covering the bricks
ought not to be rank, for the drier and sweeter the heat
the more free the spawn will work, and if the weather is
warm the less covering will serve. If there should be
any heat in the old covering at the expiration of three
weeks no fiirther covering will be required, after which
the holes in the bricks must be filled close up with
spawn, and as the bricks are laid one upon another, the
upper side of each when laid must be also covered with
spawn, at the same time taking care to keep them as
open between each other as possible, so as to allow the
heat and steam of the dung to pass tlirough all paits of
the heap. The heap is to be so formed as to tern inate Horticul-
at top in a single brick. When all are thus laid, place
round the sides and top of the heap six inches thick of hot
dung, which will soon raise a fine moderate heat. All
must be performed under shelter as in a shed. Two
weeks after this give three inches thick additional hot
dung over the first or old covering to renew the heat
and make it work forcibly for the space of two or three
weeks more, when the litter may be taken off and cleared
away ; after which the bricks may be allowed to stand
and dry a few days in the heap: they are then to be laid
up and used as wanted in some dry place, where they
will keep good for years. In the beginning of May,
M'Phail collects a heap of nearly equal quantities of
cow, horse, and sheep dung, adding to it some rotten
fern leaves or rotten dry dung from the linings of hot¬
beds, after which he mixes them all well together to the
consistence of mortar ; he then spreads this mixture on
the floor of a dry shed, at the same time beating and
treading it firm, and as soon as it is dry enough it is cut
into pieces in the form of bricks ; these pieces are set to
dry until they can be conveniently handled, a hole is
then made in the middle of each with a knife and a little
piece of good spawn is put in each hole, which is after¬
wards closed up with the bit that was taken out with the
knife ; the whole of the bricks are then piled up in such
a manner that the air may pass through between the
pieces and dry them gradually ; but if there be any light
in the shed in which they are piled, the heap should be
covered with mats or other light covering to keep them
in the daik, and when the spawn has extended itself
through every part of the prepared pieces lay them sepa¬
rately that they may become perfectly dry, which will
prevent mushrooms from springing out of them, and
which if suffered would exhaust the spawn. If kept
dry, however, the spawn will keep good many years.
Oldacre makes his spawn bricks of fresh horse droppings
mixed with short litter, one-third of cow's dung, and a
small portion of earth to cement them, the whole is well
mixed and made to the consistence of mortar ; this mix¬
ture is spread out on a floor and managed according to the
plan followed by M'Phail ; the spawn is inserted in the
method practised by Wales, and the bricks are afterwards
piled and covered with dung in the ordinary way. Hay
forms his spawn bricks of cow dung, rotten wood, and
spray from the bottom of hedges, with the addition of a
little strong loam. Rogers forms his spawn bricks of
cow dung not fresh, scrapings of roads one-half, adding
to it a third or fourth of vegetable mould produced by
decayed leaves. When spawn has the appearance of
threads or fibres, which is occasioned by too much
moisture, it is no longer fit for use, for it should not be
so far developed, but have the appearance of indistinct
white mould.
The modes of growing mushrooms are more various Growirg
than the methods of producing spawn. In the open air mush-
they are grown on ridges covered with litter and mats,
and on the same kind of ridges in open and close sheds,
on shelves in fined sheds built on purpose, in pots,
boxes, hampers placed in any warm situation, also in
cucumber and melon beds, &c. For beds or ridges in
the open air the dung is prepared by mixing fresh
stable dung with old dry linings of hot-beds, and letting
it lay for a fortnight it will be fit tor use ; but if it
consists entirely of fresh horse dung, it should be well
prepared by turning and mixing as for hot-beds untd
it is equally fermented and deprived of its noxious
HORTIC ULTURE. 139*
Horticul- vapours. The bed may be four feet wide at bottom, and
turec length according to the quantity of mushrooms re-
quired. In building the bed the dung should be well
shaken and beaten down with a fork, leaving it to settle
and to expend its most violent heat. When the dung is
in a fit state, which will be in the course of a month
after it has been put together, the foundation should
be made dry and the dung should be placed in a sloping
manner, so that the bed may terminate in a narrow ridge
along tlie centre about four feet in height. Having
proved the heat by heat sticks, as they are called, left
some days in the bed, it should be covered with mould
two inches thick to two-thirds of the sloping part from
the bottom leaving the top open to allow the steam to
evaporate as it rises, and when this exhalation is com¬
plete the top should also be covered with mould. After
this is completed, divide the spawn bricks into small
lumps, and set these lumps or pieces six or eight inches
asunder, thrusting them through the mould down to
the surface of the dung, or the spawn may be broken
into small bits and scattered over the surface of the
dung, covering with earth afterwards. The earth with
which the beds are moulded should be in a pliable state,
not too wet nor too dry. Beds exposed to the weather it
is necessary to protect from wet ; even when under a
shed it is equally necessary to cover them with straw or
hay twelve inches thick as the strength of the dung
declines, or as the bed may be exposed. In sheds and
mushroom-houses the ridge mode may be adopted, or
on a flat bed similarly composed. Sometimes the beds are
formed in walled pits sloping in the manner of a
cucumber bed. The German method of cultivating
mushrooms on shelves in fined pits, introduced to this
country by Mr. Oldacre, is now however considered to
have no advantage over the common mode, but the
following is the method as explained by Mr. Oldacre.
The beds on the shelves are composed of fresh horse
dung that has neither been exposed to wet nor fermenta¬
tion, clearing it from long straw, and adding a fourth
part of tolerably dry turf mould, mixing it well with the
dung, thus forming a compact solid substance so con¬
genial to the growth of the mushroom. Dung collected
from the exercise ground of a large stable or round a
horse mill under shelter, mixed with a fourth part of
short litter, adding to it as many fresh horse droppings
as will causea gentle heat,will be found superior to that
collected from the stables. The beds are formed on the
shelves and ground-floor of the house by placing a layer
of the mixture three inches thick, at the same time
heating it well down with a mallet, after which add
another layer, and repeat the same process until the bed
is seven inches thick and of a solid body; then make
the surface of the bed smooth and even. As soon as
these beds are from 80® to 90° of Fahtenheit beat them
a second time to render them still more solid, making
holes in them three inches in diameter and nine inches
asunder quite through the compost, in order to cool it
and prevent an excess of heat from taking place. In
four or five days after being put together, if the beds
have not attained the heat required, add another layer
of compost two inches thick, which will, in all proba¬
bility, increase the heat sufficiently. Beds made in this
manner readily generate spawn in summer, and often in
winter. In three or four days after the holes have been
made and after having ascertained the degree of heat,
and at which time the inside of the holes will have
become dry, the bed will then be in a proper state for
spawning.which should be done when the heat is on the de- fíorticul-
ciine ; the holes are then well filled with spawn and beaten
into them, after which make the surface of the bed solid
and level. In about a fortnight after the spawn has been
introduced it is found to have run, the beds should be
covered over with mould if wanted to produce an imme¬
diate supply of mushrooms, but the beds intended for suc¬
cession should remain unearthed until wanted. In summer
the beds will require to be earthed three or four weeks,
and in winter a month or five weeks before they are
wished to produce a crop. In hot weather air must he
admitted freely till the spawn has spread. The earth
used for covering the beds is rich maiden earth in
which the turf has been well reduced; this is laid on
about two inches thick over the surface, at the same
time beating it solid and level ; it should neither be too
moist nor too dry, but just in such a state as to take
a smooth face when beaten. From the time of covering
the beds with earth, the shed or house should be kept
from 50® to 55° of Fahrenheit and the light excluded.
In watering the beds extreme caution is necessary ; they
should be only lightly sprinkled with a syringe or the
rose of a watering-pot, and the water used should be
milk warm. If the beds have become very dry, it is
better to give them several sprinklings than one heavy
supply. In gathering the full-grown mushrooms great
care is requisite not to injure the smaller ones at their
bases. If the mushrooms become too long and weak in
the stem, it is a certain sign that the temperature is too
great, consequently air must be admitred in proportion
to the heat. When the beds begin to decline remove
the surface mould, and if decayed, they are to be de¬
stroyed and replaced by new ones; but if dry, solid, and
full of good spawn, add a layer of fresh earth three
inches thick and beat it down as before, and it will
produce a second crop of mushrooms. Compactness
and dryness f eem to be the principle of the German plan
as explained by Oldacre. In Covent-garden, however,
mushrooms grown on ridges are greatly preferred to
those grown on shelves or in boxes according to the
German method ; they are considered heavier and
much more juicy. Rogers remarks (Hort, Trans,
vol. iv.) that the quality of mushrooms depends upon
the manner they are nourished. Wales (Caledon, Hor .
Mem.) grows mushrooms in hampers, boxes, or in any
thing which will hold dung and soil together, placing
them in the back sheds of hot-houses, and in order
to keep up a rotation of crops they are filled from
time to lime. They are to be half filled with dry horse
dung' and the spawn placed upon the dung in the
usual way, and after lying until the spawn has begun
to run on the dung, which is getierally in a few days
afterwards, thev are to be covered an inch and a half
with fresh dnng over the surface, and in about a fortnight
afterwards they should be moulded over two and a half
inches thick, at the same time bea ing down the earth
like the dung, and if the mould on the surface become
too dry gentle waterings should be given with water
milk warm. Mushrooms may be grown also in hampers
and boxes without dung, by laying a little straw care¬
fully in the bottom of the hampers, and laying the spawn
in small pieces regularly over the straw, and afterwards
covering it over with three and a half inches of earth,
beating it well down, afterwards giving water as in the
former plan. The following is the compost used for
growing mushrooms in boxes. A quantity of fresn
horse dung, and for every layer of dung six inches deep
140* HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- lay three inches of any light earth, and these alternate
ture. layers may be repeated until there is as much as will be
wanted in the course of the year. After it has laid six
months, the dung being then sufficiently rotted, it should
be broke fine by a spade, and if passed through a sieve
it will be then ready for use. Some mushroom growers
put spawn in melon beds in the ordinary way, and after
the mould has become dry and the melon vines cleared
away gentle waterings are given, the glasses put on,
and mushrooms will rise in great quantities in autumn,
and will continue until frost prevent them ; and after the
frost ceases in spring, if the frames and glasses are re¬
moved from the beds, the warm showers of spring will
cause the mushrooms to rise again. Mushrooms may
be produced in a cellar by any of the modes mentioned
above, in which situation, however, no fire and less
water is necessary, the application of which proves so
frequently injurious to mushrooms. Air is essential to
the flavour of mushrooms. Mushrooms may also be
grown in the open air during summer, provided they
are sheltered from the sun, which may be done by
making a bed of dung, laying spawn on its surface, and
moulding it over, and then sowing a light crop of vege¬
tables, as carrots or radishes, over it, which when grown
will protect the mushrooms.
The cultivation of the following fruits hardly comes
under the head of forcing ; they only requiring to be
kept in the temperature of the countries in which they
naturally grow.
The The orange tribe {Citrus) contain the most striking
orange fruit-bearing trees, and must have attracted the notice of
man long before other fruits of less beauty but of more
nutriment. The golden apples of the heathens and the
forbidden fruit of the Jews are supposed to allude to
this tribe, though there are no authentic records of any
species of Citrus having been known ; certainly none
were cultivated by the Romans, as Pliny does not men¬
tion them. The principal species are,—1. The citron,
{Citrus medica of Risso,) of which there are several
varieties ; they are seldom eaten raw, but are generally
preserved and made into confections. 2. The sweet
lime and lumy, {Citrus limetto of Risso,) of which also
there are many known varieties. 3. The lemon and
lime, {Citrus lemonum of Risso,) of which there are
innumerable varieties. 4, The Paradise orange, or for¬
bidden fruit, {Citrus Paradlsi of Macfadyen,) of which
there are the apple and pear shaped. 5. The common or
sweet orange; {Citrus aurantium oí Risso;) the varieties
of this are innumerable, of which the China, Portugal,
and Maltese are the most esteemed ; the latter becomes
of a blood-red colour at maturity, and the pulp is red
and very sweet. 5. The Seville orange. {Citrus vulgaris
of Risso.) The varieties of this are also numerous ; they
are chiefly used in making marmalade and other confec¬
tionery, and the juice and rind are used in medicine.
6. The Shaddock, {Citrus decumana of Linnaeus,) so
called from its having been introduced from Asia to the
West Indies by Captain Shaddock ; it is perhaps the least
useful of the Citrus or orange tribe ; there are several
varieties of it, varying in the size and shape of the fruit
and in the taste and colour of the pulp. 7. The Man¬
darin orange {Citrus nobilis of Loureiro) is said to be
one of the most delicate. All the species and varieties
of Citrus are propagated by seeds, budding, grafting,
layering, and by cutting. They are reared from seed
for new varieties and for stoci<s to graft or bud existing
sorts upon. In Britain they are reared on a hot-bed,
and when the plants are about six weeks old they will Horticul-
be fit to plant into separate pots, and again replaced in
the hot-bed, shading them until they have struck fresh
root, and allowing plenty of air to harden them. In the
following August they will generally be fit for budding,
and when the operation is performed the young trees
should be placed under a hand-glass, and in about a
month afterwards it will be observable whether the buds
have taken ; the tying is then removed and the plants
placed in a green-house for the winter, and in spring
their heads are to be cut off three inches above the in¬
serted bud before it has begun to grow ; the plants should
then be removed to a hot-bed, and by the end of July
the shoots from the inserted buds will be generally about
two feet long, after which they should be exposed to the
influence of the air by degrees to harden the plants
against winter. Grafting is occasionally resorted to;
the whip method is sometimes practised, but the
approach mode, which is sure, is that usually resorted
to in Britain. Several horticulturists prefer rearing
orange trees from cuttings nine to eighteen inches long,
planting them in pots filled with sand five inches deep,
after which giving a good watering to settle the sand
about them, and allowing the pots to stand in the shade
a day or two, when they are plunged up to the brims in a
hot-bed, taking care to keep the cuttings shaded until
they have struck root, after which they should be
planted separately in pots, and replaced in the hot-bed,
shading them for a few weeks ; they are then to be
hardened by exposing them by degrees to the air. Cut¬
tings may be planted at any season, except when the
plants are making young shoots. Wood two years old
is found to strike root as readily as that only one year
old. Oranges may also be struck from layers in the
manner of Camellias : shoots laid in March are fit
to separate in September. At Genoa all kinds of Citrus
are grown in strong yellow clay richly manured. In
France equal parts of clayey loam, rotten vegetable
matter, and half-rotten dung, are employed. In Bri¬
tain various kinds of composts are used with success.
Mr. Mean {Hort. Trans, vol. ii.) makes his compost of
well-rotted cow dung one-fourth, well-prepared rotten
leaves one-half, mellow loam one-fourth, with the addi¬
tion of a small quantity of sand or road grit. Mr. Hen¬
derson, a celebrated grower of orange trees, {Mem. Cal.
Hort. Soc. vol. iii.) takes one part of light brown mould
from ground that has not been cropped or manured for
many years, one part of peat, two parts of river or pit sand,
one part of rotted hot-bed dung, and one part of rotted
leaves, mixing them well together. The standard tem¬
perature for the Citrus tribe is 48°, but in the growing sea¬
son they require 58°, but it should never be allowed to fall
below 38° or 40°. Mr. Ayres {Hort. Trans, vol. iv.) never
suffers his orangery to exceed 50° by fire heat until the
end of February, at which time the trees show blossom ;
it is increased to 55°, but never allowed to exceed 60° by
fire, the excess of which he checks by the admission of
air till the beginning of June, when he begins to force the
trees by keeping the heat in the house up as near as
possible to 75°, for he says the trees can never be
grown well with less heat. The orange, Humboldt
observes, which requires an average temperature of 64°,
will bear a great degree of cold if continued only for a
short time. Dr. Sickler remarks that oranges and lemons
bear a great degree of cold at Rome, provided the trees
be planted in a sheltered situation not much exposed
to the influence of the sun ; for it is the sudden transi-
HORTICULTURE. 141*
Horticul- tion from heat to cold and from cold to heat more than the
ture, degree of either that destroys vegetation. Oranges and
lemons will stand the climate of Devonshire. Citrus
trees under cover require a large share of air in favour¬
able weather to prevent damp. The more air orange
trees have in the blossoming season the more likely the
fruit is to set. Light being essential to the growth of
orange trees, it is therefore essential that orangeries
should at least have glass fronts and roofs, and better if
glass on all sides. Citrus trees require a considerable
supply of water, for the want of it often injures them in
Britain, particularly those grown in boxes, where the
water supplied wets only the surface and escapes by the
sides leaving the centre of the mould dry. Mr. Knight
waters his orange trees with very strong liquid manure,
which he found to increase their health and strength.
All the species and varieties of the orange tribe may be
either grown as dwarf standards in pots, or as large
standards in boxes and tubs, or in the open border of the
house in either way ; or they may be planted against a
trellis and trained in the manner of espaliers. As
standards, however, they combine elegance with utility,
if the orangery be properly constructed. As espaliers
the crop is more certain. Although orange trees do
very well in boxes and tubs, they thrive and succeed best
when planted in the ground and trained like peach trees,
or as standard cherry trees in a conservatory. The
object of pruning Citrus trees is to keep the heads pro¬
portionate, but in Britain it does not differ from that
given to other green-house trees ; but when cultivated
for the sake of the fruit, the branches ought to be kept
moderately thin so as to admit both sun and air to all
parts of the tree. The blossoms being produced on ter¬
minal peduncles which rise from the wood of the current
year, therefore young wood should be encouraged in
every part of the tree. Mr. Ayres cuts away the least
promising branches in February to make room for
younger and more productive shoots, and shortens very
strong branches to keep the head in shape. When the
fruit is set, he seldom leaves more than one on each
peduncle ; others again do not think it necessary to thin
them at all. In France the flowers are thinned for the
purpose of distillation, and the thinned fruit is used in
confectionery. The coccus and red spider are the prin¬
cipal insects that infest orange trees ; the last may be
destroyed by watering with an engine, and the first may
be removed with a wet sponge, by which process the
leaves also may be kept clean. If oranges even when
ripe are not gathered, they will remain on the tree for
several years, but when the young fruit is green and
swelling the old fruit becomes shrivelled and almost void
of juice, but as the young fruit begins to arrive at matu-
rit) the juice begins to return to the old fruit, so that
both the old and young fruit is in perfection at the same
time. The lemon ripens irregularly and drops off
when ripe. In orangeries in Britain fifteen months is
generally required from the time of blossoming to the
ripening of the fruit, and therefore both green and ripe
fruit is together on the tree at the same time. By
allowing the fruit to remain the trees will at all times
have green and yellow fruit, which in spring along
with the leaves and white fragrant blossoms form a
charming ornament.
Loquat. Loquat (^Eriohotrya Japónica of Lindley, the Mespilus
Japónica of Thunberg) is a native of Japan and China,
and was first introduced to Britain in 1787. The fruit
approaches in taste that of the apple, but is disposed
in large, terminal, pendulous bunches. When the tree Horticuk
is intended to produce fruit in Britain it is grafted on
stocks of Mespilus vulgaris. It is considered a half-
hardy tree, but to have it ripen its fruit with flavour it
requires the temperature of a stove, in which it should
be planted in a border of rich soil. Sir Joseph Banks
considered the fruit as good as the mango. Lord Bagot
succeeded in producing fruit of excellent flavour by the
following method : he put his plant out of doors during
the summer months of July, August, and September,
and about the middle of October replaced it in a warm
situation on the tan bed in a stove, and it usually breaks
and flowers in December, and the fruit becomes ripe in
March and April.
Guava.—The only species of this fruit which has been Guava.
cultivated with success in Britain is the Chinese guava,
(Psidium Cattleyanum of Sabine,) the fruit of which is
rather large, somewhat spherical, of a fine deep claret
colour when ripe ; the pulp is juicy and much of the
consistence of a strawberry, to which it has also some
resemblance in flavour. It flowers and fruits freely if
ti'ained against a trellis in a stove, and planted in a bor¬
der of rich earth. It requires exposure to light and air.
Papaw (Carica papaya of Linnaeus) is a native of Papaw.
both Indies, but is cultivated everywhere within the
tropics. The fruit has a sweetish taste, and is much
liked by many people. The tree may be brought into a
fruit-bearing state in our stoves if planted in large pots
or tubs, or in a border of light, rich earth. The papaw
tree prefers vegetable mould.
Granadilla or Muricuja.—All the species of Passi- Granadilla
ßora which produce edible fruit pass under the above or Muri-
names. The principal kinds are—1. The apple-fruited
granadilla, (Passiflora maliformis of Linnaeus,) the fruit
of which is round and smooth, about two inches in
diameter, of a dingy yellow colour when ripe, the
rind is thick, and the pulp of a pale yellow colour,
of an agreeable acid taste, and is eaten with wine and
sugar. 2. The common granadilla. (Passiflora qua-
drangularis of Linnaeus.) The fruit of this kind is
large, of an oblong shape, and about six inches in
diameter ; it is quite smooth, of a greenish-yellow
colour, the rind is thick and the pulp of a pur¬
plish colour, and like the former species is eaten with
wine and sugar. 3. The laurel-leaved granadilla,
(Passiflora laurifolia of Linnaeus,) the fruit of which
is about the size of a hen's egg, but rather more elon¬
gated ; it is smooth and of a yellow colour on the out¬
side, spotted with white, the rind is thick, and the
pulp whitish. 4. The purple-fruited granadilla. (Pas-
siflora edulis of Sims.) The fruit of this sort changes
to a livid purple on becoming ripe ; it is of an elliptic
shape, half an inch in diameter, and the pulp is orange-
coloured. All the above kinds of granadilla are culti¬
vated with success in Britain. They may be grown in
large pots, but do best if planted in an angle of a stove
which has been parted off by brickwork from the pit.
The bottom of this cavity should be laid with brick
rubbish, over which may be thrown a little rotten tan,
and over that a compost of leaf mould and rotten dung,
in which the plants will grow freely. They do not
require the heat of a pine stove, for they flourish best in
a temperature of from 65° to 70°. The shoots, as they
advance, should be trained under the sloping glass of
the house. The flowers will appear in May and con¬
tinue in succession till September, the fruit setting the
whole time. As they grow the very strong shoots
142»
H O R T I C
U L T U R E.
Horticul- should be cut out frotu their origin, for they do not bear
ture. fruit so abundantly as less vigorous shoots. Care
should be taken never to shorten any of the fruit-bear¬
ing shoots. The crop will begin to ripen in August
and continue in succession until January. When the
crop is all gathered, the heat of the house should be
reduced to 50° so as to check the growth of the plants,
and when this has been effected, the shoots should be
well cut in. As little old wood besides the main stem
should rise from the pit to the glass, only a few stumps
of the old branches may be retained, for all the shoots
that are trained under the glass for fruit ought to be
the growth of the same season. The plants after being
cut are kept in a dormant state during January and
February, after which the necessary heat may be ap¬
plied. The plants require abundance of water in the
flowering season. A strong plant of either kind will
produce fruits in succession from June to Christmas,
if heat is applied to it early in February.
Plantain. Plantain {Musa Paradisiaca of Linnseus) is a strong,
evergreen, herbaceous plant, a native of Asia, intro¬
duced to Britain in 1690, the leaves of which are very
long and broad. The stems rise from ten to twenty
feet in height, and die away after having produced fruit,
and are succeeded by younger stems from the root.
The fruit is about six inches long and of a sausage
shape, and is produced in clusters so large as sometimes
altogether to weigh forty pounds. The fruit is boiled
or roasted and eaten like potatoes or yams with meat ;
it is also used in fritters. The plant is often cultivated
in the stoves of Britain, and bears fruit almost equal to
Banana. those produced within the tropics. The Banana {Musa
sapientum) is a nearly allied plant; differs from it in the
fruit being shorter and rounder, of a luscious mellow
flavour, and is used generally as a dessert fruit. The
banana succeeds well in our stoves, and bears fruit
freely. Both plants should be planted in pits made on
purpose in one corner of the pit in a stove. Both
require a soil well incorporated with vegetable earth,
which should be kept rather moist than otherwise, and
both are increased by suckers. The fruit of the banana
is also used in preserves and marmalades, and the fer¬
mented juice affords an excellent wine.
Pine-apple. Pine-apple {Bromelia ananas of Linnseus) is said to
be originally from Asia, but is now naturalized both in
tropical Africa and America, and consequently requires
a higher temperature than any other culinary fruit grown
in this country, although it is by no means a tender or
delicate plant, for it will bear a higher degree of heat
and a lower degree of cold than the vine or peach with¬
out injury, if only for a short time. This excellent fruit,
according to Mr. Weeks, can be obtained in frames
without the aid of fire by the assistance of tan or dung
heat. It is much more easily brought to perfection than
the cucumber or melon. The pine-apple is liable to the
attacks of insects, of which a scaly species of coccus is
the most destructive to the plants ; but there is another
species of the same genus, also called the brown or
turtle coccus ; the first wedges itself between the protu¬
berances of the fruit, destroying its flavour and depriving
it of its juice, and the second appears mostly at the bot¬
toms of the leaves. M'Phail found that a powerful
moist heat will destroy these insects. Keeping the
house filled with steam and heat for days together is
the most simple and efficient means of destroying
the pine bugs, for a degree of heat and moisture
which is speedily fatal to animals will not immediately
destroy or injure vegetables. The steam and heat Horticul
of horse dung is said also to be equally efficient. ture.
There is a great variety of receipts for the destruction
of these insects, which consist principally of mixtures
of soft soap, flour of sulphur, tobacco, nux vomica, and
rain water, in which the plants are immersed at the
time of shifting or potting, or are watered over head
with it.
The pine-apple in Britain is grown in pots, which
are generally plunged in a bed of tanner's bark in a
state of fermentation, but sometimes in other ferment¬
ing substances, as leaves. In the beginning of the
XVIIIth Century the pine-apple was almost unknown
to horticulturists, consequently it is comparatively of
recent introduction to Britain, but it is now cultivated
successfully and extensively. The fruit is what is called
a sorosis by botanists, and is formed by the conjunction
of the fruits of many flowers, and the whole is termi¬
nated by a tuft of leaves called the crown. It derives
its name from its resemblance to a fir or pine cone. The
plant may be considered as an evergreen biennial or
triennial herb, the fruit generally appearing from the
centre of the plant in the second or third year from its
being struck, either from a crown or sucker. The fla¬
vour of the pine-apple is liked by most people and is
considered the most delicious of all kinds of fruits.
The leaves are long and sword-shaped with spiny
serrated margins. The fruit grown in Britain is con¬
sidered both superior in flavour and size to any grown
within the tropics. The varieties are numerous, but
the following are considered the best: 1. Queen pine;
2. Black Antigua ; 3. Black or old Jamaica ; 4. New
Jamaica; 5. En ville ; 6. White providence; 7. Tri¬
nidad ; 8. St. Vincent's ; 9. Brown-leaved sugar-loaf ;
10. Ripley's Queen; 11. Welbeck seedling; 12. Rip¬
ley's; 13, Moscow Queen. Besides these there are—
1. Brown sugar-loaf ; 2. Orange sugar-loaf; 3. Sierra
Leone; 4. Russian globe; 5. Green king; 6. Blood
red ; 7. Otaheite ; 8 Scarlet ; 9. Havana.. Pine¬
apples require two or three years' growth before they
perfect their fruit, consequently its growth has been
divided into two or three periods ; and at each of these
periods it requires different structures, called the nurs¬
ing pit, the succession-house or pit, and the fruiting-
house. The nursing pit is generally a frame placed
upon a hot-bed formed of tanner's bark or stable litter
in a state of fermentation. Alderson's as well as Atkin¬
son's melon pits are suitable for the purpose of a nursing
pit. The succession pit requires to be larger than the
nursing pit, for which purpose Atkinson's melon pit
answers well during summer, but in colder weather a
pit heated by hot-water pipes is preferred. The sur¬
face heat may be supplied from hot-water pipes in
front, and the bottom heat may also be kept up by
pipes from the boiler placed in a vacuum under the pit,
but generally a succession-house does not differ from a
common pinery. In the fruiting-house more space and
a more powerful temperature is requisite, and for this
purpose a great variety of structures have been devised.
Baldwyn's fruiting pit is considered one of the best,
the north side of which is slated and furnished with
ventilators, the sashes are immovable, and the panes
closely puttied, and under the slated part is the back
path, and there is also a single turn of the flue behind,
but it is considered better if hot-water pipes and a path
were to surround the pit ; the glass is two and a half
feet from the centre of the pit in front and five feet
HORTICULTURE. 143*
Horticul- behind. The same kind of structure may have a curvi-
linear roof. The old-fashioned pine stove did not differ
^ materially from a plant stove, except that it was much
lower, and in which vines were usually trained along*
the rafters, a practice which is now condemned. Pine¬
apples are found to grow better in pits than in stoves or
houses. According to Dr. Neill it would be much
more advantageous to have four pits with one fire each,
that is, two succession and two fruiting pits, instead of
one succession and one fruiting-house on the old plan,
with two fires each ; they would contain a greater num¬
ber of plants, their erection would be little more ex¬
pense, and no further fuel would be required, the num¬
ber of fires being the same. In Britain pine-apple
plants are always grown in pots, and these are usually
plunged in a bed of tanner's bark, leaves, stable litter,
or other substances in a state of fermentation. Tanner's
bark is, however, generally preferred. But whatever
substance is used it should not be put into the pine pit
until its first violent heat has subsided, unless well in¬
corporated with the old spent materials of the pit. The
pit should have a gentle slope towards the front, but it
should be raised as close to the glass as possible. It is
commonly five or six feet deep, but a pit much shal¬
lower would perhaps afford sufficient bottom heat.
Bottom heat may also be conveyed by hot water or
steam pipes under a shallow bed of about two feet deep
to plunge the pots in ; this bed might be formed so as to
rest upon a hollow arched chamber a single brick
thick, and the pipes being introduced into this hollow
chamber would afford an abundant and salubrious
bottom heat. In the proper management of bottom
heat there has been more failures than in any other
part of the culture of pine-apples. The violent heat
from fermentation proves often greater than the tender
roots can bear, and if they are not carefully watered the
labour of many months may be blasted in one day. In
consequence of this Mr. Knight has discarded bottom
heat altogether, and has found pine-apples grow equally
well without it; but, notwithstanding, it is still universally
used. According to Dr. Neill the extreme summer limit
should be blood heat, or 100°, but the winter limit may
be 70° to 75°. Gardeners generally judge of the heat
by means of sticks pushed into the bed which are drawn
out now and then and felt by the hand, but the prefer¬
able method would be to employ a slow thermometer
cased in wire. "With regard to the soil in which pine¬
apples thrive best there are various opinions, and con¬
sequently a great variety of composts have been re¬
commended : any compost, however, will answer which
is rich, fresh, and simple. The top spit with the turf
from an old pasture and about a half of well-rotted
dung will answer as well as any other, and if this com¬
post is found too strong it may be weakened by the
addition of a little mould of decayed leaves of trees and
a portion of sand. It is necessary that the compost
should be prepared beforehand by being frequently
turned over and broken with a spade. Pine-apple
plants are found to fruit more readily in rich light soil,
but do not produce so large fruit as in strong loamy
soil. The soil can scarcely be too rich, the pine-apple
being what is called a gross feeder, and will thrive in
vegetable manure however rich. Liquid manures have
also been applied, but this has been found to be inju¬
rious in a fermented state. The pine-apple is propa¬
gated by planting the crowns which grow at the top of
the fruit, and by the suckers which issue from the base
VOL. VI.
of the plant ; these, when removed, are laid aside for a Horticuî-
few days until their bases have dried, which afterwards ture,
prevents them from rotting when potted. When re-
moved late in the season, they are planted into an ex¬
hausted tan bed, where they are allowed to remain until
the succeeding spring. The larger suckers and crowns
are the better because they grow more freely and come
into fruit sooner than when of smaller size, and in
this lies the principal secret between what is called
the short or biennial method, and the long or triennial
course of culture. The soil employed for the young
plants is generally lighter than that used for fruiting
or succession plants. The pots may be at first from
three to six inches in diameter, or according to the size
of the suckers or crowns, and they should be always
well drained with potsherds or other materials. For
some time after they are potted the plants are shaded
from the rays of the sun, and in about eight or ten days
afterwards they receive a little water. Formerly pine¬
apple culture embraced a period of three years, but it
is now reduced to two years, and even to one and a
half year.
In the triennial course the plants which were potted
in autumn and kept in the nursing pit during winter
in a mild temperature with a slight bottom heat and a
sparing allowance of water, are shifted into larger pots
about the beginning of April, and transferred to a hot-bed
or pit heated with stable dung, in which they grow
freely. Air is given every day, and is copiously ad¬
mitted as the sun's rays gain more power. The average
temperature in the morning should be 70° to 75°, but
during the heat of the day it may be allowed to rise to
85°, 90°, or 95°. The heat is maintained in the pit
by adding new linings of stable dung, and when this
heat is too much, exhausted the plants are removed to
a new bed previously prepared for their reception.
In nursing pits the management is similar, but in
these the bottom heat is aided by the addition of fresh
tanner's bark. As there is nothing to be dreaded from
damp where there is a command of fire heat, more
copious waterings are given, and the plants may be
syringed over head, or slightly steamed by throwing
water on the flues. Although not frequently performed,
it is a good method to shift the plants in the nursing
pit into larger pots as often as the roots fill the former
pots, by which means the plants will become vigor¬
ous before the end of autumn, which is indicated
by the lower part of the plant being thick, and the
centre formed, by the leaves being upright, open, and
rather short, and the leaves should neither be too long
nor too numerous, but broad, stiff, fleshy, and free
from contortion. Towards the end of autumn the
plants should be removed to the succession pit, which
is one of larger size, where the temperature in winter
should be about 60°. About the middle of March the
plants should be shifted into pots nine or ten inches in
diameter, and at this period, according to the recom¬
mendation of Abercrombie and other old authorities,
the roots should be wholly cut away; but the most
general and reasonable plan is to shake the greater
part of the old earth from the roots, which are to be
trimmed a little before repotting the plants ; but the
best method is to take a small portion of earth from the
bottom of the ball at every shifting, by which means at
the end of two years scarcely any portion of the original
soil will remain. The summer temperature should
range between 65° and 70° from fire heat during thé
144^ HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- Right, and from 75® to 85® from the sun's rays during
ture. Abundance of air should be admitted, and
plants should be set widely apart to have room to
grow strong and bushy.
The biennial course of culture was first noticed by
Abercrombie, and has been more recently followed with
success by others. Its chief feature is the acceleration
of the growth of the plants by the application of higher
temperatures than it was formerly supposed the pine¬
apple could bear, by which means they are made to
attain the growth of two summers in one. About the
beginning of March the most forward of the plants
potted over winter, or the suckers kept in tan, are re¬
moved, and the roots are shortened ; they are then
planted in pots five or six inches in diameter, and
plunged in a frame or pit either heated by tan or stable
dung. The plants are then shaded until they begin to
grow and receive moderate waterings. When the
roots have extended round the balls of the soil, which
will be about the middle of June, the plants are shifted
into larger pots from six to seven inches in diameter,
and if the heat in the bed be declining the plants are
removed to another pit or hot-bed previously prepared
for their reception. In the beginning of August they
should be shifted again into larger pots, in which,
unless they are intended for early forcing, they remain
during winter, and in February they are finally shifted
into pots twelve or fourteen inches in diameter For
spring forcing the last shifting takes place in October;
at every shifting the ball of earth is preserved entire.
From March the temperature is gradually increased,
and little air is admitted even in strong sunshine, and
a lively bottom heat is kept up by means of repeated
linings. When there is any danger of burning the
roots, the pots are partially raised, or even set on the
surface of the tan bed. The following table, recom¬
mended by Dr. Neill, will give an idea of the tempera¬
ture required to be kept up.
Night. Day.
March,
o
60
to
o
70
o
70
to 80
April,
70
»>
75
80
„ 85
May,
75
J)
80
90
„ 100
June,
80
85
100
., 120
After the beginning of July the heat is allowed gra¬
dually to decline until it arrives at the winter tempera¬
ture 60°. These temperatures only apply to stable
dung or tan heat, and only to plants reared from
crowns, as the larger suckers seldom require more than
100®. When fire heat is used, it should always be
through the medium of hot-water pipes, when the
highest nocturnal temperature should only approach
80®, and it is better if some expedient be employed for
the slow emission of steam in the atmosphere of the
pit. During summer care should be taken to prevent
the plants from being drawn, and for this purpose they
should be set widely apart. In August and September
abundance of air and copious supplies of water are
given. In winter the principal care is to preserve the
roots from damping off or getting burnt, and for this
purpose winter pits having the command of fire heat are
preferred. This biennial course, which is denominated
driving, is only applicable to the Queen pine, Ripley's
new queen, and other smaller sorts. The larger grow¬
ing kinds require the triennial course to bring them to
perfection. If both courses of culture were carried on
at the same time, and in the same garden, the larger Horticul«
kinds might be consigned to the triennial course, and
the vacancies occasioned in either might be made up
from the other. According to the triennial course,
about the beginning of August the plants, being then
two years old, are finally shifted into pots from twelve
to fourteen inches in diameter, preserving the balls
entire. About eight or ten days previous to putting
the plants into the fruiting-house the bark in the pit is
screened if necessary and fresh tan supplied. The potg
are then plunged into the bark as deeply as can be done
with safety, and the plants are afterwards treated in
such a manner as to keep them in a growing state all
the autumn. In winter the temperature at night
should be 60°, but towards the end of January it is al¬
lowed to rise gradually to 70°. About the middle of
February the second fruiting pit may be prepared for
the reception of the plants in the biennial succession pit ;
these having been kept through the winter in a mild
temperature start during the general progress of the
season. The period at which the pine plants start or
show for fruit is the most critical of their whole culture.
It is desirable that this should happen at a particular
period of their age and at a particular season ; but this
is not so easily attained, for the most successful and
skilful cultivators can hardly deem themselves beyond
the chance of failure, and for this reason a great many
absurd practices have been resorted to. It is, however,
evident that the plants must be a certain age, or at least
a certain size, before they can start to any good pur¬
pose. The Queen pine is capable of producing per¬
fect fruit the second year, while the Providence and other
V
large varieties do not arrive at perfection until the third
year. When pines start too early they produce little
more than a tuft of leaves ; they, however, never start
until the pots are filled with roots, except the plants be
diseased or the roots have been destroyed by heat or
other casualty. It is therefore necessary that the roots
have nearly filled the pots by the end of autumn, and
to take care that the tender fibres do not get dried for
want of water, or rotted from excess of moisture. Like
other vegetables the starting of the pine-apple is a
natural process, requiring certain conditions in the state
of the plant, which is not to-be forced by violent treat¬
ment or any sudden change of temperature or by wa¬
tering. After the plants have shown for fruit they are
never shifted, but the surface soil may be removed and
replaced by a little rich fresh compost, and water sup¬
plied when necessary, which should be always heated
to the average temperature of the house. Fire heat is
either continued or only at intervals during the greater
part of the season, but it should never exceed 70°,
except during sunshine, when it may be allowed to
range from 70° to 100°. The greater the proportion
of sun heat the better. Whilst the fruit is swelling
the growth of the plant must be carried on equally
and moderately, for sudden checks are always detri¬
mental. Water is gradually withheld as the fruit
approaches maturity, lest the flavour be injured. The
fruit should be cut before it attains complete ma¬
turity ; the larger kinds will keep good only a day
or two after being cut, while the smaller sorts will keep
good a week or more. The following is Abercrombie's
tabular compendium as it is altered by Dr. Neill to suit
the purpose of two crops a year, and for this purpose it
is necessary to have two fruiting-houses or pits and one
succession pit, with a variety of nursing hot-beds and
HORTICULTURE. 145*
Hortícul- pits. Before this tabular compendium can be of any
use it is necessary that the crowns and suckers be
* potted soon after they are removed from the mother
plants, and that about the middle of August, at which
time the potting should be finished. The biennial
course commences about the middle of February.
Triennial Course.
Nursing Pit.
1840. August 15. Crowns and suckers of New Provi¬
dence and other large kinds planted ; also small crowns
and suckers of the Queen pine.
1841. February 14. Small offsets of the Queen pine
dibbled into the tan.
April 1. The above potted or repotted, the balls of
earth preserved entire,
July, August. The intermediate shifting; time de¬
termined by expediency.
Succession Pit.
1842. March 1. Plants from the nursing-house are
shifted into larger pots ; the greater part of the earth
is renewed and the roots pruned.
June 1. Second intermediate shifting performed.
Fruiting'house.
1842. August 15. Between this and September 15
the plants, after having been shifted into full-sized pots,
are introduced from the succession-house.
1843. March. The surface of the pots are top dressed.
June to August. Fruit ripens and course concludes.
Biennial Course.
Nursing Pit,
1840. August 15. Large crowns and suckers of the
Queen pine planted.
1841. February 14. Large offsets of the Queen pine
dibbled into the tan.
March 15. The above potted or repotted, the earth
or tan shaken away, and the roots pruned ; the pots are
then transferred to hot-beds or pits.
June 15. First intermediate shifting.
August 1. Second intermediate shifting.
Succession Pit.
1841. October 1. Plants introduced from the nursing
pit, but not shifted unless intended for early spring
forcing.
Fruiting-house.
1842. February 15. Plants shifted for the last time,
and introduced from the succession pit.
September to December. Fruit ripens, and course
concludes.
Carambola. Carambola (Jinerrhoa carambola of Linnseus) is a
common tree in the East Indian Archipelago, where it is
commonly known by the name of Blimhing. The fruit
is generally about the size of an orange, of a golden-
yellow colour; it is said to be wholesome, and in Java
it is in great request for tarts. The tree produces fruit
three times in a year. In cultivating it for the sake of its
fruit in Britain, the pot in which it is grown requires to
be plunged in tan or other fermenting substance. The
clusters of flowers rise directly from the bark of the
trunk, as well as the older branches. The fruit cul¬
tivated by Mr. Bateman, Staffordshire, was found to
Bilimbi or Possess qualities of the first order when made into a
Cucumber preserve. The Bilimbi {Averrhoa bilimbi of Linnaeus)
tree. may be cultivated in the same way in Britain as the
Carambola, and its fruit may be used for the same pur- Horticul
poses. The tree is commonly called Cucumber tree, from ^
the resemblance of the fruit to a cucumber.
Floriculture.
Floriculture comprehends all that relates to the Floricul-
culture and arrangement of both woody and herbaceous ture,
plants grown for ornament, or as objects of taste or
curiosity. Flowers were formerly cultivated in borders
along the sides of the walks in the kitchen garden, or
in parterres or groups ; in some old places, and those of
small extent, this mixed style is still continued ; but in
places of considerable extent the kitchen garden is en¬
tirely devoted to the culture of culinary vegetables and
fruits, while various kinds of plants for ornament are
grown in the flower garden, the lawn, and the shrub¬
bery. These, under the name of pleasure-grounds,
encircle the house, but on a larger scale, embrace it on
one or more sides, the remaining part being under the
character of park scenery. Many of the plants belong¬
ing to this branch of culture being natives of warmer
climates require the protection of glass-houses and arti¬
ficial heat ; several of these are protected during winter
in pits, and planted out in clumps in the lawn or borders
during summer ; butin many cases these houses for plants
are connected with the forcing-houses in the kitchen
garden ; but they should always be erected in some part
of the pleasure ground, being ornamental. Floriculture
as compared with horticulture, though less useful, is at
least more pleasing, and has consequently shared
largely in the attention of the horticulturist, but much
less has been written concerning it.
Flower garden.—The designing of flower gardens Flower
may be considered as belonging to the fine arts, as the ex- garden,
erciseof invention, taste, and foresight is involved in it.
Pleasure grounds being objects of recreation and pleasure,
the principle which must serve in laying them out must
be taste, but in this as in other objects there are different
kinds of tastes ; these embodied are called styles, and
the great art of the designer is, having fixed on a style,
to follow it out unmixed with other styles, or any devia¬
tion which would interfere with the kind of taste or im¬
pression which the style is calculated to produce. Style
is therefore the leading principle in laying out pleasure
grounds as flower gardens, lawns, and shrubberies, as uti¬
lity is in laying out culinary gardens. As objects of fancy
and taste the styles of flower gardens are various. The
modern style of flower gardens is a collection of irre¬
gular groups and masses placed about the mansion as a
medium of uniting it with the open lawn. The ancients,
instead of irregular groups, employed symmetrical
forms; in France, adding statues and fountains; in
Holland, cut edges and grassy slopes ; in Italy, walks,
terraces, and flights of steps. In some flat and level
situations these characters may be used instead of modern
kinds. In Turkey they abound with shady retreats;
and in Spain with trellis-work and fountains. In tro¬
pical countries they consist chiefly of shady walks or
avenues ; but none of these are adapted to the climate
of Britain. The flower-garden, according to Dr. Neill,
has been too much governed by the laws of landscape
gardening, and these often ill understood and misap¬
plied. In the days of clipped hedges, the parterres and
flower beds were of a description the most grotesque
and intricate that could be imagined. At a subsequeiit
period, when the natural and picturesque became the
T* 2
146*
HORTICULTURE
Hoi'ticul-
ture.
objects of imitation in the park, there appeared the most
extravagant attempts at vt^ildness in the gardens. The
result has been equally unfortunate ; but wherever there
is a flower garden of considerable extent, it should be
constructed on principles of its own. The great object
must be to exhibit to advantage the various flowers. Two
varieties of flower gardens have chiefly prevailed in
Britain ; the one is various figures cut out of a ground of
turf, and planted with flowers and shrubs ; and the other
where the flower beds are separated by gravel walks
without any grass. The situation of the flower garden
must be influenced by the size of the domain, the
nature of the lawns, and the site of the mansion ; gene¬
rally it should be in the vicinity of the house, especially
where the extent of the pleasure grounds and prospects
is limited ; but where spacious, and the prospects exten¬
sive, the flower garden may be placed at some distance,
having an easy access in any kind of weather, and would
be an agreeable termination to a short walk. The form
of a flower garden must of necessity depend on the
taste of the proprietor or designer and the capabilities
of the situation, but where limited, the boundaries
should not be continually visible. It may be made to
pass through a shrubbery gradually assuming a more
woodland character. Even where the flower garden is
in the vicinity of the mansion it should be encircled
with a fence, because it is impossible to carry on flori¬
culture to any great extent in open places which are
accessible to hares and rabbits, and these fences may be
hidden by shrubs and trees. A north wall of moderate
elevation is often desirable in a flower garden for train¬
ing ornamental climbers against and half-hardy plants,
and as forming the back-ground for conservatories,
green-houses, and stoves, and other floricultural struc¬
tures. Formerly flower beds were made in various forms,
as straight, circular, &c., probably to compensate for
the scarcity of ornamental plants ; but since these have
become more numerous and varied, a simpler taste
prevails. In lawn flower gardens at present kidney-
shaped plots are probably too numerous ; the shape of
flower dumps should harmonize together, but should
not be too much crowded, because a lew large plots
have a better effect than a number of small ones.
A gravel walk should skirt along at least one side
of the principal figures, for otherwise in wet weather
the flower garden would be inaccessible with comfort.
In gardens where turf is excluded the compartments
should be large, but narrow straight borders should be
excluded. The figures have the best effect when their
centres are occupied with tall growing shrubs. The walks
are best arranged on long concave curves communicat¬
ing with each other here and there. A dial, a few seats and
arbours, a vase or too, and a jet-d^eau may be introduced
with good effect. Rockwork is also an accompaniment of
the flower garden : it should consist of various grouped
masses of large stones, and generally of such as are re¬
markable, and the interstices between them filled with
earth in which alpine or rock plants are inserted. In
proper situations a small piece of water or pond may be
introduced for the cultivation of aquatic plants. A walk
may also be arched over with iron or wooden trellis-
work and covered with ornamental climbers. A sepa¬
rate department for roses, called a rosary, may also be
introduced in some conspicuous place. A moist shady
border made up of heath mould, commonly called peat
earth, is also a valuable addition to the flower garden which
is devoted to American plants. In extensive places, a
separate American garden is often formed, which if not ' Korticul-
naturally damp should at least have the command of
water. In a flower garden a variety of soils is required
to suit the different kinds of plants cultivated ; but the
greater number of flowering plants do very well in
common garden earth. Florists' flowers require various
composts. American plants and others require heath or
vegetable mould. Alluvial peat incorporated with white
sand, or from dry parts of commons, is preferred ; for if
peat is taken from its natural bed where it is only par¬
tially decomposed it is of no use whatever, but is injurious
to vegetation. In procuring soil for plants from a
common or meadow, no more than the top spit with the
turf should be taken ; this should be laid up in a heap for a
few years, or until the vegetable matter is perfectly de¬
composed before being used. A good substitute for
heath mould is decayed leaves of trees, swept from
lawns and allowed to lie in heaps for a few years, or
until the vegetable matter is perfectly decomposed. In
flower gardens grass walks have a better effect than
gravel walks, but from the humidity of our climate they
have almost disappeared. Frequent rolling and weeding
of gravel walks in wet weather tends much to their
neatness and elegance. The best plants for edging
flower garden walks are dwarf box, thrift, or sea pink,
dwarf gentian, London pride, and many other dwarf
showy plants, as many species of the genus Primitla,
Edgingsare also sometimes formed of stone, slight cast-
iron bars, spars of wood, &c. Shrubberies and large
flower-plots are edged with verges of grass turf about a
foot in width; they make also a handsome edging to
broad walks, the grass of which should be kept
short by mowing or clipping, and within bounds by a
paring iron. Much of the beauty of the pleasure
grounds depends upon the selection and disposition of
ornamental trees and shrubs. In many gardens only a
few evergreens and a parcel of unsightly deciduous trees
are to be seen, therefore most of the existing shrubberies
have an insipid appearance, but the proper selection
and disposition of shrubs and trees by themselves afford
the most efficient means of diversifying garden scenery.
There are now many beautiful species to be had which
afford materials for decoration both of the evergreen
and deciduous kinds, but to give a list of these would oc¬
cupy too much space ; but they can be selected either
from Loudon's or Sweet's Hortus Britannicus. Deciduous
shrubs are much neglected in many gardens, being
badly arranged and pruned, and they are often huddled
together promiscuously ; however, with proper manage¬
ment, there cannot be finer objects than the different
kinds of lilac, the Guelder rose, the red-flowered currant,
the fuchsia-flowered gooseberry, the almond, the me-
zerion, the different kinds of cypriis, &c. There are
also many beautiful climbing shrubs, as the different
kinds of traveller's joy, honey-suckles, passion flowers,
wistaria, maurandia, rambling and climbing roses, and
many others. Shrubs may either be arranged singly or in
masses ; the latter method is perhaps the most efficient.
Some kinds, however, have a bad effect in masses, and
ought to be planted singly. When arranged in masses,
it is probably better that each mass contain a predomi¬
nance of one species. In the construction of all kinds of
houses for the culture of plants the great object ought to
be the admission of light, and the power of applying arti¬
ficial heat with the least labour and expense. The cultiva¬
tion of the flower garden is simple compared with that of
the kitchen garden, but to manage it properly it requires a
HORTICULTURE.
147*
Botanic
gardens.
Shrubbery.
Horticul- degree of nicety and constant attention beyond any
other department of gardening. As the stalks of flow¬
ering plants shoot up, they generally require thinning to
give strength to those allowed to remain, and if weak
they require to be tied to stakes for support. Weeding,
watering, stirring the soil, cutting away stems that have
done flowering, attending to the mowing of grass in the
morning, and weeding and rolling the gravel walks
should be attended to.
Botanic gardens are generally public gardens, or are
attached to colleges, the plants in which are generally
arranged according to the Linnaean and Jussieuan sys¬
tems for the purpose of the study of botany. The plants
may either be in regular rows with alleys between, or in
groups surrounded by gravel or turf ; the latter method
should be preferred for a private botanic garden. The
borders and walks in botanic gardens are the same as for
flower gardens arranged for effect.
Lawns and Lawns and grass walks should be mown at least
grass walks, once a fortnight,and as extraneous plants, as plantain and
crowfoot, make their appearance, they should be care¬
fully removed, and worms should be gathered with the
hand, and their casts swept off with the wire broom, and
the ground is then to be watered with lime water.
Rolling and watering must be applied according to cir¬
cumstances, and nothing neglected to insure a deep green
colour and velvet texture, which ought to be the charac¬
teristic of the British lawn. It is impossible to give any
decided rules in laying out lawns, as that, like the flower
garden, must depend upon the taste of the proprietor or
designer, and upon the situation ; but it always is either
in front or surrounds the mansion-house.
Shrubbery is a portion of the pleasure ground applied
to the culture and display of shrubs intermixed by such
trees as are ornamental, and some showy herbaceous
plants. It is generally a winding slip of irregular
width, in which the shrubs are planted according to the
height to which they naturally grow, the tallest at the
hack and the lowest in front, and generally backed by
ornamental trees. Sometimes a border of shrubs is
made on each side of a walk ; but the shrubbery forms
part of the pleasure ground. Its size must depend upon
the extent of the grounds, but it should be if possible
blended with the flower garden and lawn. It is always
advisable to trench the ground before planting, but
manure is seldom necessary unless the ground is exceed-
ingly poor. In planting shrubs and trees the evergreens
should be so mixed as to give the whole an equal degree
of verdure during winter, and the deciduous ones so
placed as to have the flowers regularly blended during
the season ; or they may be planted in groups, one spe¬
cies predominating in each group. Fruit trees may be
planted at considerable distances in a shrubbery, which
will enhance its beauty, and by which a good deal of fruit
may be obtained. In the spring the blossoms of almonds,
apple, pear, and cherry trees are beautiful. Ornamental
buildings of various descriptions are introduced into
shrubberies of great extent, such as covered seats, rustic
huts, moss houses, Grecian temples, &c., as well as
statues. The business of planting shrubberies is gene¬
rally conducted at random, without a specific object in
view, but if ever this branch of gardening attain a high
degree of perfection in Britain, it will probably be
deemed as necessary to call in a person to direct the
arrangement of flowers and shrubs in parterres and
shrubberies, as it is now to require his aid in arranging
the ground plan. Loudon. Trees and shrubs are pro¬
pagated by layers, cuttings, seeds, suckers, and by graft-
ingandbuddingaccordingtothenatureof the species.
American plants valued for the sake of
the beautyof their blossoms, as the different kinds of Rho¬
dodendron, Azalea, Vaccinium, Andromeda and others.
Their culture consists in planting them in sites that
are naturally shady and damp, but if the situation is
naturally dry they must be repeatedly watered. The
species may be either mingled or in groups. American
plants are propagated in the same way as plants of other
countries, but the shrubby kinds generally by layers and
by seed, and the herbaceous kinds by division and seed.
American plants may also be introduced to shrubberies
by placing a cubic foot of the proper earth for each,
such is the case at Whiteknights and Dropmore.
Border flowers consist of hardy strong plants of easy
culture for decorating flower borders, clumps, and shrub¬
beries, &c. They should be selected and planted accord¬
ing to tlieir time of flowering, colour of the flowers, and
heights. Flowers being most scarce in early spring and
late in autumn, therefore any plant that flowers at these
times should not be rejected, even if its beauty be not
so great ; they are divided into herbaceous perennials,
biennials, annuals, and bulbs.
Herbaceous perennials afford the principal materials
for floral decoration. New shades of colours arrive and
depart in succession, therefore they should be arranged
in planting according to their stature, the tallest in the
back rows of the border, gradually decreasing in stature
to the front, otherwise the beauty of many of the most
showy kinds would be lost if planted among taller plants.
In clumps the tallest should be planted in the centre,
allowing them gradually to diminish in size to the
margin so as to present a regular bank of foliage and
blossom ; butin order not to convey an idea of too great
precision, a few tall staring plants may be introduced
among the shorter ones. In planting borders and
clumps, the flowers as well as being planted according to
their heights should be mixed according to their time of
flowering and colour of their flowers, so that a constant
mixture of colours and regularity of blossom may be
kept up in a border during the season ; but it being
almost impossible to keep up the show of a single border
or clump for six months together, consequently much of
the labour employed in mixing the colours is mispent,
for even where a certain number are in flower at the same
time they necessarily stand apart, and the effect of con¬
trast is lost. To obviate this defect, it has been recom¬
mended that ornamental plants should be formed into
four or five separate suites of flowering to be distributed
over the garden, those that flower in May in separate
compartments by themselves, and so on with those that
flower in the following months; those that flower in
May in warm sunny situations, and those that flower in
June and July, should be planted in the most conspicuous
places, and the autumnaj flowering ones in most secluded
places, as the borders of the earlier flowers will be filled
with annuals in the vacant spaces at that season. Before
attempting to plant borders, the floriculturist should
construct tables of flowers, specifying their heights,
colour of flowers, times of flowering ; these tables would
in a great measure prevent confusion and produce great
facility of execution. Herbaceous perennials are gene¬
rally increased by dividing the root, by separating
suckers aiid offsets, and also by seeds, but this last mode
is only adopted with plants that are difficult to multiply
by division or offsets ; the seeds are sown in the usual
Horticul¬
ture.
American
plants.
Border
flowers.
Herba¬
ceous peiy
ennials.
148*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- way, and after the plants are up they may be planted out
ture. separately into a nursery bed until they gain strength.
Evergreen herbaceous plants, as the pink, sweet Wil¬
liam, and some kinds of Œnothera may be increased
either by cuttings, by seed, or by division. Spring and
autumn are the seasons of planting and dividing herba¬
ceous plants. The general management is attending to
order and neatness, and tying up those that are too
weak to support themselves. A fe\v species of Verbena,
Petunia, Salvia, and Fuchsia are easily kept over winter
in a green-house or in a frame in small pots ready to be
planted in the open border in May,where they bloom with
greater vigour and brilliancy than when kept under glass.
Biennial Biennial plants are so called from their existence
plants. being generally limited to two years, in the last of which
they flower, seed, and decay. They are generally per¬
petuated by seed, but some few by cuttings. In some
cases, if the seed be sown in autumn as soon as ripe
the plants so reared will flower the following summer,
but if the seed be kept till the spring, the plants
will not blossom until the second season. The
seeds should be sown thinly in beds, and when the
plants are of sufficient size to remove they should be
planted into other beds, and in the autumn they are
to be taken up and transplanted into the border where
they are intended to flower. But the kinds which pro¬
duce tap roots succeed better when the seeds are sown
where the plants are intended to remain, or they
may be finally planted when very young. The ge¬
neral culture and management of biennials are the
same as for herbaceous perennials. Many biennial
plants are possessed of great beauty, and being of easy
culture they afford a ready means of decorating flower
borders, and clumps, and shrubberies. What has been
said about the arrangement and planting of herbaceous
perennials is also ap})licable to biennials.
Annual Annual plants are such as exist only one summer, and
plants. decay as soon as they have ripened seed. The seeds of
most of them are sown in patches in spring in the bor¬
ders or clumps where they are intended to flower; they
may also be transplanted. The seeds of the more hardy
sorts may be sown in autumn, by which means stronger
plants will be obtained for flowering the following
summer. Some of the showy annuals have a much
better effect when grown in beds by themselves, and the
more extensive the bed the more showy the appear¬
ance; they also have a very good effect when grown
in rows by themselves. The seeds of what are called
half-hardy annuals are sown on a slight hot-bed in
spring, and finally planted out into the beds or borders
as soon as all danger from frost has ceased ; they are
afterwards treated like other annuals, hut the greater
part of them seldom ripen seed in this country. Most
annuals are possessed of much beauty and elegance, and
being generally of easy culture afford great facility in
decorating flower borders and clumps, and consequently
may be subjected to all the rules that regulate the com¬
mon flower borders or clumps. Tender annuals, as
cockscomb, balsam, globe-amaranth, &e. are grown in
pots and treated as green-house or stove plants, to which
department they properly belong.
Bulbs. Bulbs,—The hardy kinds of bulbs are introduced into
flower borders, and are consequently subject to all the
rules which regulate them ; they are generally propa¬
gated by offsets and seed ; the first are removed when
the bulbs are in a state of rest. Bulbs require to be
taken up and replanted once every three years.
Rock plants are generally natives of mountains, but Hortlcùl-
in gardening the name applies to all dwarf, trailing, or
prostrate plants fit for decorating artificial rockwork, as
no robust plant should be introduced into it. The pj^nts.
ground plan of a rockwork is generally of a crescent
shape or any wavy figure widest towards the middle,
and with the surface at an angle of 45°. When a rock¬
work is extensive a winding walk or stair may be led
over it, and small reservoirs of water introduced in some
places for mountain, aquatic, or bog plants, as well as
for the purpose of keeping the mass moist.
Alpine plants are such as will not grow in the open Alpine
ground to any perfection, and must be protected during plants,
winter ; they are mostly inhabitants of elevated situa¬
tions among rocks and on the tops of mountains, and
consequently of low growth, scarcely ever exceeding
six inches. They should be grown in small pots well
drained with sherds in a compost composed of loam,
peat, and sand ; they should be shifted at least twice
every season and divided if the plant has grown too
large; the mould which has been shaken from the
roots, if not exhausted, may be mixed with the new
earth. After repotting them a little water is given them,
and afterwards watered whenever the mould becomes
dry. They should be protected by a frame during
winter in the manner of auriculas, and placed on a bed
of ashes during summer
Aquatic plants,—The shape and size of an aquarium Aquatic
will depend upon the extent and form of the flower plants,
garden. In all cases, however, if the bottom is not
naturally retentive, it must be rendered so by a stratum
of puddled clay, and its sides should be formed into
steps from the margin to the centre, so that the plants
may be planted according to the depth of water they
require, as those which require the deepest water should
be planted in the centre, and those that require the least
water in the step nearest the margin. Running rooted
aquatic plants should be planted in tubs which should
be sunk in the water to prevent too great an increase ;
the margin of the aquarium or pond may be of mason
work or of rugged stones like rockwork, in the inter¬
stices of which may be grown marsh or bog plants.
The whole may be surrounded by a gravel walk raised
a little above the level of the water. Most aquatic
plants are very ornamental, as all kinds of water lily,
flowering-rush, water-violet, frog-bit. Like other plants
they are either propagated by seeds or dividing at the
root.
Botanical structures are glazed houses for the culture Botanical
of exotic plants ; they were formerly placed along with structuies,
forcing-houses, but are now generally regarded as ap¬
pendages to the flower garden ; they assume a great
variety of forms, and practical utility in the construction
of them is often sacrificed to architectural taste.
Green-house.—This house may be of any form and Green-
placed in any situation. In the interior of the green- house,
house the principal object demanding attention is the
stage for the pots. In a double-roofed or span-roofed
green-house surrounded by a path the stage generally
consists of shelves rising on both sides as well as ends
from the path to the centre of the house, but in a single-
roofed green-house the stage generally rises from the
path to the back wall ; in all cases the object should be
to bring the plants as near to the glass as possible.
Green-houses require no artificial heat except in the
time of severe frosts, and then very cautiously; this may
be done by hot-water or steam pipes, or by fire flues
HORTICULTURE
149*
Horticul- running under the stages. The stages may also consist
of flaff stones or brick or slate instead of wood. Where
^ à O
there is a front flue a narrow trellis-work stage is placed
above it for the reception of pots containing small plants.
A temperature of from 40° to 45° during winter is suffi¬
cient for a green-house. A span roof is considered
preferable to any other for a heath-house, in which as
well as the green-house provision should be made for
proper ventilation. Green-house plants are such as are
natives of the Canary Islands, New Holland, and the
Cape of Good Hope, and other countries in the same
latitudes, which only require to be protected from frost
in this country. No fire is requisite except strong
frost is expected during the night. In winter they
should have plenty of air given them on all fine days as
early in the day as the weather will permit, and the
house should be shut close very early in the afternoon if
cold. If the weather should continue damp and wet, a
little fire will be requisite to expel the damp, as green¬
house plants are more liable to be injured by damp than
cold. The plants should be looked over every day for
the purpose of removing decayed leaves, and giving
water to those that have become dry ; this should always
be done early in the forenoon, and if the surface of the
mould in the pots become green from moss, it should be
removed with a flat stick, but not so deep as to injure
the roots, and a little fresh mould laid on in its stead.
Towards spring they require a more plentiful supply of
air and water, and when frost is not apprehended, some
of the sashes should be left a little open all night, and
the air gradually increased as the season advances
towards summer until the plants are set out of doors,
which in some seasons is about the middle of May, but
in others not until the end of the month, for this purpose
calm, cloudy weather should be preferred. A sheltered
situation should be chosen, where a bed of asties should
be previously prepared for their reception, where they
should be arranged according to their stature, but not
too crowded. There are various opinions with regard
to the proper time of shifting green-house plants into
fresh pots and mould, but early spring is to be preferred,
though in most instances they are shifted in autumn,
the most improper time of all. The pots should be
always well drained with sherds. If any of the plants
have grown too straggling or tall they should be cut
back early in spring that they may beconte good bushy
plants before autumn. In summer while the plants are
out of doors, should the weather prove dry, they should
be regularly and copiously supplied with water as late
as possible in the afternoon. The mould intended for
potting or shifting plants should not be sifted, but merely
chopped up finely with a spade with the turf adhering,
for the turf and its roots are the best part of the mould,
as keeping the soil light and loose, and allowing the roots
of the plants to spread and the water to penetrate j
sifted mould on the other hand hardens and becomes sour.
The cuttings of green-house plants require to be put in
at various seasons. From Christmas to the end of May
is generally the best time, but this will depend entirely
upon the state of the shoots required to make them ; for
instance, if the cuttings require to be taken from ripened
wood, they should be planted early in spring, but if they
require to be taken from young wood, the time to plant
them is when the shoots have grown a sufficient length
for that purpose. In potting plants raised from cuttings
care is necessary not to injure the young fibres ; at first
they should be planted in very small pots, and as they
grow they should be put into pots of increasing size, Horticul-
but care should be taken not to plant them in too large tare,
pots or to give them too much water. The seeds of
green-house plants should always be sown in pots as
early in spring as possible, placing the pots in a little
bottom heat, and the seedlings should be planted sepa¬
rately in small pots when they have grown about an
inch in length, and shifted from size to size of pots as
they grow. A mixture of loam, peat, and sand is the
compost which suits green-house plants generally.
Conservatory is a name applied to a green-house in Conserva
which the plants are set in artificial borders without pots. tory.
It is sometimes attached to the mansion-house. The
construction of a conservatory is the same as that for a
green-house, with this difference, that a pit or bed of
earth is substituted for the stage, and a narrow border
instead of the surrounding flues. It is necessary it
should be so constructed as to allow a free circulation
and copious admission of air; and it would be better if
the whole structure could be removed in summer, except
the north side, by which means the plants in it would
become bushy. It should of course be put together
again on the approach of winter. Numerous varieties
of this structure have been erected in the gardens of the
nobility, some of them most sumptuous examples. Like
a green-house, it may be of any form. Ornamenial
climbing plants are trained under the rafters with fine
effect, some of them producing festoons of blossoms.
The mould in which the bed of a conservatory is formed
should be light, rich, sandy loam mixed with a little
peat ; the bed or border should be kept regularly moist,
and the plants should be syringed now and then in fine
weather.
Plants for a conservatory are composed of a selection
of green-house plants ; they should be elegant in form,
and capable of sustaining themselves without support,
and rather hardy in constitution. In the management of
a conservatory abundant air should be admitted to pre¬
vent the plants from drawing too much. They should
be pruned so as to keep them comparatively short and
bushy. From the fourth to the seventh year after plant¬
ing a conservatory will always be the finest, after which
time the plants will have outgrown the space allotted
to them. When this is the case the best thing that can
be done is to change the whole interior plants earth and
all, and entirely replant it with plants from the green¬
house, where they may be prepared for the purpose, if
the operation be anticipated, and by which means the
conservatory may be pretty well filled at the end of the
first season. Neatness is every thing in a conservatory
as it is in a flower garden. Any wall in the interior of
the house may be furnished with a trellis to which ele¬
gant climbers may be trained.
Stove,—In this house a pit is generally formed in Stove,
the centre for tan bark, or other fermenting matter,
into which the pots are plunged, but it is now generally
filled with rubbish, and covered with gravel or sand,
and the pots set upon it. This pit is usually surrounded
by a thin brick wall, but slabs of stone or plates of slate
or cast-iron is often substituted as being neater and
taking up less room. A stove is seldom to be found
but in places of great extent, except in botanic gardens.
Stove plants are such as are natives within the tropics,
consequently require a high temperature and plenty of
moisture at particular seasons of the year; they are
usually of the most easy culture. The house should be
as closely glazed as possible. The temperature should
150*
HORTICULTURE.
Hortîcul- never be allowed to fall under 55° in winter, and in
ture. sunny days when it rises to 70° a little air may be given,
but early in the afternoon it should be shut close. For¬
merly the pots in which stove plants are grown were
plu^nged in tan, but this method is now almost exploded
and a bed of gravel or sand is substituted, on which
the pots are set, and which has been found more conducive
to the health of the plants as well as to the diminution
of expense. The houses may be either heated by hot
water or steam pipes or by means of fire flues in the
usual way, but the first method gives a more congenial
heat. As stove plants are apt fo be infested by insects,
such as the green fly, red spider, and mealy bug, the
first may be destroyed by the smoke of tobacco, the
second by sulphur vivum mixed up in a pail of quick¬
lime water, with which the flues should be washed,
lue mealy and scaly bug are to be got rid of by
removing them with a small hair brush, and for this
purpose the plants should be examined as often as pos¬
sible ; but ail these insects are now found to be readily
extirpated by syringing the plants in every part now
and then with diluted quick-lime water mixed with a
little sulphur vivum.
The plants should be washed from a garden engine in
fine weather, at which time the house should be kept
warm, by which means the plants will be kept clean
and healthy. Air should be admitted as early as pos¬
sible in the morning in warm weather, taking care
to shut up early in the afternoon that the house may
be kept to a proper temperature during the night. The
best time for shifting or repotting stove plants is in
early spring, and the pots require to be well drained
with sherds which keeps the mould loose and free
from being soddened with water. The time at which
cuttings should be planted is the same as that for
green-house plants, when the wood is fit, but they
require heat. Seeds of stove plants should be sown
immediately on their arrival from abroad, although
the general time of sowing is in early spring. A
gentle hot-bed is the best for rearing tropical seeds,
but some few will come up sooner by placing the pots
in which they are sown on a shelf in the stove, and the
sooner seedlings are potted oif separately the better.
Along the front and on vhe back wall are shelves on
which pots containing small plants may be set. Along
the rafters some species of Passiflora and other climbing
plants may be trained.
Dry stove. Dry stove is a stove in which there is no pit, but the
plants arranged on shelves as in the green-house, from
which it only differs in the higher temperature required.
Dry stove plants are of a thick fleshy or succulent
nature, as the different species of Cactus and its allies,
inhabitants within the tropics. In some gardens there
are houses entirely appropriated to these plants, but in
gardens where there is no dry stove they should be kept
on shelves erected for the purpose in the stove. The
plants require to be kept rather dry during winter. Mr.
Henderson, of Woodhall, in Scotland, one of the most
successful growers of Cacti, employs the following com¬
post : one part rotted dung, another part rotted leaves,
and another of heath mould, one of coarse sand, and
one and a half part of loam, previously filling the pots
one-third with sherds to form an effectual drain. Some
of the species, as Cactus speciosus Cereus flagelli^
formis, are improved and made to flower more freely by
being kept growing' vigorously in the green-house
during summer.
Dry green-house.—This differs from the dry stove by Hortical-
being kept to the same temperature as the green-house,
the plants grown in them being from the same latitudes,
This house is for the growth of the species of Mesem-
bryanthemum, Aloe, Stapelia, &c. ; but where there is
not a house appropriated to them they may be kept on
shelves erected for the purpose in a green-house or
frame. Both these and dry stove plants require to be
grown in an arid soil composed of light loam mixed
with lime rubbish and sand.
^tove aquarium.—This generally consists of a cistern Stove
placed in the stove, generally at one end of the pit and aquarium,
as near the light as possible. Some, however, have
erected houses entirely for the culture of tropical aquatic
plants, substituting a large cistern for the pit, in which
the pots containing the plants may be sunk, or a bed of
mould may be placed in the bottom of the cistern in
which the plants may be set ; others grow their tropical
aquatic plants in frames made water-tight at bottom.
There are a great many very showy tropical aquatics.
Stove-bulbs.—Mr. Sweet, one of the most successful Stove-
cultivators of stove-bulbs, observes, tha^ the hybrids are bulbs,
in general more hardy and flower more readily than the
original species, and the following is his method of
treatment. The bulbs having been grown in frames
and pits all the summer were removed to the stove in
autumn when they had ceased growing. They are
then laid on shelves in the stove, and as the leaves and
roots begin to decay they are cleared away that they may
not injure the bulbs. As soon as the bulbs become dry
anil firm some of them begin to show flower, and others
continue to do so all the winter and spring. As soon
as they show for bloom they should be potted, and im¬
mediately afterwards they must be placed in the hot¬
house, giving them but little water at first, but as the
pots become filled with roots they will require a greater
supply. Some stove-bulbs whose nature it is to continue
growing all the year round, as Amaryllis auhca^ calyp-
trata^ &c. do not answer to be turned out of the pots ;
these only require to be kept dry a considerable time in
the pots to make them flower, except they are weakly
or decayed ; they should then be shaken from the mould
and laid on shelves to dry, but not otherwise. By laying
the bulbs to dry on shelves according to the above me¬
thod, a greater number can be grown than by any other
means; other plants can be grown in the space which they
would otherwise occupy if kept in pots ; some grow best
in turfy loam mixed with sand, others grow more freely
in one half turfy loam, rather more than a third of sand,
and the remainder of peat or heath mould ; the fibres
of the turfy loam keep the mould open and free from
binding, so that the roots of the bulbs pass readily through
it; the pots in which the bulbs are grown must be
drained with sherds, as nothing injures them more than
soddened mould. Seeds of the species of Amaryllis, like
those of most other bulbs, should be sown as soon as
ripe, and when the young plants have attained the height
of a few inches they should be potted off either singly
or several in one pot, and if afterwards placed in a
hot-bed they will grow much faster than in any other
situation, and as soon as these pots are filled with roots
they should be shifted into larger ones, which should be
performed three or four times in the course of the sum¬
mer; they will in consequence grow rapidly, and manv
of them will flower at twelvemonths old. The species
of the genersi Crinum and Pancratium coutume growing
at all seasons of the year ; they succeed best if continually
HORTICULTURE
151*
Horticul- kept in pots, only shifting them occasionally into larger
ture. ones, for the more room the roots have to run the larger
and finer the flowers will be. They will also require
occasionally to have the earth all shaken from their roots
and the suckers taken off. As they are of more vigor¬
ous growth than the species of Amaryllis^ they will re¬
quire a stronger soil ; rich loam mixed with a third of
sand and a little heath mould is the best soil for them,
and the pots for them should also be carefully drained
with sherds. Young plants that are wanted to grow
fast should also be placed in a hot-bed during summer ;
these should be shifted into larger pots as the former
pots get filled with roots, by which means they will
soon become flowering plants. The species of Hcßman-
thus require the same treatment as that recommended
for Amaryllis.
Orchideoiis Orchideous plants,—These are principally epiphytes,
plants. natives of tropical countries, where they grow on the
bark of trees, old stumps of trees, and on stones and
among rocks. These plants are now cultivated to a
great extent in some gardens and nurseries. Being
tropical, they require a high temperature, and those
from the East Indies are said to require a higher tem¬
perature and moister atmosphere than those natives of
America or Africa. They are not so difficult to cultivate
as was formerly supposed. The pots or shallow pans
in which they are grown, the latter are preferable,
should be well drained with sherds, and then filled
up with pieces of dried peat two or three inches in
length and more than an inch in breadth and depth.
Small pieces of rotten sticks and tufts of decayed
Hypnum or Sphagnum answer best for the growth of
the species of Dendrodium and its allies, and for all pots
and baskets suspended by wires from the rafters where
the peat would be apt to get too dry and hard. The
roots of epiphytes are generally thrown out near the
surface, and therefore the principal point in the culture
of them is to encourage the developement of these ; and
in order to do this, the compost in the pots or pans
^ should be raised above their margins. Pots and pans
made with lateral openings are for those kinds whose
flower buds have a tendency to descend. Many epi-
phUes are easily cultivated in a vinery or pinery in pots
filled with pieces of peat. The terrestrial kinds thrive
well under the ordinary treatment of stove-plants in peat
earth. Many kinds are the better for being fostered
with the heat of a tan-bed or hot-bed. All of them
thrive best in a hot, moist atmosphere. The blossoms
of most of them are very showy and of a peculiar struc¬
ture, and even some are fragrant. They flower at all
seasons of the year. The propagation of epiphytes are
easy ; those kinds which produce pseudo-bulbs are rea¬
dily multiplied by separating them, and those that pro¬
duce rhizomas are readily increased by division.
Growing Growing plants in glass cases, or what are called do-
plants in mestie green-houses. Growing plants in this way is
glass cases, means of almost every one, and is the sole
discovery of Mr. Ward, of Wellclose-square, London.
It consists of a box with a glass case over it of any size
according to circumstances. Of course one to stand in a
window must be small ; the ledges should be made to
slope, and covered with lead or zinc, and over it a glass
case is placed ; this case should be framed with lead or
zinc, and it must be made to fit with nicety on the ledges
of the box, and in such a way as the moisture will flow
down the inside of the case into the box. The box may be
made of any kind of wood. The case should have a door,
vol vi.
but it should also fit nicely, so as no crevice may be left Horticul-
to permit a free interchange of air betwixt the room
and the interior of the case. The box should be so ^
placed as to be exposed to the sun several hours a day.
Before planting, in the bottom of the box is laid a
stratum of pot-sherds or broken crockery two inches
deep to drain the superabundant moisture, and on this
is laid a stratum of turfy loam an inch deep, and over
this a compost of loam, peat, and sand, in which the
plants are set. The soil is then saturated with water,
and the superabundance will run off by the openings
made in the bottom of the box ; when this is completed
these openings should be corked up, and the glass case
is then placed on the box and the operation is then
finished. Plants that naturally grow in moist and shady
situations are best suited to this purpose. The plants
afterwards require no further care than to open the door
made in the case to remove dead leaves and trim the
plants when grown beyond bounds. The moisture re¬
quired rises from the surfs influence from the moistened
earth, and during the cool of the night falls to the earth
again like dew. In this manner there is a constant suc¬
cession of rising and falling of moisture in imitation of
the processes of nature going on in the fields. The
plants growing in these boxes require no interchange of
air or water.
The only advantage of this plan of growing plants is
that they may be grown in windows, or in any place
where exposed to a few hours' sun, even in the heart of
crowded cities. It is also an excellent plan for trans¬
porting plants with safety from one country to another.
Florists' Flowers.
Florists^ flowers,—This appellation is restricted to Florists'
flowers which have been and are especial favourites with flowers,
florists, and have consequently received a large share of
their attention, and for a long time almost engaged the
attention of the flower gardener. Though possessed of
great beauty, but few of them are calculated to make a
show at a distance, and the arrangements requisite for
their culture do not harmonize well with the general
disposition of a flower garden. The more robust and
less valuable varieties may be introduced into the flower
border. The Dutch, in this as well as other departments
of gardening, were the first to bring it into notice, and
more particularly by the great excellence to which they
have attained in the culture of florists' bulbs, but the
fibrous-rooted and tuberous-rooted kinds of florists'
flowers, as the carnation, pink, polyanthus, auricula,
dahlia, &c. are brought to a higher degree of perfection
in Britain than any where else. The merits and beauty
of some florists' flowers are estimated by rules laid down
by florists, and others are judged of by their fulness and
symmetry, and the brilliancy and distinctness of the
colours. Where refinement is aimed at, a separate gar¬
den or a separate section of the garden is set apart for
their culture where they are grown in beds by them¬
selves. All plants which are grown extensively for their
flowers are introduced under this head.
Anemone {Anemone coronaria of Linnseus) is a na- Anemone,
tive of the south of Europe, and has been cultivated in
Britain since 1596. Its varieties are innumerable ;
among them are some of the most graceful ornaments
of the garden : they are hardy and will flower almost at
any season, according to the time the roots are kept out
of the ground, and when they are replanted. The best
kinds are named by florists. The prevailing colours
u*
152*
HORTICULTURE
Horticui- are white, blue, and red ; semi-double flowers are almost
ture. jjj ag niueh repute as double ones. A sing-le root, if
allowed to remain in the ground two or three years, will
attain a great breadth. Established varieties are in¬
creased by dividing the roots. The anemone prefers a
fresh loam, rather heavy than light, but will grow in
any soil. The usual time of replanting the roots is in
October, covering them three inches deep with earth,
but to have heavier bloom they may be planted in the
beginning of September, and to have bloom every month
of the year replant every month. The finer kinds
require protection from violent storms and excessive
light and heat, but most of the sorts do exceedingly
well treated as border flowers, but like the ranunculus
they are usually grown in beds. A severe winter will
destroy the roots if the surface of the soil be not mulched.
In order to obtain new varieties, seeds should be saved
from fine single or semi-double kinds and sown in
shallow pots or boxes filled with light rich earth in
August, covering them a quarter of an inch with the
same kind of soil, and when the plants are up care
should be taken to protect them from frosts. In the
following season, when their leaves begin to decay, the
roots should be taken up and dried, after which they
should be replanted and otherwise treated like old roots.
A good double anemone should have a strong stem at
least nine inches high, the flower should be two inches
and a half in diameter, consisting of an outer row of
large, handsome, well-rounded petals, at first horizontal,
and at length turning a little upwards at the extremities
so as to form a shallow cup ; the inner petals should be
small imbricating over each other regularly, so that
the stamens may not be discernible. If the flower
be variegated, the colours should be clear and distinct,
and brilliant if consisting of one colour.
Ranuncu- Ranunculus {Ranunculus Asiaticus of Linnaeus) is
a native of the Levant, but has been cultivated as a flo¬
rist's flower in Britain since 1.596. The varieties are
innumerable, and like most other florists' flowers the
finer kinds have names, and are a great ornament to
gardens. The flowers are single, semi-double, and
double, and of all colours, blue excepted. Maddock
says, a good ranunculus should have a stout stem
from eight inches to a foot in height, and the flowers
should be of a hemispherical form and at least two
inches in diameter, consisting of numerous petals gra¬
dually diminishing in size to the centre, lying regularly
over each other neither too close nor too thin, more of a
perpendicular than a horizontal direction, in order to dis¬
play the colours with better effect, the edges of the petals
should be entire, well rounded, and their colours should
be clear, rich, and brilliant, either of one colour or
variously diversified. No plant is more prolific in new
varieties from seed than the ranunculus, no two plants
producing flowers alike. Established kinds are propa¬
gated by offsets which usually flower the first year ; rare
sorts may be multiplied by dividing the crown of the
root with a sharp knife into as many parts as there are
buds; but these will not flower till the second year.
All the varieties prefer a fresh loamy soil, which should
be well manured, and if a stratum of well rotted cow
dung be placed in forming the beds six or nine inches
below the suiface it will both retain moisture and supply
nourishment. The roots may be planted in November
or earlier, and to prevent their being destroyed by the
frost the surface of the soil should be mulched, or they
need not be planted till February or March, but the
former mode produces the finest and strongest bloom. Horticul-
The roots will retain their vegetative properties two or ture,
three years if kept out of the ground. In order to
obtain good new varieties, seed should be saved from
the best plants of the semi-double kinds, the seeds sown,
and the young plants treated in the same manner recom¬
mended for seedling anemones. The plants intended to
flower should not be suffered to run to seed, as roots that
have produced seed seldom furnish fine flowers afterwards.
Pœony, {Pœonia of Linnaeus,) of which there are a Pœony.
great many species and varieties, all of which are
showy. The Montan or tree Pœony, {Pœonia Montan
of Sims,) and its numerous varieties, are much esteemed
for the beauty of their flowers; they are natives of the
north of China and are quite hardy, but as their blossoms
are apt to be injured by the cold blasts of spring, glass
frames to answer the size of the plants should be placed
over them, under which they will flower in great per¬
fection. A rich loamy soil suits them best, and cuttings
taken off in August or September, having a part of the
wood of the preceding year attached, will root freely if
planted in a sheltered situation ; they may also be pro¬
pagated by layers, but in this way they are longer in
emitting roots than by cuttings. The hardy herbaceous
kinds of Pseony are amongst the most showy flowers,
particularly the varieties of Pœonia alhiflora ; they prefer
a rich loamy soil and an open situation, and they are
readily increased by divisions of the root, taking care to
leave a bud to each slip. New varieties are reared from
seed which generally flower the third year.
Stocks, {Mathiola species,) stock gilliflower, Bromp- Stocks,
ton and Queen stocks, {Mathiola incana of R. Brown.)
In order to procure double varieties of these, choice
should be made of such single flowering plants as grow
near many double ones; for it has been observed that
seeds saved from plants growing among double kinds,
produce a greater number of double flowering plants
than those that have been saved from plants separated.
The seed should be sown in May, and when the plants
are two or three inches high they should be thinned to
at least nine inches asunder, and the plants so taken out
may be planted in the border six inches apart. If the
following winter be severe, the plants will require to be
sheltered by mats, and in the following May and
June they will become the greatest ornament of the
flower garden. Fine double varieties may be propa¬
gated by cuttings, which strike root readily if planted
under a hand-glass and shaded. The ten-week stock,
{Mathiola annua of Sweet,) being an annual, should be
sown three or four différent times, in February, March,
April, and May, and the plants from the last sowing
will continue to flower till Christmas. Double stocks
are also planted in pots, and sheltered in a frame
during winter. Seed should be always collected from
sinole flowers of the best colours. AH kinds of stocks
prefer a light rich soil, rather sandy than otherwise.
JVallflower {Chdranthus cheiri of Linnaeus) is a Wallflower,
native of Europe on old walls, and appears to have
been introduced into Britain in 1573. Tiie varieties are
numerous, of which there are several double flowering
kinds; the colours are yellow, rust-coloured, and blood
coloured, or variegated with these colours ; the flowers of
all possess an agreeable odour : the fine varieties are mul¬
tiplied by cuttings taken from young wood and planted
under a hand-glass which soon strike root. Wallflowers
prefer a light rich soil, rather sandy than otherwise. Dames
Rocket or Dames violet, {Hesperis matronalis of Lin- violet.
HORTICULTURE
153*
Horticul¬
ture.
Migno¬
nette.
Pansy, or
Hearfs-
case.
naeus.) Of this there are several double-flowered
varieties, viz., double-purple, double-white, double-
variegated, and double-green. They prefer a light rich
soil, and require to be frequently transplanted and
divided, otherwise they will not exist ; the best time to
perform this is after they have done flowering and are
again beginning to sprout from the root. The double-
yellow rocket may be treated in the same way, but re¬
quires more moisture.
Mignonette (^Reseda odor ata of Linnaeus) is a native
of the north of Africa, and seems to have been intro¬
duced into Britain in 1739 or 1752. It is a well known
and universal favourite ; the luxury of the pleasure gar¬
den is greatly heightened by its delightful odour, and as
the plants grow more readily in pots its fragrance can
be conveyed into the house. Plants in pots and boxes
are in great demand in London for rooms and placing
in balconies, and it forms for these purposes an extensive
article of culture among florists and market gardeners.
The seeds are either sown in pots, or the plants are
transplanted into pots or boxes. According to Rishon,
{Hart. Trans, vol. ii.) to obtain plants for flowering
from December to February, a sowing should be made
in July in the open ground, and the plants potted in
September. The crop for March, April, and May should
be sown in pots not later than the 25th of August : the
plants from this sowing will not suffer from exposure
to rain whilst they are young; they must, however,
be protected from early frosts like the winter crop ; they
should be thinned in November, leaving not more than
eight or ten plants in a pot, and at the same time the
pots should be sunk three or four inches in some old
tan or coal ashes, and should be covered with a frame,
which it is best to place fronting the west, for then the
lights may be left open in the evening to catch the sun
whenever it sets clear. The third or spring crop should
be sown in pots not later than the 25th of February ;
these must be placed in a frame on a gentle heat, and
as the heat declines, the pots must be let down three or
four inches into the dung bed, which will keep the<roots
moist and prevent their leaves turning brown from the
heat of the sun in April and May. The plants thus
obtained will be in perfection about the end of May, and
be ready to succeed those raised by the autumnal sowing.
The variety called the tree-mignonette may be propa¬
gated by seeds sown in spring, and also by cuttings
which readily strike root. The young plants should be
potted singly, and as they advance they should be tied
to a stick, taking care to prevent the growth of side
shoots by pinching them off, in order that the plants
may form a bushy head ; and for this purpose also the
shoots may be stopped when become too long and strag¬
gling, by which means the plants will have formed heads
nine inches in diameter and covered with blossoms. As
the plants advance in growth they should be shifted into
larger pots progressively, and may be ultimately left in
those of about six inches in diameter at top. (Sabine,
Hart, Trans, vol. iii.)
Pansy ^ or Hearths-ease, (Viola of different kinds.) The
name of pansy was first applied to the varieties of
Vioia tricolor of Linnaeus, but is now extended to the
Viola lutea, grandißora,'aUaica, and a7nœria,2iuà other
nearly allied species, and all the hybrids produced by
the intermixture of these. Like other florists' flowers, the
most esteemed varieties have names, and some of them
are extremely beautiful. According to Mr. Gorrie, a
celebrated cultivator of pansies, a fine flower should
have large petals, the whole forming almost a circle, Horticul-
not much undulated, the colours brilliant, distinct, and
permanent, the eye small and not deeply pencilled, the
stigma filling the open part of the eye, and the stalk
which bears the flower strong and straight. All the va-
O o
rieties of this esteemed flower are of the most easy culture,
growing freely in common garden soil. Seeds are sown
in spring under a hand-glass, and when the seedlings
are large enough they may be planted out into an open
border and in pots. The situation should be low, moist,
and cool, open to the east and west, and the soil should
be sandy loam well manured.
Neapolitan violet ( Viola odorata, var. Neapolitana) is Neapolitan
a perennial plant, a native of Naples, and is cultivated violet,
in pots to some extent for the sake of its odour. It
forces well, and where there* is a stove or flued pit it
may be had in blossom throughout the winter and early
spring. It is propagated by the runners. It prefers a
loamy soil. It may be cultivated in beds, but always
in pots for forcing ; the double variety is considered the
best for the latter purpose. The variety called the single
Russian commences flowering in the open air during
autumn, and continues so during the winter even in
frost and snow.
Pink (Dianthus plumarius of Linnaeus) is considered pjnk.
a native of some parts of Europe, but its varieties have
been cultivated in Britain since 1529. All the different
kinds of garden pink spring from this species. The
flowers are single, semi-double, and double, the colours
white, purple, spotted or variegated, and the petals are
more or less fringed on their margins. As a florist's
flower the pink is of much less antiquity than the carna¬
tion. It was chiefly grown as a border flower until
within the last seventy years, since which it has been
greatly improved, and many fine varieties origin¬
ated. Being the hardiest and least expensive of fine
flowers, it is much cultivated by operatives round
large towns. The varieties most cultivated are those
called pheasant's eyes. Cob pinks are a large sort, sup¬
posed to be intermediate between pinks and picotees.
Red early pinks are smaller plants than either cobs or
pheasant's eyes. The Paisley growers reckon about
three hundred of the pheasant's eyes. Mr. Hog, in
1820, gave a list of one hundred sorts containing, as he
says, the best kinds in England. The culture and pro¬
pagation of the pink is almost the same as that of the
carnation, but it is seldom kept in pots or in frames.
It is generally planted in beds of loamy earth, or into
the flower border, and the small side shoots reduced in
the autumn in order to throw more strength into those
intended to produce flowers the following season. A
good pink, according to Maddock, should have a strong
erect stem of not less than a foot in height ; the calyx
should be smaller and shorter than that of the carna¬
tion, but nearly similar in proportion as well as in the
formation of the flower, which should not be less than
two and a half inches in diameter. The petals should
be large and broad and very finely fringed or serrated
on their edges, but free from irregular and deep notches,
for the nearer the approach to entire the nearer to per¬
fection will be the flower. The broader part or end of
the petals should be white and distinct from the eye
unless it be a laced pink, that is ornamented with a
continuation of the colour of the eye round it, having a
considerable proportion of white in the centre free from
tinge or spot. The eye should consist of a bright or
dark-red crimson or purple resembling velvet, but the
u* 2
154*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- Y^earer it approaches to bîacK the more the flower is
esteemed ; its proportion should be about equal to that
of the white, that it may neither appear too large nor
too small. Pinks are commonly increased by cuttings,
generally called pipings by florists, and the time of
making and planting them is previous to or at the time
of flowering; they are made of the barren shoots, and
the way of preparing and planting them is the same as
that for carnations, but bottom heat is seldom applied,
althousrh it is the most certain method. Rare sorts are
O
sometimes increased by layers. New varieties are pro¬
cured from seed. Maddock recommends for the pink a
fresh loamy soil, dug two feet deep, manured with a
stratum of cow dung two years old six inches deep,
placed five or six inches below the surface of the bed.
When the cuttings are struck they are removed to a bed
of common mould, and after they have remained there a
few weeks, the strongest of them maybe removed to the
blooming bed. The blooming beds should be raised
above the paths and rather rounded to throw off the excess
of wet. The principal beds should be planted in August
or early in September nine inches from plant to plant.
Not more than ten or twelve blooms should be allowed
to open on the same plant, the lateral and smaller buds
should be pinched off a month before the timeof blooming,
taking care always to leave the terminating bud of each
stem. The fewer the flowering stems which are allowed
to rise the larger and finer will be the blossoms. The
calyx in a great number of kinds being liable to burst, it
may be tied in the manner recommended for carnations.
It is perhaps best to assist nature by cutting the calyx
down at each tooth as far as may be thought necessary,
in order to allow the petals to come out regularly on
every side, so as to preserve the circular form of the
blossom, for if left to nature the calyx would burst on
one side. The shorter the calyx the more liable it is to
burst. The flower stems should be tied to sticks when
grown so as to keep the blossoms distinct from each
other, that the whole may have a graceful appearance.
Circular cards are used by some to display the blossoms
as for carnations. The soil between the plants on the
bed should be kept regularly moist, at the same time
avoiding to wet the flowers during the time of blossom¬
ing, and at this time it is sometimes proper to defend
the bed by an awning. Pinks should never be suffered
to remain more than two years without change of
soil or situation. Ernmerton, in his treatise on auri¬
cula, says pink beds should be top dressed in spring
with some old night soil or sugar-baker's scum to excel
o *—'
in bloom.
Carnation. Carnation {Dianthiis caryophyllus of Linnaeus) is a
native of the south of France; it is also found appa¬
rently wild in England on ruins of old walls and castles,
as on those of Rochester, Deal, Sandown, and on old
walls about Norwich and other towns. This is the
source from which all the fine varieties of carnation and
picotees are supposed to have sprung. The carnation
does not seem to have been known to the ancients, for it
is not mentioned by Pliny. It has, however, been cul¬
tivated in Europe time out of mind, for the beauty and
rich spicy scent of the flowers. It is the principal flo¬
rists' flower in Germany and Italy, from which countries
the British florists procure their best seed. The varieties
are innumerable, and the finer kinds have names given
to them by florists ; they are arranged into three tribes,
called flakes, bizarres, and picotees. Those called
flakes have two colours and their stripes large going
quite through the petals of the flower. Bizarres Horticul-
are variegated in irregular spots and stripes, and with ^ _
no less than three colours. Picotees have a white
ground spotted or pounced with scarlet, red, purple, or
other colours. Of each tribe there are numerous varie¬
ties, further subdivided according to the predominance
of the colours, as scarlet flake, pink flake, yellow flake,
&c. ; scarlet bizarre, crimson bizarre, &c. ; and purple
picotee, yellow picotee, &c. The picotees have smaller
flowers than carnations with serrated edged petals.
New varieties of all the sorts are procured from seed, and
old established kinds are perpetuated by layering and
cuttings. Carnations thrive best in rich loam rather
sandy than otherwise ; the finer sorts are generally grown
in pots, protected by a frame in winter, and covered
by an awning while in blossom. The time of laying
carnations is when the flowers are expanded, in the per¬
formance of which there is nothing peculiar, the lower
leaves of the barren shoots are cut awav, the earth is
then stirred, and the pot is filled with light rich mould,
an incision is then made a quarter of an inch below the
joint and the knife passed up through the centre of the
joint, the shoot is then pegged down and covered
over with earth. When the layers are properly rooted,
which is commonly in the course of three weeks after
laying, provided they have been kept regularly moist,
and shaded from the heat of the sun, they are cut from
the parent plant, with half the stalk which connects
them, and planted in small pots, three or four in
each. The pots are then to be placed under an arch
of hoops, where they can be regularly sheltered both
from excess of sun and rain till winter, when they should
be removed to the winter repository, which should be
so constructed as to admit a free circulation of air and
plenty of light. The south side of the winter repository
should consist of glass frames in severe weather so as to
admit light when it cannot be opened with safety. The
mode of propagating carnations by cuttings is very pre¬
carious, but the plants so produced are generally stronger
than those from layers, and it is also necessary when
the shoots are too short for laying, and for this pur¬
pose a slight hot-bed is provided, covering its surface
with fine light mould four or five inches thick ; the
cuttings should be cut horizontally close under the
second or third joint, and some recommend the cutting
or cropping the leaves, but this has been found delete¬
rious, both for cuttings and layers. The earth of the
bed being properly moistened a hand-glass is taken and
pressed down on the bed so as to mark its boundary,
to show where the cuttings are to be set ; they are then
to be planted neatly an inch distant from each other,
after which a gentle watering should be given in order
to fix the soil closely about them. When the leaves
have become dry after this watering, the glass is
placed over the cuttings, pressing its edges into the soil
to prevent the admission of air. Nothing further is
required but to keep the mould regularly moist, and
whenever they are watered the glass should re¬
main off until the leaves are dry : this treatment is to
be continued until the cuttings have struck root. A
little sun may be allowed in the morning, but they should
be shaded in the heat of the day. The glass may
occasionally be taken off to adnrit air, and for this pur¬
pose dull cloudy warm weather is preferred ; but should
this not occur, the glass may be taken off a little in the
morning. After the cuttings are rooted the glass should
be removed altogether; but as cuttings do not all
HORTICULTURE.
155*
Ilorticul- strike root at the same time, those that have struck first
should be carefully taken out, and planted in pots in the
manner recommended for layers, and the remainder
treated as before until they have rooted. Carnation seed is
difficult to ripen in Britain and is therefore mostly pro¬
cured from the continent. The plants irom which seed
is saved should be possessed of the best properties ; they
should stand in an open situation, and their blossoms
should be defended against rain, by having covers sus¬
pended over them, but in such a manner as to admit a
free circu'ation of air, and the petals when withered
should be withdrawn, being apt to retain moisture.
When ripe and gathered, the seed should remain in the
capsules until the time of sowing, which is generally in
May following ; it is then sown in pots filled with pro¬
per earth, the pots should be placed in an airy situ¬
ation, the earth kept moderately moist, and shaded from
the heat of the sun. As soon as the young plants have
six leaves they should be planted out into a border of
rich garden mould a foot asunder, defending them
in winter by mats and hoops, and the following summer
they will blossom. The chance of getting a good new
flower is reckoned as one to one hundred. If a florist
raises six good new carnations in his lifetime he is con¬
sidered fortunate. Mr. Hog, one of the most success¬
ful florists, makes his compost for carnations in pots as
follows: three barrow loads of loam, one and a half of
garden mould, ten of horse dung, one of coarse sand,
mixing these ingredients well together, and turning theui
over two or three times durimi* winter. In November
he throws over it a barrow load of fresh lime as soon as
it is slacked in turning the heap, which accelerates the
rotting of the fibrous particles arid destroys grubs and
slugs ; if there has been much rain during winter, he
adds some damaged salt, about seven pounds. During
heavy rains florists usually cover their compost heap with
tarpaulin. For flowers that are apt to sport he lowers
this compost. Potting carnations generally commences
about the middle of March, and should never be deferred
later than the end of the month, which is performed in
the ordinary way, taking care neither to place the plants
deeper nor shallower in the earth than they were previ¬
ously. When the plants are potted off for bloom the
pots should be placed in an open airy part of the garden
under an arch of hoops, that, in case of cold dry winds,
heavy rains, and frosty nights, mats may be thrown over
the hoops, but they should always remain exposed except
under such circumstances. The earth in the pots
should be kept regularly moist with soft water. The
flower stems should be loosely tied to sticks, and when
the stems have attained the height of a foot and a half
the plants should be removed to stages to flower. Small
green insects sometimes appear on the plants; these
should be carefully removed by a brush. Scotch snuff
dusted over the infected parts in the morning while the
dew is on the plants, has been sometimes tried with
success. The calyx in many kinds of carnation is liable
to burst, if not timely prevented, and the graceful circular
form which the flower ought to possess is thus de¬
stroyed ; but this is guarded against by florists by fast¬
ening a slip of bladder round the middle of the calyx
where it appears to have the greatest inclination to burst;
these slips should lap over at the ends, where they
should be fixed by a little gum. Small pieces of bast
mat with a single tie will answer the purpose equally
well. The bloom, should be sheltered from the sun and
rain by an awning, as for tulips. Those v/ho are cu¬
rious in blooming their carnations extract such petals as Horticui
are plain or run from the true colours and arrange the
remainder so as to supply the defect. Four or five
plants in a pot have a more elegant appearance than
one or two, and no more than four or five blossoms
should be allowed to expand on the same plant, the
smaller buds should be picked off, taking care however
always to leave the terminating flower of each stem. In
winter carnation plants are seldom injured by dry frosts,
though it is safer to protect them from it ; a free circu¬
lation of air is necessary to prevent mildew, which makes
its appearance on the foliage in the form of purple spots.
It is also safer to keep the plants too dry than too moist.
According to Mad dock a fine carnation should have a
strong straight stem, the flowers three inches in dia¬
meter, consisting of large well-formed petals, neither
too few nor too numerous, the inner petals should rather
decrease in size as they approach the centre, lying over
each other regularly, and the calyx should be one inch
in length. The colours should be perfectly distinct
whatever they are, and disposed in long regular stripes,
broadest at the outside of the petals. Each petal
should have a due proportion of white, one half or
nearly so.
Hollyhock (^Althcea rosea of Linnaeus) is a beautiful Hollyhock,
biennial plant, a native of China, and was first
introduced to this country in 1573. Although very
little attention is paid by florists to this flower, yet
it appears to be as showy and neat as the dahlia. The
flowers vary from single to double, and the colours are
white, yellow, scarlet, red, and buff, or orange, and
blackish-red, but seldom variegated. The double va¬
rieties are not constant, yet where the seeds are carefully
saved from the most double flowers, the greater number
of the plants reared from such seed will be nearly the
same as the parent, provided no plant with single or
bad coloured flowers be permitted to grow near them.
The fig-leaVed hollyhock (Althœa ficifolia of Cavanilles)
is also a very pretty species ; the flowers, like the common
hollyhock, vary from single to double, but they are gene¬
rally mellow or orange-coloured. Hollyhocks will grow
in any common garden soil, and have the best effect when
planted in rows. The plants are reared from seed, which
should be sown in a border in spring, and when they
are of sufficient size they should be removed to where
thev are intended to flower the followinir season.
O
Balsam {Balsamina hortensis of Linnaeus, and other Balsam,
species.) It is a tender annual, a native of the hotter
parts of Asia.. It was first introduced into Britain in
1596. The varieties of this beautiful plant which culti¬
vation has produced are numerous. The flowers are
white, rose-coloured, fed, purple, and striped and varie¬
gated with these colours. Mr. Miller speaks of two
remarkable varieties : one he calls the Immortal Eagle, a
beautiful plant from the East Indies, the flowers of which
are double and much larger than the common kind,
the colours are scarlet and white, and purple and white;
the other he calls the Cockspur, introduced from the
West Indies, the flowers of which are generally single
but never more than semi-double, and striped with red
and white : this is apt to grow to a great size before it
flowers, which is generally late in autumn, so that in
bad seasons there will be hardly any flowers and the
seeds consequently seldom ripen. The seeds of balsams
should be sown on a moderate hot-bed in spring, and
when the plants are about two or three inches high they
should be planted separately into small pots and tlieii
156^
HORTICULTURE.
HorticuV' replaced in the hot-bed, taking care to shade them until
they have struck fresh root, after which they should
have a moderate share of free air admitted to them when
the weather is favourable to prevent their being drawn
up tall and weak ; they should be shifted from size to
size of pots as they advance in growth, until the plants
have grown to the size required, and when in flower
they may be placed in a green-house or other cool situ¬
ation, where they will make a very showy appearance,
and bear seed. A light rich soil or a mixture of loam,
peat, and sand is the best compost for balsams. They
require to be frequently refreshed with water.
Fuchsias {Fuchsia of different species) are all ele¬
gant and delicate shrubs when in blossom ; the most
showy species are principally natives of Chili. Most of
them will grow and flower freely in the open ground
during summer, but in winter the stems are generally
killed to the ground, but if the roots are mulched during
winter, they will rise vigorously the succeeding spring
and flower strongly in summer. All the species are
readily struck from cuttings. Several showy hybrid
kinds have been lately produced by cross impregnation.
They have a showy appearance if planted in clumps or
warm borders.
Dahlia {Dahlia variabilis of Linnœus) is a tuberous
rooted perennial, a native of Mexico, and was first sent
to Madrid in 1789, and from thence to England in the
same year; the plant being lost, seeds were reintro¬
duced by Lady Holland in 1804, and from these and
some plants imported from France in 1814 all the pre¬
sent extensive stock have originated. The flowers are
of great beauty, and are in perfection at a time when few
other flowers are to be had. The varieties are innume¬
rable, and most of the finer kinds have names given to
them, and these are divided into tribes,—such as the
anemone flowered from the resemblance of the heads to
the flowers of a double anemone; the ranunculus
flowered, from the resemblance of the heads to the
flowers of a double ranunculus ; the globe flowered,
from the globular form of the heads, of which there are a
great number of beautiful kinds of each tribe. Dwarf
sorts of each tribe have also been produced by culture ;
these are much earlier flowerers than the taller kinds. A
good dahlia should have the flowers in the head all
radiate or ligular ; where this is the case they are called
double by florists ; but it is neither more nor less than the
central flowers becoming all similar to those of the ray,
and not remaining short and tubular as is the case in
the natural state, when the heads are termed single
flowers. The limbs of the flowers (petals of florists)
should be entire, pointed, or rounded, regular in their
disposition according to the tribe to which they belong;
each series of flowers should overlap each other : they
may either be plain or quilled, but never distorted.
Bright and deep velvety colours are most admired, as
well as pure colours, as white, yellow, &c. and striped
and variegated. Dahlias are propagated by cuttings and
grafting, and by dividing the roots to perpetuate existing
kinds, and by seed for new varieties. The cuttings are
taken from the root shoots in spring or the tops of young
shoots in summer ; they are planted in sandy loam, and
placed in a little heat, shading them from the sun, when
they will soon strike root, after which they may be
removed to a green-house or frame to harden them,
and they may be shifted once or twice into larger
pots before they are finally planted out. Cuttings are
often grafted on old roots ; the top of the tuber is cut
slantingly upwards, and the cutting slantingly down- Hor^ticul-
wards; they are then placed together and tied with
matting and planted as deep in a pot as to cover the ^
lower part of the graft with the earth, and they will
soon adhere together if placed in a frame or under a
hand-glass, but grafting does not appear to possess any
advantage over the common mode of propagation by
cuttings. In collecting for seed the preference should
be given to dwarf and semi-double heads when double
full-flowered heads are desired. The seed should be
sown in March on a gentle hot-bed at a temperature of
from 55° to 66°, and wlien the plants are up they may
be pricked out into pots if necessary, and kept in a mo¬
derate temperature of from 50° to 55° till the end of
April, when they should be planted out where they are
to flower in rows three feet wide, and two feet from
plant to plant in the row in a compartment by them¬
selves, at first covering each plant at night with an
empty flower-pot to protect them from spring fiJosts.
Seedlings treated in this way will begin to flower in July.
Some cultivators impregnate the flowers of one sort with
the pollen of another by means of a hair pencil. The
flowers intended to be so fecundated should be covered
two or three days previous to their expansion in order to
prevent their being impregnated by means of bees or
other insects. Dahlias thrive best in an open situation
and in a rich loamy soil. Old roots may be planted out
in the border where they are intended to flower; but to
have flowers early they should first be planted in large
pots and forwarded in frames or pits or in a green¬
house until May, when they are to be planted out, and
some of them will flower in June. Dahlias have the
best effect in a compartment by themselves, but the dis¬
tribution requires some nicety, so as to have a good
mixture of colours, and in keeping the tallest growing
kinds in the back or centre of a clump; of course the
distance at which they are to be planted from each other
will depend upon the mode of growth of the sorts.
Some cultivators, instead of tying the plants to stakes,
spread them out like espaliers, and others peg them
down to the ground so as to give them the appearance
of a bed of dwarfs. Roots will live in the open ground
if covered by a sufficient depth of leaves, old tan,
straw, or other litter to protect them from frost, but the
safest way is to dig up the roots in autumn, and keep
them in a dry place or in dry sand till spring.
Chrysanthemum {Pyrethrum sinense of Sabine) is a Chrysan-
native of China, and some of its varieties were intro- themum.
duced into Britain as long ago as 1764. All the varieties
contribute greatly to the ornament of the flower garden
in fine autumns, and form likewise great ornaments in
green-houses and conservatories as late as December,
while few other flowers are to be had. There are about
fifty varieties known, most of which have been intro¬
duced from China, very few having been originated from
seed in Britain. Mr. Haworth has arranged them
underthe following heads ;—I. Ranunculus flowered, of
which there are thirteen sorts. 2, Incurving ranun¬
culus flowered, six kinds. 3. China aster flowered, six
sorts. 4. Marigold flowered, seven kinds. 5. Tassel
flowered, eleven varieties. 6. Half double tassel flowered,
five kinds, all of which he has named in the Gardener^s
Magazine^ vol. ix. p. 226. They are of the most easy
culture, and are readily propagated either by division,
suckers, or cutting. The beginning of April is the best
time for putting in cuttings, which are best if taken from
the top shoots of last year's plants, and planted sepa-
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul¬
ture.
China
aster.
Daisy.
Pyramidal
and Party-
coloured
bell flowers.
rately into small pots called sixties, in the followinjç
compost, one-half of equal parts of loam and bog or
leaf mould, and tiie other half sand. The cuttings
should be about three inches long, cut across with a
sharp knife close under a joint, and the pots are after¬
wards to be set in a frame with a gentle bottom heat.
In three weeks afterwards the cuttings will be well
rooted ; they are then to be jepoved to a cold frame to
harden until the beginning of June, when they should
be shifted into pots called forty-eights, and afterwards
placed in an open airy situation. To strengthen the
plants, they should then be watered with liquid manure
in which soap suds have been mixed, and about the same
time the tops of the plants should be pinched or nipped
off to make them bushy, but no more side shoots should
be allowed to remain for flowering than the plants are
able to support or bring to perfection. In August the
plants should be shifted into pots called thirty-twos,
using strong loam with about one-third of rotten dung,
at the same time tying the plants neatly to sticks. The
pots should never be plunged, but they should be fre¬
quently removeil to prevent the roots from growing
through their bottoms. The old plants from which the
cuttings were taken are shaken free from the old mould
and repotted into pots of the size called forty-eights,
afterwards shifted to thirty-lwos, and in August to
sixteens, and by this means they will form large strong
plants. Some gardeners and cultivators prefer suckers
to cuttings, and for this purpose the month of May is
preferred for separating them from the mother plant
and potting them. Dwarf plants can be had by laying
down the points of the shoots about the middle of
August. Cuttings taken from the tops after the flower
buds are formed and struck in heat is another successful
mode for obtaining dwarf flowering plants. In warm
situations, and in fine autumns, many of the kinds will
flower in the open border or against a wall, to which
they may be nailed. The plants in the open air should
be taken up every two years, and they should be mulched
round the roots in winter. They look well in the open
border if the plants be large and of many stems.
China aster {Callisiephus hortensis of De Candolle)
is a well known annual plant, a native of China and
other parts of Asia. A great number of new varieties,
originated from seed in Germany, have been lately intro¬
duced to Britain; the flowers of which are either quilled
or plain, as in chrysanthemum, and their colours are
various. The heads of some are large. All these are
in great repute with florists. The best time to sow the
seeds is the beginning of April, and in order to forward
the plants they may be reared on a hot-bed, or sown in
pots which may be placed in a cold frame. When they
are large enough for transplanting they- should be re¬
moved to where they are intended to flower ; they hav«
the best effect in beds by themselves, keeping those of
each colour togethen
Daisy (Bellis perennis of Linnaeus) is a well known
perennial plant, a native of Britain. There are a great
many very beautiful varieties called double by florists.
They are all of easy culture and will grow in any soil,
but the situation must be open. They have a good effect
when in flower as edgings to borders. They are all
readily increased by division.
Pyramidal and Party-coloured bell flowers^ (Campa»
nula pyramidalis of Smith, and Campanula versicolor
of Linnaeus,) both biennial plants, natives of the south
of Europe ; the first has the corolla blue with a dark
base, and has been cultivated in Britain since 1596 ; Horticul
and the second has a blue corolla with a white base, and
was introduced into Britain in 1788, but there are also
white and pale blue varieties of the first which were for¬
merly in much demand as ornaments for halls, and for
placing before chimneys in summer, being grown in large
pots, and trained in a fan manner to a trellis of laths.
Both may be propagated by seed, or by dividing at the
root, which should be done in September after the
plants have done flowering ; the divisions should be
planted in pots, and sheltered by a frame during winter.
In spring they should be planted separately into small
pots, and shifted from size to size of pot as they advance
in growth. According to Miller, the strongest plants are
obtained by sowing the seed as soon as gathered in
pots filled with light soil, placed in a frame during win¬
ter, and the seedlings will come up in spring. When the
leaves decay in October, they are transplanted into beds
of light sandy earth, where they are to remain two years,
protecting them from severe weather in winter ; they are
then to be removed to their final destination in Sep¬
tember, and, in the following summer, being the third
from sowing, they will flower.
Mr. Brown (Hort, Register) separates his offsets in
spring and.plants them in a shady situation until they
have struck root ; he afterwards removes them to a very
shady situation, where they are allowed to remain one
year ; he then takes them up and puts them in pots ten
or twelve inches in diameter, using a soil composed of
rich loam and rotten dung. They are then set where
they are intended to come into flower, and by this means
they sometimes attain the height of ten or twelve feet.
Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis of Linnaeus) is
a perennial plant, a native of Virginia. There are other
species of Lobelia which go under the name of Car¬
dinal flower, as Lobelia fulgens and splendens, natives
of Mexico, all of which bear rich scarlet blossoms, and
have a beautiful effect when grown in beds by them¬
selves, or in pots. They may either be propagated
by seeds, offsets, or suckers. A mixture of loam,
bog mould, and sand makes an excellent compost for
them.
Petunias (Petunia nyctaginifloraoï' Jussieu and Petu- Petunias.
nia phœnicea) and their varieties have a beautiful effect
when grown in beds by themselves. The plants being
tender require to be preserved through the winter in a
frame or green-house ; they strike readily from cuttings
in heat. The plants should never be finally transplanted
out in the open border until the weather is settled.
Verbenas.—There are a great number of these intro¬
duced into the British gardens of late years from Chili,
all of which are very showy, but the most splendid is the
Verbena chamœdrifolia of Smith. They are propagated
by cuttings kept through the winter in small pots under
shelter, which are planted out in the open border as soon
as all danger from frost is over. They have a fine effect
when planted in beds or large patches by themselves.
They all grow best in light soil rather sandy.
Cyclamens.—All the species of Cyclamen are very Cyclamens,
showy. A light soil suits them best. They are propa¬
gated by seed. The plants may be grown in pots or in the
open border in a warm situation ; but in the latter case,
the roots will require to be mulched during winter. The
fragrant variety of the Persian cyclamen is the greatest
favourite.
Primrose (Primula vulgaris of Linnaeus) is a native
of Britain, in copses, woods, &c. on a clayey soil. The
Cardinal
flower.
Verbenas.
Primrose«
158*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul¬
ture.
Polyan¬
thus,
A aricula.
flowers vary much in colour ; but the double varieties
are in most esteem. The cowslip {Primula veris of
Linn sens) is also indigenous, and of this there are a
number of beautiful varieties j but like those of the
primrose, the double kinds are in most esteem. The
oxslip (^Primula elatior oï Linnseus) produces a many
flowered scape like the cowslip, but the border of the
corolla is flat, and does not form a basin. It is also
indigenous, but much more rare than either the cowslip
or primrose. The flowers of all have a nice scent, and
their cultivation is the same as for the polyanthus,
which see.
Polyanthus {Primula vulgaris^ var. Polyanthus^ of
Linnaeus) is said to have originated from the primrose
or cowslip. The varieties are in high repute as a border
flower. According to Maddock, a good polyanthus
should have the tube of the corolla exceeding as little
as possible the calyx, the throat of the corolla should be
well filled up with the anthers, which should also hide
the stigma. The centre or eye should be round and of
a clear yellow colour, distinct from the ground colour,
which is most admired when shaded with dark and light
rich crimson, resembling velvet, having a mark or stripe
in the centre of each division or segment from the edge
down to the eye, where it should terminate in a fine
point. The outer edging should resemble a bright gold
lace border, nearly of the same colour as the eye and
stripes. A good polyanthus should possess a graceful
elegance of form, symmetry of parts not to be found
united in any other florist flower. According to Mr.
Hog, a polyanthus requires a greater portion of sandy
loam than the auricula, a small quantity of rotten dung,
and a little leaf mould or peat earth mixed with them.
The finer varieties may be grown in pots like those of
the auricula, but they are generally planted in cool and
shady borders. When the seed is saved from some
esteemed sort it is more likely to produce good kinds
than if saved promiscuously; polyanthuses have been
reared from the seed of the primfose. If the plants are
top dressed in November, it greatly strengthens them
for the succeeding spring; they require to be trans¬
planted every two years. The plants are so ,hardy that
neither cold nor wet will injure them, but during the
heat of summer they are frequently destroyed by snails
and red spider, but this last insect seldom attacks them
if i hey are kept in a vigorous state.
Auricula {Primula auricula of Linnaeus) is a native
of the mountains of Switzerland, Austria, and other
neighbouring countries, and has been cultivated in
Britain since 1597 ; it was originally called Bear's Ears,
hence the specific name. Justice says, " about one hundred
years ago the passion for auriculas was so great in Eng¬
land, that we supplied the Dutch, who afterwards, until
the first French revolution, used to resupply us with the
progeny of our own flowers." The best collections of auri¬
cula are found among gardeners near London and among
the manufacturers and artisans of Manchester, Paisley,
and other manufacturing towns. Like other florists' flow¬
ers, the varieties are innumerable, and the finer kinds
are named. A good variegated auricula should be strong
and erect, and the peduncles and pedicels should be
stout, and there should never be fewer flowers than seven
in one bunch ; the corolla should be well proportioned,
and its outer circle should contain a ground colour with
an edge or margin. The anthers should fill the mouth
of the tube, and protrude a little beyond it ; the eye
should be white, smooth, and round ; the ground colour
bold and rich, and equal on every side of the eye Horticul-
whetheron an uniform circle or in patches, but it should
be distinct from the eye, and only broken in the outward
part towards the edging. The margin should be green
and in proportion to the ground colour, that is, one half
of each. The darker ground is generally covered with
white powder, which appears necessary to guard the
flowers from the scorching heat of the sun. Auriculas
are propagated by rooted slips for the continuation of
approved sorts, and by seed for new varieties. The best
time for dividing the plant or removing the rooted slips
is when it has done flowering, and has ripened ifs
seed, which is generally in July and August. The
surest method, according to Maddock, is to collect seed
from plants possessing first-rate properties, and these on
the approach of flowering should be detached from the
rest, and exposed to the sun and air and moderate
showers. In dry weather they must be regularly watered.
Emmerton grows several plants of different kinds in the
same pot for seed, according to the qualities he wishes
his new flowers to possess by their intermixture. This
however may be done more systematically by artificial
cross impregnation, without removing the anthers of the
flower intended for the female parent. The seed gene¬
rally ripens in June and July, when it is collected and
kept in the capsules until the time of sowing, which may
be done either in January, February, or March. The
seeds may be sown in boxes, pots, or pans, which if
placed in a gentle heat will vegetate in about three
weeks after sowing ; but if sown in the open air some
of the seed will not grow until the following spring.
The seed succeeds very well if sown under a hand-glass.
The soil should be kept moderately moist, using warmed
or aired water. When the plants are up, they should be
hardened by degrees, for which purpose the boxes or
pots in which the seeds were sown should be removed
to a rather warm situation, not too much exposed till
the end of April, when they should again be removed
to a colder aspect. When the plants are of sufficient
size, that is, when they touch each other, they should be
transplanted into other boxes or into pots, and shifted
from time to time as they become too crowded, or when
they fill the pots. If properly treated, the plants will
flower the following spring. The different composts,
according to Hog, are as numerous as florists them¬
selves; his compost is as follows ;—One barrow load of
rich vellow loam fresh from some meadow, with the turf
well rotted, one barrowful of leaf mould, one of cow
dung two years old, and one peck of river sand mixed
well together. For strong plants intended for exhibition
he adds to the above compost one barrowful of well
decayed night-soil, with the application of liquid
manure before he top dresses in February, and twice
more in March, but not oftener. A peck of sheep's
dung, with an equal quantity of horse dung, put into a
large tub of water, stirred frequently and left to ferment
a week or two before it is used, may be applied with good
effect and with perfect safety. A portion of light sandy
peat may be added as a useful and safe ingredient.
According to Paxton, bone dust is an excellent ingre¬
dient in auricula soil, and when this is used, a little
lime may be added to decompose the animal matter.
P. Kenny, a gardener, and according to Hog the most
successful cultivator of auriculas in his day, used a soil
composed of one-third loam, two-thirds sheep's dung and
hay litter obtained from the sheds used tor rearing
young lambs, one-tenth coarse sand, well rotted by
HORTICULTURE.
159*
ticul- being turned, mixed and fermented. It appears, how-
^ ever, that it does not signify what kind of compost is
^ used, provided it be sufficiently rich, and good loam its
basis, as loam, dung, and sand in proper proportions. The
common sorts are grown in beds and borders, but the
finer and rarer kinds in pots. The operation of potting
should be performed, according to Maddock, after the
blooming season, but principally in August. In potting
the plant should be turned out of its former pot, and
the earth shaken from the fibres, which should be
shortened if too long, and any decayed part of the root
cut out; it should then be repotted, taking care to put
some broken pots in the bottom of the pot to secure
good drainage, and the plant should not be set deeper
in the soil than within half an inch of the lowest leaves,
which will encourage fresh roots and offsets. Some
cultivators in repotting preserve a large portion of the
ball of earth, only reducing it a little, and using a pot a
size larger than the former. Others shift their plants in
May. The wounds on the roots occasioned by cutting
out the decayed parts may be covered with gum mastick
or a mixture of wax and pitch to prevent gangrene.
Offsets when they have made one or two fibres may be
removed from the parent and planted round the edge of
a small pot until they become of sufficient size to
require each a separate pot; when first planted they
maybe placed under a hand-glass until they have struck
root, but not longer. In general there is both a summer
and winter repository for auriculas in pots. For the
summer repository a bed of coal ashes is formed six
inches thick, or a platform of tiles closely fitted toge¬
ther to prevent worms from entering the pots ; and
upon this rows of bricks are to be placed two or three
inches asunder ; on this foundation the pots are to be
set which will allow a free circulation of air under and
between the pots, a kind of shed is then formed over
this bed, by driving stakes into the ground to support
shutters, the object of which is to shelter the plants from
excessive rains, and to have at the same time a free cir¬
culation of air, which has a great advantage over a close
frame. In this situation the plants are to remain till
September or October. Justice and Hog, after their
auriculas have done blooming, remove their plants to a
south-east or north aspect, and place them on a bed of
coal ashes without any covering till October. Haddock's
winter repository is almost the same as the summer one,
with this difference, that the south side of it consists of
glass frames, the object of which is to admit light in
adverse weather when shut up. Although the auricula is
by no means a tender plant, it is necessary to cover the
repository in severe frosts. Hog places his auriculas in
frames, placed on beds of ashes in October for the
winter ; the frames are raised on bricks to allow a cir¬
culation of air under until Christmas, when the bricks
are removed, and frames placed on the ground ; after¬
wards air is given in all dry temperate weather, water is
supplied when necessary, and decayed leaves are picked
off. From the middle of February through March,
Maddock allows his plants the benefit of gentle showers
for an hour or two ; the plants are then top dressed, and
such as require it are shifted, and the suckers are taken
off if large enough» At the same time air is given
plentifully during the day, but the frames are shut
close at night to prevent the blossoms from being in¬
jured by the frost. The Lancashire growers plunge
auricula pots up to the rim in saw-dust or ashes, against
a wall or fence of a south aspect in winter, only pro-
VOL. VI.
tecting the plants by boards placed against the wall ; these Horticul-
boards are never shut close unless in severe weather, but
are so placed as to defend the plants from rain or snow,
The blooming stage, according to Maddock, should have
a northern aspect, that the sun may not shine on the
flowers ; it consists generally of four rows of shelves
like steps of stairs ; the lower should be two and a half
feet from the ground, and the roof or cover of the stage
should consist of glass frames, the east and west end
of boards, but the front should be left open unless in
bad weather and at night, when it should be defended
by frames of wood covered with canvass. When the
bloom has declined, the plants are removed to the
summer repository. Hog keeps the lights over his
auriculas in April to preserve the beauty of the blossoms ;
at which time he admits air by tilting the sashes behind,
but covering up close at night. If the blossom buds
appear too numerous he thins them, seldom leaving
more than thirteen nor fewer than seven in a bunch,
but in such a manner that those left are at equal dis¬
tances. Towards the end of the month he removes the
plants to the blooming stage which fronts the east.
Auricula stages may be covered with oil-cloth frames
instead of glass frames, for they admit nearly as much
light, repel the wet, and completely prevent the sun's
rays from injuring the blossoms, and at the same time
are the most economical covering.
Bulbous-rooted plants.
Narcissus,—Most of the species and varieties of this Narcissus,
genus are early flowerers ; the different kinds are known
by the names of daffodils, jonquils. Narcissus, and poly¬
anthus Narcissus. They are propagated by seed for
new varieties, which should be sown in flat pans filled
with light earth as soon as ripe, and the young plants
should be protected from frosts and heavy rains until
April, and they should be treated in the same manner
during the following winter, and at the end of the second
summer the roots should be taken up and planted in
beds six inches distant, and in the fourth or fifth
year from sowing most of the bulbs will have flowered.
Established sorts are increased by offsets which seldom
flower until the second year. For all the species and
varieties an eastern aspect is preferred, and they thrive
best in light hazel loam mixed with a little rotten cow
dung. The best time for planting the bulbs is August and
September. The beds in which they are to be planted
should be excavated about three feet deep and filled
with the compost recommended. The bulbs should be
planted eight inches distant, and six inches deep, as for
tulips. Afterwards nothing more is required than stir¬
ring the soil, weeding and watering when necessary, but
such as admire fine flowers shelter the bed with an
awning as for hyacinths. In winter the bulbs may
be protected by covering the bed with tan or litter.
Cutting the flower-stalks off close to the ground when
the plants are in full blossom causes the roots to produce
equally good flowers the following season. The bulbs
should not be taken up from the ground oftener than
once every three years, if they are wished to flower
strong and make increase, but if they are allowed to
remain much longer the offsets will have become too
numerous. The Dutch take them up every year, their
object being to furnish round plump bulbs, and for this
purpose they remove the offsets every year. All kinds
of Narcissus force well in deep pots filled with sandy
loam or in water-glasses in the same way as hyacinths.
160*
HORTICULTURE.
ture.
Crocus.
Hyacinth.
Horticul- In apartments they are highly odoriferous and orna¬
mental.
Crocus.—All the species and varieties of this genus are
extremely ornamental ; they are all natives of Europe ;
one or two species have been found apparently wild in
Britain. The spring kinds flower from February to
May, and the autumn kinds in September and October.
They are propagated by seed for new varieties which are
sown as soon as gathered in pans or pots filled with
light earth, and treated in the same manner recom¬
mended for seedling Narcissi, and in the spring of the
fourth year from seed they will flower. Established
sorts of crocuses are propagated by offsets in the usual
way. A good variety of crocus should have the colours
clear and brilliant, each colour distinctly marked, and
finely pencilled in striped or variegated flowers. All
the kinds grow well in common garden earth, but prefer
loamy sand. October is considered the best season for
planting; the more select kinds are grown in beds like
the hyacinth, and the colours mingled in the same way,
at the distance of three inches from bulb to bulb. The
commoner kinds are grown in borders, of which they
generally form the front row. They do best it the bulbs
are taken up as soon as the leaves are decayed and kept
dry for two or three months; some, however, only take
them up once in three years, which answers very well for
the border or commoner sorts, but they should not be
allowed to remain longer, as the bulbs have a tendency
to draw near the surface, and are thereby often thrown
out and lost.
Hyacinth {Hyacinthus orientalis of Linnseus) is a
native of the Levant. It was cultivated by Gerarde in
1506, but had no doubt long before that been improved
by the Dutch. The flowers are varied and beautiful in
their colours. All the varieties are of as easy culture as
any other bulbous-rooted florists' flower. In the time
of Gerarde and Parkinson they were few in number,
particularly in Britain, but since they have increased to
an unlimited extent. The finer kinds have names given
to them, and these are arranged in groups according to
the colours of the flowers. Up to the middle of the
XVIIIth Century great attention was paid at Haerlem
to raise new sorts of double hyacinths, and as much as
£200 has been known to have been given for a single
bulb ; but since then the taste for hyacinths has declined,
and at present there are few sorts of which £10 would
be asked for a single bulb; the price for the finer
varieties is from one to ten shillings, and for common
mixtures, £2 or £3 per hundred. In this country a
good variety degenerates in two or three years, but in
Holland some have been preserved nearly a century ;
but it appears that hyacinths generally reach the acme
of perfection in five years from offsets, and from that
time gradually degenerate and divide into offsets, which
in their turn by proper treatment become as perfect as
their parents. The roots imported from Holland are
generally four years old from the offset, consequently
the first year they flower in Britain being the fifth is
the year in which they would be in the highest state of
perfection in Holland, and consequently in this country ;
therefore by proper soil and culture bulbs might be
grown in Britain equal to those imported. A good
double hyacinth, according to Maddock, should be
strong, tall, and erect, bearing numerous well-formed
flowers, in a horizontal position, except the upper one,
which should be erect, the whole having a compact py¬
ramidal form The flowers should be large, perfectly
double, the petals broad, and they should occupy the Horticul-
upper half of the scape or stem. Clear deep colours
are preferred to those that are pale. Seeds from strong
semidouble kinds are more likely to produce good double
flowers than any other ; they may either be sown in
October or March in boxes, pans, or pots, filled with
good soil mixed with sand to keep it open. The seeds
should be covered over from a quarter to half an inch
thick with mould. The boxes or pots are then plunged
in the soil and no further attention is necessary except
keeping them free from weeds and frost until the ap¬
proach of the third winter after sowing ; they should
however then have half an inch of additional compost
laid over them, and in the following July the roots may
be taken up and treated in the same manner as recom¬
mended for offsets, and some of them will flower in the
fourth, fifth, and sixth year according to the strength of
the bulbs. According to Maddock a florist may con¬
sider himself fortunate if he get one good kind from
five hundred seedlings. Offsets may be planted in
October or soon after they have been separated from
the parent bulbs in a bed raised above the level of the
surrounding soil in the open garden two inches deep.
The bed is commonly composed of sandy soil a foot and
a half deep, rounded a little on the surface in order that
it may throw off excessive wet. Some of the offsets
will bloom the second year, and most of them the third.
In this country roots four or five years old bloom
stronger than any other, but in Holland the same bulbs
are said to produce strong bloom twelve or thirteen
years in succession, and there they are never known to
die of age, the soil and climate agreeing with them.
The beds in which the full-grown roots of hyacinth are
grown should be in a dry airy situation sheltered on the
north and east. It should be excavated to the depth of
two feet, the bottom dug and then filled up with the
following compost, viz. o ne-third of coarse river sand,
one-third fresh earth, one-fourth rotted cow dung and
vegetable mould, and the remainder decayed leaves ;
these ingredients should be well mixed, filling the bed
with it a few inches higher than the paths. Octo¬
ber or November is the best time for planting hyacinths,
and before planting the beds the surface should be
covered about one inch thick with fresh sandy earth and
raked smooth, then marking the situation of each bulb,
and arrange them so as the colours may be neatly min¬
gled to produce effect in the blooming season. The
bulbs should be set in rows eight inches distant. In
planting it is better to place a little clean sand both at
the bottom and over the bulbs to prevent the earth from
adhering to them ; the bed is then covered over with
sandy earth three or four inches thick. The beds being
considerably raised above the paths or surrounding
level might be edged with brickwork or boards to the
height of the mould ; they should also be arched over
with hoops so that they may be easily protected from
severe frosts and heavy rains ; but it is not necessary to
defend them against moderate rain and slight frosts, for
too frequent and long covering is found injurious, but
care should be taken that the frost do not penetrate to
the bulbs. The earlier kinds begin to show blossom in
April, at which time it is proper to screen them from
the too powerful effects of the sun, which if not pre¬
vented would tarnish their colours. As the stems or
scapes advance in growth it is necessary that they
should be supported by sticks, to which they should be
slightly tied. When the flowers are all blown it is
HORTICULTURE.
161*
Horticul- necessary to protect the bed by an awning to keep
ture. out the rays of the sun, but at the same time to admit a
due proportion of light. A strong frame formed of wood
covered with canvass answers, but the canvass should be
so placed as to be readily rolled off and on as
required, so as to allow the plants the benefit of light
and air at every favourable opportunity, as in the morn¬
ings and evenings and in cloudy weather. A hyacinth
bed never requires to be watered, the rains that happen
after planting are generally more than sufficient. As
soon as the bloom begins generally to decline the awn¬
ing should be removed altogether, but still the beds
should be defended from heavy rains as before by the
hoops and mats. In Holland the bulbs are usually
taken up about a month after the plants have bloomed,
that is as soon as the leaves assume a yellow decayed
appearance, cutting off the stem and foliage to within
half an inch of the bulb ; the bulbs are then replaced in
the bed side-ways pointing towards the north, and co¬
vering them about half an inch deep with dry earth
or sand in the form of a ridge, taking care they do not
touch each other ; and in this state they are allowed to
remain about three weeks that they may ripen gradu¬
ally, and during all this time as much air as possible is
admitted, but at the same time protecting them from
rains, and the hottest rays of the sun. After this the
bulbs are taken up, the fibres rubbed off gently, and
the roots are placed in a dry airy room, where they
are not suffered to touch each other ; they should be
arranged on lattice-work with the root end upwards, A
disease called ring often attacks the bulbs which is sup¬
posed to be occasioned by a fungus ; the only remedy
tor this is to cut out the diseased part, and allowing the
wound to dry before planting it ; the bulb so attacked
will be fit for nothing afterwards but producing offsets.
The hyacinth succeeds best in a sandy soil and saline
atmosphere, and consequently flourishes most near the
seacoast. In more inland parts it is generally found ne¬
cessary to procure an annual supply of fresh imported
bulbs to make up the deficiency. Hyacinths are also
planted in deep pots filled with loam in October for
forcing ; they should be at first plunged and covered
over with old tan bark, leaves, or sand, and they will
soon after throw out roots, and in November a portion of
the pots may be taken up and plunged in bottom heat,
and these will come into blossom about Christmas, and
subsequent supplies may be taken from the store, and
removed to bottom heat, by which means a constant suc¬
cession of blooming hyacinths may be had till they flower
in the open air. The best kinds for forcing are said to
be the single blues and reds. The bulbs to be grown in
water-glasses thrive best if planted previously in earth
in October in which they push their fibres more freely
and regularly ; they may then be taken up as wanted
from the earth and set in the water-glasses. Dark-
coloured classes are said to be more favourable to the
growth of plants than light ones. After the bulbs
have been set in the glasses, they may be placed in a
warm room or stove. The water in which the bulbs are
grown should be soft, and the glasses so filled as to rise
a fourth of an inch up on the bulbs, and as often as it
becomes fetid it should be removed ; and as soon as the
bulbs are past flowering they should be removed
from the glasses with all the leaves and roots attached
and planted in a bed of hyacinth soil, and when the
leaves are completely withered the roots should be taken
up and placed in the dry room until the end of October,
when they should be planted in beds in the usual Horticub
manner.
Tulip (Tulipa Gesneriana of Linnaeus) is considered
of Persian origin. According to Gesner the tulip was
brought to Europe in 1559, and was first cultivated in
England in 1577, having been introduced from Vienna.
About the beginning of the XVIIth Century the tulip be¬
came the object of considerable trade in the Netherlands,
which rose to its greatest height in 1634 and the three
following years, and about the end of the XVIIth Cen-
rury and the beginning of theXVIIIth Century the
taste for tulips in England was at its height, a^ttr which
it declined and gave way to a taste for new plants from
America : the tulip is, however, even now cultivated to
a considerable extent both in England and Holland near
large towns. The varieties of the tulip, like those of all
florists' flowers, are without end. Parkinson, in 1629,
enumerates one hundred and forty kinds, but at present
the named kinds exceed seven hundred. The Dutch
arrange their tulips into the following groups : 1. Prime
baquets; 2. Baquets; 3. Incomparable vesports ; 4.
Bybloemens; 5. Bizarres; but English florists separate
them into the following groups : 1. Bizarres, those with
a yellow ground colour marked with purple or red ; 2.
Bybloemens, in which the ground colour is white, marked
with purple or violet ; 3. Rose tulips, in which the
ground colour is white, variegated with rose-colour, scar¬
let, crimson, or cherry-colour ; 4. Selfs or plain coloured
with only one colour. These groups are again sub¬
divided into what are called flamed bizarres, feathered
bizarres, flamed bybloemens and feathered bybloemens,
flamed ^'roses, and feathered roses. What are called
selfs or breeders are procured from seed and consist
only of a single colour on a white or yellow bottom ;
these being grown on dry and poor soil become broken
or variegated and produce new varieties. The time
that elapses before they can be broke varies from one to
twenty years or more, so that whoever thinks of raising
new varieties of tulip must be possessed of patience and
perseverance. Tulips, however, have been found to
break much more readilv when the seedlings have been
•/ D
reared from seed procured from flowers that have been
fecundated by the pollen of broken or striped kinds,
having previously taken care to divest the flower of the
female parent of its anthers. A good broken or varie¬
gated tulip, according to Maddock, should have a strong
elastic stem. The flower should be large, the basis of
the petals should be rather horizontal in position, and
their tops directed upwards so that the whole may form
a perfect cup with a round bottom rather widest at top.
The three outer petals should be larger than the three
inner ones, all perfectly entire on the edges and well
rounded at the tops ; the ground colour at the bottom of
the cup should be clear white or yellow, and the stripes
which are the principal ornament should be regular and
distinción the margin terminating in fine broken points
elegantly feathered. Some florists consider a flower
better when one or more broad blotches or stripes are
intermixed with small portions of the original or breeder
colour, abruptly broken into many irregular obtuse
points in the centre of each segment or petal, while
others again are of opinion that the central blotches ot
stripes do not contribute to the beauty or elegance ol
the flower. Seeds should be procured from breeders
with tall strong stems, large properly formed flowers,
havin.g the ground colour clear at the bottom to ensure
good kinds, as seeds saved from the finer or broken
X* 2
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- sorts only produce weak plants of no value. When
ripe the seed is sown and treated in the manner recom-
mended for hyacinth seed. Some of the seedlings will
bloom in the fourth, fifth, or sixth year, and most of
them by the seventh. Oifsets should be planted as soon
as separated from the parent bulb in beds composed of
fresh sandy loam mixed with a little rotten cow dung
two or three inches deep according to the strength of
the bulbs. The beds should be in a dry airy situation
and raised a little above the paths in the manner of
hyacinth beds, and like them hooped over, so that they
may be readily protected in case of heavy rains and severe
frosts by throwing strong canvass or mats over the hoops.
Just before planting, the brown outside should be strip¬
ped off carefully so as to leave the bulbs white and bare
at the same time taking care not to bruise or injure the
root. The best blooming bed should be situated in an
airy place, and it should be excavated two feet deep, the
bottom is then to be filled up one foot thick with sound
fresh eaith upon which should be placed a stratum of
two years old rotten cow dung mixed with fresh earth,
one half of each, about a foot in thickness, and again
upon this should be placed a stratum of the same kind
of earth as that in the bottom of the bed about two
inches thick ; all this is to be performed a week or two
previous to planting the bulbs, which is generally about
the end of October or beginning of November. The
beds should be about two inches higher than the paths
and rather rounded in the middle to allow of excess of
rain passing off. Mr. Hog, an experienced florist, re¬
commends fresh rich loamy soil of rather a sandy nature
dug from a meadow twelve months before it is to be
used, to which he adds a small portion of rotted cow
dung. The bulbs in planting should be placed seven
inches distant in rows, a little clean sand should be
placed under each root, and over each bulb a portion of
light sandy soil so as to form a small conical heap over
each; the whole of the bed is then covered with the
compost about four inches thick in the middle, and three
inches at the sides ; the largest and strongest roots having
been placed in the centre, they will therefore be covered
in proportion to their strength, and the convexity of the
surface of the bed thereby produced will tend to throw
off excessive wet ; but beds may be formed sloping to
^ the south, and the strongest bulbs planted in the back
rows and the weaker in the front ones. When the ope¬
ration of planting is completed the bed is to be hooped
over as for hyacinths, so that they may be easily pro¬
tected from excessive rains and severe frosts. In Fe¬
bruary the plants will be visible above ground, and if
the surface of the bed is too compact it should be stirred
carefully about two inches deep. As the blossoms of the
early sorts begin to colour, they should be shaded from
the sun, for if its heat be considerable it will cause the
colours to run and thereby destroy the blossoms. When
the greater part of the blossoms in the bed have begun
to open and colour, a frame or awning should be placed
over the bed similar to that recommended for hyacinths,
which must be thrown off or rolled up at every favour¬
able opportunity as directed for hyacinths. If frequent
exposures to the light and air be omitted, the colours
will be weak. Tulip beds never require to be watered
even in the hottest and driest seasons ; however, mode¬
rate rains may be admitted both before and after the
time of blooming, but in early spring they are abso¬
lutely necessary in order to procure fine strong flowers.
Before the awning is erected the hoops should be
removed, and the sides and ends of the bed should be Horticul
carefully boarded about two feet high to prevent the
blossoms from being injured by spectators. Lines may
be stretched from one end of the bed to the other alono*
O
the rows to which the stems may be slightly tied. When
the blossoms begin to decline and the petals drop off,
both awning and boards should be removed and the
hoops replaced as before, and as the petals fall the seed-
vessels should be broken off, for if suffered to remain
they would weaken the roots and hinder their maturity.
When the leaves have become of a yellowish-brown, and
two or three inches of the top of the stem withered, this
denotes the period for taking up the roots, for if done
earlier the bulbs would be spongy, and if later their
juices will have become too gross, which would be ma¬
nifest at the succeeding blooming season. After the
bulbs are taken up they should be placed in a dry airy
situation where they are to remain until the planting
season. At this time it is proper to remove the loose skin
and fibres, but the under brown skin should remain till
the time of planting. The early dwarf sorts, as the Van
Thol, force well when treated in the manner recom¬
mended for forcing hyacinths, and the bulbs may after¬
wards be recovered in the same way. There are a great
many other species of tulip, all of which are beautiful.
Iris.—Some of the tuberous and bulbous-rooted Iris,
kinds of this genus may be considered as florists' flow¬
ers. Iris Pérsica and Iris Susiana are often grown in
pots in a frame ; they also succeed in the open ground
if planted in a warm, sheltered, sunny situation, if pro¬
tected from excessive rains and frost during winter.
Sandy loam is the best soil for them. The Iris tuberosa
requires the same exposure but less care during winter.
The roots need not be taken up oftener than once in
three years, and that operation should in all eases be
performed after the leaves have decayed. The roots
should be planted at six inches distant from plant to:
plant and two or four inches deep. Iris xiphium and
xiphioides do best in light sandy loam, and as they
produce seeds readily numerous new varieties have
been reared. The seeds should be sown, as soon as
gathered in drills in the open gruund, and when the
seedlings have attained the age of three years, they
should be taken up and replanted six inches distant in
rows a foot apart in a bed composed of sandy loam.
All the kinds are perpetuated by offsets which are
planted and treated in like manner.
Fritillary.—All the species of Fritillaria may be con- Fiitillavy
sidered as florist flowers ; the most common are the
crown imperial and checkered fritillary. They may be
raised from seed and treated like tulips ; but the com¬
mon method of propagating them is by offsets. They
all grow best in a light soil not too rich. As florists'
flowers they are planted in beds, but they are also
grown in flower borders. They need not be taken up
and replanted oftener than once in three years.
Lily.—All the species of Lilium may he considered as Lily,
coming under the head of florists' flowers. The white
lily, tiger lily, turk's cap lilies several species, orange
lily, martagón lily are among the most common, but
some of the species lately introduced by Siebold from
Japan outvie these in beauty. They are generally mul¬
tiplied by offsets but also by seeds, which may be treated
in the manner recommended for hyacinth seeds. The
roots do not require to be taken up and replanted
oftener than once in three or four years, which opera¬
tion should be always performed in October. All the
H o R T I C
U L T F R E
163*
Horticul species of Lilium have the best effect when grown in
—beds by themselves. Some of the more tender species
^ ^ may be grown in pots and even forced like hyacinths
and Narcissi. Sandy loam mixed with vegetable
mould is the soil in which they all thrive best,
luberose. Tuberose {Polianthus tuberosus of Linnaeus) is a
native of India, introduced to Europe in 1524 and to
England in 1529. It is principally cultivated in pots
which are set in frames or green-houses. The tubers
are imported from Italy and Germany and the warmer
States of North America, There are both a single and
double-flowered variety, both equally fragrant. They
are planted in pots filled with sandy loam in March or
April, which are immediately placed in a hot-bed or hot¬
house to bring them forward, and they remain there
until the flowers begin to appear, when they may be
either removed to the green-house or open air to ensure
the longer lasting of the bloom by the cooler tempera¬
ture. At Dropmore they are planted in clumps in the
pleasure-ground, having been previously forwarded in
pots under a frame.
' xias, Gla- Ixias^ Gladioluses^ and other half-hardy Cape bulbs
^oiuses, thrive and flower in the open air in a warm, shel-
tered, sunny border. In this situation they may be
protected from frosts during winter, or the bulbs may
be taken up in autumn and kept dry till the following
spring and then replanted. They may also be grown
in pots to great advantage. A mixture of peat and
sand or sandy loam and vegetable mould is the best
composts for them. The hardy kinds of gladiolus are
treated in the manner recommended for Narcissus,
tiruernsey Guernsey lily (Nerine sarniensis of Ker) is said to
be a native of Japan. The great art, Mr. Knight ob¬
serves, in cultivating Guernsey lilies as well as all other
bulbs is to procure vigorous leaves, as on these depend
the quantity of nutritive matter prepared and deposited
in the bulb, and consequently its ability to flower the
following season. The circumstance of the Guernsey
lily as well as many other bulbous-rooted plants flower¬
ing in the autumn and producing their leaves afterwards
under the disadvantages of a winter sun, is the reason
why they have been hitherto cultivated with so little
success in Britain, and why we are obliged to import
bulbs annually from other countries : this is also appli-
càble to all exotic bulbs. The bulbs of the Guernsey
lily seldom produce leaves in this country till September
or October, at which period the quantity of light
afforded by our climate is probably quite insufficient for
a plant which is said to be a native of the dear warm
climate of Japan. In this country before the return of
spring the leaves are necessarily grown old and useless.
From this it is inferred that nothing more would be
required to make the bulbs blossom as freely in this
country as they do in Guernsey or Jersey, than such a
slight degree of aruficial heat, applied early in summer,
as would prove sufficient to make the bulbs vegetate
six weeks or more earlier than they would have done; the
leaves would consequently decay from maturity, and the
bulbs would flower the following season. It will be
expedient to habituate the leaves thus produced gradu¬
ally to the open air as soon as they are nearly fully
grown and to protect them from frost until the following
spring, Mr. Herbert gives his Guernsey lilies sufficient
air while the leaves are growing that they may be strong
and dark-coloured, giving them when growing a regular
supply of water, but leaving the bulbs nearly dry from
the time the leaves decay,, which is about Midsummer,
when the flower buds should appear. The soil he recom- H-orticuh
mends for Guernsey lilies is good loam without ma ^ ^
nure, but they will thrive in any wholesome compost.
The bulb should be planted with its heart above ground.
The same treatment, Mr. Herbert observes, with very
few exceptions, suits the whole of the bulbs included
under Amaryllis, Pancratium, and Agapanthus. The
species of Amaryllis and Crinum, natives of ditches, Mr.
Herbert found to succeed well plunged in a pond during
summer. In stoves these should always have pans
filled with water under the pots.
Alstrœmeria.—Most of the species of this genus pro- Alstrœ-
duce splendid flowers. The roots, which are tuberous, mem.
are found to stand the winter in the open border in dry,
warm, sheltered situations, as against a south wall, and
in such a situation most of the species will be found to
flower freely. All oí them prefer a compost of sand and
vegetable mould. They may be either propagated by
offsets or dividing the tubers, or by seed when it can be
procured.
Hydrangea {Hydrangea Hortensia 0Ï Commerson) is Hydrangea,
a half hardy shrub, a native of Japan and China, and
was first introduced to Britain by Sir Joseph Banks^ in
1788. It is much valued, and consequently much cul¬
tivated. A succession of young plants is reared from
cuttings taken off in July and planted in a border of rich
earth, and covered by a hand-glass, shading them during
the middle of the day and watering them when required.
The cuttings will be well rooted in August and Septem¬
ber, when they should be taken up and planted singly in
small pots which should be placed under a frame, and
if assisted at this time by a little bottom heat so much
the better. In the frame the plants are to be shaded
and watered. In October they are removed into a
green-house to stand till May, when they are to be
turned out and planted in a bed of rich mould to remain
till September, when they must be taken up with balls
of earth and repotted, and replaced in a green-house
until the following May, when they are to be planted
out in the open border. Instead, however, of plant¬
ing them out into the open border they may be kept in
pots and shifted twice during summer. By either me¬
thod strong plants will be obtained for forcing the suc¬
ceeding spring. If wanted for borders, they may be
planted out about the end of May, or when all danger
from frost is over. They should be plentifully supplied
with water. A compost of loam, peat, vegetable or
leaf mould, with a little sand, answers well for hydran-
gias, but in this they will produce pink blossoms ;
but if the blossoms are required of a blue colour, they
must be planted in Hampstead loam, and some kinds of
bog earth and clay, which is supposed by some to be
produced by the presence of saltpetre, and others by
the presence of oxide of iron in the soil.
Calceolaria.—All the sj)ecies and varieties are showy Calceo-
when in blossom, and are at present great favourites,
They all thrive well in any light rich soil, or a mixture
of loam, sand, and peat. They are readily increased by
cuttings planted under a hand-glass, or by seed. By cross
impregnation many beautiful hybrids have been reared.
The species and varieties are generally cultivated and
treated like other green-house plants, but they succeed
well during summer if planted out into the open border
in a warm sheltered situation. They have the best effect
when planted in clumps or beds by themselves.
Roses.—Botanists are not agreed as to the number of Roses,
original species of the genus Rosa. The rose, howevei,.
164*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- is well known to most people, and has been a favourite
ture. flower time out of mind amon^" the civilized nations of
Europe and Asia. Roses are cultivated in almost every
garden. Some kinds are cultivated on a large scale for
making rose-water and attar or essential oil of roses.
New varieties are reared from seed, which is generally
obtained from semi-double or single flowers. Extract¬
ing the stamens from one flower and dusting the stigmas
with the pollen of another might answer in most in¬
stances. In France and Italy, plantations of double
and semidouble kinds are mixed, and take the result
of promiscuous impregnation. The seed does not ve¬
getate until the second season after sowing ; but pre¬
serving them the first year among sand will answer the
same purpose as sowing, and if sown the next February,
they will vegetate in May following. The seed should
be sown in light soil in a shady situation, and early in
the second spring the seedlings may be planted out in
nursery rows, to remain until they flower, which varies
in the different kinds, from the third to the fifth year.
The finer sorts are generally multiplied by layering the
young shoots of the preceding summer in autumn or
early in spring, and most of the branches so laid will
form rooted plants by the next autumn. But if the
young shoots are layered just before the blossoming
season in July most of them will strike root and be fit
to remove the same autumn. The layers when rooted
and separated from the parent are planted in nursery
rows, and in the following season they will be fit for
final transplanting. Many kinds admit of being rapidly
multiplied by suckers, which are treated in the same
manner recommended for rooted layers. Cuttings from
young wood of most kinds will strike root if planted
under a hand-glass, a mode of propagation principally
adopted with the Indian and Chinese kinds. Budding
IS a mode adopted only to increase the rarer sorts, or
with those most difficult to strike from layers and cut¬
tings, but the principal use of budding is to produce
standard rose trees. The stocks are either of the tree
rose, or some other of the wild sorts with tall straight
stems, procured from woods and copses, and planted in
nursery rows one or two years before performing the
operation. They are budded at different heights, and
several sorts may be grown on the same tree. The
scallop mode of budding is that most generally adopted
with roses, and the operation is performed in summer.
Two buds are often inserted on opposite sides of the
stock, and often three, four, or a dozen in alternate posi¬
tions on the upper six or twelve inches of the stem of the
stock. The French excel us in producing fine standard
trees, because they have much finer and stronger stocks
than can be procured in Britain. Roses are generally
planted in the front of shrubberies and in borders; they
are also planted by themselves in what are called rose
gardens or rosaries, and in groups on lawns, and some¬
times they are enclosed in edgings of wire-work, which
are termed baskets of roses. The ground enclosed in
these baskets is made convex, so as to present a greater
surface to the eye ; the shoots of the taller sorts are
layered or kept down by pegs till they strike root, so
that the tops of the stems appear only above the soil
which is sometimes covered with moss or small shells,
and under this treatment the whole surface becomes in
two or three years covered with roses of one or more
sorts. Large flowered roses do not have a good effect
mixed with small flowered kinds ; as Scotch roses do
not mix well with moss or Provins roses. Standard
roses have the best effect in flower borders, or detached Horticul-
on a lawn. Although wild roses often grow naturally
in sandy and poor soil, all the cultivated roses require a
rich loamy soil, and also plenty of moisture when in a
growing state. To produce good strong-flowered rose
bushes they require some attention in pruning; old
wood should be cut out yearly, and young shoots thinned
and shortened according to their strength. The kinds
which throw out numerous suckers should be taken up
and reduced and replanted every three or four years.
A very good time of pruning is after the flowers are
decayed, but it is commonly performed in winter and
spring. In order to lessen evaporation and keep up
moisture about the roots, the Paris gardeners generally
mulch their rose bushes with rotten stable dung or
leaves. The monthly rose is the earliest, and the musk
rose the latest. A common mode of producing late
flowers is by cutting off all the flower-shoots, when the
buds begin to appear, a second crop is produced which
will not expand before autumn. The best sort for
forcing is the moss Provins. The monthly roses also
force well. The plants should at least be a year in pots
previous to beginning to force them ; at first the pots
should be plunged in an open situation, their flower
buds pinched off as they appear, and the plants put into
a state of rest as early as possible by excluding the sun
and rain, but at the same time keeping up a free cir¬
culation of air. They may be forced in any stove or
forcing-house in operation, beginning in December.
The temperature at first should be about 55®, and in
the second week 60®, the third week 65®, increasing it
afterwards to 10®, and raising it four or five degrees
higher. A succession of roses may be kept up by intro¬
ducing some pots from the open ground every eight or
ten days. Rose bushes are attacked by numerous kinds
of insects, but there seems to be no known effectual me¬
thod of destroying them, particularly on bushes grown
in the open air.
Camellia.—All the species and varieties of this beau- Camellia
tiful genus are generally admired on account of their
elegant rose-like flowers, and dark green laurel-like
leaves. They are hardy green-house or frame shrubs
of easy culture, requiring only to be sheltered from
severe frosts. The best soil for them is equal parts of
sandy loam and peat. Some, however, mix rotten dung
with the above compost; but Messrs. Loddiges of
Hackney find that light loam alone answers equally
well. The pots should be well drained with sherds, as
nothing injures the plants more than over-watering,
except when growing freely, when they can scarcely
have too much water. Camellias are readily increased
by cuttings or by inarching the rarer and finer kinds
on the commoner. The outtings should be taken off at
a joint as soon as the shoots are ripened and planted in
sand under a hand-glass, and when they have struck
root they should be potted off singly, each into a small
pot ; the pots are first to be set in a close frame, but
the plants are afterwards to be hardened by degrees to
the air. Cuttings may be put in at any season of the
year except when the plants are making young wood.
Mr. Henderson, {Caled. Hort, Mem. vol. iii. p. 315,)
after the cuttings are planted, allows them to remain in
a vinery a month or more, and then removes them to a
hot-bed where there is a little bottom heat. By plant¬
ing stools in pits, and laying the shoots in autumn,
in the following autumn they will have formed roots,
when they should be taken up and potted, and used as
HORTICULTURE.
165*
Horücul- stocks for inarching' the succeeding spring. Inarching
ture. jg generally performed in spring when the plants begin
' to grow ; in performing this operation, the principal
care requisite is to place and fix the pots containing the
stocks so that they may not be disturbed during the
connection of the scion with the stock ; the graft is then
tied and clayed in the usual manner, but the clay is
afterwards covered with moss to prevent its cracking.
Seeds are often obtained in this country from single
and semidouble kinds, from which several good va¬
rieties have been obtained. The best cultivators im¬
pregnate the stigmas of one kind with the pollen of
another, previously cutting out all the anthers from the
flower intended for the female parent. Plants reared
from seed, if properly treated, will come into flower in
four or five years, and if nothing new is produced the
seedlings will make excellent stocks. Mr. Henderson,
one of the most successful cultivators, uses a compost of
equal parts of light brown mould, river sand, and peat
earth, and a little rotten leaves mixed well together, and
he covers the surface of the mould in the pots with dry
moss. Camellias have the best effect when grown in a
house entirely devoted to them. The plants look best
when six or eight feet high, and of a conical form, fur¬
nished withbranches from the root upwards. The plants
should be raised near the glass by means of a stage. The
roots of camellias are apt to become matted in such a
manner as to render the balls impervious to water,
therefore attention should be paid to see that the water
poured into the pots moistens all the earth equally. When
they are in a growing state liberal supplies of water should
be given, and a greater degree of heat is equired at
this time for camellias than for other green-house plants.
If this heat and water is not supplied in November and
December, the plants will not expand their blossoms
freely, nor produce vigorous shoots. To have handsome
plants they should be trained with a single stem, and
pruned so as to make them throw out side branches in
every direction from the stem, and to encourage this,
the plants should not be set too close together. In
summer, camellias should be set out in the open air on
a stratum of coal ashes in a sheltered but open situation,
or the glass roof of the camellia-house may be removed.
Some kinds do well planted out into the border of a
conservatory ; even a few of the hardier sorts will endure
the winter if planted against a south wall, if covered with
mats during severe frosts. The best time of shifting
camellias, according to Mr. Henderson, is February and
beginning of March, and after shifting he puts them in
a vinery or pinery, or in the warmest part of a green¬
house, where they may be allowed to remain until they
have formed flower buds. Camellias are fond of shade
during strong sunshine. To have a succession of blos¬
soms a few may be removed now and then from the
warmer situation to a colder place, and this being re¬
peated three or four times in the course of the season
will make as many different successions of blossoms.
Camellias are very impatient of heat when in flower,
therefore they should be kept in a cool place. Camel¬
lias produce better flowers from November to April than
during the summer months. The plants stand a great
deal of both cold and heat without being much injured,
but they will not form many flower buds without some
artificial heat at the proper season.
Gteriiaiums. Geraniums.—This name comprehends in gardening
all the species and varieties of Pelargonium which are
principally natives of South Africa. No genus is more
liable to sport into hybrids by promiscuous impregnation. Horticul-
All the fine varieties in the gardens are of hybrid origin.
Removing the anthers before they burst from the
plant or flower intended for the female parent, and im¬
pregnating the stigmas with the pollen of another kind,
is the surest mode of obtaining superior new varieties.
Particular attention should be paid to the kinds intended
for the parents, and more so to that intended for the
male parent, for it has been observed that seedlings ap¬
proach nearer to the male than to the female parent. The
ordinary kinds succeed best in rather more than one-
third of fine sand, the same quantity of turfy loam, and
the remainder of peat ; the pots also require to be well
drained, and very little water is necessary unless the
plants are in a vigorous growing state, at which time,
however, they require a plentiful supply. Cuttings taken
from young wood of the same year's growth strike root
freely under a hand-glass, in the same kind of soil recom¬
mended for the plants in a shady place. Several of
the kinds may also be multiplied by divisions of the
root. The tuberous-rooted sorts, when in a dormant
state, should be kept dry from the time they have done
flowering and have ripened their seed, till they begin to
push again ; during this time they should be placed in
a cool situation, but out of the reach of frost. As soon
as the tubers begin to spring afresh, all the old earth is
to be turned out of the pots and shaken from the roots.
In repotting the roots, great attention should be paid
not to bury the hearts of the tubers ; water is then given
and continued as required, and when the pots get filled
with roots, the plants are to be shifted into pots of
larger size. The best method of multiplying these tuber¬
ous-rooted kinds is by the little tubers which issue from
the old bulbs ; these should be planted singly in small
pots with their tops above the surface, and kept dry
until they begin to grow, and then watered. The seeds
of geraniums should be sown in pots filled with light
rich earth, which should be placed in a hot-bed, where
they will soon vegetate, and when the seedlings have
produced two proper leaves besides the two seed leaves,
they should be transplanted singly into small pots, which
should be removed to a close frame ; by this treatment
several of them will flower the following spring and
summer. Where a large collection of geraniums is
kept it is necessary to devote a house to them; the
house should be constructed so as to admit as much
light as possible, and the plants should be raised near
the glass by means of a stage. In the warmer months
some of the hardier kinds do very well when planted out
into the open border. Mr. Williamson (Hort Trans.
vol. iv.) has found by taking up the plants which have
grown in the open air in autumn, and stripping off the
leaves and fibres of the roots and placing them in layers
in dry sand they will retain their vegetative power through
the winter, and will when replanted grow vigorously.
The plants in pots require to be examined in winter and
spring, and the roots and tops reduced, and shifted into
larger pots. Most of the kinds require rather more heat
during winter than other green-house plants, otherwise
they are apt to lose their leaves and tops, and to pre¬
vent this a little heat should be applied in the day-time,
and air given. Geraniums are usually placed in the
open air like other green-house plants during summer,
but as the flowers are liable to be injured by rain and
wind, the more delicate sorts intended to flower in per¬
fection should be kept in the house, giving abundance
of air day and night. When grown in rooms, as much
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- air and lig'ht should be admitted to them as possible,
ture. water should be regularly supplied, and when the
leaves have become covered with dust they should be
cleaned with a sponge and water.
Heaths. Heaths,—This name includes the various species of
Erica, natives of the Cape of Good Hope, and their va¬
rieties. Of these above five hundred species are known,
most of which are very showy when in blossom, and are
consequently great favourites with some cultivators.
Hybrids are also produced in this genus by cross impreg¬
nation. Some kinds are reared from seed, but the
greater number are multiplied by cuttings. The seeds
should be sown in spring in pots filled with a mixture
of peat and white sand, and by keeping the soil mo¬
derately moist they will soon vegetate, and when the
seedlings are above ground the pots should be removed
and placed as close to the glass as possible in the heath-
house or in a frame, to remain till autumn. The month of
June is the usual time for making cuttings, or as soon as
the plants make new shoots the extreme points should be
cut off an inch or more in length, cutting the leaves care¬
fully from the lower portion of each with a sharp penknife,
and planting them neatly into pots filled with moist¬
ened white house sand before they have time to flag, and
when the pots are planted full give a watering to fix
the soil about them ; each pot is then to be covered by
a bell-glass, which should fit the inside of the rim of the
pot ; the pots are then to be placed in the shade in a
spent hot-bed, keeping them close until the cuttings
have struck root, which will be in about two months
with the free-rooting kinds, which is known by their
extended growth; after which the bell-glass is to be
taken off only at night for a week previous to its final
removal. These cuttings will be fit to pot off in the
March following. The soil in which all the species
grow best is peat earth properly mixed with white sand.
The pots should be well drained with sherds. Heaths
grow best in a house by themselves, placed as close to
the glass as possible, without risk from frosts ; great
quantities of water are necessary so as to preserve an
equable degree of moisture about the roots, for if the
ball of earth be allowed to get but once thoroughly dry
the plant is irrecoverably lost, and it is equally so if a pan
of water be placed under the pot. Many of the kinds
being but short-lived plants require to be frequently
renewed by cuttings. In potting large plants the ball
should be raised a little above the surface of the mould,
particularly that portion round the bottom of the stem,
and if small stones or pebbles be mixed with the mould
they will retain moisture about the small fibres. Mr. Hen¬
derson keeps his heaths always cool and airy, opening
the sashes in winter when there is frost and letting the
wind blow upon the plants, using no fire except in the
time of strong frosts. He also says the plants should
not be shifted till the pot is quite full of roots. When
the plants are large many of them will continue healthy
and flower well without any shifting. Heaths will uot
live long in rooms, nor do they grow well in the vicinity
of large towns on account of the smoke.
Arboriculture.
Ârboricul- Arboriculture comprises the culture of forest trees in
hire. nurseries, woods, pleasure grounds, and copses, and like
every other branch of rural economy continues to
improve. Trees have been held as objects of admiration
in all ages. The Persians, Greeks, and Romans were
particularly attached to them. The planting of exten¬
sive tracts does not appear to have been practised until Horticul-
the beginning of the XVIth Century, or not till the na- ,
tural forests had become insufficient. The nature of
soils and their effects upon the growth of trees and on
the qualities of timber are now much better understood
than formerly. The subject is interesting not only to
the landowner, but to the admirer of sylvan scenery,
trees being the principal or natural beauties on the face
of the earth. According to geological research, it is not
improbable that the whole of the continent of Europe
and its islands were at an early period covered with
wood, except the peaks of the highest mountains. Trees
are employed after they have attained a certain age and
bulk as timber for various purposes, and for the bark
as affording tannin and (lyeing matter, or to grow fruit
for food, or for their juices or fruit in medicine, or as
affording shelter, shade, ornament, fences, &c. Plant¬
ing trees, according to Pontey, contributes essentially
to the improvement of bad soil on account of their shade,
which by decomposing the vegetable matter on the sur¬
face renders it at once more fertile, and by the annual
fall and decay of the leaves an addition is made to the
vegetable soil ; besides, the roots collect a great deal of
their support from a depth much lower than com¬
mon field vegetables, and consequently convert that
which was useless into useful. The shade of trees is
grateful in summer, and affords shelter to cattle in exposed
fields in hot weather, as well as shelter to gardens ; and
in the form of hedges are of vast importance to agricul¬
ture. Trees are also valuable as improving landscape,
&c. ; they also heighten the effect of agreeable objects
and render indifferent ones interesting when judiciously
grouped with them. By trees disagreeable objects and
unsightly buildings may be concealed. A flat surface
may be rendered agreeable by a few scattered trees, or
by masses of them, or by disposing them in avenues.
Landed property is enhanced in value prospectively by
having a quantity of well arranged healthy timber upon
them ; and such estates, according to Sang, when brought
to sale, bring an extra price according to the quantity and
value of the wood, not only at the time of sale but count¬
ing forwards on its value to the period of its perfection.
According to Marshall the profits of planting are great
when properly executed, although prospective and only
reaped by a future generation. Planting trees also con¬
fers an additional value on adjoining lands by the improve¬
ment of the climate by their shelter. Trees are either
planted in groups, clumps, singly, or in woods. In
plantations they may either be arranged in rows as in
avenues, or in quincunx, or in squares.
Tree nursery.—The rearing of trees is generally left Tree
to commercial gardeners or nurserymen as the planta- nursery
tions of few private landowners are so extensive as to
render it worth while to nurse their own trees. But
where there are extensive tracts of land that require
many years in planting in remote situations private
nursery grounds are sometimes formed. Some are of
opinion that trees succeed best if reared on the soil and
situation where they are ultimately to be planted. In
all cases where planting is extensive and requires several
years to complete it, a conveniently placed nursery
ground, according to Sang, is highly desirable, as saving
the carriaj^e of young trees, and as facilitating the busi¬
ness of transplanting as well as increasing the chance of
success on account of the young trees requiring to
remain much less time out of the ground. The soil in
the nursery should be good and the situation sheltered.
H o R T I C
U L T U R E.
167*
Nursery plants intended for transplanting should be
' ^ strong and clean in the stem and well rooted. Accord¬
ing to Sang, a celebrated Scotch nurseryman, a plantation
should contain soils of various qualities and not less
than eighteen inches or two feet deep; the principal
part should be friable earth, a part of it clayey, and
another part peaty, as each of these soils will be
found useful in rearing the different species of forest
trees. The whole should be well drained if required,
trenched, and cropped wdth culinary vegetables for one
or two years previous to sowing tree seeds. A nursery
ground may be over sheltered, but this is only likely to
be the case when it is very small, but if it extend to
several acres the area will be considerably exposed
unless it be surrounded by tall trees. Any aspect from
east to west will answer. Ground of an unequal surface
is most likely to contain the various soils required. A
nursery ground maybe fenced by a stonewall or hedge,
and if it be small it will require no other shelter, but if
it be large it must have dividing hedges properly situated
so as to afford shelter over all the space, but the ground
should never be encumbered by large trees, as they
never fail to rob the young trees of their food and to
cause them to become stunted. A good supply of water
is indispensable in a nursery ground. Rank manure
should never be applied at the time of cropping the
ground with trees, but it may have a dressing of marl,
lime, or dung in compost if required. If it is necessary
to enrich the ground this may be done by growing a
manured crop of culinary vegetables the previous year.
The best kind of management of nursery ground is the
interchange of crops of trees and esculents occasionally.
It appears from the observations of Sang that carrots
are a scourgingcrop for a nursery, and rather severe for
most soils, for he has seldom found a good crop of trees
following one of carrots, while he has found a crop of
peas, beans, and particularly lettuces, well adapted
as preparers of the soil for succeeding crops of trees.
Whçre ground is occupied alternately as a market gar¬
den and nursery it generally produces the best seedling
trees. What is called a rotting ground is required in an
extensive tree nursery for the preparation of the seeds
of certain trees, by mixing the seeds with sand or earth
and leaving them there from six months to two years
according to the kind, in order to rot off their exterior
hard bony covering, but if on a small scale a portion of
the compost ground will answer. The great object is
to collect or procure seeds and prepare them for sowing,
to sow them in their proper seasons, and to transplant and
nurse the seedlings till fit for final planting. In coni¬
ferous trees, such as the different kinds of pine, larch,
cedar, spruce, cypress, &c., the seeds grow in cones which
are principally collected in winter or from the time of
ripening until April. After the cones are collected
they are generally separated by a cone-kiln to which
a gentle fire is applied and kept up until the scales of
the cone open ; but during all this time the cones should
be frequently turned, and when the seeds begin to drop
out the cones are removed to a seed-loft and sifted until
all the loose seeds fall out ; the cones are afterwards
threshed with flails or passed through a hand threshing
machine and again sifted. The cones of Scotch fir, larch,
and spruce are those generally opened by kiln heat, but
the silver fir, balm of Gilead fir, and Weymouth pine
give out their seeds with very little trouble ; the cones of
them if kept dry will fall to pieces of their own accprd.
The cones of black, red, and white American spruce
VOL. VI,
should be split and exposed in a fine sieve tilted before HorticuU
a gentle fire, placing a sheet of paper below^ the sieve to
receive the seeds as they fall out. The cones of the
cedar of Lebanon after being gathered should be kept a
year before attempting to take out the seed, which allows
time for the large quantity of resinous matter contained
in them to be discharged ; after this the cones should be
split through the middle ; and this work is said to be
greatly facilitated, as well as the taking out of the seeds,
by steeping them two or three days previously in water.
April is the best time for sowing tiie seeds of all kinds of
coniferous trees, the soil being previously well mellowed
by the winter frosts, and carefully dug and raked as fine
as possible. Most of the kinds are sown in narrow
beds, but some, as the cedar of Lebanon, are sown in pots
or boxes. The soil in which Scotch fir and larch seeds
are sown should be dug over iu February after having
a thick cqat of well-rotted dung laid over it, and the
seeds should be so deposited, that the young plants may
rise at the distance of aquaiter of an inch from each
other; the seeds of the larch, however, require to be
sown much thicker than those of the Scotch fir, as
more of them are injured and consequently will not vege¬
tate. After being sown a light roller is drawn along
the bed to press the seeds into the earth, after which
they are to be covered with earth a quarter of an inch
thick. The best preparation of the soil for larch seeds
is a crop of two years old seedling Scotch firs. The
seeds of spruce, bairn of Gilead fir, silver fir, pinaster,
Weymouth and stone pine require nearly similar treat¬
ment. The seeds of white, black, and red American
spruce being very small require a lighter covering ; the
fifth part of an inch will be quite sufficient for them
The first should be sown in a piece of fine dry sandy
loam, and the covering should be of mould prepared from
rotted leaves of trees ; the two last require to be sown
in a piece of rich peaty or heath mould mixed with
white sand, and the seeds being very small should be
covered over thinly with a fine sieve : neither of these
kinds require to be rolled before covering like the larch
and Scotch fir, but they should be shaded after they
have vegetated by some means. The seeds of the cedar
of Lebanon succeed best in light sandy loam, and they
should not be covered deeper than a half of an inch.
The seeds of the white and red cedar may be similarly
treated. Coniferous trees, although generally hardy
when grown, yet are all tender in infancy, therefore
attention should be paid to the foregoing directions as
regards soil covering, &c. Coniferous trees benefit less by
transplanting than other trees, and therefore it is thought
by some better that after the seedlings have stood two
years in the seed bed to remove them to where they are
finally to remain ; except cedars and cypresses and some
of the more rare and delicate pines which have been
kept in pots several years, as they can be turned out of
the pots with the balls and roots entire; but they should
never be kept too long in pots, by which means the roots
get too much matted, and when this is the ease they
require several years to establish themselves in the
ground. The middle of April is the best time for trans¬
planting all evergreen coniferous trees, but as the deci¬
duous kinds push earlier, February and March is the
best time to transplant them. In removing seedling
trees from the seed bed the earth should be raised with
a three-pronged fork that the young trees may be drawn
by hand with all the fibres entire. The ground on
which they are transplanted need not be so rich as for
168*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- seed beds, but still it should be mellow, and it is better
ture. plant them in the trench manner than by the dibble
in rows a foot apart, and six inches from plant to plant
in the line, if intended only to remain one year, but much
wider if they are to remain two. The spruce, balm of
Gilead fir, and Weymouth pine require to remain two
years in the seed bed previous to being transplanted in
nursery lines. The pinaster and stone pine generally
make large plants the first year from seed, and they
should then be transplanted into rich, sandy, dry soil.
The white American spruce after remaining two years
in the seed bed should afterwards be nursed two years
in lines in rich, sandy, rather dry soil. The cedar of Le¬
banon when one year old should be planted in pots
filled with the finest soil or in rows, and after being two
years nursed in this way, they should be finally trans¬
planted, for they seldom do much good if planted at a
greater age. A good soil for transplanting larch is
after a crop of esculent vegetables. The roots of coni¬
ferous trees being much injured by being kept too long
out of the ground, as well as by being kept in close
bundles by the exclusion of air, they should therefore be
planted as soon as possible after remo\aI from the nur¬
sery. New sown tree seeds are liable to be destroyed by
vermin, as rats and mice, but birds are the most destruc¬
tive to tree seeds ; they should therefore be constantly
watched until the plants are up, or the beds in which
the seeds are sown may be arched over with hoops and
nets thrown over them. The only means of gettingrid
of the mice is to place baited traps in the ground. The
seed beds should be kept clear of weeds, and these
should be removed when very youîig or otherwise draw¬
ing them will disturb the vegetating seeds. Land in
which larch or Scotch fir is sown becomes battered or
encrusted on the surface if rain fall immediately after
sowing and before the ground has become dry, but if
the ground is dried after the sowing before the rain fall
this will not occur. When such is the case (although
it should be avoided if possible) the encrusted surface
is broken by a wooden rake or with a light roller stuck
over with lath nails at half an inch distance and pro¬
truding not less than half an inch beyond the surface of
the roller, and this is drawn over the beds so encrusted.
The general culture of a nursery ground does not
diflPer materially from that of a kitchen garden. The
great point is to arrange the rotation of crops, that a
crop of culinary vegetables may intervene between every
crop of trees. Weeding, hoeing, stirring the soil, trench¬
ing, digging, manuring, watering, pruning, training,
staking, protecting, &c. are the same as for an ordinary
garden.
Jimeata- Amentaceous trees, as oaks, beach, hornbeam, walnuts,
ceous trees, filberts, chestnuts, plane-tree, &c., or all those trees
which bear acorns, masts, nuts, and even those that bear
keys. The seeds of the generality of them should be
sown as soon as ripe and gathered ; but they may be
also preserved through the winter by spreading them in
a loft to dry, and when completely dried they may be
stored in bags till spring. When the seeds of the ash,
the sycamore, the plane, the hornbeam are only to be
kept for the purpose of spring sowing, the best plan is
to place them in the rotting ground, mixing them
with their bulk of sand and spreading them out in a
stratum of ten inches thick in the form of a bed, which
should be covered over with sand ten inches thick, and
in spring they may either be sown in drills or beds.
Acorns of oaks, chestnuts, hazel liuts and stones of al¬
monds should be sown in February in strong loamy soil HorticuU
well mellowed ; they should be planted half an inch apart
and covered over two inches deep. Walnuts require a
similar soil and covering, but they should be placed two
inches distant. Ash keys will grow in any soil if the situ¬
ation is open ; they should be placed half an inch apart
and covered over an inch thick. Seedling sycamores being
liable to be injured by frost the seed should not be sown
till the beginning of April, and then only in a dry sandy
soil an inch apart, and covered over one inch in thick¬
ness, for in rich moist land sycamores continue to grow
late ill the season and consequently the tops do not
ripen, so that the tops are killed by the first frosts of
winter. Beech seedlings being also tender, therefore the
mast should not be sown till April, and the soil in which
they are sown should be rich and mellow, and it is
better if previously under a crop of culinary vegetables.
The seeds should be placed an inch distant from each
other and covered over an inch deep. The seeds of
hornbeam are best sown in October, but they may also
be sown in February, in light but not very rich soil,
the seeds should be sown half an inch apart, and
covered over half an inch. The plane tree or Platanus
is seldom reared from seed ; but when this is the case,
they should be sown in soft peat earth and covered over
about a quarter of an inch thick. In transplanting the
greater number of the foregoing trees they should be
loosened from the earth by a sharp spade, and in this
operation the tap roots should be cut but not too near
the ground, but at the same time taking care not to
injure the fibres. The plants should then be sorted
into sizes, at the same time cutting the bottom of each
tap root smooth with a sharp knife, and if the young
trees are not to be immediately planted they should be
laid in by the heels as it is termed, that is laying them
in slantingly in a trench and covering the roots over
with earth where they may remain until planted. If
sown in beds none of the kinds should remain in the
seed bed more than two years, but if sown in drills
they may remain three years, and if what is called tap¬
ping be performed, that is cutting the tap roots with a
sharp spade about eight or ten inches underground, they
may remain four years ; but when this kind of tapping
has been resorted to the ground on both sides of the
row should be trodden down with the foot, so as to
fasten the plants. What is called trench planting is
decidedly superior to dibble planting for trees in
nursery rows, as it allows the fibres to be spread out.
The distances at which they are to be planted will de¬
pend upon the mode of growth and size of the leaves of
the different kinds. The ground should be dug be¬
tween the rows in winter if they remain two or more
years in nursery rows, and all the lower side shoots
should be removed before Midsummer.
Trees hearing stone fruits,—-As the mountain ash. Trees beat-
service, thorn, medlar, holly, yew, sweet-bay, rose, plum, stone
gean, cherry, laurel, ivy, juniper, &c. The berries or
fruit of all these and similar trees require to be taken to
the rotting ground, mixed with their bulk of sand and
spread out in beds ten inches thick ; the whole is then
covered ten inches thick of sand. Holly berries will
require to lay in this state two years previous to sowing
them, the thorn, mountain ash, yew one year, the rest
only during the first winter or until the following Fe¬
bruary, when they should be sown. The advantage of
rotting off the exterior hard covering of these seeds in
heaps, rather than in the ground where they are to ger-
HORTICULTURE.
169*
Horticul- niinate, is the saving of the ground. The time of sowing
the seeds of the foregoing trees is generally February,
» commonly performed in beds, and after they
are sown they should have a light roller passed over
them before covering them with, earth which is gene¬
rally about one inch thick for the thorn, half an inch for
the holly, and a quarter of an inch for the mountain ash,
ör according to the size of the seeds. The seeds of the
gean, the cherry, the Portugal laurel, the common lau¬
rel, the sweet-bay, the spurge laurel, the mezerion, are
better to be sown as soon as gathered an inch apart and
covered an inch. The deciduous kinds of these are
transplanted into nursery rows in February and March
and the evergreen kinds in April and beginning of May.
In transplanting the deciduous kinds prefer narrow
spaces between the rows and wide intervals between the
plantsin the row. The pruning and culture is the same
as for nut-bearing trees.
mi ®
1 rees bear- Trees bearing pomes, berries, or capsules^ as the lime
b^rrfe^s"^or' apple, the pear, the berberry, the box, the dog-
capsules wood, the elder, the honeysuckle, the jasmine, the
privet, the spindle-tree, the wayfaring-tree, the guelder
rose, &c. The seeds of these and similar trees are pre¬
served in a loft in dry sand and frequently turned to
separate the seeds from the pulp or outer envelope, and
cleaned by sifting or winnowing early in February.
Most of them require to be sown in a soft and moistish
soil, except the box, which requires a dry sandy soil. They
are sown in beds, and February is the best time for this
purpose. They are afterwards transplanted in rows
like other trees.
Trees bearing legumes, as bladder-senna, laburnum,
locust-tree, gleditschia, cytisus, &c. The legumes of
these and similar trees and shrubs are to be collected
and dried in a loft, and when dry the seeds are to be
threshed out and put in bags till February when they
should be sown. The soil in which most of these trees
are to be sown should be light, deep, and sandy, and
thev should be covered over about half an inch thick,
and the seeds should be placed an inch apart, for if the
plants rise too thick they are liable to become mildewed.
These trees when old enough are transplanted into
nursery rows like other trees.
Trees bear- Trees bearing small seeds, as the alder, the poplars, the
iftg small the willows, the mock-orange, the rock rose, &c.
The seeds of these and similar trees and shrubs require to
be collected as soon as ripe as they drop out of their cap¬
sules or fall from the tree. After gathering, they should
be spread out in a loft till they are perfectly dry, when they
may be put in bags. Most of them, however, are better
to be sown as soon as gathered, but if this is done a
little protection during the succeeding winter will be
requisite, but if deferred till spring, March and April is
the best time of sowing, and a rieh, light, rather moist soil
is the best adapted to such seeds, and they should be
covered over from a quarter to half an inch in depth or
according to their size. They should be sown thinly
that the plants may have room to grow. They are
transplanted into nursery rows like other trees when old
enough.
Many forest trees are propagated by layering, cuttings,
suckers, grafting, budding, and inarching; all these
modes of propagation, however, have been fully detailed
in the preliminary portion of the present treatise.
Finally planting ¿rees.—-Different modes of planting
have been practised according to the nature and quality
of the soil, or according to the extent of the surface to be
Trees bear
ing le¬
gumes.
»eeds.
Finally
planting
trees.
planted. For naked hills and moors of considerable ex¬
tent, larch and Scotch fir two years old are preferred, and
these are inserted by a tool called a planter, which is in
form something like a cooper's adze, an invention of
Mr. Pontey's, and by which a triangular piece of surface
is raised in which the root is inserted and the raised sod
is again turned back and trodden down; this being the
most simple, cheapest, and most expeditious mode prac¬
tised, and a means by which many thousand acres of poor
hilly land have been planted in the north of England
and in Scotland, particularly with larch. Where the
surface is too hard for the former process, trees of larger
size are planted by what is termed pitting, which is dig¬
ging a hole large enough and placing a single tree in
each, and throwing in the earth around it and making
it firm with the foot in the ordinary way of planting;
and this is the best method for planting forest trees
yet practised, although the most expensive, and not so
expeditious as the first mentioned mode. According to
Mr. Main, when an arable field is planted it receives a
previous summer fallow, ploughed as deeply as possible,
but if underwood as well as trees are to occupy the
ground or to form a cover for game, the last ploughing
may be deferred till about the end of January, and if the
ground be pretty mellow and dry it may be immediately
sown with a mixture of tree seeds, broad cast, which are
afterwards to be harrowed in, after which trees may be
planted at the desired distances. The seeds of oaks,
beech, firs, larch, &c. may be sown together. Spanish
chestnuts and other large seeds may be dibbled in as
they cannot be covered by the harrow, and in laying
down underwood the Spanish chestnut should always
be preferred. This method of laying down land into
wood is always successful, as there is not only a full
number and choice of trees, but the field answers the
purpose of a nursery for many years, as a great many of
the young trees may be drawn for planting elsewhere.
Trees are found to thrive best in large masses as they
shelter each other, consequently young woods should be
always planted thickly. The intermixture of evergreens,
as the Scotch fir, is found of great use in nursing planta¬
tions of young oaks, and even the growth of other deci¬
duous trees is found to be expedited by planting them
between rows of Scotch fir. Being thus defended from
strong and chilling winds they grow up straight, and
afterwards the encroachment of these nursing trees re¬
quires to be constantly subdued and thinned, to allow the
principals to proceed in their growth prosperously, which
will be the case if a little timely pruning be bestowed on
them. Little or no pruning is said to be required if the
trees are planted sufficiently thick on good ground.
Deep trenching and good drainage is admitted by all
authors to be the best preparation for procuring the most
certain success in planting forest trees. It facilitates
planting, gives scope to the roots, and admits all
atmospheric influences, so necessary for the well being
of the trees. Some planters advise the ground to be
richly manured, as well as trenched; this method
answers very well in planting a small spot or orna¬
mental clumps or groups for embellishment to produce
immediate effect, but it is too expensive for general
purposes. Oaks five or six years old from the acorn
are the best for final transplanting, for if smaller they
are liable to be choked by weeds. Ail deciduous trees
may be safely transplanted about the same age as oak
trees. Four feet distance is considered the most suit¬
able for forest trees, and if the principals and nurses are
Y* 2
Horticul¬
ture.
170*
HORTICULTURE
Borticul- planted in alternate ranks, the whole will rise rapidly,
ture. seasons and soil being favourable. Such a plan-
' ^ tation in the course of three or four years will have
become a perfect thicket, after which the thinner and
prurier must be kept constantly employed for the pur¬
pose of keeping the nursing trees within bounds, and
divesting the principals of irregular branches. But
when they have become too thick, a part of the nurses,
as well as the principals, will require to be removed ;
and this must be continued year after year until all su¬
pernumerary trees are removed, only leaving a full
stock of the principals to come to perfection. In this
way the most valuable woods are planted and reared.
Whatever be the nature of the soil, the subsoil should
always be rendered dry by draining. Many situations,
as steep sides of hills, do not admit of either trenching
or ploughing previous to planting, therefore, in such
situations, the trees are put into the ground by the
planter ; but wherever trenching, digging, or ploughing
is practicable, it will amply repay the trouble and
expense, and this is most necessary where the quick
growth of the plants is of consequence, as in slips for
shelter and hedge-rows. The best situations for planting-
seeds or young trees, without any further culture, are
surfaces partially covered with broom, furze, juniper,
heath, or other low woody plants. Osier planta¬
tions require a deep, strong, moist soil trenched two
feet or inore deep. The formation of plantations must
be determined by the situation and object in view. It
is necessary that all plantations should be enclosed by
hedges, fences, or slips of some description. Hedges
are generally guarded by an open drain on the outside.
By planting mixed trees it is admitted by most authors
that the greatest quantity of timber is to be obtained.
Sang is of opinion, however, that the best method is
to plant each sort in distinct masses, provided the situa¬
tion and quality of the soil be kept in view. Having a
knowledge of the kinds of soil that will suit each species
of tree, the proper station may be assigned to each kind.
It sometimes happens that a piece of land will answer
for the growth of several kinds of trees ; it is then better
to plant them in mixtures, because each sort will extract
its own proper nourishment. It often happens that
oaks and other hard-wooded trees are overtopped by soft
wooded and less valuable kinds, which evil would be
prevented by planting in distinct masses of one kind.
Although coniferous trees are generally planted as tem¬
porary shelter to other trees, it is much better to plant
them in masses by themselves when intended to grow
for timber. The more variable in size and shape these
masses are the better will be the eíFect. Planting or
sowing the seeds or trees thick is the surest means of
producing straight timber trunks, and by timely pruning
and gradually thinning the finest timber can be reared.
There is a difference of opinion whether planting trees
from the nursery, or sowing the seeds where the trees
are to remain, produce the finest timber, but the prefer¬
ence is given by some authors to sowing seeds. Dr.
Yule {Caled. Hort. Mem.) recommends sowing seeds
where the trees are to remain ; for he says it is a well-
known fact that seedling trees allowed to remain in their
original situation will in a few seasons far overtop trees
from the nursery. This opinion is founded on the idea
that the first tap roots are of the greatest importance to
trees, for when these have been cut off in transplanting,
the trees are supposed to have no power of renewing
them ; but trees are known to have the power of sending
out other tap roots. Coniferous trees receive the greatest Horticul-
check from transplanting, and if planted when four or ^
five years old they seldom grow to trees, and therefore
they ought always to be planted when young. In
planting trees some place them in regular lines, others
in the quincunx manner, and others again irregularly,
but it appears to be of very little consequence to the
growth of the trees how they are placed provided they
are at proper distances. The distances at which trees
should he planted will depend upon the situation and
nature of the soil. Oaks and other hard-wooded trees will
be fit for finally transplanting the third year from seed,
larch the second year. The larch, silver fir, and spruce
fir being allowed to stand two years in the seed bed will,
when transplanted into good ground, be ready by the
next autumn, or the autumn following ; the same is the
case with Scotch fir, but seedlings of the latter are gene¬
rally finally planted from the seed bed. For transplanting
Pontey recommends firs a foot in height and deciduous
trees a foot and a half for exposed situations. In exten¬
sive planting soils which are good and well sheltered but
seldom occur, therefore he considers trees of the above
size to be the most useful for general purposes. None
but good rooted plants will succeed in bad soil, and on
good soil none but the very worst rooted will fail. Large
plants never have such good roots in proportion as
small ones, and hence the propriety of planting such in
good soils only. Autumn and spring are the proper sea¬
sons for planting; the former is preferred when the soil
and situation is moderately good and for large trees, and
the latter where the situation is exposed or wet; but as
necessity is the guide, where extensive tracts are planted
the operation is continued in all open weather from Oc¬
tober to April. Sang prefers planting evergreen coni¬
ferous trees, such as Scotch fir, spruce as well as all
other evergreens, in April, and even as late as the begin¬
ning of May. The great object, according to Mr. M'Nab
of the Edinburgh botanic garden, in planting ever¬
greens is to prevent the roots from becoming dry while
out of the earth ; for if their roots be allowed to dry
when out of the ground, it is hardly possible to prevent
them from suffering ; damp weather is therefore to be
chosen in spring for this purpose. The method of
planting called pitting is the best for forest trees although
the most expensive. The pits are dug several months
previous to the insertion of the plants, and at the time
of planting the mould in the pit is loosened with the
spade and one or two spadefuls taken out from the centre
of each pit, or according to the size of the root of the
tree to be planted, the rotted turf at the bottom of the
pit is then chopped up with the spade. The tree is
then placed perfectly upright in the pit, where it is held
until the earth has been thrown in gently around the
root, at the same time taking care to keep the fibres
properly spread out, the mould is then trodden down
and the plant placed in an upright position. The slio
planting is another method, but should not be followeci
except in cases of necessity ; the slip is made in the form
of the letter T, and the young tree inserted into it, and
the turf is then pressed down with the foot. An instrument
called a planting mattock is resorted to in rocky or stony
places, and a hole is prepared by it for the reception of
the roots of the plant little inferior to a pit. Besides
these there are other methods of planting forest trees.
Plantations for ornament will depend upon the situ- Plantations
ation the kinds and disposition of the trees. To give ^'or oriry^
beauty to scenery is the object in forming plantations here
H o R T I C U L T U R E.
171*
Horticul- and there. To give character to a country residence is the
aim in planting parks, pleasure grounds, and avenues, &c.
Planting a hill or any rise of the ground increases
the eíFect, but by planting the hollows between hills the
effect is destroyed, although this is the case in natural
scenery in Britain, but it has not the same effect. The
general principle is to heighten beauties already exist¬
ing, and to conceal defects. A principal mass should
be composed, from which the rest may appear to
proceed or seem to be connected. In ordinary cases
it answers best to include with these masses the house,
kitchen, and flower garden. The forms of these masses
should be so disposed relatively to the ground and
other objects and to each other as to throw the pasture
surface into broad masses, and their variation is height¬
ened by the variety of the glades between the masses
and groups of trees. This is also applicable to pleasure
grounds; the management of walks and water should
be chiefly in the hollows, and planting should adorn the
eminences. The general form of the trees influences the
effect of the plantations. Loudon. Round-headed trees are
best for planting singly or in single rows, as the horse-
chestnut, elm, ash, &c. The spiry-topped trees, as the
different kinds of fir, have the best effect when planted
among rocks and on the steep sides oí mountains. The
oblong-headed trees, as alders, poplars, and willows, blend
well with round-headed trees. ^ h at ever number of kinds
of trees be planted, one kind should prevail in the same
place, for, as Mr. Repton observes, there is more variety
in passing from a grove of oaks to a grove of firs than
through a wood composed of hundreds of different spe¬
cies mixed. Trees would have the best effect if they
were arranged in groups according to their natural affi¬
nities, by which means the greatest variety would be
produced. The trees for ornamental planting should
be as large as possible, because early effect is desirable,
and in planting detached groups large and small trees
may be introduced in imitation of nature. Small groups
of trees or single trees in pasture land cannot be formed
without trees whose stems are high enough to raise
their heads out of the reach of cattle without enclosing
them by paling to a considerable height, which is both
unsightly and expensive. Large trees may be removed
with safety by digging a trench six, eight, or more feet
from the trunk of the tree according to its size, and cut¬
ting the roots all round a year previous to removal ; the
mofild may be thrown in again in order that the roots
may be induced to throw out fibres from their extremi¬
ties ; the tree is then removed the following winter with
as much earth attached to the root as possible. Large
trees require support for a few years after removal.
The progress and products of trees, like those of other
plants, may be greatly increased and modified by culti¬
vation of the soil, pruning, and thinning. Plantations
should be kept clear of such weeds as have a tendency
to smother the young trees, but this is not likely to be
the case on heaths. In ground that has been prepared
by trenching before planting, hoeing, digging, or plough¬
ing becomes necessary for some years. Hoeing is
necessary in summer to keep down the weeds, and dig¬
ging or ploughing in winter to loosen the soil as well as
to keep down the weeds. Crops of turnips or potatoes
may be grown between the trees as long as they remain
small. Osier plantations require digging and hoeing
through the whole course of their existence as well as
hedge-rows. The filling up of hard-wooded plantations,
that is planting a living tree for every one that has died,
should not take p'ace, according to Sang, until the third Horticul
year after planting, as many of the plants which are ap-
parently dead grow afterwards luxuriantly from the
bottom, but the filling up of fir plantations may take
place the following spring after planting, because such of
these trees as have died are more readily distinguished
than those of hard-wooded trees.
Pruning.—Many different opinions exist as to the Pmnmg.
mode of pruning, and the season of performing this
operation, some advising all the tiers of the lower
branches to be cut off except three or four of the upper¬
most tiers, while others again advise no branch to he
' o
removed until it is dead. If all the branches are allowed
to remain it distorts the grain of the wood, and the dead
branches in time drop off, leaving a hollow rotten scar
which admits rain, and gradually extends its rottenness
to the heart of the trunk. The knowledge cf this,
according to Mr. Main, induced many persons to be¬
come primers, who before were averse to pruning; but
fearing to injure the trunks by performing the operation
too closely, they cut off the branches two or three feet
from it, and this was called snag-pruning ; but most of
those snags died back and actually increased the injury
which it was intended to avert, and which produced the
same effect as unpruned dead branches. Others seeing
a clear and handsome trunk could not be obtained by
snag-pruning, cut off all the lower branches close to
the trunk, of whatever age, knowing that the wounds
would he in time covered over with new wood and bark,
by which means the whole tree would be improved in
appearance and much more attractive to the eye of the
buyer. This mode of pruning had been performed ex-
tensivelv ; but the projector was not aware that the new
wood and bark which covers the scar produced by close
lopping can never unite with its face so as to produce
perfect soundness, and therefore a defect would be visible
at every place where a large branch had been cut off
when the tree came to the saw-pit. Dealers in wood,
knowing this by experience, are cautious of buying trees
from woods which have been close pruned when old,
however handsome the trunk may appear. This shows
that the pruning of forest trees is not yet perfectly un¬
derstood. In natural woods, where trees grow up close
together, they become tall, straight, and destitute of
branches, except at the top ; and when the wood of such
trees are converted to use, they are found to be of uni¬
form clear grain, having few knots, and these near the
pith and very small ; but trees which grow so close
together can never attain any considerable hulk. When
trees stand at wide distances they assume their natural
form, and bear wide-spreading branches with a tnink of
corresponding size, containing together a large body of
timber ; this is owing to the trees enjoying the advan¬
tage of full light and air on every side ; but when such
trees come to he felled, none but very short lengths of
V o
clear timber is obtained, the base of every branch cross¬
ing longitudinally the texture of the grain. From the
foregoing observations concerning closely and widely
standing trees it would appear that trees intended for
timber should be thickly planted at first, and when they
have grown to a sufficient bulk they should be cut out
and the plantation thinned gradually till each tree left
standing enjoys a sufficient share of air and light tobring
it to its utmost magnitude and perrection. After the
trees have grown np together until their branches meet,
half of the plantation should be removed, and when the
branches of those that are left interfere with each othea^
172*
H O R T I C U L T U R E
Horticul- another pcrtion should be felled until the reserved niim-
tore, g^and at proper distances; and during this thinning
if the principals were divested of irregular branches, an
uniform grove of fine trees would be the result ; how¬
ever, in plantations too closely planted at first, the trees
are soon checked, from a want of air and light, for a tree
standing singly, having these advantages, grows much
more luxuriantly, and if its growth weie regulated by
the pruner for the first fifteen years, the greatest bulk
and most valuable quality of timber would be produced.
Trees naturally prune themselves by standing close
together, the lower branches decay by the exclusion of
light and air ; but forest trees may be also artificially
pruned by timely cutting off the lower branches. Oak
trees, standing separately, branch out from the base,
and by this means form what is denominated a large
bush; the tree becomes large, and the bulk of the
whole is greater than if growing with one straight stem;
but the timber being so much divided cannot be con¬
verted to any useful purpose with such advantage as if
connected in one straight trunk. April and May is said
to be the best time for pruning forest trees, because the
wounds made by the lopping of small branches will be
healed over by the end of summer, and no very visible
knots will remain in the trunk when cut up for use: all
unnecessary branches should be removed when young,
always taking care to maintain a full head of them to
ensure rapid growth. All the principal branches origin¬
ating at the pith shows the necessity of early pruning,
for as the new wood is formed externally, they are soon
covered over, and only small knots remain near the pith.
Sang observes, where straight timber is the object, trees
should be feathered with branches from the bottom up¬
wards, keeping the tops light and spiral. The propor¬
tion of their tops should be gradually diminished year
after year till about their twentieth year, when they
should occupy about a third of the height of the tree,
that is, in a tree thirty feet high the top should be ten feet ;
in all cases where branches are lopped off it should be
done close, for it is only by this means clear timber can
be procured. Pruning for ornament or beauty must be
guided by the object in view. If artificial beauty is
required, the trees may be cut into various shapes, but
when natural beauty is desired, the trees should be al¬
lowed to assume their natural shape.
Pontey considers summer pruning preferable to
winter pruning. Sang, however, carries it on in
every month of the year, except from the begin¬
ning of February to the middle of July. Those trees
which are apt to gum, as the gean and fir, he prunes
only in July and August. For resinous trees Sang and
Pontey agree in beginning to prune as early as other
trees, that is when they are six or eight years old, by
displacing one or two tiers of the lower branches at
once, and after which at intervals of two or three years,
but never displacing more than one or two tiers of the
lower branches each time, for excessive pruning has been
found highly injurious, because if a sufficient number of
branches be not left to produce an abundance of leaves
to concoct the juice, the timber will be loose in texture,
and liable to premature decay. According to Sang, non-
resinous trees should be pruned from their infancy and
at intervals of one or at most two years ; for if the
pruning of these trees be deferred to intervals of eight
or ten years, wounds are inflicted which will ever after¬
wards remain blemishes in the timber by the branches
having attained too large a size, as well as having ex¬
tended too far from the pith from whence they origin- Horticul-
ate, consequently causing larger and longer knots in
the timber. If there should be two or more eontendins:
terminal shoots, all the weaker ones should be lopped
off, leaving only one of the strongest and best placed.
Trees for shelter or screens should be furnished with
branches from the bottom upwards. Trees in plea¬
sure grounds and lawns are best when allowed to
assume their natural form, and consequently all the
branches ought to be allowed to extend, and therefore
the trees should stand at considerable distances from
each other. In thinning plantations the removing of
the nurses is the first object, but this should be cau¬
tiously performed, for if the situation be exposed it will
be prudent to retain more nurses than if the situation
is sheltered, but they should never be suffered to overtop
the principals. If the nurses are composed of any
valuable kind of tree, as the larch, they should never
wholly be removed, but if they are composed of inferior
kinds, they are generally totally removed when the prin
cipals have arrived at the height of fifteen or twenty ftet ;
but even before this time it may be found necessary to
thin out a part of them.
Treatment of wounds,—Trees are liable to accident Treatment
during their growth, by which means the timber is de- wounds,
teriorated, winds shake the branches, insects destroy the
bark and leaves, and sometimes even the wood. When
branches have been blown off the ragged edges of the
wound should be smoothed with any sharp instrument,
and a coat of pitch, resin, or other substance laid over
with a brush, which will secure the wood from the
action of the air, and thereby prevent decomposition ;
but this can only be practised on ornamental trees, for
in extensive plantations the thing is impracticable.
When a branch dies or is broken off by the wind, the
remaining stump soon becomes rotten, in which certain
insects lodge and deposit their eggs; these eggs soon
becoming maggots are attacked by woodpeckers, and
if this rottenness extends into the body of the tree
the woodpecker perceives this, and before breeding time
begins to form a round passage into the interior to
breed in, for they have nevêr been known to wound a
sound tree ; woodpeckers are therefore useful in destroy¬
ing insects in the maggot state, and are of great advan¬
tage in plantations. Trees are subject to a disease
called hide-bound, the only remedy for which is to ring
or cut the outer bark longitudinally, or by stripping it
off ; but in this operation care should be taken to leave
two or three of the inner layers of liber uninjured,
which are said to be quite competent to carry on the
processes of vegetation. The cork tree is invigorated by
removing the cork or outer bark. Insects of various
kinds are injurious to forest trees, but these are beyond
human power to prevent. The hearts of trees frequently
rot, which sometimes arises from the dampness of the
soil, and which only timely draining would have pre¬
vented. What are called shakes often arise from the
weight of the top branches and other causes. Shakes
are longitudinal rents in the trunk of the tree ; these
are difficult to cure, but the best remedy, according to
Sang, is to calk the rent with oakum and pitch it over
to exclude the rain. Trees stripped of their bark by
lightning or otherwise, if the new or soft wood is not
much injured, will heal over and become covered with
bark, and this the more readily if the air be excluded
by a coating of adhesive matter, or a mixture of cow
dung and quick lime, or by tying on moss or bandages
HORTICULTURE.
173*
Horticul- of matting or cloth. Stunted growths are often pro-
ture. duced by ivy, lichens, mistletoe, &c. Resinous trees are
^ liable to excessive exudations of resin or gum when
overpruned or pruned at improper seasons. Forest
trees in plantations are often injured by animals, as
hares, rabbits, and field mice, which strip and eat the
bark of the young trees ; to prevent this many persons
plant laburnum trees among others, of the bark of which
hares are very fond.
Soils. Soils,—Trees do not require the richest of soils.
Deep and alluvial lands which answer best for corn and
herbage are not so well adapted for trees. Oak is said
to grow best on a clay subsoil, the beech on one of chalk,
and most other forest trees in a light loam on a gravelly
subsoil. Soils on moors though thin answers well for
Scotch fir, larch, and most coniferous trees. Moist soil
is favourable to willows and alder and some kinds of
poplars. Many kinds of trees succeed in sandy soils,
as most coniferous trees, the greater number of the
species of maple, and the sycamore. The generality of
the soils, if well drained, trenched, dug or deeply
ploughed, will answer almost any kind of forest tree.
Qualities Qualilies of timber.—Durability, toughness, hard-
OÍ timber ness, and compactness are among the most valuable
qualities of timber. Weight is a proof of the density of
the woody fibre. The j uices of trees are either watery,
resinous, or in a concreted state. The first quickly eva¬
porates and the wood shrinks, and for this reason it is
inferior because it is more liable to decay ; but if the
sap be resinous, as in coniferous trees, and which consti¬
tutes the chief value of the timber, as it imparts durabi¬
lity. In the oak the juice is partly watery and evapo¬
rable, but the greater part becomes concreted and
remains for ages in the tissue which it preserves.
Toughness arises from the longitudinal strength of the
woody fibre, and the yielding nature of the cellular
matter. Hardness in timber depends upon the density
of the woody fibre and the concreted sap. All kinds of
timber are much heavier when recently cut than when
seasoned, owing to its being filled with sap, which soon
evaporates in some kinds of trees and very slowly in
others. Poplar boards dry and shrink quickly ; the sap
being watery is soon exhaled, while the elm continues to
shrink for twenty years, the sap being more concreted,
and therefore not so easily dissipated. Oak and pine
timber lose but little of their bulk in seasoning because
they contain but a small portion of watery sap. Some
foreign woods, as mahogany and lignum vitse, are almost
imperishable if kept clear from damp. Some kinds of
timber perish when exposed to the changes of the wea¬
ther, but by being constantly submerged in water are
durable, as the beech and alder when used as piles.
Oak is a timber which will endure all changes of weather.
Coppice Coppice woods.—Forest trees are useful as coppice or
woods. underwood, and yield an annual revenue which in the
end is as valuable as a forest of trees full irrown. The
willow yields rods for basket-making, the oak poles for
fencing, for hops, and numerous other purposes, as well
as for fuel. The ash is perhaps one of the best trees for
coppice wood from its quickness of growth, straightness,
and toughness, but the Spanish chestnut is superior to
the ash in durability. Birch is an excellent underwood
tree, as it yields poles and stakes, and its spray is the best
material for making brooms. The hazel is also a good
coppice wood tree. Beach and hornbeam are cut down
periodically and used by the charcoal manufacturers.
The greatest portion of coppice wood in Britain appears
to be the remains of ancient forests. But, if the ground Horticul-
were properly prepared and the seeds sown or the young
trees planted, it would be the most profitable of all wood-
land, for the thicker and closer the stools are together
the straighter the poles would grow, for in self-planted
or natural coppices there are always vacant spaces
whereby the poles on the outside become crooked in
consequence of so many horizontal growths. A few
groups of trees irregularly disposed in coppice woods
would break their monotonous character. In order to
have strong straight poles the stools should be looked
over after the second year's growth and divested of all
weak, crooked, or supernumerary shoots, leaving just a«
many of the best as will suffice for a full crop without
crowding. Those removed should be slipped off, as the
bases of the shoots if cut off would quickly sprout again.
Coppice woods are sometimes turned into woods by
selecting the strongest shoots and allowing them to
grow to trees. Osier holts only require the small late¬
rals to be pinched off the shoots intended for hoops.
Hedge-rows only require to be clipped at the sides until
they attain the height required. Neglected hedge-rows
which have grown like trees require to be cut down, or
they may be what is termed plashed for forming an im¬
mediate fence, that is cutting down the strongest shoots
and bending down all pliable branches, and such as do
not bend freely may be cut through half way, by which
means they are rendered pliable ; but cutting down an
old hedge wholly is the surest method of laying the
foundation of a good fence. Coppice wood requires
pruning on the same principle as forest trees, in order to
produce poles with clean bark, but as far as they are
grown for fences, fuel, &c. no pruning is required.
Arboricultural Catalogue.
Under this head the popular names of all woody Arboricul-
plants, as trees and shrubs, that will bear the open air ^^^*'^1 cata-
in Britain without protection, will be found. It has
been considered of advantage to arrange this catalogue
according to the natural families, by which arrangement
a more general view of all hardy ligneous plants,
whether trees or shrubs, can be given, with their culti¬
vation, propagation, application, and uses.
Ranunculaceous shrubs.—The principal hardy woody Kanunc»-
plants of this family belong to the genera Clematis and laceous
Atragene, known by the popular names of virgin's shmbs.
bower and traveller's joy. These are well adapted for
decorating bowers, trellis-work, or walls, on account of
their climbing habit and showy blossoms of various
hues. They are propagated by laying down the young
shoots in July or October. To this order also belongs
the yellow-root, {Xanthorhiza apiifolia,) a plant well
fitted for the front of a shrubbery.
Magnoliaceous trees.—These are chiefly ornamental, Ma^rnoli-
as the species of Magnolia., Liriodendron ; they are pro- aceoiis
pagated by laying and seeds. The hardy species oí' 3íag- trees.
nolia are principally natives of America, but some of the
Chinese kinds endure our winters. They should be
planted in conspicuous situations, as they are handsome
and flower abundantly. The Magnolia grandiflora and
its varieties require to be planted in a sheltered situa¬
tion, as it is more tender than other American species.
The Magnolia glauca or swamp laurel thrives best in pi-at
or vegetable soil in a moist situation. The Chinese
kinds are often increased by inarching or budding on
Magnolia obovata. The Liriodendron iiiHpifra or
tulip tree has two conspicuous varieties, which are boili
174*
n o R T I C U L T U R E.
Hoïticul-
ture.
Anonace-
ous shrubs.
Menisper-
maceous
shrubs.
Berberide-
ous shrubs.
Cistineous
shrubs.
Makaceous
shrubs.
Sterculi-
aceous
treös.
Tamaris-
ciaeous
shrubs.
TUiaceous
trees.
very handsome and ornamental trees, and foi this reason
are generally planted singly on lawns ; they are increased
from seed imported from America.
Anonaceous shrubs.—The North American species of
Asimina are the only truly hardy woody plants of this fa¬
mily, but these require a little protection in severe frosts.
They are well fitted for shrubberies, and are propagated
either by layers put down in autumn or by imported seed.
Menispermaceous shrubs.—-The liardy woody plants
belonging to this order are the species of Mmispermum
or moon-seed ; they are climbing shrubs, very useful for
covering trellis-work, and tliey are readily increased by
cuttings planted in autumn or by dividing at the root.
Berberideous shrjibs.—-in this family the genera Ber¬
berís m\á Mahonia contain all the hardy shrubs; these
are increased by suckers, layers, and ripened cuttings.
The common berberry is often grown for the sake of its
fruit, but all the other species for ornament. The genus
Mahonia contains a few elegant evergreen shrubs.
Cistineous shrubs.—Among these a few species of
Cistus or rock rose are hardy and most of the species of
Helianthemum or sun-rose ; they are all ornamental, and
bear showy but short-lived flowers ; but as new floweis
expand as the old ones decay, a succession of them is
continued for a considerable time. The species of the
latter genus are well fitted for decorating rock-work or
dry sandy banks. They are all propagated by ripened
cuttings, by layers, or by seeds.
Malvaceous shrubs.—^Tbe most conspicuous of these
are the varieties of Hibiscus Syriacus^ commonly called
Althœa fruteoc. These may be propagated by layers or
seeds, and the rarer varieties will succeed if grafted on
the more common ; they also may be increased by cut¬
tings. They bear very showy blossoms and should be
planted in conspicuous situations. Lavatera olbia,
Lusitanica, and unguiculaia will bear our winters if not
too severe, and being showy are well adapted for deco¬
rating shrubberies ; they are readily propagated by cut¬
tings and seeds.
Sterculiaceous trees.—Sterculia plantanifolía, or the
plane-tree-leaved Sterculia, is the only known hardy tree
of this family, and is a native of China and Japan. The
leaves are broad and much resemble those of the syca¬
more. It is usually increased by ripened cuttings.
Being handsome, it should be planted in a conspicuous
situation, as on a lawn.
Tamariscineous shrubs,—The diflerent species of the
genera Tamarix, Myricaria, and Hololachna compose
this order, several of which are hardy, and well adapted
for decorating shrubberies; those must generally culti¬
vated are the French Tamarisk {Tamarix Gallica) and
the German Tamarisk {Myricaria Germanica.) All are
readily increased by ripened cuttings planted in August.
TUiaceous trees.—Kmou^ these are the different kinds
of lime tree or Tilia ; all of which are stately ornamental
trees, proper for groves and avenues as well as for plan¬
tations. Lime trees were much prized by the Romans
for the delightful shade which they afford. They are
even now considered more trees of ornament than profit,
but the wood is applied to many useful purposes by the
carver, turner, and musical instrument maker. The
bark macerated in water forms the bast mats of com¬
merce. Lime trees prefer a deep loam to any other soil,
and they are readily increased by layers and seeds.
Those considered the best both for effect as well as tim¬
ber, are the red twigged lime {Tilia Europœa, var.
cm allina) and the American lime (Tilia Americana.)
Ternsirœmiaceous trees.—Kmong these is the Gordo- Horticul-
nia lasianthus or Loblolly bay, the Gordonia pubesceiis^
i\\Q Malachodendroti ovatam, and the Stuartia Virginica.
all of which are very i^rnamental deciduous trees and
shrubs, bearing laurel-like leaves and large showy white trees,
blossoms. They thrive best in heathy or vegetable
mould or sandy loam, and are readily propagated by
ripened cuttings and by layers. The species of Gor¬
donia being rather tender should be grown against a
south or west wall in cold or bleak situations.
Hyptricineous shrubs. — There are several hardy Hypcrici-
woody species of Hypericum or St. John's-wort, besides neous
the Androsœmum officinale, the Tutsan, a native of Bri- ®brubs.
tain. These are well fitted for decorating shrubberies,
and they will grow under the shade of trees ; they are
readily propagated by dividing at the root and by cut¬
tings.
Acerinrous trees are chiefly composed of stately valu- Acerincou»
able timber trees, as the various species of Acer or trees,
maple, but the most valuable of these is the sycamore,
{Acer pseudoplatanus,) the wood of which is much
used by turners, and by .saddlers for saddle trees, and
by the millwright, and being light and tough is reckoned
excellent for cart and plough timber. The wood of the
common maple {Acer campestre) is said to be very
valuable for gun-stocks, but the principal value of the
tree is for under or coppice wood. The Norway maple
{Acer platanoides) is a very stately tree, the wood of
which does not differ much from that of the sycamore.
All the species abound in a saccharine juice from which
sugar can be prepared ; but in America it is principally
prepared from the sugar maple, {Acer saccharinum^
and the black maple. {Acer nigru?n.) Maples are for
the most part trees of considerable size and beauty, and
are consequently well fitted for plantations and avenues.
Most of them will grow from ripened cuttings planted
in autumn as well as by layers, but they are generally
propagated by seed which should be sown as soon as
possible after being gathered, by which means they will
vegetate the following spring, for if allowed to remain
out of the ground all the winter they would not vegetate
until the following spring, by which one year would be
lost. The Negundo fraxinifolia, the ash-leaved maple,
or box-elder, is also a very showy tree. The species
will grow in inferior soils and in situations exposed to
the sea breeze, as well as at considerable elevations
above the level of the sea.
Hippocastaneous trees are composed of the species Hippocas-
of the genera JBsculus and Pavia^ or horse chest- taneuus
nut ; these are most valued for the grandeur of their
foliage and flowers, and are consequently well adapted
for pleasure grounds. They have the best effect when
planted separately or in avenues, or on the outskirts of
plantations. The timber of the common horse chestnut,
although soft, is used by the turner for various purposes.
The species are generally increased by seed, but they
may also be propagated by layers, and the rarer kinds
are grafted or budded on the commoner. They require
a rather good soil on a dry bottom.
Sapindaceous trees.—The only hardy tree belonging Sapinda-
to this family is K'olreuteria paniculata, a native of ceous tnes.
China. It is a beautiful deciduous tree with pinnate
leaves and panicles of yellow flowers. It should be
planted in as sheltered a situation as possible in the
pleasure ground or lawn, for in exposed places it does
not flower. It is propagated by layers or slips of the
root as seeds seldom ripen in Britain.
HORTICULTURE.
1 n
Ï iO
Horticul¬
ture.
Ampeli-
deous
shrubs.
Rutaceous
shrubs and
trees.
Coriareous
shrubs.
Celastri-
Ampelideous shrubs.-—Amowg these the common vine
is the most conspicuous. The berries ot the American,
kinds of vine are spoiled by a foxy flavour which is
never to be removed by cultivation. The different
species of Ampélopsis are also hardy ; the most conspi¬
cuous of them is the Virginian creeper or five-leaved
ivy, (^Ampélopsis hederacea,) which is useful for cover¬
ing walls. It has a beautiful effect in autumn, the
O '
leaves becoming red at that season like some species of
sumach. They are all readily increased by ripened cut¬
tings and layers.
Rutaceous shrubs and trees.—The different kinds of
Ruta or rue belongs to this family. They all grow
freely in light soil, and are readily increased by cuttings
and seed. The Zanthoxylum fraxineum or common
tooth-ache tree, as well as Ptelea trifoliata or shrubby
trefoil, both hardy shrubs belonging to this family, are
well fitted for shrubberies, and are propagated by layers
and seed ; but the most conspicuous tree of the order
is the Ailantus glandulosa, the Chinese Ailanto. This
tree bears long pinnate leaves and is very proper for
ornamental plantations to stand singly. Its wood is
hard, heavy, and glossy, and is susceptible of a very
very fine polish. The tree is readily increased by slips
of the root.
Coriareous shrubs.—Among the hardy kinds of these
are the Cariaría myrtifolia and Nepalensis^ which are
well adapted for filling up vacancies in shrubberies.
They are readily propagated by slips of the root and by
suckers, of which they send up a great number from the
root.
Celastrineous trees and shrubs.—The S tap hy lea tri-
aeous trees folia, the three-leaved bladder nut, and the Staphylea
and shrubs. a, the common bladder nut, both of which do
very well to mix with other shrubs for variety. Besides
these there are a number of hardy species of Euonymus
or spindle tree which are all ornamental. The wood of
the common spindle tree {Euonymus Europœus) is
used by musical-instrument makers, and from its tough¬
ness it was formerly used to make spindles. When in
fruit most of the species have a very gaudy appearance ;
the capsules being red and the seeds yellow they contrast
well with the green foliage. The Nemopanihes Cana¬
densis is also a hardy shrub of this order. They are
ail propagated by ripened cuttings planted in autumn,
and by layers, but principally by seed.
Aquifolia- ' Aquifoliaceous trees.—The most conspicuous of these
c«ous trees, are the varieties and species of holly or Hex. The
common holly makes excellent hedges. Its wood is
the whitest of all kinds of timber, and is useful for
various purposes. There are numeious varieties of it
which have a fine effect when planted singly in pleasure
grounds, particularly the striped or blotched leaved
kinds, and hedgehog holly. What is called the South
Sea tea is Ilex vomitoria. All the hardy kinds of holly
are much esteemed on account of the beauty of their
foliage. The rarer kinds are increased by grafting or
budding on the common holly, which is easily reared
from seed, but they will also strike from ripened cuttings
under a hand-glass. The genus Prinos or winter berry
contains several hardy species which are well fitted for
shrubberies ; these grow well in light earth, but prefer
heathy or vegetable mould, and they are readily propa¬
gated by layers and seed. Myginda myrtifolia., a
Rhamna- of North-west America, is also a hardy shrub of
shrubs and order, but very rarely met with in Britain,
trees. Rhamnaceous shrubs and trees.-
-Among these
are
the different kinds of Paliurus or Clirii^t's thorn, all of Horticul-
which form handsome shrubs and trees well fitted for
shrubberies, and are either propagated by slips of the
root or by layers. The common Christ's thorn, the
Paliurus aculeatus^ is supposed by many to be the
plant from which the crown of thorns which was put
upon the head of Christ was composed, which appears
very probable, being one of the commonest thorny
shrubs in the country of Judea ; but Hasselquist is of
opinion that it was formed of the branches of Zizyphus
spinachristi. The jujube of the Turks {Zizyphus vul¬
garis) is also a tree of this fami-ly, and is grown for the
sake of its fruit and shade in the south of Europe. The
different species of Rhamnus or buckthorn, among
which is the Alaternus and its varieties, also the Avi¬
gnon berry tree, {Rhamnus infectorius,) the berries of
which are used in dyeing Turkey leather, and the berry-
bearing alder. {Rhamnus frángula.) The juice of the
berries of the common buckthorn {Rhamnus cathar-
ticus) made into a syrup is the buckthorn of the shops,
a well known drastic purgative. The rarer species
are propagated by layers, but most of them produce
seeds in abundance by which they are increased ; they
are all very proper plants for shrubberies. The Ala¬
ternus is chiefly planted to form variety in ornamental
plantations and to cover walls. The Ceanothus Ame-
ricanus^ or red root, or New Jersey tea, is a very orna¬
mental shrub.
Homalineous trees.—Of these the Aristotelia macqui Homali-
is the most conspicuous. It is worth cultivating in shel- neoustreea»
tered parts of shrubberies for the sake of the beauty of
its leaves. The species of Azara are also nearly hardy,
although natives of Peru. All are propagated freely
from cuttings.
Terebinihaceous or Sumachineous trees.—The pista- Teiebin-
chio nut tree, {Pistacia vera^) the turpentine tree, thaceous or
{Pistacia terebinthus,) and the mastick tree, {Pistacia Sumachi-
lentiscus,) belong to them ; these are all hardy, but
require to be planted in sheltered situations, and they
are propagated by ripened cuttings, layers, atid seed.
The different kinds of Rhus or Sumach belong also to
this family: among these are the wild olive or Venus's
sumach, {Rhus cotinus,) the hog gum tree, {Rhus me-
topiumi) the poison wood or swamp sumach, {Rhus
venenata^) the poison oak, {Rhus toxicodendron,) and
the common sumach, {Rhus typhinum,) the lithe tree
of Chili, {Rhus caustica,) besides many other species,
all of which are very proper plants for shrubberies ;
some of them propagate freely by slips of the roots,
others by ripened cutting's and layers. The different
species of Havana, although natives of Chili, are found
to be perfectly hardy.
Leguminous trees and shrubs are all very ornamental, Legumi-
and some of them produce valuable timber. The spe- nous trees
des of Edwardsia are very showy and do very well in andshiubs
the open air against a south or west wall, although
mostly natives of Van Diemen's Land. The Virgilia
lutea, a native of North America, is also a very orna¬
mental tree, as well as the Piptanthus Nepalensis,
and are well adapted for pleasure grounds and shrub¬
beries. The different kinds of furze or gorse {Ul x)
are found useful for making hedges, as also for deco¬
rating shrubberies, and the tender shoots bruised are
employed in feeding cattle. The Stauracanthus aphyl-
lus is also a very ornamental shrub, as well as the Spa¬
nish broom, {^partium junceum,) and consequently well
tilted for shrubberies. The various species of Genista^
VOL. Vi,
z
*
176«
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul¬
ture.
Araygdala-
ceous trees.
Spiraeace-
ous shrubs
Rosaceous
shrubs.
Potentilla-
ceous
shrubs.
Cytisus^ Adenocarpus, and . Ononis or rest harrow,
are hardy as well as ornamental, and therefore well
adapted for decorating the fronts of shtubberies, being
generally of low growth. So also is the dyer's broom,
{^Genista tinctoria.) Both the English and Scotch
laburnum, the Cytisus laburnvm and alpinu^j are well
known ornamental trees; but they also afford hard
valuable timber of a beautiful colour, capable of a
very fine polish, and which is much used by cabinet¬
makers and turners, and is called ebony by the French.
The common broom, (^Cytisus scoparius,') when of con¬
siderable size, affords most beautiful and durable timber.
All the hardy species of Colntea or bladder senna,
Caragana, and Robinia are very showy shrubs. The
American locust tree belongs to the latter genus, and is
the Bobinia pseudo-acacia, the timber of which is much
valued in America, and is said to be superior to the
laburnum, and is more valued by the cabin et-maker than
any other native timber whatever. Cobbett says it is
used there for trenails in ship-building. Pursh says
that it is almost incorruptible, as gate-posts on an estate
near Baltimore are said to have remained fresh for
nearly a century. The tree prefers a deep soil and rather
sheltered situation, and as it throws out suckers from
the root it is well fitted for coppice wood. The species
of Gleditschia OY honey locust are stately, valuable trees,
although of slow growth, are well fitted for plantations
and pleasure grounds. Acacia julibrissinj the silk tree,
and acanthocarpa are the only hardy species of that ex¬
tensive genus known, and these require a little protection
in severe weather; they require to be planted against a
south wall ; both species bear elegant foliage. All of
these leguminous shrubs and trees may be propagated
by layers, young cuttings under a hand-glass, but ge¬
nerally by seed.
Amygdalaceous trees.—Among these are the species
of Amygdalus^ihe almond, Pemca, the peach and nec¬
tarine, Ameniaca, the apricot, Prunus, the plum, and
Cerasus, the cherry and gean, the cherry laurel, the
Portugal laurel, the bird cherry, all of them ornamental
trees when in blossom, and therefore well fitted for de¬
corating shrubberies and pleasute grounds. They may
be all propagated by layers, suckers, and by grafting
and budding the rarer on the commoner kinds, and cut¬
tings of most of them will strike root if planted in
autumn. The timber of the wild cherry {Prunus
avium) is used by cabinet and chair makeis.
Spirœaceous shrubs.—The species of Spirœa are the
. principal hardy shrubs of this family, and these being
all pretty when in blossom, are weli fitted for ornament¬
ing shrubberies ; they are all readily propagated by
ripened cuttings, layers, and suckers. Both the siîtgle
and double variety of Kerria are hardy enough to stand the
winter in the open air if planted against a south or v/est
wall, and they are readily increased by young cuttings.
Purshia iridentata, a small but pretty shrub belonging
to this family, may also be propagated by young
cuttings.
Rosaceous shrubs.—The différent species and varieties
of Rosa, or rose, include all the hardy shrubs of this
family ; the culture and treatment of these have already
been explained.
Potentillaceous shrubs.-—Among these are the dif¬
ferent kinds of Rubus, as the bramble, dewberry, and
raspberry. There are also several hardy shrubs belong¬
ing to the genus Potentilla, or cinquefoil ; these being of
low giowth are well fitted for the front of shmbberies ;
they are all freely propagated by layers, suckers, and Horiicul-
cuttings planted in autumn.
Pomaceous trees.—As the species of Cratœgiis, or
hawthorn, Pyrus, the different kinds of pear and apple,
Cydonia, the quince, Mespilus, the medlar, Ame-
lanchier, and Cotoneaster of different kinds. The ever¬
green thorn {CratcBgus pyracantha) is well adapted for
planting against walls and houses. The common haw¬
thorn, white thorn, or May, {Cratœgus oxyacantha,) is
valuable as affording close, durable, impenetrable
hedges. It also affords a good timber, valued by the
millwright and turner when growing as a tree singly,
and allowed to attain a tolerable size. The wood of the
root being beautiful is lused by the cabinet-maker. The
white beam tiee {Pyrus aria) is used for the same pur¬
poses as the mountain ash, {Pyrus aucuparia,) which
in profitable planting is chiefly valuable as a nurse tree,
growing very fast when young and enduring exposure,
and as an undergrowth it affords tolerable poles. The
timber is used for common country purposes. The pear
and apple tree also produce tolerable timber. All the
trees of this family are well adapted for ornamental
plantations and shrubberies ; they are propagated by
seeds, cuttings planted in autumn, by suckers, layers,
and by grafting and budding the rarer on the commoner
kinds.
Calycantheous shrubs.—Among these there are two Calycan-
species of Calycanthus, or American allspice, the Ikeous
flowers of which are of a lurid purple colour, and sweet-
scented. The Chimonanthus fragrans or winter flower,
and its varieties, also belongs to this family, and these
are worth growing for the exquisite scent of their blos¬
soms. They are all readily propagated by layers.
Granateous trees.—These are composed of the pome- Granateous
granate and its varieties, the propagation, culture, and
history of which have already been given.
Philadelpheous shrubs.—These are composed of most Philadel-
beautiful shrubs, bearing white, sweet-scented flowers ; pheous
V* Vv
among them are the diflerent species of Philadelphus,
the mock orange, or Syringa, the greater number of
which are remarkable for the heavy orange flower scent
of their blossoms. Deutzia, a nearly allied and equally
beautiful genus of shrubs, belongs to this family. They
all grow freely in common garden soil, and are readily
increased by layers and suckers, and they are all desir¬
able plants for shrubberies.
Myrtaceous shrubs. — The common myrtle and its Myrtace-
varieties will endure the climate of Britain in warm ous shrub»,
sheltered situations. In Devonshire they grow luxuriantly.
Passifloreous shrubs.—Passiflora cœrulea, or blue Passiflo-
passion flower and its varieties, are the only hardy shrubs reous
of this family, and these require to be planted in a shel- shrubs,
tered situation against a south or west wall, to which
they are to be nailed. They are readily propagated b
cuttings.
Grossularious shrubs.—This family only contains One Grossula-
genus, Grossularia, which includes the diiferent kinds ofrious
gooseberry and currant, some of which are very orna- shrubs,
mental, and consequently well fitted for shrubberies.
The most ornamental among the currants are the Ribes
sanguineum and malvaceum ; and among the goose¬
berries Ribes speciosum is the most showy. They are all
readily increased by cuttings.
Escallonious shrubs.—All the kinds of Escallonia are Rscalloni-
very showy when in blossom, and a few of them are ous shmlK
nearly hardy, enduring the winter against a south or west
wall. They are readily propagated by cuttings and seeds^
HORTICULTURE.
177*
Horticul¬
ture.
Saxifraga-
ceous
shrubs.
Araliace-
0U6 shrubs.
Hamameli-
deous
shrubs.
Corneous
shrubs and
trees.
Lrrantha-
ceous
shrubs.
Capriiblia-
ceous
shrubs.
Rubiace-
ous shrubs.
Composite
shrubs.
Sajcifragaceous shrubs,—The species of Hydrangea^ as
Hydrangea quercifolia, radíala^ ^c. are hardy and very
ornamental, and well fitted for shrubberies. The com¬
mon Hydrangea is also nearly hardy, but the culture of
it has already been given. All are readily propagated
by cuttings.
Araliaceous shrubs and trees.—-The most conspicu¬
ous of these are the different kinds of ivy ; {Hederá ;)
these are well adapted for covering unsightly walls, and
they readily propagate by slips. The Aralia híspida and
Ar alia spinosa, or Angelica tree, are both curious and
ornamental, and thrive best in peat or vegetable mould.
Hamamelideous shrubs. — Among these are the
species oí Hamameles or witch hazel, and Fothergilla ;
they are well fitted for shrubberies, and thrive best in
vegetable mould. They may be increased either by-
layers, suckers, or cuttings.
Corneous shrubs and trees.—The species of Cornus or
dogwood are the principal hardy woody plants of this
family; among them is the cornelian cherry, (Comiii
niascula^ already mentioned. They are all desirable
plants for shrubberies, and many of the species will grow
under the drip of trees, which renders them valuable for
thickening slip plantations which have become naked
below. They are readily increased by layers?, cuttings,
and suckers.
Loranthaceovs shrubs.—The greater mass of these are
parasitic, as the mistletoe or Viscum and Loranthus.
These may be propagated by sticking the berries on
thorn or apple trees after a little of the outer bark has
been cut off at first, tying a piece of bast mat over
them to protect them from the birds. The Aucuba
Japónica, a well-known evergreen shrub, commonly
called the spotted-leaved laurel, is the only terrestrial
hardy shrub of this family ; it is well adapted for shrub¬
beries and small gardens, and is often grown in pots
and kept in windows. It is easily propagated both by
cuttings and layers.
Caprifoliaceous shrubs.—Among these are the dif¬
ferent kinds of elder; {Sambucus;) all these will grow in
any soil or situation, and even under the drip of trees.
The different kinds of Viburnum are also of the order,
all of which are desirable plants for shrubberies ; among
them is the laurestinus, {Viburnum tinus,) the way-
farlng tree, {Viburnum lantana,) and the guelder rose
or snow-ball, {Viburnum opulus.) Lonicera, the honey¬
suckle, includes a great many species, the upright kinds
of which, as well as the species of Diervilla, Symphori-
carpus or sno wherry, and Ley cestería formosa, are well
fitted for decorating shrubberies. The climbing or
twining kinds of Lonicera or Caprifolium, which are
the true honeysuckles, are well fitted for training on
trellis-work, as on bowers and arbours or against walls.
All are readily increased by cuttings planted in autumn,
or by layers.
Ruhiaceous shrubs.—Although the family of Buhiaceœ
is one of the most extensive, it contains no really hardy
shrubs. Luculia gratissima, a beautiful tree, a native of
Nepal, and Pinckneya pubens, a native of the southern
states of North America, will survive our winters in
the open air with a little protection, but they are ex¬
tremely difficult to cultivate. The Cephalanthus occi-
dentalis or button-wood is the most hardy of all the
family, and being a low-growing shrub is well adapted
for the front of shrubberies; vegetable mould suits it
best, and it is increased by layers and ripened cuttings.
Composite shrubs,—Compositœ, although the most
extensive family in the vegetable kingdom, contains but Horticub
few hardy shrubs ; among these may be mentioned the
Artemisia abrotanum or southernwood, Baccharis kali-
mifolia, Iva frutescens, and some species of Stœhelina,
all of which are readily propagated by cuttings and seeds.
A beautiful climbing species of Mutisia, a native of
Chili, endures the winters of Britain if planted against a
south or west wall.
Ericaceous shrubs.—Among all the numerous families Ericaceous
which compose the vegetable kingdom none surpass the shruba.
Ericacece in the diversity of their forms and beauty of
their flowers or the extent of their geographical distri¬
bution. Of the normal group of Ericaceœ, the hardy
species of Erica or heath, Gypsocallis, and Culluma or
ling, and their varieties, being all handsome and showy,
have a fine eflect if planted in clumps by themselves, but
the soil in which they are grown requires tobe composed
of heath moul'd. Among the aberrant group of Erica¬
cece are the Andrómedas, Cassiopes, Cassandras, Ly-
onias,Zenobias, Phyllodoces, Bryanthuses, Dabcecias, all
well fitted for ornaments and the fronts of shrubberies.
The hardy species oï Arctostaphylos or bearberry, Epigœa,
Pernettya, Gavltheria, answer well for similar purposes.
The species of Arbutus or strawberry tree are proper for
conspicuous places in shrubberies, or to stand singly on
lawns ; these are propagated by seeds or by grafting or
budding the rarer on the commoner kinds. Arbutus
andrachne, one of the most showy of the species, requires
a little protection in severe weather. Clethra, which
belongs to the same group, contains several hardy
species ; being of low growth and extremely handsome
they are desirable plants for the front of shrubberies.
The next tribe of Ericacece, called Rliodoracece, contains
the splendid genera Rhododendron, Azalea, Leiophyllum,
and Ledum, each containing several species ; they are
also desirable plants for shrubberies, or to stand singly
in lawns, or in clumps by themselves. They are all in¬
creased by layers or seeds, and some by cuttings, and
they thrive best in heathy or vegetable mould, but will
also grow in very sandy loam. Most Ericaceous shrubs
are grown by themselves in what is called an American
garden, already noticed.
Vaccinions shrubs.—These are nearly allied to the Vaccinious
Ericacece, and are principally composed of the species of shrubs.
Vaccinium ; among them are the bleaberry, bilberry, or
whortleberry, and cowberry, all natives of Britain, but
the most showy kinds are natives of America. All these
are raised from seed, suckers, and layers. They are
admiUed into gardens and pleasure grounds for the sake
of variety and ornament. They all thrive best in peaty or
vegetable soil, or in very sandy loam. Like the Ericacece
they are principally growii in the American garden.
Styracineous shrubs.—The hardy kinds of these be- Styracine-
long to the genus Styrajc or Storax. The officinal ous shrubs,
storax is the Styrax officinale, a native of the south of
Europe ; there are also three hardy North American
species of the same genus. Being showy when in blos¬
som they are desirable plants for shrubberies. The best
mode of propagating them is by laying down the young
shoots in autumn or spring.
Halesiaceous trees.—These belong to the genus Ha- Halesiace-
lesia, of which there are three species, all of which are shrubs»
hardy and natives of the southern parts of the United
States of America ; they are well fitted for shrubberies or
to stand singly on lawns, on accoünt of the profusion
of early snow-drop-like blossoms which they bear, and
which has obtained for them the name of snow-drop trees,
2* 2
178
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul¬
ture.
Sapotacc-
oxis trees.
Ebenace-
ÜUS trees.
Oleineoiis
shrubs and
trees.
J asm in e-
a ceo us
shrubs.
Apoeyne-
ÖUS shrubs
They are either increased by slips of the root or by
seeds.
Sapotaceous trees,—Few of these are hardy ; among-
them, however, are the Argania sideroœylon, Bumelia
lycioides^ tenax^ and reclinata, and these require to be
grown against a south or west wall and protected by
mats in winter. They are easily propagated by cuttings.
Ebenaceous trees.—^The Diospyrus lotos, the common
date plum or European lotos, the Diospyrus puhescens,
and Diospyrus Virginiana, or North American Pisha-
mon, are the only hardy species of this family. They are
well fitted for the backs of shrubberies or to stand singly,
and they are readily propagated by layers and seeds.
Oleineous shrubs and trees.—Among these are a great
?iumber both of showy shrubs and valuable trees, as
the different kinds of privet or Ligusirum. Few shrubs
exceed the privet, particularly the Italian or evergreen
variety, for hedges in divided gardens ; and they are
easily increased by ripened cuttings planted in autumn.
Phillyrea is another very ornamental genus of shrubs
used principally to form clumps in parks, and to plant
round the borders of woods as well as to stand singly on
lawns, in which position they have a very good effect in
winter when other trees are destitute of leaves. The
Chionantkus Virginica or fringe tree is a large orna¬
mental shrub which is generally reared from seeds im¬
ported from America, but it also succeeds very well if
grafted on the common ash ; but the most showy of all,
are the different kinds of lilac, as the common lilac white
and red, (Syringa vulgaris^ the Chinese lilac, {Syringa
Chinensis,) the Persian lilac, (Syringa Pérsica^ and the
Josika lilac, (Syringa Josikœa,) all well known shrubs
which are particularly desirable for shrubberies, and all
of them are most readily increased by suckers and layers.
The different kinds of ash belong to a group of the same
family. The timber of the common ash (Fraxinus
excelsior) is considered next in value to the oak, and
is useful for many purposes. It is one of the very
best trees for coppice wood. The white American ash
(Ornus Americanus) is said to unite all the good quali¬
ties of the common ash. The other species of Ornus,
called manna or flowering ash, are very ornamental, be¬
sides producing the manna of the shops. The species
of both the latter genera are propagated by seed, and
by grafting and budding the rarer on the commoner
kinds. The weeping \ariety of the common ash is very
curious as well as ornamental, and can only be increased
by grafting or budding on the common upright ash.
Jasmineaceous shrubs.—The principal of these
are the species and varieties Jasminum or jasmine:
among these may be mentioned the common jasmine,
(Jasminum officinale,) Jasminum fruticans,revolutum,
and pubigerum, all of which produce yellow flowers ex¬
cept the first. These are all well fitted for training
against walls or trellis-work, and they are readily propa¬
gated by ripened cuttings under a hand-glass.
Apocyneous shrubs.—The only hardy kinds of these
' are Vinca major and minor, the larger and smaller Pe¬
riwinkle, both natives of Britain; both are small trail¬
ing shrubs which delight to grow under the shade of
trees and bushes; in such situations they are very orna¬
mental if they are made to cover the ground, and as
their leaves continue green all winter, at which time they
will have a very fine effect, and their elegant flowers
appearing in succession the greater part of the summer
adds to the variety. They are easily propagated by
separating the rooted trailing shoots or bv cuttings.
If ij o
Horticul¬
ture.
Asclepi-
adeous
shrubs.
Bignoni-
aceous
shiubs and
trees.
Solanace-
ous shrulis
Asclepiadeous shrubs.—All that are hardy of these
are three species of Periploca ; they are twining plants
well fitted for covering bowers or trellis-work, and for
training against walls, and are readily propagated by
layers and cuttings.
Bignoniaceous shrubs and trees.—The Tecoma radi-
cans or common trumpet flower is well fitted for de¬
corating a wall or front of a house, being a creeping
plant sending out its roots like the ivy by which it fixes
itself. The Bignonia capreolata is a hardy climbing
shrub of this family, well adapted for training on walls
or trellis-work. The Catalpa syringœfolia is a showy
tree, and has a good effect when standing singly, but
always requires a sheltered situation ; it is generally in¬
creased by slips of the roots and by seed.
Solanaceous shrubs.—Solanum bonariense and one
or two other species of the same genus thrive and
flower freely in the open air, as well as Vestia lycioides,
which is a very pretty shrub. Nicotiana glauca and
one or two species of Oestrum are almost hardy ; but the
most hardy of the family are the Lyciiim afrum. Eu-
ropœum, and barbarum, all of which are well fitted for
covering trellis-work. All are readily propagated by
cuttings.
Labiate shrubs.—Among these are some species of
Salvia or sage, savory, thyme, hyssop, and ger¬
mander ; these are all dwarf evergreen shrubs and well
fitted for flower borders or the fronts of shrubberies.
Verhenaceous shrubs. — The Vitex agnus-castus or
chaste tree is the only hardy shrub of this family. It is
well fitted for the fronts of shrubberies and is readily
propagated by layers.
Chenopodiaceous shrubs.—Among these are the
Atriplex halimus and portulacoides and Chenopodium
fruticosum, which are the principal hardy woody plants
of this family. Being of low growth they do well for
the front of shrubberies. Cuttings of them strike root
freely.
Polygoneous shrubs.—Tragopogón lanceolaium and
buxifolium^ Atraphaxis spinosa, and three species of
Calligonum, are hardy, all of which are beautiful dwarf
shrubs, well fitted for the fronts of shrubberies or flower
borders ; these are either increased by layers or seeds.
Laurineous shrubs.—Few of these are hardy. The
Laurus sassafras, Laurus benzoin^ and Laurus nobilis
or sweet bay, are the most conspicuous ; the two first are
deciduous trees and sometimes grow to a large size,
and have a fine eifect when they stand singly, and the
last is a well-known evergreen. They may be propa¬
gated by layers or slips of the root.
Thymelœous shrubs.—The most conspicuous of these
are the species Daphne, as the Mezerion and spurge
laurel. They are well adapted for shrubberies. All
the hardy kinds may be propagated by grafting on the
spurge laurel, (Daphne laureola,) which is readily reared
from seed as wel 1 as the Mezerion. The Daphne cneorum.
is a most beautiful silvery-leaved procumbent shrub well
fitted for decorating rockwork. The Dirca palustris or
leather wood is a pretty dwarf shrub, which thrives best
in peat earth or vegetable mould, and may either be
pro})agated by seeds or layers.
Elœagneous trees.—The hardy kinds of these grow Elseapjne-
to shrubs of large size and are distinguished from most
other shrubs by the leaves being covered by white scurf
intermixed with brown scales which gives them a silvery
or brown appearance. Elœagnus argenteus and angus-
tifolium^, the broad and narrow-leaved Oleaster, besides
Labiate
shrubs.
Verhenace¬
ous shrubs.
Chenopodi¬
aceous
shrubs.
Polygone¬
ous shrubs.
Laurineous
shrubs.
Thymelae-
ous shrubs
OU3 shrubs.
HORTICULTURE 179*
îî Ol ti cul¬
ture.
Santalace-
ous shriü)s.
Aristolo-
chious
shrubs.
Kuphorbi-
aceous
shrubs and
trees.
Antidesme-
ous shrubs-
Urtica-
ceous trees
aiid shrubs.
IJîmaceous
trees.
several other species of the same genus, the Hippophae
rhamnoides and salicifolia^ or the common and willow-
leaved sea-buckthorn, as well as the Shepherdia Cana¬
densis and argéntea. All these grow well in any common
soil, and are desirable for shrubberies, and are generally
propagated by layers and seeds.
Santalaceous shrubs,—^The principal of these are the
different kinds of Nyssa or Tupelo-tree ; they grow to
large elegant shrubs when allowed sufficient space to
spread, and are either propagated by layers or seeds.
Aristolochious shrubs,—Of these only two are hardy,
Aristolochia sipho and tomentosa, the broad-leaved and
tomentose birthwort, both climbing plants, proper for
training over bowers and trellis-work or against a wall.
The leaves of them are broad and elegant, but the flowers
are insignificant although curious.
Euphorhiaceous shrubs and trees.—Among these are
various species and varieties of Buxus or box. The
common box is a well-known evergreen ; its timber is
very valuable for various purposes. The dwarf variety
of it forms the best edgings for walks or borders. The
broad-leaved or Balearic box {Buxus Balearicus) being
rather tender is generally planted against a south or west
wall. The different kinds of Borya, North American
shrubs, also belong to this family ; these last grow best in
peat or vegetable mould. All are propagated by layers,
cuttings, or suckers. Euphorbia charadas and amyg-
daloides are small half-woody evergreen plants which
grow well under the shade of trees.
Aniidesmeous shrubs,—^The only hardy woody plant
of this family is Garrya elliptica, a native of North-west
America. It may be increased either by layers or cut¬
tings. Being a pretty and early flowering shrub it is
well adapted for shrubberies.
Urticaccous trees and shrubs,—Among these are the
fig and mulberry, which have already been mentioned
both in the hardy fruit and forcing department of the
kitchen garden. There are several other kinds of Morus
or mulberry which form handsome trees when allowed
to stand singly in pleasure grounds. The white mul¬
berry (Morus alba) is generally grown for the sake of
leaves as food for the silk-worm. The paper mulberry
(^Broussonetia papyrifera) is a tree very remarkable for
the various forms of its leaves. The Madura auran-
tiaca or Osage orange bears a fruit which is said
to be palatable. All do very well in pleasure grounds,
and they are generally increased by layers or seeds, or
by grafting or budding the rarer on the commoner kinds.
Ulmaceous trees.—Vo these belong the genera Ulmus,
Planera, and Celtis, all of which contain valuable timber
trees. The English elm (JJimus campestris) is one of
the loftiest of our native deciduous trees, but to thrive it
requires a good dry soil and a mild climate, as it will not
grow in the north of England and Scotland unless in
sheltered places. The Dutch elm (JJlmus suberosa) is
chiefly remarkable for its rough cork-like bark, the tim¬
ber being of little value. The Scotch elm (JJlmus
glabra) is readily distinguished from other elms by its
smooth bark, and its timber is more valuable than that of
the other kinds of elm. The wych elm ( JJlmus montana)
is a neat growing tree. There are other kinds of elms,
but those n.entioned are the most valuable. They are
ail well fitted for plantations, and they are propagated
by seeds, la}ers, and suckers, and by grafting the larer
on the commoner kinds. The hardy species of Celtis
or nettle tree are proper for pleasure grounds to stand
singly, and the species of Planera or American elm a^e
proper for shrubberies. The species of the two last Horticuî-
genera are propagated in the same manner as JJlmus. ture.
Juglandeous trees.—The most valuable of these is the
common walnut; {Juglans regia;) its timber when ma- Juglautle-
ture is valuable for cabinet-work and gun-stocks, being trees,
light, hard, and durable ; besides it there are the different
kinds of hickory, ( CaryaJ) all natives of North America,
and yield good timber ; among them is the butter nut.
(JJarya porcina.) The Caucasian walnut {Pterocarya
Caucasica) forms a very fine tree. All these grow to
stately trees and are generally reared from seed, but the
rarer kinds may also be budded or grafted on the com¬
moner.
Amentaceous trees.—Belonging to these are the dif- Amema-
ferent kinds of Salix or willow, which are almost innu- ceous trees,
merable, but the most valuable kinds are the following :
the Huntingdon or white willow (Salix alba) and the red-
twigged or Bedford willow, (Salix Russelliana.) the only
species worth growing for timber, and which is gene¬
rally used for making light hurdles and for other rural
purposes. The best kinds for osier holts are the common
osier, (Salix viminalisj) the auricled osier, (Salix stipu-
laris,) the green osier, (Salix I'uhraJ) the basket osier,
(Salix Forhyana,) the long-leaved willow, (Salix tri-
andra,) the velvet osier, (Salix mollissima,) and the
golden or yellow-twigged osier, (Salix vitellina.) The
one year's shoots of these are all fitted for basket-work*,
and the older shoots for ribs to baskets and for hoops.
All of them are of the most easy culture and delight
most in swampy ground, and cuttings of them root
readily. The next to the willow is the different kinds
of Populus or poplar. The first of these worth noticing
here is the abele tree ; (Populus alba ;) this is a tree of
rapid growth soon producing a great bulk of timber; the
second is the black poplar, (Populus nigra^ a tree of
quick growth ; the third is a Lombardy poplar, (Populus
dilatata,) grows lofty and occupies but little space, and
is generally planted in rows for shelter ; its limber is
useful for common purposes; the fourth is the black
Italian poplar, (Populus acladesca^ said to be of as
rapid growth as the Lombardy poplar, and producing
superior limber. There are several other kinds of poplar
all of which are lofty trees of quick growth, but the two
first mentioned produce the best kind of timber; the
wood of all being soft is only used by toy-makers, by
sculptors, by cabinet and musical-instrument makers,
and for rural purposes, but the trees have a very fine
effect in scenery. No species of poplar grows well in
very poor soil ; most of them prefer one that is moist.
Cuttings of most of the kinds strike root readily. The
next genus, Alnus or alder, grows where tew other
trees will thrive, as in swampy land ; the timber of the
alder is used by millwrights, turners, last-makers and
others. Some of the kinds of alder form very orna-
mental trees ; they are all propagated by layers and
seeds. The speciess of Betula or birch are the next
trees worth noticing. The most valuable of these is
the common birch, known by its white bark ; it grows
in the coldest reijions of the north, and is generallv found
in swampy ground in its wild state and is besides an
excellent coppice tree. The weeping variety of it is a very
pretty and graceful t>ee. The American birch (Betula
lento) growls to a loftier tree than the common kind,
and is known by its bark being brown and spotted with
white. The w^ood of this kind much resembles maho¬
gany and is useful for cabinet purposes. The poplar-
leaved birch (Betula popuKfolia) is a very fine tree,
180*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul- besides many other American species of the same genus,
ture, timber of the diíFerent species of Carpinus^ or horn-
beam, is generally used by the turner as a substitute
for beech. The trees form a good shelter in hedges, and
a dry soil is essential to their growth. They form excel¬
lent coppice trees ; the species of hornbeam are either
propagated by seeds or layers. The species of hop
hornbeam, or Ostnja^ grow to considerable sized trees
and answer well for plantations ; the culture and propa¬
gation is similar to that for the hornbeam. The species
of Corylus^ as the hazel and filbert, form good coppice
trees and supply excellent hoops for basket rods,
poles, and fence wood, and when large make excellent
charcoal ; these are propagated by suckers, layers, and
nuts.
Cupilife- Cvpiliferoiis trees.—Among these are the different
TOUS trees kinds of oak or Quercus.^ and of all the numerous spe¬
cies the two British kinds are considered the most
vahiable, that is the Quercus rohur or pedunculata and
sessiliflora ; the first of these is considered the most
valuable, and is the old English oak, which is distin¬
guished by the stalked fruit from the other kind whose
fruit is almost sessile. The great strength and durability
of its timber will long maintain its superiority over all
other trees in Europe as a material for ship-building, and
it is said to be more durable, even when of small dia¬
meter, than any other wood. The bark of the young trees
is of o^reater value for tannine than that of old trees.
O O
There are a great many other species of oak which grow
to beautiful trees; among the most conspicuous of these
are the Turkey oak, {Quercus cerris,) and its varieties,
as the Fulham oak and Lucombe oak, also the scarlet
oak, (Quercus cocciueus.) The evergreen oak and the
cork tree also belong to the genus Quercus. All oaks
are generally reared from the acorns, but the rarer kinds
may be grafted on the more common. Deep clayey
loam is the best soil for oaks. The common beech
(Fagus sylvaiicd) is also of this family ; it grows to a
large handsome tree, and it will thrive in more elevated
and exposed situations than the elm, but it is not so
longlived. The varieties of the beech with red and
purple leaves form striking objects in ornamental
plantations. The American or rusty-leaved beech (Fa¬
gus f err uginea^ is a beautiful tree, and may readily be
known by its flow^ering a month later. Beech timber is
brittle and soon decays, but under water it is more
durable, and is therefore much used for piles in bridge
building; it is also used for many other purposes, and
forms excellent charcoal. A dry soil mixed with calca
reous matter seems to suit the beech best. The fern-
leaved beech forms a very pretty shrub, and is there-
lore well fitted for shrubberies. The beech is usually
reared from seed, and the rarer kinds are generally
propagated by budding or grafting on the common
beech. The sweet or Spanish chestnut (Castanea vesca)
is one of the most magnificent of European trees, having
large, fine foliage, ; it grows to a great size and height,
and is longlived. Its timber is used for the same pur¬
poses as the oak, and by the cabinet-maker and cooper.
It is one of the very best coppice trees, as it affords ex¬
cellent poles and hoops. The bark is also good for
tanning. The tree thrives most luxuriantly in deep
sandy loam, and for all sandy soils it is preferable to
the oak. The situation in which it is planted requires
to be a little sheltered. The tree is generally reared from
the nuts, but the varieties are increased by budding and
grafting on the common kind. The dwarf sweet chest¬
nut (Castanea pumila) answers very well for shrub- Horticul
beries.
Styracißuous trees are composed of a single genus,
the Liquidamber, of which there are two hardy species
known, Liquidamber styraciflua and imberbe^ the occi¬
dental and oriental liquidamber; the first is a native of
North America and the second of the Levant ; they
grow to a moderate size, and when cut or bruised
exude a quantity of resin ; their timber is said to be
good. The trees are propagated principally by layers
in Britain.
Plataneous trees.—Like the last these are composed Plataneous
of a single genus, Platanus^ which contains several
species, but those most commonly cultivated are the
oriental or occidental plane. (Platanus orientalis or
occidentalisé) They grow to large trees with handsome
heads, and are therefore well fitted for planting singly
in pleasure grounds. They may be propagated by
cuttings planted in autumn in a sheltered situation or by
seeds.
Coniferous trees may be divided into Taxineous, Coniferous
Cupressineous, and Abietineous trees; the first con-trees,
tains the yew, the second the juniper, and the third
the various species of pine or fir, larch, cedar of Leba¬
non, and spruce, most of which are valuable timber trees.
The common yew (Taxus baccata) and the Canadian
yew (Taxus Canadensis) belong to this family, and the
latter is probably only a variety of the former. They are
both dark-leaved, evergreen, longlived trees, affording a
hard, valuable timber. It is a common tree in old church¬
yards, in many of which it has attained a great age. The
timber is often used as a substitute for box and other hard
woods ; it is also used by the cabinet-maker for inlaying,
and by the whip-maker. The tree forms excellent hedges
for dividing compartments in gardens. Almost any soil
or situation will suit it. By standing singly it forms a
beautiful tree. Among the group Cupresslneœ are the
different kinds of juniper, all well fitted for shrubberies.
The American and Chinese Arbor vitœ.^ Thuja occiden-
talis orientalis^ make fine trees when standing singly
on lawns, or even when grown in clunips. This group
also contains the different kinds of Cupressus ; as
the red cedar or common cypress, (Cupressus occiden¬
talisé) the timber of which forms the pencil wood, also
the white cedar, (Cupressus thyoides,) and the cedar of
Goa, (Cupressus Lusitanica,) form handsome trees if
grown singly on lawns. The principal kinds of Abie¬
tineous trees belong to the genus PinuSy of which the
Scotch fir (Pinus sylvestris) is the most valuable, and
affords what is called the red and yellow deal of the north
of Europe, which is the timber of two different varieties,
and is reckoned the most durable of any kind of pine.
Scotch firs in the Highlands of Scotland are reckoned
equal to any timber introduced. They will grow
well in any soil provided the substratum be rock or
rubble, but in wet soil they should never be planted. It
will grow in exposed bleak situations, as it is a natural in¬
habitant of mountainous districts. The varieties of Scotch
fir are of great value as nurse plants for plantations
of hard-wooded trees, as affording shelter, and for this
purpose they are not inferior to the birch and mountain
ash. The Corsican pine (Pinus laricio) is nearly allied to
the Scotch fir, but forms a much handsomer tree, its
habit being more pyramidal and its leaves longer, and its
timber is said to be more weighty and resinous, and con¬
sequently more compact. In some places it grows also
more freely than the Scotch fir. The red Canadian pine
HORTICULTURE. 181*
^ture"^" vesinosd) has also much the habit of Scotch fir ;
its timber has been introduced into this country. The
cluster pine (JPinus pinaster) has the leaves much
longer and the branches more horizontal than the ordi¬
nary state of Scotch firs; the tree being picturesque it
merits to be cultivated on that account, but as it is more
tender and its timber less valuable than that of the Scotch
fir, it is therefore not worth cultivating on that account.
The stone pine (Pinuspinea) is very like the cluster pine,
but its habit is more erect, the cones and seeds are also
larger; the last are frequently served up at the dessert in
Italy and France, and the cones are sometimes imported
by London fruiterers for the sake of its seeds. It is a
native of Greece, but forms a great ornament to the
villas of Rome and Florence, in Britain it is only cul¬
tivated for ornament, as its timber is much inferior to
that of the Scotch fir. The Cembra pine (JPinus Cem-
bra) is a native of Switzerland, aiirl has a good effect in
scenery ; it is a conical tree of slow growth, and its timber
has the same scent as pencil cedar, and in some places
is used for wainscoting. The Weymouth pine {Pinus
strobus) is a native of New England, and is the tree
which affords the timber called white American deal.
In this country, however, it is generally cultivated for
ornament. A great number of other species of Pinus
have been introduced into Britain of late years from Ca¬
lifornia, North-west America, and Mexico, all of which
are worth growing for ornament, but, for profitable
planting,,probably none will be found superior to the
Cofsican pine and Scotch fir. The next genus of im¬
portance is Abies, which includes the different kinds of
spruce and silver fir. The first of these is the common
Norway spruce, which is said to be the tallest of all
European trees, often attaining the height of from one
hundred to one hundred and fifty feet ; it is a tree of a
pyramidal form, and its timber is the white deal imported
from Norway and the Baltic, and the smaller trees form
what are called Norway spars, so much used as masts
for small craft, and by builders for scaffolding poles. In
Britain it is cultivated to some extent, but its timber is
said to be inferior to Scotch fir ; it is, however, used for
a great variety of purposes. The tree forms a very good
nurse plant in hard wood plantations, and answers well
for game preserves. It yields a resin by incision,
from which turpentine and Burgundy pitch are prepared.
The young sprouts give a flavour to what is called
spruce beer. In this country the Norway spruce
grows best in deep soil and low sheltered places. When
planted for the sake of its limber it should be done
thickly in masses or groves, and the trees should be
kept properly thinned and pruned afterwards. The
white, red, and black spruce {Abies alba, rubra, and ni¬
gra) are all natives of North America, and chiefly culti¬
vated for ornament in Britain. In America the black
spruce is used as knees in ship-building, but for sail
yards the timber of the red spruce is generally preferred.
It is chiefly from a decoction of the young shoots of the
black spruce in water that black beer is prepared, by
fermentation with sugar or molasses. The essence of
spruce is prepared by evaporating the decoction to the
consistence of honey. The silver fir {Abies picea) grows
to a very stately tree, but it is not so thickly clothed
with branches as the spruce ; the under surface of each
leaf is marked by two white longitudinal lines which
gives them a silvery appearance, while the upper surface
is of a fine green. It is a native of the Alps of Ger¬
many, and is, when young, of very quick growth ; its
timber is good, but is reckoned inferior to that of the Hoiticul-
Scotch fir. In Britain it is chietly grown as an orna-
mental tree. The tree has a very majestic appearance ■
wnen grown singly on a lawn, or on the sides of rocky
steeps and in dells. It requires a rather sheltered situ¬
ation and a loamy soil like the spruce, for it will not
thrive on poor and sandy soils like the larch. The halm
of gilead fir {Pinus balsamifera) is a smaller hut similar
tree to the silver fir, and is a native of North America.
It is frequently planted in ornamental plantations for
the sake of variety, for its timber is of little value. The
hemlock spruce {Abies Canadensis) is a low drooping
tree and chiefly ornamental. There are several other
species of Abies introduced from North America, some
of which promise to be valuable. The common larch
{Larix Europœa) is a well-known valuable deciduous
timber tree, growing to a considerable height and girth
in proper situations. It is a native of the Alpine moun¬
tains of Europe. The larch outgrows all other timber
trees for the first ten or twenty years after planting, and
will arrive at a good timber size in almost any situation.
Its timber brings twice the price of the Scotch fir
per foot, and it arrives at a useful size in one half or
a third part of the time. The timber of larch at thirty
or forty years old, in proper soil, is superior to that of
Scotch fir at one hundred years old. Larch increases
the depth of the soil by the fall of the leaves as well as
improves the grasses on its surface. There are several
other kinds of larch, as the Tyrol and Silesian ; the latter
has stronger shoots than the common kind, although only
a variety of it ; there is also a weeping variety as well
as a white-flowered variety of the common larch. The
black larch {Larix pendula) and the red larch {Larix
microcarpa) are both natives of Noith America ; the last
is remarkable for the specific gravity of its wood, which
will scarcely swim in water. The Russian or Daurian
larch is an earlier variety of the common kind. The
common larch will grow in any soil and situation, ex¬
cept in standing water; but a certain elevation and
coldness, and an inferiority of soil, are necessary to pro¬
duce fy-ood timber. The larch is said to canker in soils
that have been turned either by the plough or spade
and borne crops, and in wet situations. The larch, like
the oak, makes two growths each summer, the first in
the spring the second in the autumn, and while the
latter growth is going on the first makes branches.
The larch on an average acquires an inch in girth every
year till it is twenty-four years old, and from that time
it will acquire an inch and a quarter in girth. The bark
of the larch is also very useful in tanning. Thin plant¬
ing has been recommended by the Duke of Athol, as it
allows the lower branches to extend, and on these depend
tlie thickness of the lower part of the trunk. The cedar
of Lebanon {Cedras Lebam) is a native of the coldest
part of Mount Lebanon. When standing singly, as on
lawns, it throws out strong horizontal branches from
the base upwards, for which reason the top is always
flattened. When planted close together, the cedar of
Lebanon is said to grow as tall and straight as the larch.
The tree is generally grown for ornament ; single trees
on lawns have a fine effect. The deodar {Cedrus deo^
darct) of Nepal is said to be a remarkably handsome
tree when full grown. The Araucaria imbricata, a
native of Chili, is a very ornamental tree which will
grow in sheltered situations in the open air ; the finest
tree of the kind in Britain is in the botanic garden at
Kew.
182*
HORTICULTURE.
Horticul¬
ture.
Gneteous
shrubs.
Empetre-
ous shrubs.
Smilaceous
shrubs.
Gneteous shrubs.—The hardy kinds of these are in-
eluded in the genus Ephedra, of which there are two or
three species ; they are curious dwarf shrubs well adapted
for the front of shrubberies, and are readily propagated
by layers and suckers.
Empetreous shrubs.—These are all dwarf evergreen
heath-like shrubs which thrive best in peat or vegetable
mould ; among them are the Empetrum nigrum or black
crowberry, a native of the mountainous parts of North
Britain, the Corema alba or white crowberry, a native
of Portugal, and the Ceratiola ericoides, a native of
North America ; they are all easily propagated by layers
and seed, and young cuttings will strike root if planted
in a pot of sand with a hand-glass placed over them.
Smilaceous shrubs.—The hardy kinds of these belong
to the genus Smiiax, of which there are several hardy
species; they are rambling, prickly shrubs with laurel-like
leaves, and they thrive well among other shrubs and in
shady situations. They are all readily propagated by divid¬
ing them at the root, that is, by separating the suckers.
Tulipaceous shrubs.—Oía few species of
Yucca or Adam's needle are hardy. They are pretty
plants, with heads of long sword-like leaves, and
large panicles of whitish, tulip-formed, pendulous
blossoms. They require a sheltered situation, and a
light rich soil. They are readily increased by separat¬
ing the suckers v.'hich issue from the root.
Landscape Gardening.
Landscape Landscape gardening is the art of disposing of
o-rounds, buildings, walks, lakes, ponds, &c., as well as
uees, shrubs, and glades, so as to produce sceuerv about
Tulipace¬
ous shrubs.
a country residence ; but as this depends so much upon Horticul-
the nature, site, and size of the ground, and upon the idea
of the owner or landscape gardener, it is almost impos¬
sible to lay down any fixed principle without giving
plans, so as to produce a landscape grateful to the sight,
it is either a mixed art or an art of design, or imitative
art. The ancient geometric style is guided wholly by
the former, but the modern style by the latter. It can
produce nothing higher than picturesque beauty or a
harmonizing of mixtures of forms, lights, and shades.
The disposition of trees around a residence in lines or
geometrical forms in a country where all the trees around
are as nature disposed them, as in forests, produces a
distinctive character ; but where all the trees of the face
of the country are disposed in geometrical forms or
straight lines, by planting the trees about a residence in
that irregular manner which is characteristic of natural
scenery, a distinctive character is produced as in the
former case. But when the same disposition of trees is
to be preserved as that which prevails in the surrounding
country, trees should be employed different to those in
the surrounding scenery which also will produce a dis¬
tinctive character. The disposition of trees, shrubs,
lakes, ponds, and serpentine bodies of water, glades,
and lawns produce all the grand effects of landscape
gardening. The lawn is a breadth of mown turf in front
of the house. The shrubbery generally connects the
house and flower garden, and forms part of what is
termed the pleasure ground, which is a term applied to
kept ground, walks, and closely mown grass. The
park is a place devoted to the growth of timber trees
and as a pasturage for deer, cattle, and sheep, and as
adding grandeur to the mansion.
INDEX.
index. Accelerating vegetation, 91.
y Acerineous trees : maples, 174.
Air, 191, 125.
Alexanders, 103.
Almond, 113.
Alliaceous plants, 110.
Alpine plants, 148.
strawberries, 117.
Alstrœmeria, 163.
Amaranthaceous plants, 109.
Amaranthus, 109.
Amentaceous trees : willows, poplars, al¬
ders, birches, hornbeams, hop-hornbeams,
filberts, hazel-nuts, 168, 179, 180.
Araeiican cranberry, 122.
cress, 99.
plants, 147.
Ampelideous shrubs : vines, Virginian
creeper, 175.
Amygdalaceous fruits, 113.
trees and shrubs : almond, peach, nec¬
tarine, apricot, cherries, laurels,
geans, bird cherries, Portugal laurel,
common laurel, 176.
Anemone, 151, 152.
Angelica, garden, 104.
Anise, 103.
Annual plants, 148.
Anonaceous shrubs: asiminas, 174.
Apocineous shrubs: periwinkles, 178.
Aquarium, stove, 104.
Aquatic plants, 148.
Aquiibliaceous trees and shrubs : hollys,
South Sea tea, winter-berries, myginda,
175.
Apple, 118, 119.
Apples, dessert or table, 118.
kitchen or baking, 118.
Apricot, 114.
Araliaceous shrubs : ivys, angelica tree,
aralia, 177.
Arboricultural catalogue, 173.
Arboriculture, history of, 166.
Aristolochious shrubs : birthworts, 179.
Arracacha, 101, 104.
Artichoke, 105.
Jerusalem, 104.
Asclepiadeous shrubs : Periploca, 178.
Asparagineous plants. 111.
Asparagus, 111, 112.
Aster, China, 157.
Atmosphere, 89.
Auricula, 158, 159.
Balsam, 155, 156.
Banana, 142.
Basil, sv/eet, 108,
Bath strawberries, 117.
Bean, 100.
French, 101.
kidney, 101.
Beet, red, 109.
white, 109.
VOL. VI.
Beet, sea, 109.
Bellflower, party-coloured, 157.
pyramidal, 157.
Berberideous fruits, 113.
Berberideous shrubs; berberries, maho-
nias, 174.
Berberry, 113.
Biennial plants, 147.
Bigarreau cherries, 115.
Bignoniaceous trees and shrubs ; trumpet
flower, Bignonia, Catalpa, 178.
Bilberry, 122.
Bilimbi, 145.
Bitter orange, 140.
Black currants, 121.
mustard, 99.
strawberry, 117,
Bladder campion, 100.
Blanching, 91.
Bleaberry, 122.
Borage, 107.
Boragmeous plants, 107.
Borders for fruit trees, 88.
Border flowers, 147.
Borecolès, 95, 96.
Botanic gardens, 147.
Botanical structures, 148.
Brocoli, 98.
Brook-lime, 108.
Brussels sprouts, 96.
Buda kale, 96.
Budding, 94.
Bulbous-rooted florists' flowers, 159.
Bulbs, 148.
stove, 150.
Burnet, 102.
Cabbage tribe, 95.
Cabbage, red, 97.
turnip-stemmed, 97.
white, 96.
Calceolaria, 163.
Camellia, 164, 165.
Calycantheous shrubs : American allspice,
winterflower, 176.
Campion, bladder, 100.
Campanulaceous plants, 106, 107.
Caper, 100.
Capparideous plants, 100.
Caprifoliaceous shrubs : elders, laurestinus,
wayfaring - tree, guelder - rose, honey¬
suckles, snowberry, Leycesteria, Loni¬
ceras, 177.
Capsicum, 108.
Carambola, 145.
Caraway, 103.
Cardoon, 105.
Cardinal flower, 157.
Carnation, 154, 155.
bizarre, 154,
flake, 154.
picotee, 154.
¡Carrot, 1U4.
183*
Caryophylleous plants, 100.
Cauliflower, 97.
Celastrineous shrubs and trees : bladder-
nut, spindle trees, 175.
Celeriac, 103.
Celery, 102, 103.
Chamomile, 106.
Chenopodiaceous plants, 109,
shrubs : Atriplex, Chenopodium, 178.
Cherry, 11.5, 116.
bigarreau, 115.
cornelian; 121.
forcing the, 129, 130.
heart, 115.
May duke, 115.
morello, 115.
winter, 108.
Chestnut, 123.
Chickpea, 100.
Chili strawberries, 117.
Chilli pepper, 108.
China asters, 157.
Chives, 111.
Choco, 137.
Chrysanthemum, 156.
Clary, 108.
Cloudberry, 116.
Cicely, sweet, 104.
Cider apples, 118.
Cistineous shrubs : Cistus, Helianthemum,
or rock-rose and sun-rose, 174.
Citron, 140.
Cob pinks, 153.
Common turnip, 98.
wood sorrel, 100.
Composite plants, 104.
shrubs : southernwood, wormwood,
Baechar: s, Iva, Stœhelina, 177.
Compost ground, 125.
Coniferous trees : pines or firs, larches,
cedars, yews, Arbor vitas, spruces, deodar,
Araucaria, 180, 18 L
Conservatory, 149.
plants, 149.
Convolvulaceous plants, 106,
Coppice wood, 173.
Coriander, 104.
Coriarious shrubs : Coriaria, 175.
Cornelian cherry, 121.
Corneous fruits, 121.
shrubs and trees : dogwood^, cornelian
cherry, 177.
Costmary, 106.
Cowberry, 122.
Cowslip, 158.
Cranberry, 121.
American, 122.
Cress, 99.
American, 99.
Indian, 100.
water, 99.
winter, 100.
Crocus, 160.
2 a*
]B4*
INDEX.
INDEX. Crown imperial, 162.
Cruciferous plants, 95.
Cucumber, forcing, 134—137
tree, 145.
Cucurbitaceous plants, 102.
Currànts, red, white, and black, 121.
Culture of the soil, 89.
Cupuliferoiis trees : oaks, cork tree, beeches,
sweet or Spanish chestnut, 180.
Cuttings, 94.
Culinary vegetable department or garden,
95.
Cyclamens, 157.
DaiFodil, 159.
Dahlia, 156, 157.
Daisy, 157.
Dames violet, 152, 153.
Dandelion, 106.
Dessert or table apples, 118.
or table pears, 117.
Dill, 104.
Diseases and wounds, 89.
Distribution of plants, 90,
Double stocks, 152.
Dry greenhouse, 150.
greenhouse plants, 150.
stove, 150.
stove plants, 150.
Ebenaceous trees : date plums, European
lotos, pishamon, 178.
Egg plant, 107.
Elgeagneous trees : oleasters, sea buckthorn,
178, 179.
Elder, 121.
Elecampane, 106.
Empetreous shrubs : crowberries, Ceratiola,
182
Endive, 106.
Ericaceous shrubs and trees : heath, ling,
strawberry trees. Ledums, Andrómedas,
Clethras, Arbutuses, Azaleas, Rhodo¬
dendrons, Cassiopes, Cassandras, Da-
bœcias, Phyllodoces, Epigœa, Gaulthe-
rias. &c., 177.
Escallonious shrubs ! Escallonias, 176.
Espalier-rails, 88.
Euphorbiaceous shrubs: box, Borya, Eu¬
phorbia, 179,
Expedients for inducing fruitfulness in
trees, 90.
Fat hen, 109.
Fennel, 103.
sweet, 103
Ficeous fruits, 122,
Ficoideous plants, 102.
Fig, 122.
Figs, forcing, 131, 132.
Filbert, 123.
Finally planting trees, 169, 170.
Finnochio, 103.
Floriculture, History of, 145.
Florists' flowers, 151.
Flower borders, 147.
garden, 145, 146.
Forbidden fruit, 140.
Forcing cucumbers, 134, 137.
department, 123, 124.
the cherry, 129, 130.
figs, 131, 132.
ground, situation of the, 125.
melons, 132—134.
the nectarine, 128, 129.
the peach, 128, 129.
strawberries, iM,
vines, 126, 127.
French bean, 101.
Fritillarv, 162.
Fruit, kitchen, and forcing garden, 88.
Fuchsias, 156.
Fungous plants, 112.
Garden angelica, 104.
botanic, 146.
flower, 145, 146.
patience, 110,
rocket, 100.
Garlic, 111.
Geraniums, 165.
Gladioluses, 163.
Gneteous shrubs : Ephedras, 182.
Gooseberry, 120.
Gourds and vegetable marrow, 102, 137.
Grafting, 93.
Granadilla, 141.
Granateous fruits, 120.
trees: pomegranate, 176,
Grapes with round black beriies, 127.
with long black berries, 127.
with round white or green beriies, 127.
with long white or green berries, 127.
with rose-coloured, blue, greyish, or
striped berries, 127, 128.
Grass, scurvy, 99,
walks, 147.
Gravel walks, 88.
Greenhouse, 148.
plants, 148, 149.
dry, and dry greenhouse plants, 150.
Green plums, 114.
Green strawberries, 117.
Grossularious fruits, 120.
shrubs: gooseberries and currants, 176,
Growing plants in glass cases, 151.
Guava, 141.
Guernsey lily, 163.
Halesiaceous trees : snow-drop trees, 177.
Haraamelideous shrubs : witch hazel, Fo-
thergilla, 177.
Hardy fruit department, 112.
Hautbois strawberries, 117.
Heart's ease, 153.
Heat and light, 91.
Heaths, 166.
Herbaceous perennials, 147.
Hippocastaneous trees: horse chestnuts,
174.
Hollyhock, 155.
fig-leaved, 155.
Homalineous shrubs : Aristotelia, Azara,
175.
Horse radish, 99.
Horticulture, history of, 87.
Hot water, 124.
Hyacinth, 160, 161.
Hybridizing, 90.
Hydrangea, 163.
Hypericineous shrubs : St. John's-wort,
Tutsan, 174.
Hyssop, 109.
Inarching, 93, 94.
Indian cress, 100.
Insects, 89.
Imitation of warm climates, 91.
Ixias, 163.
Jasmineous shrubs: Jasmines, 178.
Jerusalem artichoke, 104.
Jonquils, 159.
Juglandeous trees : walnuts, hickories,
butter-nut, 179
Kale, 96.
Buda, 96.
sea, 98, 99.
Scotch, 96.
Kidney bean, 101.
Kitchener baking apples, 118.
or baking pears, 117,
Knotted or sweet marjoram, 108, 109.
Kohl-rube, 97.
Labiate plants, Î 08.
shrubs : sage, savory, thyme, hyssop,
germander, 178.
Lablab, 102.
Landscape gardening, or how to produce
artificial scenery, 182,
Lamb's lettuce, 1Ó4.
Laurineous trees: Laurus, sweet bay, 178.
Lawns, 147.
Lavender, 108.
Layering, 95.
Leguminous plants, 100.
trees and shrubs ; Edwardsias, Virgilia,
Piptanthus, furze or whin, brooms,
Genistas, Stauracanthus, Cytisuses
laburnum, bladder senna, American
locust-tree, Robinias, false Acacia,
honey locust tree, Acacia, 175, 176.
Leek, 111.
Lemon, 140,
Lentil, 101.
Lettuce, 105
cabbage, 105.
cos, 105.
lamb's, 104,
Light, 125.
and heat, 91.
Lily, 162, 163.
Guernsey, 163.
Lime, 140.
Lime, sweet, 140.
Loquat, 141.
Loranthaceous shrubs : mistletoe, Loran-
thus, Aucuba, 177.
Love apple, 107.
Lumy, 140.
Magnoliaceous trees : Magnolias, tulip
tree, 173.
Malvaceous shrubs : Althaea frutex, Lava-
teras, 174.
Mandarin orange, 140.
Marigold, 106.
Maijoram, common, 108.
knotted or sweet, 108.
winter sweet, 108.
May duke cherries, 115.
Menispermaceous shrubs : moonseed, 174.
Melons, forcing, 132—134.
Mignonette, 153.
tree, 153.
Morel, 112.
Morello cherry, 115.
Moreous fruits, 122.
Muricuja, 141.
Mulberry, 122.
Mushroom, 112.
forcing, 137—140.
growing, 138—140.
making spawn, 137, 138.
house, 125.
Mustard, black and white, 99.
Myrtaceous shrubs: myrtle, 176.
Narcissus, 159, 160.
polyanthus, 159
Nasturtium, 100.
Neapolitan violet, 153.
Nectarine, 114.
forcing, 128, 129.
Nettle, 110.
New Zealand spinach, 102.
Nursery, tree, 166, 167.
Nut, hazel, 123.
Nuts, 123.
Object of the culture of vegetables, 89, 90,
Oleineous shrubs and trees: ash of dif¬
ferent kinds, lilacs, privets, fringe tree,
Phil lyre as, 178.
Olive, 121.
Olivaceous fruits, 121.
INDEX.
INDEX.
index. Accelerating vegetation, 91.
Acerineous trees : maples, 174.
Air, 191, 125.
Alexanders, 103.
Almond, 113.
Alliaceous plants, 110.
Alpine plants, 148.
strawberries, 117.
Alstrœmeria, 163.
Ainaranthaceous plants, 109.
Amaranthus, 109.
Amentaceous trees ; willows, poplars, al¬
ders, birches, hornbeams, hop-hornbeams,
filberts, hazel-nuts, 168, 179, 180.
American cranberry, 122.
cress, 99.
plants, 147.
Ampelideous shrubs : vines, Virginian
creeper, 175.
Amj'^gdalaceous fruits, 113.
trees and shrubs : almond, peach, nec¬
tarine, apricot, cherries, laurels,
geans, bird cherries, Portugal laurel,
common laurel, 176.
Anemone, 151, 152.
Angelica, garden, 104.
Anise, 103.
Annual plants, 148.
Anonaceous shrubs; asiminas, 174.
Apocineous shrubs : periwinkles, 178.
Aquarium, stove, 104.
Aquatic plants, 148.
Aquifoliaceous trees and shrubs : hollys,
South Sea tea, winter-berries, myginda,
175.
Apple, 118, 119.
Apples, dessert or table, 118.
kitchen or baking, 118.
Apricot, 114.
Araliaceous shrubs : ivys, angelica tree,
aralia, 177.
Arboricultural catalogue, 173.
Arboriculture, history of, 166.
Aristolochious shrubs : birthworts, 179.
Arracacha, 101, 104.
Artichoke, 105.
Jerusalem, 104.
Asclepiadeous shrubs : Periploca, 178.
Asparagineous plants. 111.
Asparagus, 111, 112.
Aster, China, 157.
Atmosphere, 89.
Auricula, 158, 159.
Balsam, 155, 156.
Banana, 142.
Basil, sv/eet, 108.
Bath strawberries, 117.
Bean, 100.
French, 101.
kidney, 101.
Beet, red, 109.
white, 109.
VOL VI.
Beet, sea, 109.
Bellfiower, party-coloured, 157.
pyramidal, 157.
Berberideous fruits, 113.
Berberiiieous shrubs: berberries, maho-
nias, 174.
Berberry, 113.
Biennial plants, 147.
Bigarreau cherries, 115.
Bignoniaceous trees and shrubs ; trumpet
flower, Bignonia, Catalpa, 178.
Bilberry, 122.
Bilimbi, 145.
Bitter orange, 140.
Black currants, 121.
mustard, 99.
strawberry, 117.
Bladder campion, 100.
Blanching, 91.
Bleaberr}', 122.
Borage, 107.
Boragineous plants, 107.
Borders for fruit trees, 88.
Border flowers, 147.
Borecoles, 95, 96.
Botanic gardens, 147.
Botanical structures, 148.
Brocoli, 98.
Brook-lime, 108.
Brussels sprouts, 96.
Buda kale, 96.
Budding, 94.
Bulbous-rooted florists' flowers, 159.
Bulbs, 148.
stove, 150.
Burnet, 102.
Cabbage tribe, 95.
Cabbage, red, 97.
turnip-stemmed, 97.
white, 96.
Calceolaria, 163.
Camellia, 164, 165.
Calycantheous shrubs : American allspice,
winterflower, 176.
Campion, bladder, 100.
Campanulaceous plants, 106, 107.
Caper, 100.
Capparideous plants, 100.
Caprifoliaceous shrubs : elders, laurestinus,
wayfaring - tree, guelder - rose, honey¬
suckles, snowberry, Leycesteria, Loni¬
ceras, 177.
Capsicum, 108.
Carambola, 145.
Caraway, 103.
Cardoon, 105,
Cardinal flower, 157.
Carnation, 154, 155.
bizarre, 154,
flake, 154.
picotee, 154.
Carrot, lU4.
183*
Caryophylleoiis plants, 100.
Cauliflower, 97.
Celastrineous shrubs and trees ; bladder-
nut, spindle trees, 175.
Celeriac, 103.
Celery, 102, 103.
Chamomile, 106.
Chenopodiaceous plants, 109.
shrubs: Atriplex, Chenopodium, 178.
Cherry, 115, 116.
bigarreau, 115.
cornelian, 121.
forcing the, 129,130.
heart, 115,
May duke, 115.
morello, 115.
winter, 108.
Chestnut, 123.
Chickpea, 100.
Chili strawberries, 117.
Chilli pepper, 108.
China asters, 157.
Chives, 111.
Choco, 137.
Chrysanthemum, 156.
Clary, 108.
Cloudberry, 116.
Cicely, sweet, 104.
Cider apples, 118.
Cistineous shrubs : Cistus, Helianthemum,
or rock-rose and sun-rose, 174.
Citron, 140.
Cob pinks, 153.
Common turnip, 98.
wood sorrel, 100.
Composite plants, 104.
shrubs : southernwood, wormwood,
Bacchar s, Iva, Stsehelina, 177.
Compost ground, 125.
Coniferous trees : pine.s or firs, larches,
cedars, yews, Arbor vitas, spruces, deodar,
Araucaria, 180, 181.
Conservatory, 149.
plants, 149.
Convolvulaceous plants, 106.
Coppice wood, 173.
Coriander, 104.
Coiiarious shrubs : Corlaría, 175.
Cornelian cherry, 121.
Corneous fruits, 121.
shrubs and trees : dogwoods, cornelian
cherry, 177.
Costmary, 106,
Cowberry, 122.
Cowslip, 158.
Cranberry, 121.
American, 122,
Cress, 99.
American, 99.
Indian, 100.
water, 99.
winter, 100.
Crocus, 160.
2 A*
INDEX.
184*
INDEX.
INDEX. Crown imperial, 162.
Cruciferous plants, 95.
Cucumber, forcing, 134—137
tree, 145.
Cucurbitaceous plants, 102.
Currants, red, white, and black, 121.
Culture of the soil, 89.
Cupuliferous trees : oaks, cork tree, beeches,
sweet or Spanish chestnut, 180.
Cuttings, 94.
Culinary vegetable department or garden,
95.
Cyclamens, 157.
Daffodil, 159.
Dahlia,156, 157.
Daisy, 157.
Dames violet, 152, 153.
Dandelion, 106.
Dessert or table apples, 118.
or table pears, 117.
Dill, 104.
Diseases and wounds, 89.
Distribution of plants, 90.
Double stocks, 452.
Dry greenhouse, 150.
greenhouse plants, 150.
stove, 150.
stove plants, 150.
Ebenaceous trees : date plums, European
lotos, pishamon, 178.
Egg plant, 107.
Elseagneous trees : oleasters, sea buckthorn,
178, 179.
Elder, 121.
Elecampane, 106.
Empetreous shrubs : crowberries, Ceratiola,
182
Endive, 106.
Ericaceous shrubs and trees : heath, ling,
strawberry trees. Ledums, Andrómedas,
Clethras, Arbutuses, Azaleas, Rhodo¬
dendrons, Cassiopes, Cassandras, Da-
bœcias, Phyllodoces, Epigœa, Gaulthe-
rias, &c., 177.
Escallonious shrubs ! Escallonias, 176.
Espalier-rails, 88.
Euphorbiaceous shrubs: box, Borya, Eu¬
phorbia, 179.
Expedients for inducing fruitfulness in
trees, 90.
Fat hen, 109.
Fennel, 103.
sweet, 103.
Ficeous fruits, 122.
Ficoideous plants, 102.
Fig, 122.
Figs, forcing, 131, 132.
Filbert, 123.
Finally planting trees, 169, 170.
Finnochio, 103.
Floriculture, History of, 145.
Florists' flowers, 151.
Flower borders, 147.
garden, 145, 146.
Forbidden fruit, 140.
Forcing cucumbers, 134, 137.
department, 123, 124.
the cherry, 129, 130.
figs, 131, 132.
ground, situation of the, 125,
melons, 132—134.
the nectarine, 128, 129.
the peach, 128, 129.
strawberries, 131.
vines, 126, 127.
French bean, 101.
Fritillary, 162.
Fruit, kitchen, and forcing garden, 88.
Fuchsias, 156.
Fungous plants, 112.
Garden angelica, 104.
botanic, 146.
flower, 145, 146.
patience, 110,
rocket, 100.
Garlic, 111.
Geraniums, 165.
Gladioluses, 163,
Gneteous shrubs : Ephedras, 182.
Gooseberry, 120.
Gourds and vegetable marrow, 102, 137.
Grafting, 93.
Granadilla, 141.
Granateous fruits, 120,
trees: pomegranate, 176,
Grapes with round black berries, 127.
with long black berries, 127.
with round white or green berries, 127,
with long white or green berries, 127.
with rose-coloured, blue, greyish, or
striped berries, 127, 128.
Grass, scurvy, 99.
walks, 147.
Gravel walks, 88.
Greenhouse, 148.
plants, 148, 149,
dry, and dry greenhouse plants, 150.
Green plums, 114.
Green strawberries, 117.
Grossularious fruits, 120.
shrubs: gooseberries and currants, 176,
Growing plants in glass cases, 151.
Guava, 141.
Guernsey lily, 163.
Halesiaceous trees : snow-drop trees, 177.
Hamamelideous shrubs : witch hazel, Fo-
thergilla, 177.
Hardy fruit department, 112.
Hautbois strawberries, 117.
Heart's ease, 153.
Heat and light, 91.
Heaths, 166.
Herbaceous perennials, 147.
Hippocastaneous trees: horse chestnuts,
174.
Hollyhock, 155.
fig-leaved, 155.
Homalineous shrubs : Aristotelia, Azara,
175.
Horse radish, 99.
Horticulture, history of, 87.
Hot water, 124.
Hyacinth, 160, 161.
Hybridizing, 90.
Hydrangea, 163.
Hypericineous shrubs : St. John's-wort.
Tutsan, 174,
Hyssop, 109.
Inarching, 93, 94.
Indian cress, 100.
Insects, 89.
Imitation of warm climates, 91.
Ixias, 163.
Jasmineous shrubs: Jasmines, 178.
Jerusalem artichoke, 104.
Jonquils, 159.
Juglandeoiis trees : walnuts, hickories,
butter-nut, 179
Kale, 96.
Buda, 96,
sea, 98, 99.
Scotch, 96.
Kidney bean, 101.
Kitchen or baking apples, 118.
or baking peais, 117.
Knotted or sweet marjoram, 108, 109.
Kohl-rube, 97.
Labiate plants, 108.
shrubs : sage, savory, thyme, hyssop,
germander, 178,
Lablab, 102.
Landscape gardening, or how to produce
artificial scenery, 182.
Lamb's lettuce, 104.
Laurineous trees: Laurus, sweet bay, 178.
Lawns, 147.
Lavender, 108.
Layering, 95.
Leguminous plants, 100.
trees and shrubs : Edwardsias, Virgilia,
Piptanthus, furze or whin, brooms,
Genistas, Stauracanthus, Cytisuses
laburnum, bladder senna, American
locust-tree. Robinias, false Acacia,
honey locust tree, Acacia, 175, 176.
Leek, 111.
Lemon, 140.
Lentil, 101.
Lettuce, 105
cabbage, 105.
cos, 105.
lamb's, 104,
Light, 125.
and heat, 91.
Lily, 162, 163.
Guernsey, 163.
Lime, 140.
Lime, sweet, 140.
Loquat, 141.
Loranthaceous shrubs: mistletoe, Loran-
thus, Aucuba, 177.
Love apple, 107.
Lumy, 140,
Magnoliaceous trees : Magnolias, tulip
tree, 173.
Malvaceous shrubs : Althsea frutex, Lava-
teras, 174.
Mandarin orange, 140.
Marigold, 106.
Marjoram, common, 108.
knotted or sweet, 108.
winter sweet, 108.
May duke cherries, 115.
Menispermaceous shrubs: moonseed, 174.
Melons, forcing, 132—134.
Mignonette, 153.
tree, 153.
Morel, 112.
Morello cherry, 115.
Moreous fruits, 122.
Muricuja, 141.
Mulberry, 122.
Mushroom, 112.
forcing, 137—140.
growing, 138—140.
making spawn, 137, 138.
house, 125.
Mustard, black and white, 99.
Myrtaceous shrubs : myrtle, 176.
Narcissus, 159, 160.
polyanthus, 159
Nasturtium, 100.
Neapolitan violet, 153.
Nectarine, 114.
forcing, 128, 129.
Nettle, 110.
New Zealand spinach, 102.
Nursery, tree, 166, 167.
Nut, hazel, 123.
Nuts, 123.
Object of the culture of vegetables, 89, 90,
Oleineous shrubs and trees : ash of dif¬
ferent kinds, lilacs, privets, fringe tree,
Phillyreas, 178.
Olive, 121,
Olivaceous fruits, 121.
INDEX.
INDEX
185*
INDEX. Onion, no, 111.
Orache, 109.
Orange tribe, 140, 14K
Orange, sweet, 140.
sour, 140.
bitter, 140.
Mandarin, 140.
Paradise, 140.
Orchard, 123.
Orchidee us plants, 151.
Oxslip, 158.
Pansy, 153.
Pseony, 152.
Papaw, 141.
Parsley, 103.
Parsnip, 104.
Party-coloured hell flower, 157.
Passifloreous shrubs : blue passion-flower
176.
Pea, 100.
chick, 100.
Peach, 113, 114.
forcing, 128, 129
Pear, 117, 118.
Pears, dessert or table, 117.
kitchen or baking, 117.
perry, 117.
Peppermint, 108.
Perennials, herbaceous, 147.
Perry pears, 117.
Petunias, 157.
Philadelpheous shrubs : Mock orange or
Syringa, Deutzia, 176.
Picotee, 154.
Pine apple, 142—145.
triennial course of culture, nursing pit,
succession pit, and fruiting pit, 145.
biennial course of culture : nursing
pit, succession pit, and fruiting pit.
145.
Pine strawberries, 117.
Pink, 153, 154,
cob, 153.
pheasant's eyes, 153.
Pits, 125.
Plantain, 142.
Plantations for ornament, 170.
Planting, 92.
Plants, American, 147
Alpine, 148.
annual, 148,
aquatic, 148.
biennial, 148.
conservatory, 149.
dry greenhouse, 150.
dry stove, 150.
greenhouse, 148, 149.
growing in glass-cases, 151.
orchideous, 151.
stove, 149, 150.
rock, 148.
Plums, 114, 115.
yellow or greenish-yellow, 114.
green, 114.
purple, 114.
Polyanthus, 158.
narcissus, 159.
Polygoneous shrubs ; Tragopogón, Atra-
phaxis, 178.
Polygonous plants, 110.
Pomaceous trees : thorns, hawthorns, med¬
lar, quince service, whitebeam-tree,
mountain ash, pear, apple, 176.
Pomaceous fruits, 117.
Pomegranate, 120.
Pompions, 102, 137.
Potato, 107.
sweet, 107,
Potentillaceous shrubs : shrubby cinquefoil,
brambles, dewberries, raspberries, 176.
Potting, 95.
Primrose, 157,158
Protection of plants from atmospherical in¬
juries, 91.
Pruning, 92.
Pruning forest trees, 171, 172.
Pumpkin, 137.
Purple plums, 114.
Purslane, 102.
sea, 102.
Qualities of timbei, 173.
Quince, 120.
Radish, 99.
horse, 99.
Ranunculaceous shrubs : Clematis, Atra-
gene, virgin's bower or traveller's joy,
yellow-root, 173.
Ranunculus, 152.
Rampion, 106.
Rape, 98.
Raspberry, 116,
Red beet, 109.
cabbage, 97.
currant, 121.
Retarding vegetation, 91.
Rhamnaceous shrubs and trees : Christ's
thorn, jujube tree, Avignon berries, buck¬
thorn, Alaternus, New Jersey tea, berry-
bearing alder, 175.
Rhubarb, 110.
Rocambole, 111.
Rock plants, 148.
Rocket, 152, 153.
garden, 100.
Roofs, 125.
Rosaceous fruits, 116.
shrubs : roses, 176.
Rosary, 164.
Roses, 163, 164.
Rotation of crops, 90,
Rubiaceous shrubs : Luculia, Pinckneya,
button wood, 177.
Runners, scarlet, 101, 102.
Rutaceous shrubs and trees : rue, tooth¬
ache tree, shrubby trefoil, Ailanto, 175.
Sage, 108.
Salsify, 105.
Sambuceous fruits, 121.
Samphire, 103, 104.
Sanguisorbeous plants, 102,
Santalaceous shrubs : Tupelo-tree, 179.
Sapindaceous trees ; Kolreuteria, 174.
Sapotaceous trees ; Argania, Bumelia, 178.
Savory, summer, 109.
Savory, winter, 109.
Savoys, 96.
Saxifragaceous shrubs : Hydrangea, 177.
Scarlet strawberries, 117.
Scarlet runners, 101, 102.
Scorzonera, 105
Scrophularineoiis plants, 108.
Scurvy grass, 99.
Sea beet, 110
Sea kale, 98, 99.
purslane, 102.
Seed, 95.
Service tree, 120.
Shaddock, 140.
Shallot, 111.
Shelter, 88.
Shrubbery, 147.
Situation of the forcing-ground, 125.
shelter and water, 81.
Skirret, 103.
SmilaceoLis shrubs : Smilax, 182.
Soil, culture of, 89.
Soils, 89, 173.
Solanaceous plants, 107.
shrubs: Nicotiana, Lyciums, Vestia,
Solanum, 178
Sorrel, 110.
wood, 100.
Sour orange, 140.
Sowing, 92.
Sov, 102.
Spearmint, 108.
Spinach, 109.
New Zealand, 102.
wild, 109.
Spirœaceous shrubs : Spiraeas, 176.
Squash, 137.
Steam, 124.
Sterculiaceous trees ; Sterculia platanifolia,
174.
Stocks, 152.
Brompton, 152.
double, 152.
ten-week, 152.
gilliflower, 152.
Stone fruits, 113.
Stove, 149, 150.
aquarium, 150.
bulbs, 150.
dry, 150.
plants, 149, 150.
Strawberry, 116, 117.
Strawberries, Alpine, 117.
Bath, 117.
black, 117<
Chili, 117.
forcing, 131.
green pine, 117.
hautbois, 117.
pine, 117.
scarlet, 117.
wood, 117.
Styracineous shrubs : Styrax or Storax, 1/ /«
Substances used in forming hot-beds, 125.
Succory, 106.
Summer savory, 109.
Swedish turnip, 98.
Sweet basil, 108.
cicely, 104.
lime, 140.
orange, 140.
potato, 107.
Tansy, lOo.
Tamariscineous shrubs: French and Ger¬
man tamarisk, 174.
Tarragon, 106,
Temperature, 90.
Ten-week stocks, 152,
Terebinthaceous trees : turpentine tree, pis¬
tachio nut tree, mastick tree, sumach,
poison oak, lithe tree, Davaua, 175.
Ternstrcemiaceous trees : Gordonia, Stu-
artia, loblolly bay, 174.
Thistle, 105.
Thyme, 109.
Thymelœous shrubs : Daphne.s, Mezerion,
spurge laurel, Dirca or leather wood, 178.
Tiliaceous trees : lime trees, 174.
Timber, qualities of, 173.
Tomato, 107.
Training, 91, 92.
Transplanting, 92.
Treatment of wounds, 172.
Tree mignonette, 153.
nursery, 166.
Trellises, 125.
Trees bearing stone fruits, 168
bearing pomes, berries, and capsules,
169.
bearing legumes, 169.
bearing small seeds, 169
finally planting, 169, 170»
Tropœolum tuberosum, 100.
Truffle, 112.
Tuberose, 163.
Tulip, 161, 162
Tulipaceous shrubs : Yucca or Adam's nee¬
dle, 182.
Turnip, common, 98.
Turnip-stemmed cabbage, 97.
Turnip, Swedish, 98.
INDEX.
INDEX. Ulmaceous trees : elms, nettle trees, 179.
Umbelliferous plants, 102.
Urticaceous plants, 110.
trees; mulberries, osage orange, 179.
Vaccineous fruits, 121.
shrubs : bieaberry, bilberry, cranberry,
177.
Valerianeous plants, 104.
Vegetable marrow, 137.
Verbenaceous shrubs ; Vitex or chaste tree,
178.
Verbenas, 157
Vine, 112,
Vines, forcing, 126.
Viniferous fruits, 112.
Violet, Neapolitan, 153.
Wallflower, 152.
Walks, 88.
grass, 47.
gravel, 88.
Walls, 88.
Walnut, 123.
Water, 91.
cress, 99.
hot, 124.
White beet, 109.
White cabbage, 96.
currants, 121.
mustard, 99,
Wild spinach, 109.
Winter cherry, 108.
savory, 109.
sweet marjoram, 108.
Wood sorrel, common, 100.
strawberries, 117.
Woods, coppice, 173.
Wounds, 89.
treatment of, 172.
Yellow or greenish-yellow plums,
COMMERCE.
Commerce. OoMMERCE is the interchang'e of commodities, whether
manufactures or agricultural products, for money or for
Definition other commodities : in the latter case it is called Barter,
mercT^" persons consider that all buying and selling carried
on among ourselves ought to be called Trade, and that
the name of Commerce should be appropriated to our
foreign transactions ; but this distinction seems hardly
justified, either by the etymology of the respective
words, or by the practice of merchants, with whom
foreign trade" is as frequent, or rather a more frequent
expression than " foreign Commerce."
We propose for the principal subjects of the present
Essay,
1. A Historical sketch of Commerce ; and
2. Its condition in the present Age, as well in Eng¬
land as on the Continents of Europe and America.
3. Connected with these, will be a series of obser-
. vations on collateral subjects ; such as money, or the
circulating medium of Commerce; the mines of gold
and silver, particularly in America ; and the use of Bank
paper during the last hundred years.
Origin of The advantage of an interchange of commodities, of
Commerce, one person supplying what was needed by another, must
have been obvious in the earliest stages of Society.
Such interchange, however, must have been on a very
insignificant scale among Tribes living in the state of
hunters, and seeking their subsistence, not from domes¬
ticated animals, but from the chase and the precarious
spoils of the forest. Such appears from Scripture to
have been the state of the central part of Asia, in the
Ages following the Flood ; in the lime of Nimrod and
other predecessors of Abraham. It was the condi¬
tion also of the aboriginal Greeks before Cadmus and
other foreigners, arriving from the East, accustomed the
natives to useful Arts ; and it was the state of the
chief part of England on the first invasion of the Ro¬
mans. Such at the present day is the case of the
Indians of North America, who roam over the vast
tracts to the West and North-West of the Mississippi,
obtaining by the chase quantities of furs to exchange
with English and American traders, but living in other
respects in great penury, and having very few commo¬
dities to barter among each other.
The state of t,he next stage in the progress of Society, the state
asturage. Pasturage with little tillage, the interchange of com¬
modities is still on a very limited scale. Referring
again to the Book of Genesis, we find this to have been
the state of Chaldœa and of part of Syria in the Age of
Abraham, about four centuries after the Flood, or nine¬
teen centuries before the Christian Era, Population,
although increasing, was still very thinly spread, and
property became considerable in the hands of only a few,
the bulk of the community being, as expressed in Scrip¬
ture, " bondmen and bondmaids in other words, ser¬
vants and labourers paid not by wages, but by mainte¬
nance. The Northern part of Arabia must have been
very thinly peopled in the time of Jacob, yet his flocks,
like those of his brother Esau, increased, " so that they
could not dwell together: the land could not bear them
because of their cattle." The cohsequence was that
VOL. Vi 77
Esau removed his family, his cattle, and all his substance Commerce,
to a distance, and dwelt on Mount Seir. Similar to
this was the state of Scythia in ancient times ; and such,
down to the present day, is the condition of the vast
regions of Tartary. In this stage of Society families
are almost always removing in quest of new pastures ;
there are hardly any towns, and but few villages ; each
household is consequently obliged to supply its own
wants, whether in provisions or clothing ; and the ex¬
change of commodities is trifling, as it always must be
until, tillage being introduced, population becomes sta¬
tionary, and, in some degree, concentrated.
We next arrive at the Agricultural state ; the time The Agri-
when individuals and families drew together in hamlets,.
villages, and, eventually, in towns. Employment then^^^^^^'
becomes divided ; persons follow separate trades ; and the '
products or workmanship of one are exchanged for those
of another. Intercourse is then carried to such a length
as to be entitled to the name of Commerce. If it be Countries in
asked in what part of the W orld was the exchange of com- which Com¬
modities first carried to any considerable extent? we an-
swer in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the more fertile Pro- siderable.
vinces of the North of Arabia. For this we have the direct
authority of Scripture, as well as the indirect but power¬
ful evidence afforded by the local advantages of certain
tracts of Country, such as those adjacent to the Euphrates
and the Nile. In warm climates the great desideratum
in cultivation is a supply of water ; and population first
becomes dense in districts which possess such a supply
in abundance, whether from rivers periodically over^
flowing their banks, from streams descending from high
grounds, or from a soil yielding water in wells at a slight
depth from the surface. Now Civilization and Commer¬
cial intercourse depend on, or rather arise from, density
of population. It is to this we should ascribe the early
improvement of Egypt, which even in the Age of Abra¬
ham, and still more in that of his grandson Jacob, had
become so far a cultivated Country, as to be able to
afford a supply of corn to its neighbours when scarcity
unfortunately prevailed among them. To a similar
cause, we mean the dense population in Chaldaea, con¬
sequent on the overflowing of the Euphrates, and the
ease with which the level tracts adjoining to that river
were laid under water, we are to attribute the grandeur
of Babylon and the power of the Assyrian Empire.
Almost all trade in those remote Ages was carried Commodi
on by land, and as there were neither roads for wheel- ties con-
carriages, nor bridges over rivers, merchandise was
transported on the backs of camels and other beasts of
burden. Traders proceeded generally in companies, for
the sake of mutual aid and protection, exactly as is
practised in the present day, and on a larger scale, by
Caravans. It was to a company of Ishmaelites, (Arabs,)
carrying spices from Gilead to Egypt on camels, that
Joseph was sold by his brethren, about seventeen cen¬
turies before the Christian Era. The practice of convey¬
ing merchandise on the backs of animals still prevails
in Countries in which an Englishman would expect that
roads might long since have been made and wheel-car¬
riages introduced. It is general not only in the thinly
M
78 C O M M E R C E.
Commerce, peopled Provinces of Brazil, Peru, Buenos Ayres, and
Columbia, but in Mexico, the least backward part of
Spanish America. That healthy and fertile region, now
possessed by Europeans during three centuries, can,
even at present, boast of no more than three or four
highways fit to be traversed by wheel-carriages ; and all
the goods transported through its territory, whether
manufactures imported, or produce sent down to the
coast for export, are conveyed on the backs of mules and
horses, a distance of several hundred miles.
Intercourse The earliest attempts to convey commodities by water
by water.
were made on rivers or inlets of the sea, by means of
canoes and rafts. Between these, the simple contrivances
of a rude Age, and the bark fitted to proceed to the open
sea and to encounter the winds and waves, the difference is
very great. Ship-building and Navigation are complicated
Arts, requiring both mechanical dexterity and a stock of
knowledge which can exist only in a society consider¬
ably improved. Hence Commercial intercourse by sea
is long in beginning, and for a time is carried on on a
very limited scale. With the nations of antiquity this
slowness was unavoidable, unacquainted as they were
with the use of the mariner's compass, and limited in
their knowledge of Geography. It was the custom of
their seamen to keep within sight of land, and on the
occurrence of stormy weather, not to stand out to sea,
but to seek shelter in a bay or inlet. This practice, so
contrary to that of modern navigators, arose from two
causes ; the smallness of their vessels, which were often
without decks, and the habit of propelling them as much
by oars as by sails. By rowing towards a bay or the
mouth of a river, they were almost sure of entering it,
whatever might be the direction of the wind ; and the
shallow draught of their barks admitted of their being
run ashore beyond the reach of the tempest. Summer
was the only fit season for such awkward mariners : to
have gone to sea in the Winter months would have been
accounted a great imprudence.
earliest branches of Navigation was that
carried on along the Red Sea, for the transport of com¬
modities from Arabia to Cosseir, or the port, whatever
it was, which served as an entrepot for the trade of the
^ebesin with Thebes in Upper Egypt. The merchan-
* dise landed at Cosseir is commonly considered to have
been the produce of India, imported, in the first in¬
stance, into certain seaports of Arabia, near the mouth
of the Red Sea. But'whether the products were In¬
dian or Arabian, the traffic appears to have been con¬
siderable, and to have been one cause of the great popu¬
lation and extent of Thebes ; an extent proved equally
by the descriptions of ancient writers, and the magni¬
tude of the still remaining ruins. The other causes of
the prosperity of Thebes were that the fertilizing effects
of the overflowing of the Nile were turned to account
in its vicinity at an early Age. The breadth of culti¬
vated ground in Upper Egypt appears to have been
greater in those days than at present, the flying sands
from Libya having, in the course of so many centuries,
covered a part of the Valley of the Nile, particularly to
the West of the river. Thebes was centrally situated in
regard to the Northern and Southern divisions of that long
and fertile valley ; the Nile being easily navigated, con¬
nected them, so that this city was both the residence of
the Government, and a station for the deposit and ex¬
change of the commodities of the upper and lower
divisions of the Kingdom. Subsequently, the seat of
Government was transferred lower down the Nile to
Memphis, (nearly on the site of Cairo,) in consequence, Commerce»
probably, of the augmented population of the Delta, and
perhaps of the advantage of comparative vicinity to the
North of Arabia, Phoenicia, and Syria, Countries which
then constituted so large a portion of the civilized World.
But the foreign Commerce of the Egyptians was at
no time considerable. Their Religion discountenanced
Navigation, and their Government restricted their inter¬
course with foreigners, somewhat in the manner in which
that of the Chinese acts with regard to Europeans. The
Phoenicians, on the other hand, were altogether Com- The Phœni-
mercial in their habits as in their laws. Sidon, the first cians.
seaport of consequence mentioned in. History, was dis¬
tant only one hundred and fifty miles from the mouths
of the Nile, and the foreign trade of Egypt was car¬
ried on by Phoenician mariners, first of Sidon, after¬
wards of Tvre. The Phoenician coast abounded with
•/
timber for ship-building, and its position was central
for intercourse with such parts of the World as were
then advancing in civilization. Confined at first to the |
adjacent Countries, viz. Egypt, Cyprus, Cilicia, the |
Phoenician navigators ventured in the course of time /
to take a wider range, visiting and planting colonies in j
Crete, Greece, Libya, and Sicily. In all these Countries?
the inhabitants were uncivilized, and were indebted to
the Phoenicians for the rudiments of knowledge and the
introduction of the useful Arts. These Countries were
situated to the West: but there was also a regular
traffic between Phoenicia and the Southern part of
Arabia, carried on partly by land, partly by water ; by
land from Phoenicia to Elath, a port in the Northern
or upper part of the Red Sea ; and the remainder of the
distance by shipping navigating that sea.
The next Country entitled to notice in a Commercial Judœa, in
sense is Judaea. The Jews progressively increased in the reigns
number during the long period (seven centuries) which
elapsed between their settling in Egypt and the era of
their greatest prosperity, the reigns of David and Solo¬
mon. In those reigns they made the conquest of Idumaea,
a Province extending along the North-Eastern shore of
the Red Sea, and seeing the wealth possessed by their Phoe¬
nician neighbours, they became desirous of engaging in
foreign Commerce. This desire was facilitated by the
friendly understanding which so long subsisted between
the rulers of Tyre and David and Solomon. The latter
sent yearly to Tyre quantities of corn and oil, the pro¬
duce of Judaea, receiving in return foreign merchandise
and a balance of gold and silver. The Jews being un¬
accustomed to Navigation, manned their merchant-ves¬
sels on the Red Sea by Phoenicians. The distant sea¬
ports with which they traded (Ophir and Tarshish)
have not been recognised with certainty by modern
Geographers, but the harbours Elath and Ezion geber,
in which they landed their merchandise on returning,
were situated in Idumaea. The foreign Commerce of
the Jews, however, was of short duration, and seems to
have been discontinued after the dismemberment of the
Kingdom, which followed the reign of Solomon. Their
trade in the Red Sea fell, doubtless, into the hands of
the Phœnicians.
Commerce of Greece,
\
From Phoenicia and Egypt, Civilization and Commerce 'Clreece in-
made their way to a quarter destined to become a copious/debted to
fountain of instruction to the rest of the World.
easy access to Greece from the comparatively improvedj^^
COMMERCE. 79
Extent of
her colo¬
nies.
Commerce. Countries in the South and East, was a most fortunate
circumstance. While the early annals of so many na¬
tions are replete with traditions of war and rapine, those
of Greece bear testimony to the useful Arts introduced
into their Country by foreigners, who became the founders
of cities, the instructors of the rude inhabitants, the
patrons of Agriculture and Navigation. These occur¬
rences appear to have taken place for the most part about
ten or eleven centuries before the Christian Era, a time
at which Egypt had been for Ages in the enjoyment of a
regular Government, and the seat of a considerable po¬
pulation. The improvements thus introduced into
Greece, and the gradual increase of her towns, of Argos,
Mycenae, Athens, Thebes, Sparta, Elis, Corinth, brought
the Country into the state in which it is so clearly de¬
scribed by Homer ; who, whatever may be thought of
his embellishments and exaggerations in some respects,
is entitled to our full confidence when describing the
limits of the respective territories, the state of Society,
and the degree of Civilization existing in his time. To
the accuracy of his Geographical descriptions an ample
testimony is borne by the writer of all others the best
qualified to judge, we mean Strabo.
The Age of Homer is generally placed about eight
centuries before the Christian Era. The progress of
improvement in Greece was afterwards checked by in¬
testine troubles. The Dorians, a rude Tribe from the
North, invaded the Peloponnesus, and succeeded in ex¬
pelling from it the descendants of Pelops, the Princes of
the second or third generation after those who are de¬
scribed by Homer as governing the chief part of the
Peninsula. This invasion is called in History the Return
of the Heraclidse, and is considered to have taken place
about eighty years after the war of Troy. The expa¬
triation which fbllowed was termed the JEolic migration,
the exiles taking their course Northward in the direction
of Thrace and Phrygia. In Athens the line of succes¬
sion being altered in consequence of political events,
the sons of the last King led a colony to the opposite
coast of Asia Minor, where Ephesus and a number of
other towns soon rose to importance ; this was called
the Ionic migration. Rhodes, eventually so important
as a place of trade, was one of the earliest colonies of
the Greeks ; Cyrene, on the North coast of Africa, was
another, while the almost equally remote island of Cyprus
was settled partly by Phoenicians, partly by Greeks. But
the principal foreign settlements of the Greeks were to the
West, in Italy and Sicily. In Italy they founded suc¬
cessively Cuma, Rhegium, Tarentum, Thurium, Brun-
dusium ; in short, nearly half the maritime towns in the
South. In Sicily they founded Syracuse, Agrigentum, Ca¬
tania, Messina, Leontini, and a number of other towns,
all on or near the coast, so as to keep up a Commercial
intercourse with the Mother Country. Of these various
migrations the earlier were compulsory, arising from
political dissensions at home ; but when the advantage
of a change of residence became duly appreciated, suc¬
ceeding removals took place voluntarily, and for the
purpose of improving (as in the emigrations now making
to our North American colonies) the circumstances of
individuals. The motives and inducements were similar
in either case : the territory of the parent States in
Greece was limited ; population was progressively in¬
creasing ; and land, as in modern Europe, was high
priced, while in the colonies it was granted to settlers
on very easy terms. Hence the rapid increase and
eventual prosperity of several of the Grecian colonies ;
In Asia
Minor,
In Italy.
In Sicriy.
of Sybaris, Crotona, Tarentum, but in particular of Commerce.
Syracuse, which attained a degree of population and
wealth beyond that of any city in Greece, not even
excepting Athens.
No Country is better situated than Greece for carry- The coast
ing on intercourse by Navigation. Its coast is of great of Greece,
length, and indented in many parts by the sea. A refer- p^^nber cf
ence to the Map shows no less than ten extensive inlets
similar to that of the Gulf of Corinth, each provided
with one or more good harbours. Hence an early
acquaintance with Navigation, if that name can with
propriety be used in the case of barks without decks,
propelled in general by oars, unprovided with anchors,
and having only one mast which was raised or taken
down according to circumstances. Such was the Greek
marine in the time of Homer, and during the three cen¬
turies which elapsed between the Age of that Poet and
the national improvements which preceded the invasion
of Greece by the Persians.
The inland territory of Greece, mountainous and un- Her inland
provided with roads, was not favourable to Commercial territory,
intercourse, or to the progress of National improvement
as far as it depends on the union of several States
into one. It was, however, highly favourable to the
good government of small communities. Each town
had its adjoining plain which supplied provisions and
other requisites : the compact position of the population
enabled them speedily to unite and cooperate if their
freedom was threatened by a neighbouring State, or by
an ambitious citizen at home. There was in those
petty Republics, no distant Province supplying either a
tribute or a military force which might be directed
against the rights of the citizens. The public revenue
proceeded wholly from the latter, and the military esta¬
blishment being composed entirely of them, all had a
similar interest in resisting an infraction of the Consti¬
tution. Hence arose the independence of the different
States of Greece during several centuries, and an ad¬
vance in Commerce and productive industry generally,
greater than would have taken place under an absolute
Government.
Still the Navigation and Commerce of Greece were Her trade
very limited even in her most prosperous time : they limited,
took place chiefly between the Mother Country and
the colonies planted in Italy and Sicily to the West ;
in Ionia in the East, and in Thrace in the North. The
more distant voyages of Grecian traders were, in a
Southern direction, to Egypt ; in a Northern to Trebi-
zond on the Euxine, and to the coasts of the Adriatic.
In a Western direction they hardly ever ventured be¬
yond Sicily, leaving the maritime intercourse with
Spain, Sardinia, and the South of Gaul to navigators of
a bolder character, the Carthaginians.
The extensive conquests of Alexander the Great gave Alexandria
rise to new arrangements in regard to the trade of Greece 1" %ypk
with Egypt and India. The obstinate resistance made
to his arms by Tyre impressed him strongly with the
resources of a maritime State, and as he ascribed the
chief part of the wealth and power of Tyre to its trade
with India, it was natural that, after destroying that
city, he should seek to establish a naval station in a
position adapted for carrying on both that and other
branches of Commerce. Such a position he soon dis¬
covered near the Western mouth of the Nile, where
Alexandria, founded by him, became, and continued for
many centuries, the chief Commercial city in the East of
the Mediterranean, and after the ruin of Carthage, in
M 2
80 C O xM M E R C E.
Commerce, the World. Its situation was well adapted for the in-
tercourse of Egypt with Greece, Italy, and other Coun¬
tries ; the Nile bringing to it the various products of the
interior, and affording, on the other hand, a capacious
inlet for imports. In regard to the trade with Arabia
and India, Alexandria possessed, still more than Tyre,
the advantage of a ready access to the Red Sea.
Of Carthage,
Carthage : Such was the Commerce of Greece in different Ages :
magnitude at no time, it must be admitted, was it of so much im-
ofher portance as might have been expected from her extent
irade. coast and advanced Civilization. Carthage, on the
other hand, was altogether Commercial. Founded by a
colony from Tyre, she soon equalled and eventually far
surpassed the parent State. The sphere of Carthaginian
Commerce was in the West of the Mediterranean; in
Mauritania, Spain, the South of Gaul and Sardinia ; like¬
wise in Sicily and Libya. It extended also beyond the
Straits of Gibraltar, in one direction to the coast of
Morocco, in another to Portugal ; or, as is often as¬
serted, to the Western coast of France and the English
Channel, where tin was a great object of attraction to
the merchants. Tradition states that Carthaginian ex¬
peditions, equipped at the public expense, carried their
discoveries greatly beyond these limits ; to the Baltic
in the North and to the remotest part of Africa in the
South. But all that is known with certainty is that
such voyages were attempted by order of Government;
that Hanno was commander of the Southern, Himilco
of the Northern expedition. Unfortunately the records of
both have perished, and in the absence of other evidence
the probability is that the African squadron did not carry
its discoveries beyond the Canary Islands, in the 28th
degree of North latitude. If we thus circumscribe the
maritime progress of the Carthaginians, we can have no
hesitation in restricting our belief in respect to that of
the Phœnicians ; and in treating as an amusing fable
their alleged circumnavigation of Africa, related to
Herodotus by Egyptian Priests.
Her poli- We shall not, however, incur the risk of exaggerating
tical power. ascribe to Commerce the origin of that power
which enabled the Carthaginians to carry on exten¬
sive wars and to inflict severe blows on the rising
greatness of Rome. Fortunately for the latter, their
contests did not begin until Rome had extended her
dominion over nearly all Italy, and possessed, in her
citizens and allies, a population capable of speedily
repairing the enormous waste of life sustained in the
conflicts of Trebia, Thrasymene, and Caniise. Of the
progress of the Carthaginians in the useful Arts our
means of judging are extremely imperfect in consequence
of the destruction of their Capital ; but from the num¬
ber of their settlements, and the amount of their public
revenue, there is reason to think that their productive
industry must have been carried to a great extent :
while the proportion of eminent men in the direction of
their councils and armies, affords, to a certain degree, an
argument in favour of their institutions. The charges
brought against the Carthaginians by Livy and other
Roman writers, are to be received with considerable
distrust. Had not this State been unhappily cut short
in its career, had time been given to it to improve the
National education, to extend and mature its Com¬
mercial undertakings, there is every reason to conclude
that it would have proved a great example of the
benefits arising from persevering industry, and have Commerce,
materially conduced to the advancement of general
Civilization.
Of Rome.
The situation of the Romans in respect to Commerce -phe Ro-
was altogether different. Their military habits, and the mans
want of a convenient seaport for their Capital, estranged averse from
them from naval pursuits. They constructed galleys for Na\igatioxi.
the sole purpose of opposing the Carthaginians, and
their frequent losses from tempests, consequent on the
unskilfulness of their mariners, rendered them averse
from augmenting their navy. In the Ild Punic War,
the great operations were by land : hostile armies in¬
vaded the heart of their territory, and the expeditions
requiring shipping, we mean those to Spain and Sicily,
were of subordinate importance. At the close of this
eventful struggle the power of Carthage was so much
broken, and the dominion of Rome, first over Sicily,
afterwards over Greece, became so absolute, as to give
her the command of whatever naval power those Coun¬
tries possessed, and to make it unnecessary to augment
her shipping at home. This was still more the case
after the course of events had added Asia Minor, Syria,
and eventually Egypt, to the Roman Empire. The
whole of the coasts of the Mediterranean was now sub¬
ject to one Power; no maritime district ventured to
attack another ; and piracy, hitherto a great annoyance
to Navigation, was effectually checked.
Such happily was the state of Roman Commerce during
several centuries. An extensive trade was carried on
between the Capital and the Provinces, in particular with
Sicily and Egypt for corn; but the Government dis¬
covered no wish to transfer to Roman citizens the
management of the shipping thus employed; they left
it in the hands of its subjects at Alexandria and other
remote seaports, because they saw no political motive
for desiring its removal. The Imperial Rulers, strong
in their military means, had no apprehension of any
maritime city or district presuming, by means of its
shipping, to resist their decrees ; and they knew it to
be impossible that a State so situated should cooperate
with the uncivilized Tribes on the frontiers of the Em¬
pire, such as the Germans, Dacians, or Parthians, now
the only enemies of the Roman name.
This era of general Peace, particularly maritime Navigation
Peace, was favourable to distant voyages, so that the
most cautious inquirer may now give his belief to
Commercial intercourse between the Mediterranean and '
the South of England, carried on partly direct, partly
overland through France. Such intercourse subsisted
likewise with the German Tribes at the mouths of the
Elbe and Weser, and, in a slight degree, with those in
the Baltic, particularly in Prussia. In a very different and to In-
quarter, we mean in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, dia.
considerable improvements took place, in Navigation, in
consequence of mariners becoming acquainted with the
monsoons or periodical winds of that part of the World.
Taking their departure from the mouth of the Red Sea on
the setting in of the Western monsoon, they no longer
confined themselves to the slow, circuitous method of
sailing along the shore, but stretched boldly across the
Ocean to the coast of Malabar; where, receiving their
cargoes, they returned with the Eastern monsoon, so
as to finish their voyage from the Red Sea to India
and back, within the year. The uniform direction of
COMMERCE.
81
Commerce the wind supplied the want of the mariner's compass,
and enabled them to reach their destined ports with
little deviation. The number of vessels employed in the
trade between the Red Sea and India was above one
hundred ; and as, in those remote Ages, Europe could
supply few commodities useful to the natives of India,
a yearly export of silver was required to purchase the
homeward cargoes. The amount of specie thus sent
from the West to the East is computed by Pliny at a sum
equal to ¿£400,000 sterling a year ; a considerable amount
certainly, but far below that which might be inferred
from the lofty tone in wliich Dr. Robertson and others
treat the Commerce with India.
The Roman
Kmpire in¬
vaded by
the Goths
and liuns.
Venice
founded ; its
singular
])osition.
Constanti¬
nople.
Intercourse
with India
by,the Cas¬
pian Sea.
Of the Middle Ages,
We have now traced the History of Commerce to the
period (the middle and latter part of the Vth Century)
when the Northern Barbarians made their way into the
Roman Empire ; into Gaul, Spain, Italy, and Africa.
The consequences, in a Commercial sense, were very un¬
fortunate, suspending in each of these Countries the
free intercourse so long enjoyed under a common Govern¬
ment. The Empire was now divided into a number
of separate and unconnected States; Navigation became
unsafe ; the roads, made with care by the Romans, were
neglected. The increase of the population of towns,
the best evidence of the extension of productive in¬
dustry, was suspended. Many towns were plundered;
others were subjected to repeated contributions-; pro¬
perty was unsafe under the control of rude and lawless
invaders ; manufacturers and artisans withdrew or rather
fled with their families to places of safety. Hence the
orig'ili of Venice in a very singular position ; the town
being built on a collection of small islands, separated
from the main land by shallow lagoons. It was thus
protected from attacks by land, and, in some degree, by
sea, as vessels above a certain size could approach the
town only by channels, from which it was easy for the
inhabitants to remove the poles or buoys which pointed
out the intermediate sandbanks. The result fully jus¬
tified the confidence of the founders of Venice in its
means of defence ; for though its wealth soon became
so extensive as to offer great temptation to predatory
bands, it defied their violence, and never, until the
present Age, saw a hostile force within its walls.
Constantinople, in like manner, was long preserved
amidst the general invasion of the Empire. Protected
by its fortifications, it continued.an asylum for the pro¬
perty of merchants, a centre for the intercourse of the
seaports in the Mediterranean and Euxine which still
carried on trade. Its communication with Alexandria
was maintained even after the loss of Egypt ; and its
traffic with Venice proved one of the main causes of the
increase of that city. With India also it preserved in¬
tercourse to a certain extent, after the occupancy of
Egypt by the Saracens had interrupted the usual chan¬
nel of navigation by the Red Sea. The route then
adopted by merchants was very circuitous : goods were
transported from the coast of Malabar to the Indus ; they
were made to ascend that river as far as was practicable,
and thence carried bv land to the Oxus, down the
stream of which they were conveyed to the Caspian Sea.
After traversing that sea, thé vessels entered the Wolga
and sailed up its stream, until they reached the part ad¬
jacent to the Don : there the goods were unshipped, car¬
ried by land to the banks of the Don, and embarked in
boats which proceeded to the mouth of that river in the Cunimerce.
Euxine, where vessels from Constantinople waited their
arrival. So long and expensive a conveyance was suit¬
able only to goods of which the value was great com¬
pared to their bulk ; to silks, cottons, and spices, which
have at all times been the principal exports from India.
Another and a much more direct route for merchan¬
dise from India, was by sea from the coast of Malabar
to the Persian Gulf, and thence up the Tigris to Bag¬
dad, or up the less rapid stream of the Euphrates to
latitude 34°. There the goods were landed and con- By Pal-
veyed across the Desert first to Palmyra and afterwards
from that city to the coast of the Levant. To this trade we
are inclined to ascribe the extent and wealth of Palmyra;
a magnificent city raised in the midst of Deserts. The
chief objection to this route was the danger to the cara¬
vans from the Arabs ; and as that hazard could not be
removed in such a Country and under the political cir¬
cumstances that ensued, the merchants trading with
India gladly embraced the earliest opportunity of re¬
suming the former route ; viz. from Malabar to the
upper part of the Red Sea, thence by land to the
Nile, and down that river to Alexandria, whence the
merchandise found its way to many distant ports, in
particular to Constantinople, Venice, and Pisa.
; Among the chief seaports in Italy during the Mid- Seaports in
die Ages, Pisa, a place of great antiquity, took a lead,
so early as the Xth Century. It was built on the
banks of the Arno, not at the mouth of that river, but
about three leagues inland, a precaution often adopted
in a rude Age, to avoid or at least to lessen the danger
of attack Irom the sea. A rich and spacious plain
surrounds the town, which is of considerable extent, its
walls having a circuit of six miles. The Arno is here a
full, majestic stream, dividing the town into two nearly
equal parts: the quays are spacious, extending along either
bank irom one side of the town to the other. It had
become a seaport of consequence before the Crusades,
and like Venice and Genoa increased its shipping con¬
siderably at the time of those expeditions. The chief
sphere of its Commerce was the Western coast of Italy,
the shores of Sardinia, Corsica, and Sicily. It kept up
an armed force of galleys, and held as a Commercial
town a rank equal to Genoa, until the population and
wealth of the latter increased in the Xlllth Century.
Circumstances are now greatly altered ; in the early
part of the XVth Century Pisa became subject to Flo¬
rence ; and Leghorn, being in the immediate vicinity of
the sea, has gradually absorbed the foreign trade of
this part of Italy.
Genoa, in like manner, is a town of old date, having Genoa»
been a place of trade before the year 1000, and becoming,
some time after, the Capital of an extensive territory ;
the petty States around incorporating themselves with it
for the sake of protection. Acting in concurrence with
Pisa, Genoa recovered Sardinia from the Moors, ob¬
tained subsequently several valuable settlements in the
Levant, and had factories or mercantile establishments
ai Constantinople for the deposit of goods imported
from Asia Minor and India. She acquired also the
Island of Corsica, and in Sicily held Syracuse on account
of its excellent harbour. This favourable career re¬
ceived, however, a check by a maritime war with
Venice in the latter half of the XIVth Century which
proved, very injurious to both. In the next century
Genoa was disquieted by party contests among her prin
cipal citizens. These were of long continuance, and had
82
COMMERCE
Commerce, attained a great height, when, towards the beginning of
the XVIth Century, Andrea Doria, so well known as a
naval commander, found means to effect a reconciliation
amonff his fellow^citizens.
Genoa is favourably situated for trade, having a har¬
bour in the form of a half moon, above half a mile in
diameter. It is enclosed by two strongly constructed
moles, one on the East, the other on the West : it can
admit vessels of great draught, and is protected from
most of the prevailing winds. On the land side, also,
Genoa has considerable means of defence, the town
standing on the ascent of a hill the upper part of which
is surrounded by a double wall : the outer wall is of
great extent, and the inner has a circumference of no less
than six miles. Viewed from the sea, the town and its en¬
virons present the form of an amphitheatre and have an
appearance of great magnificence.
These Cities, together with Venice, were the chief
seaports of the North of Italy during the Xllth and
Xlllth Centuries, when the North and West of Eu¬
rope sent forth so many successive expeditions to the
Holy Land. The rude warriors engaged in these en¬
terprises, accustomed to see the lower orders in the
humble condition of serfs, and acquainted with hardly
any buildings but a Baronial castle and its adjoining
village, were struck with admiration at the regular
streets, the intelligent population, and the numerous
shipping of the Italian seaports.
Towns en- The same superiority was manifest in the North
franchised. and West, on a smaller scale, in a number of the inland
In Italy. towns of Italy, which had by this time obtained their
independence and formed themselves into communities,
with a regular municipal Government. Some of the
larger towns acquired their independent Constitution by
Grant or Charter from the Emperors of Germany, for
which they paid largely ; others, at a less expense, by
Grant from a neighbouring Prince ; while a third class of
towns, more distant from a controlling power, declined
to acknowledge any superior, and assumed a Consti¬
tution of their own accord.
In the Ne- Of the towns in the Netherlands, several had by this
theilands. acquired independence, and the example thus given
in the two most improved Countries in Europe was soon
In France, followed in France. There, the Sovereign reigning in
the early part of the Xllth Century (Louis le Gros)
set to his Barons an example of enfranchising all towns
and considerable villages situated in the donjain of the
Crown.^ He abolished all marks of servitude among
the inhabitants of those towns and villages, empowering
them by Charter {charte de communauté) to form
themselves into Corporations to be governed by a Coun¬
cil and Magistrates of their own choosing. The Magis¬
trates were invested with the right of administering
justice in the town and adjoining district; of levying
assessments, and of training to the use of arms the
militia of the town, that they might enter on service
when required by the Sovereign. The example thus
given in France by the King was followed by many of
the Barons, who, impoverished by the Crusades and
other expensive enterprises, gladly embraced an oppor¬
tunity of recruiting their finances by so easy a process
as the sale of Charters to the towns within their terri¬
tories. In less than two centuries the towns in France,
small as they in general were, became so many free
Corporations, instead of places devoid of jurisdiction or
* See History, ch. Ixxiii. p. 615.
privileges. A corresponding course was pursued about Commerce,
the same period in Germany, where the chief trading
towns, such as Ulm, Augsburg, Nuremberg, and Frank- Iii Ger-
fort, were declared " free cities of the Empire." In
Spain and England immunities were granted on a
similar plan to the chief towns and villages; as was
done somewhat later Scotland, in those days a very
backward and thinly peopled Country.
These Historical facts enable us to judge of the origin,
progress, and eventual extinction of the Feudal System.
The leaders of the uncivilized Tribes which overthrew
the Roman forces, and occupied successively the differ¬
ent Provinces of the Empire, rewarded their followers by
extensive Grants of land over which they ruled as petty
Sovereigns, there being in fact hardly any other autho¬
rities Military or Civil at a distance from the Capital.
The population was then almost wholly agricultural ; the
villages were few in number and the towns still fewer. In
the course of time, particularly under Charlemagne, the
population of towns and villages increased and a degree
of improvement took place; so that by the Xlth and
Xllth Centuries a number of places had become ca¬
pable of forming Corporations, and desirous of having
the management of their local concerns. By the Grants
or Charters already mentioned, the Prince or Baron on
whom the towns were dependent, conferred the rights
which they desired ; which, by exempting mercantile
intercourse from arbitrary imposts, gave security to pro¬
perty in transit, and proved highly conducive to the ex¬
tension of trade.
The admiration excited in the Crusaders by the chief Constanti-
towns of Italy was felt in a still stronger degree at the nople : its
sight of Constantinople, the only Capital which had
escaped the ravages of the Barbarians. The Franks, as
the natives of the West of Europe were termed in the
Levant, saw there a city on a great scale, having, as
they described it, extensive walls, lofty towers, superb
churches, and splendid palaces." "We could not," says
a Historian of the Crusades, " have believed that there
was in the world a city so beautiful and so rich." Con¬
stantinople, in the Xllth and Xlllth Centuries, was
still the seat of various manufactures, and carried on a
considerable trade with foreign parts ; with Egypt, with
India by way of Alexandria, with Venice, Pisa, and
Genoa. The intercourse thus maintained between the
Italian seaports and the Greek metropolis, during the
Middle Ages, was one of the principal links by which a
knowledge of useful Arts was preserved, and the pro¬
ductive industry of the Ancients connected with that
of the Moderns. The Crusades had at least one good
effect, that of extending national improvement and of
imparting to the unlettered inhabitants of the West and
North an idea of the Civilization of the South and East
of Europe.
The increase of Venice was very gradual, and its ulti- Venice; its
mate greatness was the consequence, not, as is vulgarly gradual in»
supposed, of any single cause, such as the trade with crease.
Alexandria for India goods, but of the natural growth of
population a.nd capital in a prudently managed commu¬
nity. In the Xllth and Xlllth Centuries, the era of
the Crusades, its power had become such as to enable it
to occupy several islands and maritime districts of the
Greek Empire favourably situated for trade, in particu¬
lar the Ionian Islands, the Morea, and Candia. These
remained long in possession of Venice, while on the
main land of Italy she possessed the rich territory in
which are situated Padua, Verona, andVicenza, as well
COMMERCE.
83
Its manu¬
factures.
Its ¡íülicy.
Commerce as Friuli, a fertile and extensive Country to the East,
acquired about the year 1420.
The manufactures of Venice, though not extensive in
any one branch, were, as a whole, great from their va¬
riety ; they comprised silks, lace, jewellery, stuffs of
gold and silver, mirrors, and, to a certain extent, wool¬
lens and linens. An enumeration of articles so different
and so unconnected with each other, may seem strange
to an English reader, accustomed to see a particular
manufacture conducted on a great scale, but confined to
the districts which are fitted for carrying it on by possess¬
ing local advantages, such as an abundance of fuel, an
extensive communication by water, or the growth of the
raw material in the vicinity. But in former times cir¬
cumstances were very different ; a single manufacture
would not have been worth following by many persons
in one town, so small was the consumption in a given
district, so difficult the conveyance of any bulky articles
to a distance. Hence a multiplicity of manufactures were
established in one city, such as Venice, although the mate¬
rials for them were not produced in its vicinity ; they were
brought to it from various foreign ports, and collected
on one spot, an advantage which, joined to the presence
of a considerable population and a consequent large
supply of workmen, outweighed the cheaper living of
Provincial towns, cut off, as the latter generally were,
from the requisite supplies, by want of capital, bad roads,
and insecure communication.
The form of Government in Venice was î st demo¬
cratic, but assumed an aristocratic character in the
Xlllth Century, after extensive trade had caused the
accumulation of large property in a certain number of
families. In regard to foreign States, the policy of Venice
was generally pacific ; yet it had to sustain, in 1508, the
attack of a formidable Coalition, named the League of
Cambray from the town in which the aggression was
planned. Nor could Venice avoid taking a part in the
repeated contests between France and Austria, for the
rich territory of Lombardy ; contests which were carried
on with great eagerness in the reigns of the Emperor
Charles V. and of Francis I. The condition of Venice
at that time bore a considerable resemblance to that of
Holland a century later. Pacific herself, her frontier
was threatened by the struggles for the Milanese, a
Country not unlike Belgium ; and though feeble in native
soldiers, she was strong by the power of subsidizing"; for
her Government raised money at very moderate interest,
while powerful Sovereigns were obliged to pay a very
high rate, or to desist wholly from their attempted loans.
The naval force of Venice in those days consisted in
galleys, and was kept up to protect her traders against
the Barbary Corsairs as well as to resist the attacks of
the Turks cfti Candia, the Morea, and other territories in
the Levant.
Its Bank; The Bank of Venice, the earliest establishment of the
kind in Europe, and which has served as a model to so
many Banks in other Countries, was founded in the
middle of the Xllth Century. The merchants of the
North of Italy, being the first in modern Europe who
became considerable in trade, were the authors of many
valuable inventions and improvements, such as the use
of bills of exchange, and the practice of keeping mercan¬
tile books by double entry. To these was added a system,
fair in itself and beneficial so long as it was followed in
moderation, but the abuse of which has entailed a heavy
burden on several Countries, above all, on England—
we mean the Funding system ; the practice of creating
origin of
the funding
system.
and selling Government stock. Its origin was as fol Commerce,
lows. The Government of Venice having found it
necessary to borrow money from the public Bank,
and apprehending that it would not for many years
be able to repay it, adopted the plan of making it
transferable from one person to another. This arrange¬
ment was judicious, and prevented loss or complaint on
the part of the creditors of the State ; the value of the
stock was maintained, because the credit of the Govern¬
ment was good, and it found a ready sale on the Ex¬
change because the number of persons desirous to pur¬
chase stock was fully equal to those who from time to
time were inclined to sell it. This practice, adopted in
Italy so early as the XVth Century, was followed by
the Government of Holland after the year 1600; by that
of England not till 1688. These dates are useful in dis¬
tinguishing the respective periods at which monied capi¬
tal became abundant in each Country ; for the Govern¬
ment of each was, we may be assured, disposed to have
recourse to this tempting expedient long before, and
was held back only by the limited means of their
subjects.
The population of Spain in the Middle Ages, though Spain: size
scanty on the whole, was, to a certain extent, concentrated of her tovvns
in towns. This arrangement was necessary for mutual
tiip
protection in the wars with the Moors, the open country
being unsafe when hostile incursions were frequent,
and a town being the only fit station for the troops,
(chiefly cavalry,) which were kept either to repel an
attack or to carry devastation into the Moorish territories.
There are no authentic returns of the population of
Spanish towns in the Middle Ages, but we can by no
means agree with the writers who, like Dr. Robertson,
lend credence to the traditionary reports of their magni¬
tude. The task of rearing a family is in general so dif- /
ficult that, in the absence of correct returns, we may^
safely take for granted that the progress of population
has been slow, except under peculiarly favourable cir-\
cumstances ; such as those of a colony having both an |
ample territory to cultivate, and a connection with an f
old Country for a supply of settlers and the sale ofj
its products. Such was the case of the Greek colo-^
nies ill Ionia and Sicily, and such at present is the case <
of the United States of America. Spain had no such 5
advantages; neither had she, like Italy in the Middle!
Ages, an agriculture of old date, nor, like the Nether¬
lands, the means of easy intercourse by water. What- '
ever we know of the History of Spain tends to show
that there, as in most Countries of Europe, population
increased very slowly during the Middle Ages ; and as ,
there is very little truth in the alleged drain of her in¬
habitants to America, the only safe inference is that in
former times, as at present, Spain was thinly peopled.
Her surface is mountainous, and her agriculture often
suffers from want of water ; a want likely to be strongly
felt in times when, from deficient machinery, irrigation
was much less practised than at the present day.
The trade and manufactures of the Spaniards appear to
have been confined to the supply of their own wants; their
foreign intercourse was very limited. Cadiz and Madrid,
now their chief cities, were in those days inconsiderable.
Seville was of more importance, but whoever examines
attentively the position of that town, the limited naviga¬
tion of its river, or the general poverty of the times,
must be satisfied that the reports of its former population
and splendour were greatly exaggerated. Still more
does this hold in regard to other towns, such asTortosa,
81
C O M M
E R C E.
Commerce. Tarragona, Saragossa, Cordova, and all of which there is
reason to consider were of less importance in former Ages
tlian at present.
The Hanse Towns.
The Association of the Hanse Towns was formed in
the Xlllth Century, and subsisted above three hundred
V
years. Its object was to provide security for mercantile
property at a time when the different Governments of
the North of Europe, stinted in their financial means,
and seldom guided by fixed rules, afforded such security
in a very limited degree. The first point with the Con¬
federates was to repress the seizure of merchant-vessels
by pirates and the robbery of goods conveyed by land ;
the next was to obtain justice in regard to the claims of
merchants in Courts of Law. In those rude times it
was the custom to consider a stranded vessel and her
cargo as lost to the owners, and as having become the
property of the Baron whose lands lay along the part of
the coast on which the wreck took place. It was further
customary, when a merchant died at a distance from his
home, for the Magistrates of the town or district in which
he died, to put an arrest on his property, the removal
of which became a matter of great difficulty. And if he
died in a strange Country, indebted to any of the inha¬
bitants, it was not unusual with the Police to imprison
the first of his Countrymen they could find and oblige
him to pay the debt.
Origin, The town which took the lead in forming this Asso¬
ciation was Lübeck, the trade of which had become con¬
siderable in the Xlllth Century, chiefly from its position.
Situated at the South-Eastern point of the Baltic, it
was the natural entrepot for the trade of Prussia, Poland,
and Livonia with the North-West of Germany ; in the
same manner as Hamburgh, from its ready access to the
North Sea, was the fit port for communicating with the
Netherlands and England. The distance between these
towns by land being small, (only forty miles,) frequent
conferences took place in regard to their mutual inter¬
ests, and the result was their concluding a Treaty in the
year 1*241, by which the two cities bound themselves to
use their utmost efforts for the protection of trade by
Fiogress, sea and land. Brunswick, the chief inland town in the
North-West of Germany, and connected in trade with
both Hamburgh and Lübeck, was not long in acceding
to the Treaty, and, in 1*252, Deputies from each of the
three met at Lübeck, where, among other arrangements
of importance, they took steps for establishing factories
in London and Bruges, as well as in a very different
quarter, Novogorod in Russia. They assumed the
name of Hanse^ from an old German word signifying a
Union or Association, and being, of course, open to new
members, they were joined in the course of the next
century hy a number of cities and towns, such as Am¬
sterdam and other seaports in the Netherlands ; Dant-
zic, as well for itself as for the lesser towns in the North
of Poland ; and Cologne for the different trading places
on the Rhine. In the XV th and XVIth Centuries, when
the Confederacy may be said to have attained its highest
point, the League comprised no less than sixty-four
commercial towns, and was capable of asserting its rights
by arms, by carrying on naval operations on a large
scale. Their power was repeatedly felt by their neigh¬
bours. Thus the passage of the Sound by merchant¬
men being under the control of the Danish Govern¬
ment, which tried more than once to impose an arbitrary
toll or tribute on the passage, the Hanse Towns equipped
a fleet on each occasion, and obliged the Danes to desist Commerce,
from their claims.
Such were the motives for forming and maintain¬
ing this Confederacy ; we come now to the causes
of its dissolution. As Civilization diffused itself in andDecline,
the North of Europe, and the different Governments
made a point of protecting trade, as well by sea as in
their respective territories, less exertion was required on
the part of the Hanse Towns. It became evident also
from the example of Holland, that trade prospered most
when each seaport, or each mercantile district, was left
to manage its own concerns. Hence a gradual relaxa¬
tion in the bonds of the Confederacy ; so that during the
last two centuries the name of Hanse Towns has been
confined to Hamburgh, Bremen, and Lübeck.
These towns have still mercantile Consuls in London
and elsewhere, but they are occupied with the concerns
of their constituents only ; not with those of the former
members of the League.
Of the trading towns in the North of Europe, the Bruges,
most remarkable in that early period (the Xlllth and
XlVth Centuries) was Bruges. In those days of im¬
perfect Navigation, to make a voyage from the Mediter¬
ranean to the Baltic and to return before the end of
Summer, exceeded the ability of the mariner ; hence
the advantage of an intermediate station in which vessels
arriving from the South might at once land and deposit
their silks, wine, and other commodities, taking on board,
in return, a cargo of the more bulky but equally useful
products of the North. Bruges was fixed on by the
Hanse Towns for this purpose : its situation was cen¬
tral ; the adjoining country was well cultivated and
peopled ; while the town, nearly twelve miles distant
from the sea, was beyond the reach of piratical incur¬
sion. Bruges had no navigable river, but it was the
point of junction of several canals, and the one leading
to the sea was of ample breadth and depth. The extent
of ground occupied by the town was great, but the po¬
pulation, perhaps, at no time much exceeded the present
number, forty thousand, for, in consequence of unfor¬
tunate differences between the citizens and the Govern¬
ment of the Netherlands, much of the foreign trade of
Bruges was transferred to Antwerp towards the close
of the XVth Century, the time at which it was about to
become greater than ever, because the mercantile inter¬
course of the North of Europe began then to acquire a
great extension.
The large vessels which were now coming into use, Antwerp,
and which required considerable depth of water, gave
an additional value to so fine a port as Antwerp. The
Scheldt is there much broader and deeper than the
Thames at London, and there are ample means of inland
communication both by that and other rivers. The
XVIth Century was the time at which these advantages
were turned most effectually to account. English mer¬
chants fixed their staple at Antwerp instead of Bruges ;
vessels repaired thither from the South as from the
North of Europe ; the city walls were successively en¬
larged so as to contain the increasing population ; and
the trade of London being then only in an incipient
state, Antwerp was, as regarded foreign intercourse, the
most busy seaport in the North of Europe. Unfortu¬
nately her fair prospects were marred by political dis¬
sensions ; by the arbitrary conduct of the Spanish Govern¬
ment under Philip II., andby the warthat ensued, leading
in 15B5 to the memorable siege and capture of the city.
Many of the merchants then removed to Amsterdam,
COMMERCE.
85
Commerce, and directed thither their consignments of goods. And
in the following century, when the war was suspended,
and all was tranquil in the Netherlands, the Dutch
having the command of both sides of the Scheldt, effec¬
tually prevented the revival of the trade of Antwerp.
Hamburgh. Hamburgh, more fortunate than either of the above
towns, has in general escaped an interruption of its trade.
It was founded at an early date, and was originally
little more than a fortress ; but the advantage of its
position brought it trade and population, as the Civiliza¬
tion of the neighbouring Countries advanced. Subject
for a time to the Counts of Holstein, it gradually ob¬
tained an extension of its privileges, became virtually
independent, and continued so after that Province
was incorporated with the Kingdom of Denmark. In
the extent of its water communication Hamburgh may
be compared to a Dutch seaport. An arm of the
Elbe forms there two harbours, one on the East for
boats, another on the West for ships. Another river,
the Alster, forms beside the town a large basin resem¬
bling a lake, and within the town another ofless extent,
which serves as a harbour. Though Hamburgh is
nearly eighty miles distant from the sea, the communica¬
tion is easy on account of the great breadth of the Elbe.
The same cause facilitates the access from Hamburgh to
the interior of Germany for several hundred miles. The
effect of these various advantages was to render Ham¬
burgh in the Middle Ages a port of considerable conse¬
quence, though by no means to be compared to what it
afterwards became. Vessels from the South of Europe
proceeded to Hamburgh as soon as the improvement of
Navigation made it unnecessary for them to shorten their
voyage, by stopping at Bruges, as did ships from the
Baltic, after the route by the Sound was generally adopted
for the export of Baltic produce. Lübeck remained, like
Bruges, comparatively stationary, after the XVth Cen¬
tury ; because the chief utility of both was as intermediate
ports, and the increased dexterity of mariners after that
time enabled even distant seaports to open a direct in¬
tercourse with each other.
The Netherlands
No part of Europe has a stronger claim on the atten¬
tion of mercantile men than the Netherlands, in parti¬
cular the maritime Provinces of Flanders, Holland, and
Zealand. In tracing the progress of Civilization, we
have seen that the early improvement of Greece, that
wonder of ancient times, was owing, in a great measure,
to intercourse with more advanced Countries, and to the
introduction of the useful Arts from Phoenicia and Egypt.
The revival of trade, manufactures, and general im¬
provement in modern Italy, the next great feature in
Statistical History, is to be ascribed to various causes ;
to the continued intercourse of Italy with Constantinople
and the remaining portions of the Greek Empire ; to
the natural fertility and consequent population of Lom-
bardy ; to the degree of Civilization preserved through¬
out the Dark Ages, in a Country so long the centre of
the Roman power, and so superior both in number of
inhabitants and general cultivation to France and Spain,
which were merely Provinces of the Empire. But the
Netherlands had none of these advantages : they had
at no time been the seat of empire ; their Government
was not better than that of the other Northern nations ;
and surrounded by Countries which, in the Middle
Ages,were very imperfectly cultivated and thinly peopled,
VOL. VI.
they could derive no instruction from their neighbours. Comraerre
Yet the Netherlands took as remarkable a lead in
national improvement, when compared with the adjacent
Countries, with England, Denmark, France, and Ger¬
many, as did Italy when compared with the rest of the
South of Europe. The origin of this superiority is to be
sought in Physical causes ; first, in the ease with which
a level surface and an alluvial soil may be cultivated ; and
next in the means of transporting bulky goods along
canals, or such great rivers as the Scheldt, the Maese,
and the Rhine.
First as to cultivation. Of the ease with which a level Their early
surface and an alluvial soil may be cultivated, we have cultivation,
a variety of examples, both in ancient and modern His¬
tory. It is thus that we can account for the productive¬
ness of Egypt, of the part of the yenetian territory
adjacent to the mouths of the Po and the Adige, as well
as of many level tracts in very distant parts of the
World, as in Bengal along the banks of the Ganges, in
Guiana on those of the Essequebo, the Demerary, or the
Surinam. Without quitting our own Country, we may
find many examples of easy cultivation and abun¬
dant produce in the fens of Cambridgeshire and Lin
colnshire, which have been reclaimed by drainage during
the present Age. Flanders being a Country of similar
description, we need go no further to account for its
eaily fertility and the density of its population ; the latter
was remarkable, first in the open country and in
villages, afterwards in towns, at the head of which were
Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp.
The next advantage of Flanders and Holland was Their navi-
the ease with which all bulky commodities, such as corn, gable rivers
wood, coals, and turf, could be conveyed from one part to
another. In most Countries of Europe there are con
siderable distances between the mouths of great rivers :
the Humber is remote from the Thames; the Elbe
from the Weser; the Charente from the Garonne.
But in the Netherlands these great inlets are both
numerous and comparatively near to each other ; they
consist of the different embouchures of the Scheldt, the
Maese, and the Rhine, each opening into a distinct
part of the Country. Next, as to canals. In a soil
both level and devoid of rocky substances, it was easy
to excavate canals, and the consequence was, that the
advantage of such communications was enjoyed in the
Netherlands so long as four or five centuries ago, a
time at which cajials were unknown in almost every part
of Europe, except Lombardy, and when neither France,
England, nor Germany could boast of carriage roads.
In those Countries commodities could be conveyed in
no other manner than on the backs of mules and
horses ; and each district was, in a degree, confined to
its local resources, at a time at which Flanders and Hol¬
land had easy means of transporting the most bulky
articles.
Of these Provinces, the lead in agriculture was taken
by Flanders, the soil of Holland being in those times,
as at present, too damp for tillage, and being, in conse¬
quence, laid out chiefly in pasture. Manufactures were
established at an early date in the towns of both Pro¬
vinces, particularly in those of Flanders. But in Navi¬
gation a decided priority belonged to Holland and Zea¬
land, admirably adapted as both Provinces are for ready
access to the sea. Hence extensive fisheries, first on
their own coasts, afterwards at a distance in the North
Sea ; hence also a coasting-trade extending, even in an
early Age, to Hamburgh in the North and to Picardy
N
86
C O M M
E R C E
Commerce, and Normandy in the West. As the seamen gradually
became more skilful, their voyages were prolonged on
the one hand to the Baltic, on the other to Portugal and
the Mediterranean. The Dutch thus became in the course
of time the naval carriers of the North of Europe ; other
nations abstaining in a great measure from that which,
with their deficient means and ignorance of seamanship,
would have been a hazardous and even perilous employ-^
ment. It is a curious fact, that two centuries ago,
Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, when appointed Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, and anxious to proceed from
Wales to Dublin, was obliged to wait until a ship of war
from the Thames came round to convey him and his
suite across the Irish Channel. There were in those
days no Government packets, and no English merchant-
ships suitable for such a purpose ; the trade between
England and Ireland being carried on almost wholly in
Dutch vessels.
Chief Ports. The chief seaports in the Netherlands in those times,
as at present, were Amsterdam, situated near a great
inland water called the Zuyder Zee ; Dordt and Rot¬
terdam, situated near the mouths of the Rhine and
Maese ; Antwerp, Middelburgh, Flushing, on the banks
of or near the mouth of the Scheldt. Ghent is an in¬
land town, and like Bruges, did not adjoin any great
river or maritime inlet, but it communicated with the
sea by a wide canal. Dordt is considered one of the
most ancient seaports in Holland, and has been noted
during many centuries for its trade in timber, sent down
the Rhine in floats, and applied in Holland to a variety
of purposes, to the building of ships and boats, as well
as to the work of carpenters, joiners, and other mechanics.
The timber of the growth of Holland is not large ;
hence it receives vast importations from Norway and
the Baltic, as well as from the forests adjoining the Rhine.
Rotterdam owed its increase to the facilities for inter¬
course afforded by the Maese, the Leek, and the maritime
inlets to the South ; but it was greatly surpassed by
Amsterdam, which became to the North of Europe what
Carthage in one Age, and Venice in another, had been
to the Countries of the Mediterranean.
liiseofAm- Without adjoining any great river, Amsterdam had
îâterdam. access to the Rhine by a canal, and by the Zuyder Zee,
to almost every part of the Country bordered by that exten¬
sive water. In early Ages, when vessels were small,"and
seamen were averse from long voyages, a ready access to
an inland sea was of importance, and rendered Amster¬
dam the most commodious port in Holland for shipping
from the Ems, the Weser, and the Elbe, as well as from
the coast of Jutland. The disadvantage of shallow water
in the approach to the harbour of Amsterdam, is felt
only by large vessels ; it was of little importance in an
Age when merchandise was conveyed in vessels or
rather barks of light draught. Hence the early and
progressive increase of this city, notwithstanding its
occasional insalubrity, and the great expense of build¬
ing on ground where, from the insecurity of the founda¬
tion, the houses must be erected on piles. Amsterdam
was a place of importance so early as the XII Ith Cen¬
tury, having been one of the first seaports to join
Lübeck and Hamburgh as a Hanse Town ; it continued
to increase during the XlVth, XVth, and XVIth Cen¬
turies, and had become the most eligible place of settle¬
ment for the merchants of Antwerp, when the capture
of that city in 1585, and the oppressive conduct of the
Spanish Government, led so many Flemings to forsake
their homes. The following century (the XVIIth) was
the prosperous era of Dutch trade, and a very great Commerce,
proportion of it, whether with the Baltic, the Mediter-
ranean, or the East Indies, centered in Amsterdam.
It does not appear that the early prosperity of the
Netherlands was owing to their form of Government or
Civil institutions. Flanders, Holland, and East Fries-
land were for many Ages governed by Counts or Earls,
having, like other nations of German origin, a kind of
Parliament under the name of States. These three
Provinces had during the Middle Ages little political
connection, and were occasionally in hostility with each
other. In the XVth Century, however, an end was put
to such collisions, each Province becoming, by the inter¬
marriage of the ruling families, subject to the House of
Burgundy. Maximilian of Austria having married the
heiress of that House, acquired her rich possessions,
which afterwards passed to the Emperor Charles V. That
Prince, born in the Netherlands, had naturally a predilec¬
tion for his Country, and passed various edicts to advance
Commerce and consolidate the union of the Provinces,
He did not, however, discover much respect for their
political privileges, or much solicitude to lighten the bur^
dens brought on them by his incessant wars. A similar
conduct, pursued with less judgment by his gloomy and
bigoted son, Philip II., produced these paration of the
Dutch Provinces, and a contest between them and Spain
during more than half a century.
Before concluding our notice of the Middle Ages, it Hired
seems fit to explain in what manner the inhabitants of troops and
places so pacific in their policy as the Commercial towns military
of Italy, became connected with warlike Sovereigns, and th^^Middle
rendered themselves auxiliary to their enterprises. We Ages,
read in History, particularly at the battle of Cressy in Italians.
1346, of Genoese archers, by whom we are to under¬
stand not natives of Genoa, or troops in the service of
the Republic, but military mercenaries levied in the
adjoining Country, in consequence of a compact or
Treaty with the French or other foreign Governments.
Kings had in those days no standing armies, and to
form disciplined troops from among the peasantry of
their dominions was a tedious and difficult task : but in
a city containing such a number of artisans as Genoa,
arms were readily supplied, and combatants soon came
forward where there were capitalists able and willing
to contract for their services. Italy was in fact remark¬
able in the Middle Ages for her bands of Condottieri^
or hired troops. A similar explanation is applicable to
the Flemings or Walloons, so often mentioned among Flemings
military levies in the Middle Ages. Flanders, without
being more warlike than the neighbouring Countries,
was the only part in the North of Europe which at
that time had either a brisk traffic or a dense population.
It had accordingly the means of supplying not only
arms, but men far more dexterous in their use than the
rustic followers of a Feudal master, whose time of ser¬
vice seldom exceeded forty days ; for there was hardly
a battalion of soldiers on permanent duty in any King¬
dom in Europe before the year 1500.
The Swiss formed the third class of hired combat- Swiss,
ants in the times of which we speak, but their services
were given under circumstances very different from the
Italians and Flemings. Their mountainous territory
could boast of neither Commerce nor large towns ; their
population was spread over the open country, and, in
consequence of their poverty, discharged the obligation,
which every citizen owed to the State, not by paying
COMMERCE.
87
Commerce, taxes» but by performing militia service. Hence there
were in Swisserland many more men trained to arms
than were required for the national defence ; and hence
also arose a readiness in the Governments of the different
Cantons to transfer to foreign Governments the services
of their Countrymen on certain terms, which it was usual
to embody in a Treaty, or, as it was technically styled, a
capitulation.
Overland It remains that we give an example of the rude
traffic from mode of conveying merchandise by land in the Xlllth
and XlVth Centuries. The trade of Venice with the
ermany, became considerable about the time at which
Augsburg, Ulm, Nuremberg, and other towns in the
interior of Germany were increasing their population
and traffic. The result was a considerable intercourse
between Italy and Germany by land, which was carried
on across the Alps, chiefly by Trent and Inspruck,
through a Country too mountainous and rugged for car¬
riage-roads, and in which, consequently, the merchandise
was conveyed on the backs of mules and horses. This
mode of transport was expensive, even in those days of
low wages and cheap provisions, because the weight
borne by these animals on their backs, being hardly a
fifth part of that which they can draw on a carriage-road,
many hundreds of them were required to convey the
cargo of a small vessel. It is a similar want of carriage-
roads which at present narrows the intercourse with
Mexico and other parts of Spanish America. Mules and
horses are cheap in Countries possessing extensive pas¬
tures, but their power of carrying being limited to three
or four hundred weight for each animal, the expense can
be borne only by articles of value, such as cottons, fine
woollens, or cutlery. The cost of conveyance being
thus high at the time of which we are now speaking, the
traffic across the Alps was confined to valuable merchan¬
dise, such as the silks, the cottons,and the spices of India,
or the jewellery of Venice. Heavy articles, such as oil
and wine, were conveyed by shipping from Italy to
Bruges.
The want of carriage-roads was general throughout
Europe in the Middle Ages; almost all inland traffic
was carried on in the manner we have mentioned by
beasts of burden, proceeding along tracts which hardly
deserved the ñame of roads, being little else than bridle¬
paths. The non-existence of an effective Police, and the
means of concealment and escape afforded to robbers by
the extent of forests, marshes, and uncultivated land,
made it necessary for mercantile dealers to afford protec¬
tion to each other, and to travel in parties or companies,
in the mannerof an Eastern Caravan. To this must be
added, the difficulty in holding a mercantile correspond-
ence,ibr it is not more than two centuries since the Govern¬
ments of even the most improved part of Europe began
their Post-office establishments. If besides these various
disadvantages we consider the inefficiency of machinery,
we shall find reason greatly to modify the popular notion
of the general cheapness of commodities in the Middle
Ages. Wages were low; and country produce, such as
corn, wool, and cattle, were to be had for little money ; but
the finer manufactures, or whatever required a combina¬
tion of capital and skill, were in reality dearer than at
present : they cost, it is true, a very small sum when
purchased with silver, but a great deal when exchanged
for labour or raw produce.
Such was the state of productive industry in Europe
during the Middle Ages ; rude, backward, and inefficient
in every Country except Italy and the Netherlands. But pommerce,
we are now about to enter on a brighter era ; on the disco-
veries and improvements which, slowly as they operated,
had, in the course of two centuries, the effect of producing
a great extension of navigation; the result of which was
the discovery of America, and an import from that part
of the World of the precious metals, attended with a re¬
markable effect on the Commerce and state of Society in
Europe.
Improvements in Navigation.
The discovery of the Mariner's compass, or of the pro- Discovery of
perty of the magnetic needle, which makes it point steadily Mari-
to the North, was made about the year 1302, by an inha- "®^'scom-
bitant of Amalfi, a seaport in the Kingdom of Naples.
This discovery relieved seafaring men from the necessity
of guiding their course by uncertain marks, such as the
aspect of headlands by day, or the oiten interrupted view
of the stars by night. The use of the compass, conse¬
quently, became general, and tended materially to facili¬
tate voyages in the established lines of mercantile in¬
tercourse, but it was long before it extended the range
of Navigation. So backward were the merchants and
mariners of that Age, and so slightly were they ani¬
mated by the spirit of enterprise, that half a century
elapsed after this discovery, ere navigators ventured into
unknown latitudes, and even then they advanced at a
very tardy rate. The Mediterranean had long been ex¬
plored, and the Atlantic had been sailed over to a high
Northerly latitude ; the region now to be visited was
the Western coast of Africa, and the task of doing so fell
to the Spaniards and Portuguese : not that either People
could boast of much progressin seamanship, but because
of all the nations of Europe, they were, in point of situ¬
ation, nearest to the Country in question. The Vene¬
tians and Genoese, superior as navigators, were compara¬
tively remote from Africa. Still more so were the Dutch
and Flemings. Aided by the compass, the Spaniards now
ventured to proceed to the Canary Islands, about two
hundred leagues from their own shores, while in Portu¬
gal a regular plan of discovery was formed with the sup¬
port of Government. As yet the Portuguese vessels had Progress of
ventured no further South than Cape Non, on the coast Portugués»
of Morocco ; their next effort, which in the present Age
it would be ridiculous to call an effort, was to double
that Cape, and to reach Cape Boj ador, which was known
to be about sixty leagues to the South. That being
accomplished, two small vessels were some time after
equipped for the purpose of doubling Cape Bojador,
and proceeding further Southward : they were sailing
slowly along the shore, according to the timid practice
of the Age, when a squall of wind drove them out
to sea, and led to the discovery of Madeira. That
island, situated in the Ocean at a considerable distance
from any coast, became the object of repeated voyages
on the part of the Portuguese, and accustomed them by
degrees to a bolder Navigation in the open sea. In the
course of years they discovered the coast of Africa so far
as the mouth of the Senegal and the Cape de Verd
Islands, which being within fifteen degrees of the Line,
was a sufficient distance to the South to prove that the
Tropical regions were not, as had been vulgarly supposed,
uninhabitable on account of heat. The further progress
of the Portuguese, however, was very slow, there being a
general impression that little Commercial advantage
could be reaped from intercourse with Countries so
N 2
88 COMMERCE.
Commerce, remote, and situated in so hot a climate. At last, in
the year 1484, a flotilla, fitted out for the purpose, per¬
severed in navigating- the coast of Africa, along the
shores of Guinea and Congo, advancing no less than
one thousand five hundred miles to the South of the Line.
A few forts were then built on the coast of Guinea, and
settlers were sent out to them from Portugal. The
great inducement to persevere was the hope of reaching
India by the South of Africa ; a hope now strongly con¬
firmed by the figure of the coast of Africa, which from
the mouth of the Gambia recedes greatly in an Eastern
direction, as if to point out a route to the Country so
long and anxiously sought after. Another flotilla was
now fitted out, which stretched boldly towards the
South, four hundred leagues further than the preceding,
but meeting with a succession of tempests, was obliged
to return without doubling the Cape of Good Hope,
which they saw, and to which, from the weather they
had experienced, they at first gave the name of Cape of
Tempests This took place in 1486 : several years
elapsed before fitting out another expedition : at last, in
1497, Vasco di Gama succeeded in sailing round this
formidable promontory, and accomplished a voyage to
India, five vears after Columbus had effected the disco-
very of the West indies and America. '
Trade with In India, the Portuguese found a Country of consi-
liidia by derable population and trade; less wealthy, indeed,
the Cape of ti^^n had been pictured in the imagination of ardent
Good Hope, adventurers or credulous merchants, but sufficiently so
to form a basis for extensive exports to Europe. Most
of these were now directed to Lisbon, the voyage round
the Cape of Good Hope, difficult as it was to the navi¬
gators of those days, being much less tedious and expen¬
sive than the route by the Red Sea, Alexandria, and
Venice. But America was in a very different condition
from India : it was uncultivated and almost unpeopled ;
containing no manufactures and little raw produce in a
state for use, the consequence not of deficient ferti¬
lity, but of the natives being incapable of preparing it
for sale, or bringing it to the coast to be shipped. Ages
elapsed before the influx of settlers from Europe, and
the increase of the native population render<»d the ex¬
ports of merchandise from America, her coffee, sugar,
cotton, cochineal, or indigo, of importance to the Com¬
merce of Europe : the chief effect produced during4:he
century following the discoveries of Columbus, arose
from a different cause ; from the increased supply of
gold and silver. This subject is of great importance in
a mercantile sense, and has a claim to be investigated
with minute attention.
Supply of Gold and Silver from America.
A
The Countries occupied by the Spaniards during the
thirty years following the discovery of the West Indies,
were St. Domingo, Cuba, Porto Rico, and other islands
in no way remarkable for the supply of the precious
metals. At last, in 1521, they obtained possession of
Mexico, and began to bring considerable supplies of
silver into Europe. The amount of these was greatly
increased after 1545, by the produce of the rich mines of
Potosi in Peru. It is thus about three centuries since
the import of silver from America began to be sensibly
felt in Europe ; and it seems fit, with a view to mark
the extent of the supply at different periods, to divide
that time into three equal periods. To begin with the
century that elapsed
From the year 1530 to 1630. At first about half a Commerce,
million sterling of silver appears to have been added to ^
the currency of Europe from the mines of America an- Fj*om 1530
nually; after which the quantity increased progressively,
so as to form, towards the close of the period, an addi¬
tion of about two millions annually ; the whole forming
an augmentation of metallic currency to the extent of
about one hundred millions sterling in a hundred years,
or an average of a million annually. This is, in sub¬
stance, conformable to the estimate of Mr. Jacob, in his
valuable publication. On the Precious Metals^ vol. ii.
p. 70. 131 ; after making a suitable deduction for the
proportion of the produce of the mines conveyed to India
or used in Europe for plate, ornaments, or manufactures.
We now come to the second period ; to the hundred
years which intervened
From 1630 to 1730, The produce of the American 1630 to
mines continued to increase largely during this century, ^730.
but as the export of silver to India, and its use in plate,
ornaments, and manufactured articles, was far greater
than before, the remainder, forming the addition to the
currency of Europe, ought not to be computed at more
than a million and a half, or two millions annually.
From 1730 to 1830. The course of circumstances 1730 to
continued for many years the same as before : the mines 1830.
increased in produce, but the export to India was main¬
tained, and the consumption of silver in plate, watches^
gilding, received a great extension ; so that the yearly
addition to the metallic currency of Europe appears to
have been on an average nearly as in the former cen¬
tury ; viz. from a million and a half to two millions
annually. If this addition was so nearly uniform, how
are we to account tor the remarkable fluctuation in prices
which has taken place in the last forty years ? we mean
their continued rise until 1814, and their continued fall
since that date. The answer is, that these fluctuations
had little connection with the state of the American
mines ; they were the consequence of the alternations
of War and Peace throughout Europe ; and, in England,
of the emission and contraction of Bank paper.
It thus appears, that during the first hundred years Rise in the
after 1530, the yearly addition to the metallic currency price of
of Europe from the American mines, averaged about a commodi-
million sterling a year ; and in the succeeding two cen?
turies between a million and a half and two millions
sterling a year. So large an increase of the circulating
currency had necessarily a great effect on the prices of
commodities in Europe ; but the degree of that effect
has in general been loosely stated and greatly exaggerated.
Since it is of great importance to ascertain as correctly
as possible the extent of the rise of prices at different
epochs, we shall, as before, divide the time that has
elapsed since 1530 into three equal periods ; beginning
with the century
From 1530 to 1630. According to common tradition From 1.530
and belief, the rise in the price of commodities in the to 1630.
course of these hundred years was enormous ; not less
than in the proportion of five to one, five hundred pounds
being required in 1630 to purchase the various articles
which a century before might have been bought for one
hundred. And that, too, not from alteration of the
coin ; for such is asserted to have been the advance in
prices, after making allowance for the different degrada¬
tions of the coin on the part of Government during
the period in question. Such is said by contemporary
writers to have been the rise of prices, not only in
England, but in France, Spain, Italy, and as far as
COMMERCE. 89
; Commerce, there are records, in all the maritime parts of Europe ;
all parts, in short, which, from participating in foreign
trade, were affected by the augmented supply of the
precious metals. And so far as regards the price of
corn, the rise appears to have been very great, whether
we judge by the returns from our markets from year to
year, or by the successive Acts of Parliament which regu¬
lated our corn trade during the period in question. Thus
the export of wheat from England was allowed by the
Act of
1562, when the home price was at 10^. per quarter.
1593 . 20.9.
1604 26.9. Sd.
1623 32s.
1656 40s.
This exhibits an advance in the remarkable proportion
of four to one in the course of a century, but such evi¬
dence is to be received with great qualifications. The rise
appears to have applied chiefly to our maritime districts,
to the vicinity of seaports, where, on a rise of prices
abroad, it was easy to buy up and effect an export of our
corn. In the inland Counties there was, from the want of
roads, a very limited intercourse in so bulky an article :
each district supplied its own wants ; corn was commonly
paid for by barter or by labour ; a mode of transacting
which was little affected by the state of markets in the
Capital and seaports. The abovemeiitioned rise cannot,
therefore, be considered to have been general either in
England or on the Continent, three-fourths of which
were at that time little influenced by maritime inter¬
course, but conducted their traffic on the primitive plan
of barter. In those parts the price of corn varied much
less.
Next in regard to the rate of payments for other pur¬
poses. The rise in the wages of labour during the XVIth
Century, though very considerable, was by no means in
proportion to the rise in the price of corn : the same dis¬
tinction held in regard to manufactvires, whether woollens,
linen, hardware, or leather, the cost of which, in those
times of deficient machinery, depended mainly on the rate
of labour. These form very important deductions from
the alleged rise in the proportion of five to one, and jus¬
tify us in materially qualifying the assertions of an Age
in which there were few Statistical returns and a con¬
siderable disposition to exaggerate. The point to be
ascertained is the advance not merely in corn and other
exportable produce, but in manufactures, house-rent,
wages, and the other constituents of family expenditure
taken collectively and computed together with the cost of
provisions. Now, reckoning in this comprehensive
manner, we consider that in the hundred years from
1530 to 1630, the rate of advance did not exceed two
to one ; that is, ¿^200 in the latter year would have suf¬
ficed to effect the purchases or pay the services which, a
century before, might have been obtained for ¿£"100.
We come now to the second century of the influx of
silver from America, viz,
1630 to From 1630 to 1730. During this period there was
also a rise of prices, but in an inferior degree. It took
place chiefly in the wages of labour and in articles of
which the cost depended principally on labour. Corn
did not rise either in England or in France, but there
occurred in most other branches of expenditure an
advance which rendered the rate of housekeeping and a
provision for a family more costly by nearly a fourth
than in the preceding century ; so that towards the
end of the period, the average rate of prices may bè Cummerce.
considered as in the proportion of five to four compared v-*—
with the rate at its beginning, ¿9250 being required
in 1730 to purchase the commodities which, in 1630,
might have been procured for ¿9200.
This brings down our calculation to the last of the
three periods ; to the century that intervened
From 1730 to 1830. During thirty years of this 1730 to
period prices were nearly stationary ; after 1764 they 1830.
rose progressively, but not rapidly ; after 1795, and par¬
ticularly after 1797, the era of the Bank restriction, they
advanced in a ratio beyond all example ; but after 1814
they tell with equal rapidity, so that the result of all
these fluctuations is, that in the present year the price of
a number of commodities taken collectively is "Teater
than it was a hundred years ago by little more than a
filth, the cheapness of manufactures forming a counter¬
poise to the rise in corn and other raw produce
The advance of prices in the XVIlIth Century ap¬
pears thus to have been in nearly the same ratio as in
the XVIlth.
The result of the preceding estimate is, that a given Summary,
amount of labour, provisions, raw materials, and manu¬
factures, which might have been purchased in England
for ¿9100 in money,
200,
250,
300.
about the year 1530
appear to have cost in 1630
in 1730
in 1830, or the present year
It is very remarkable that the rise of prices in the
first of these periods should have exceeded so much
that of the second and third, although the supply of
silver from the American mines continued to increase
during the whole time. This is a very nice question,
and a few remarks on it may tend to throv/ light on the
state of trade and manufactures in Europe in the
XVlth Century.
The effect of War and of a large Government expendí- Rise of
ture, as has been strongly proved in the present Age, is
to cause a considerable rise of prices. This effect is pro¬
duced in various ways : first by the direct addition to
the cost of an article from the imposition of a tax on it ;
next by the increase in the rate of freight and other
charges on intercourse ; but far more than all by with¬
drawing men and capital from productive to unproduc¬
tive employment ; from Agriculture and Manufactures to
military purposes. In the XVlth Century the belli¬
gerent Powers on the Continent were Spain, France, and
Germany ; the scenes of their operations were Italy and
the Netherlands. The rise of prices having been as
great in those Countries as in England, a part of that
rise is, doubtless, to be attributed to War; for this was
the time at which the principal Governments of Europe
increased their armies ; when our Henry VIII. and
Francis 1. of France indulged their chivalrous projects;
and when the more deliberate ambition of Charles V.
and Philip II. of Spain kept the fairest portion of Eu¬
rope in continued agitation. All this led to an increase
of public burdens, and to an advance in the price of com¬
modities, but not in a degree commensurate with the rise
in prices which actually took place. The century that fol¬
lowed Was still more marked by expensive Wars and
augmented burdens, being the time at which the aggres¬
sions of Louis XIV. roused all Europe against France,
and when the military establishments of that Country, as
well as of England and Holland, were doubled and
tripled ; yet the rise of prices was by no means so great as
XVlth Cen¬
tury
90
COMMERCE.
Commerce, in the XVIth Century. The latter must, therefore, have
been increased by peculiar circumstances, the chief of
which doubtless was the limited field on which the sup¬
plies of silver from America for some time acted.
The field for the use of silver was limited in this
manner: the population of Europe being* in those days
chiefly rural, and too poor to make use of silver, that
metal was current only among the inhabitants of the
Capitals, the seaports, and a certain number of inland
towns. Now all these places were then far below their
present scale both in numbers and property. The follow¬
ing Table may tend to bring the question to issue, by
conveying a view of almost all the towns entitled to be
considered as in any degree the seats of trade and
manufactures in Europe, three centuries ago.
Chief Towns in Europe in the XVIIth Century.
Italy.
Swisserland.
Commerça
Rome.
Turin.
Naples.
Parma.
Venice.
Padua.
Genoa.
Verona.
Milan.
Brescia.
Florence.
Cremona.
Bologna.
Pavia.
Pisa.
Mantua.
Sicily,
Palermo.
Messina.
Antwerp.
Ghent.
Bruges.
Brussels.
Catania.
Belgium.
Louvain,
Tournay.
Lisle.
Utrecht.
Groningen.
Middelburg.
The Dutch Provinces.
Amsterdam. Haarlem.
Rotterdam.
Dordt.
Leyden.
France.
Paris.
Marseilles.
Lyons.
Nantes.
Bourdeaux.
Rouen.
Metz.
Troyes.
Avignon.
England.
London.
Bristol
York.
Norwich.
Germany.
Hamburgh.
Bremen.
Lübeck.
Altona.
Brunswick.
Cologne.
Frankfort.
Aix la Chapelle.
Mentz.
Strasburg.
Coventry.
Plymouth.
Newcastle.
Ratisbon.
Leipsic.
Dresden.
Nuremberg.
Augsburg.
Munich.
Wurzburg.
Vienna.
Prague.
Berlin.
Basle.
Spain.
Seville.
Cadiz.
Madrid.
Granada.
Barcelona.
Geneva.
Saragossa.
Valencia.
Carthagena.
Malaga.
Riga.
Gottenburg.
Bergen.
Portugal.
Lisbon. Oporto.
The Baltic and Norway.
Copenhagen.
Stockholm.
Dantzic.
Königsberg.
Russia.
Moscow.
Novogorod.
Poland.
Warsaw.
Wilna.
Kiow or Kief.
Cracow.
Turkey.
Constantinople. Adrianople.
Salónica.
Such were in those days the principal cities and poveity of
trading towns in Europe ; the places to which the silver ap^ricul-
imported from America gradually found its way, and
gave a stimulus to productive industry, to mechanics, xVIth
manufacturers, navigators. Adjacent to most of these Centuries,
places was a considerable district cultivated in a manner
less rude than the Country at large : the peasantry had
there attained the rank of tenantry, and were enabled,
by their intercourse with the tov/ns, to pay their rents
in money, while nine-tenths of their brethren scattered
over the Provinces, were almost strangers to the use of
silver, and could pay their rent no otherwise than in
labour or produce.
What, it may be asked, was the collective amount of
population in the various towns which we have enume¬
rated and the neighbouring districts ? It appears to have
been in all between four and five millions ; but to these
are to be made two considerable additions : first the
lesser towns, whether maritime or inland, in which
there were half-yearly or yearly Fairs ; and the much
longer list of burghs or petty places in which there were
weekly markets, and which, poor and thinly peopled as
they were, have a claim to consideration in our estimate,
because silver was, to a certain extent, their circulating
medium. Adding the population of all these places
and their surrounding districts to that of the Capitals
and larger towns, we may consider the result as exhi¬
biting the total of the European community among
which silver at that time circulated. The number
seems in the earlier half of the XVIth Century to have
been below ten millions ; while in the latter half of
that period it may have amounted to between twelve
and fifteen millions, among whom, and not a greater
number, the silver from America appears to have been
distributed.
Though the numbers we have thus assigned to the
COMMERCE. 91
Gommereé. various towns of Europe and their adjacent districts are
not a fourth of their present population, they will be
found large when allowance is made for the total differ¬
ence of the times. In the XVIth Century country work
was so rudely managed, the ploughs, the tools, and
implements of husbandry, from scarcity of iron, were so
defective., that in every part of Europe so many as eighty
persons in a hundred were necessarily resident in the
country, the labour of thatl great proportion being indis¬
pensable to raise subsistence for the community at large.
There were then, as we have shown, very few roads,
and consequently few draught-carriages, for corn,
wool, and other produce were conveyed on beasts of
burden. Now such conveyance, being both difficult
and expensive, was considerable only in the neighbour¬
hood of towns : in country parts, that is, throughout
nine-tenths of Europe, each hamlet or district was
obliged to supply its wants from its local resources,
scanty as they were : traffic was carried on by barter,
and the only metallic currency was copper. All this
shows that we must beware of judging in any degree of
our farmers and peasantry of former times by those of
the present Age. A better criterion will be found
among the peasantry in the East of Europe, in Poland,
Hungary, Russia. There, even at present, the privations
are great ; the mode of living extremely rude : silver is so
little used in paying either wages or rents, that most of
the labourers are without the means of buying woollens
or manufactures of any kind ; they are obliged to pro¬
tect themselves from the cold of winter by a covering
of sheep or lamb-skins.*
Improved Condition of Agriculturists.
Such in the XVIth Century was the state of the pea¬
santry throughout Europe with the exception of certain
districts in Lombardy or the Netherlands ; or in the
vicinity of such Capitals as London and Paris. Money-
rents were very rare ; they arose in process of time out
of the improvements which productive industry received
from various causes, above all from the increase of town
population and the augmented supply of silver from
America. This may be best explained by a reference to
the present Age, in which we have had a very striking
example of the invigorating effect of a continued rise of
prices on farmers, merchants, and the productive classes
generally. After 1797, that is, after our Banks were
exempted from paying their notes in cash, money be¬
came abundant, and the check on the expenditure of
Government was removed. Provisions, arms, clothing,
shipping, were required on a scale of unprecedented
amount, and all were furnished without difficulty,
because the steadily continued supply of money gave a
general stimulus to the productive classes. Our growth
of corn being insufficient for our consumption, prices
rose year after year and the circumstances of farmers
improved, particularly in such parts of the Kingdom as
Norfolk, Northumberland, Scotland, in which long leases
are customary. Hence an increase of capital among the
better class of tenants, and a beginning of capital
among those who till then hardly knew what capital
was. Similar to this was the course of circumstances
among the tenantry of England, during the long reigns
♦ See a valuable book lately published On the Rent of Land and
Distribution of Wealth, by the Rev. Richard Jones See also Mr.
Macculloch's Commercial Dictionary, head of Fur Trade.
of Henry VIII., Elizabeth, and James I. : prices were in Commerce,
general on the rise, and our agriculturists experienced ^
a progressive improvement of their circumstances. This
improvement proceeded, it is true, very slowly compared
to that of our farmers during the memorable twenty
years from 1794 to 1814; but in one very material
point our ancestors had the advantage ; they suffered
no reaction ; the capital they acquired was preserved
and handed down unimpaired to their sons and grand¬
sons, prices continuing to rise during more than a cen¬
tury, and afterwards maintaining the advance that had
taken place. For silver continued to come in, and the
population of our towns, in other words the number of
the consumers of country produce, was regularly on the
increase.
The effect of an improvement in circumstances so
long and so happily maintained, was to change the more
active part of our peasantry into yeomanry ; into tenants
able and willing to pay their rents by money instead of by
the primitive mode of labour and produce. This change,
beginning with the districts adjoining the Capital and
the larger towns, extended itself gradually over the
more distant Counties during the XVIth and XVIIth
centuries, adding largely to the national wealth, and ex¬
tending the field for the circulation of silver. Holin-
shed, adverting in his Chronicles to the scanty portion
of silver circulating among our farmers about the year
1500, "says, "If one of them did cast down his purse,
and therein six shillings in silver, it was very likely that
all the others present could not lay down so much
against it." Now it is no exaggeration to assume, that
in the hundred and fifty years which followed the date of
this anecdote, the proportion of English farmers who
paid their rents in money, and who in their buying and
selling transactions made use of gold and silver, in¬
creased tenfold. A similar, though by no means an
equal improvement of circumstances took place among
the agriculturists in various districts of the Continent;
in the vicinity of Capitals, seaports, and the larger inland
towns. On the Continent there was also a regular in¬
crease in the number of the consumers of country pro¬
duce, distinct from agriculturists ; in mechanics, manufac¬
turers, the professional classes, and other inhabitants of
towns. In Holland this increase was rapid during the
XVIIth Century ; in France, Germany, Spain, and the
vicinity of the Baltic, it was slow, but in steady pro¬
gress. The labour of husbandmen became more effi¬
cient ; their tools and implements were improved ; a
given number were able to raise a greater quantity of
corn and other produce. The result of the whole was
a surprising increase in the number of persons, whether
in town or countrv, amonof whom i^old and silver circu-
V ' O D
lated ; so that a yearly supply from America of two mil¬
lions sterling was far less felt in Europe in the XVIIth
and XVIIIth Centuries, than one million had been in the
XVIth.
Having now explained the rise of prices, it remains Mercantile
to add a few remarks on the mercantile intercourse of intercourse
Europe with America in the XVIth and XVIIth Cen-
turies. This was long on a small scale, because the
thinness of the population in America restricted both
the supply of produce from that Country and the demand
for manufactures from Europe. The mode of conduct¬
ing the trade was this. The silver sent from America to
Spain was for account partly of the Spanish Government,
but more for that of Spanish merchants connected with
Mexico and Peru. It was landed at Seville or Cadiz,
92
COMMERCE.
Cjiiiinerce. whence the portion belonging to Government was for¬
warded to the 1 reasury at Madrid, while the sums re¬
mitted for account of individuals were delivered to the
merchants. On the part of the Government, these
periodical supplies were distributed and expended in the
purchase of arms, clothing, the pay and subsistence of
troops : on the part of the merchants, in the purchase of
quicksilver for extracting the silver from the ore at the
mines, of clothing and tools for the mining workmeUj
of machinery, and of various manufactures required in
Mexico and Peru, Countries in which the Art of manu¬
facturing was almost wholly unknown. Italy and the
Netherlands were the only Countries which had manufac¬
turing towns of importance: other parts of Europe par¬
ticipated in the trade directly, sending to these a supply
of raw materials. England, at that time too little ad¬
vanced in the weaving of woollens to send abroad
cloth, felt the benefit of the American trade in an aug¬
mented export of wool to the Netherlands ; in the same
manner as the iron mines in the North of Italy increased
their supply of that material to Milan and Brescia,
which were noted for their manufactures of hardware.
Extension
in the
XVI Ith
Century.
The Trade of Holland.
From the influx of silver from America, the promi¬
nent feature in our sketch of the XVIth Centurv, we
turn to that which most strongly marked the XVIIth,
the extension of the trade of Holland. No subject is
more interesting and instructive than the Commercial
prosperity of a Country, so limited in its extent and ap¬
parently so little favoured by Nature: in no part of the
World shall we find a more striking example of the
triumph of assiduity and perseverance over Physical
obstacles. And first as to the causes of this prosperity.
The progress of productive industry in Holland appears
to have been as follows. The vicinity of so much water,
as well along the coast as in the great maritime inlets,
led to extensive fishing on the part of the inhabitants, first
for their own supply, and next for sale to their neigh¬
bours. At the same time^ the repair of the dikes and
other works required to preserve so low lying a Country
from the irruption of the rivers and high tides, produced
habits of regular labour ; while, in the third place, the
practice of navigating the great rivers and the adjacent
coasts, gave the Dutch a knowledge of seamanship rare
in the Middle Ages in any part of Europe, except
Italy. The Dutch were thus enabled to become the
naval carriers, first of the North, afterwards of the
South of Europe, not only conveying to a distance the
products of different Countries, such as the corn, the
flax, the timber of the Baltic, the wool of England, the
wines of France, the oil and fruits of Spain and Portu¬
gal ; but engrossing the coasting trade of most of those
Kingdoms. Such was the situation of the Dutch about
the year 1570, when the intolerance of Philip II. of
Spain led to those Civil troubles which ended in Holland
and the adjacent Provinces withdrawing from his yoke,
and forming themselves into a separate State, under the
name of the Seven United Provinces. From that time
forward the Dutch added to their Phvsieal udvantaa'cs
the still greater blessing of good Government.s^ Having
suffered greatly from Religious Persecution, and seen
how much the public welfare is injured by it, they
opened their Country to oppressed foreigners ; and no
solicitation offoreignPowerscould ever prevail on them
to withdraw their protection from such refugees. Tole-
raiion in Religion was accordingly complete in Holland, Commerce,
at a time when in other Countries it was enjoyed very
imperfectly, or not at all : while in regard to the admi¬
nistration of justice, a strict impartiality was observed
between natives and foreigners. Hence the influx into
Holland of a number of valuable settlers, first from
Belgium and France during the persecutions for Religion ;
afterwards from Germany during the Thirty Years' War ;
and, in some degree, from England in the Civil troubles
under Charles I.
So early as the Xllltli Century Amsterdam and other
Dutch seaports were of sufficient importance to be
members of the Hanseatic body. Towards the year
1500 the shipping of Holland had so increased that
three or four hundred sail were regularly employed
in the Baltic trade, performing commonly two voyages
a year each. An equal number appears to have been
engaged in intercourse with France, England, and Spain.
Before the year IfiOO the shipping of Holland was
further increased, and still more in the course of the
XVIIth Century. John de Witt, who guided the affairs
of his Country so long and so ably, stated in his printed
Works, that in the twenty-seven years which intervened
between the Peace with Spain in 1643 and the time at
which he wrote, viz. 1670, the trade and navigation of
Holland had increased one half. This period was fol¬
lowed by long and expensive Wars with France, involving
a heavy addition to the taxation of the United Provinces,
and augmenting the wages of labour in a very injurious
degree. Still their institutions were so good, the advan¬
tages of the ample capital and tried industry of the in¬
habitants were so substantial, that their Commerce
continued long to stand its ground. In the year 1700 the
mercantile navy of England amounted by an official
return to 261,000 tons; the seamen to 27,000. Of
those of the Dutch we have no regular account, but it
is probable ttiat their numbers were fully double those
of Eiiglaiid, both in seamen and tonnage.
The Government of Holland never listened to the Causes of
false doctrine of endeavouring to raise or manufacture at its pros-
home articles which they could obtain at a moderate
price from abroad. The poverty of their soil was in
some measure the cause of this judicious policy and of
their extended navigation. They considered it no dis¬
advantage to part with money to buy corn in Germany
or in the Countries of the Baltic ; nor did they ever
stimulate a home manufacture by bounties. The trade
in corn was always free, and in consequence, so long as
two centuries ago, Holland was considered a depot for
the occasional supply not only of England, France, and
other neighbouring Countries, but of Portugal and
Spain ; for the warehouses of Amsterdam, according to
Sir Walter Raleigh, generally contained seven hundred
thousand quarters of corn, none of it of the growth of
the Dutch Provinces.
If we analyze the causes of the Commercial prosperity
of England, we shall find them to be partly Physical,
partly Political. Among the former are our length
of coast, our easy communication by water, the abun¬
dance of our coal and iron mines, and the vicinity
of these mines to navigable rivers. Of our Political
advantages, the chief have been the early introduction
of the Reformed Religion, the check of the legislative
on the executive branch of Government, and during seve¬
ral centuries a succession of Princes exempt, in a great
measure, from a mania for War. Holland could boast
neither of mines nor of a fertile soil : but in commuuica-
COMMERCE. 93
Commerce, tion by water her advantages were still greater than those
of England. She early enjoyed the blessing of the Re¬
formation, and possessed in her States or deliberative
Assembly, a direct though not always an effectual check
on the executive branch of Government.
Decline. Such were the causes of the extension of the trade of
Holland. We come now to the reverse of the pic¬
ture—to its decline. That dated from the early part
of the XVIIIth Century, and had made considerable
progress before 1750. Of this distressing change the
The Causes, cause was neither deviation from sound policy on the
part of Government, nor relaxed industry on that of the
people, but the pressure of heavy taxation, and the in¬
sufficiency of the resources of the Country to meet its
burdens ; first the sums required yearly for its defence
against the sea, and next the much greater payments for
the interest of the debt incurred in its long-continued
wars. In that respect the lot of Holland had been par¬
ticularly severe. She was oppressed in the first instance
by Spain, assailed in the next place by England under
Cromwell and Charles II., and finally obliged to resist
the unprincipled ambition of Louis XlV. during three
successive Wars; efforts by far too great for so small a
State.
Further causes of the decrease of Dutch navigation
may be found in the improvement of other Countries, and
in the measures of their respective Governments for ap¬
propriating to their own subjects first their coasting
trade, and afterwards their general import and export busi¬
ness. Ship-building and seamanship, Arts little under¬
stood in the North of Europe during the XVthand XVI th
Centuries, had now become familiar to the inhabitants
of the maritime districts of England, France, Denmark,
and the North of Germany. In all those Countries the
Governments took steps to carry on their foreign trade
by direct voyages, and to avoid the circuit of the Nether¬
lands. Entrepots were no longer necessary when a
knowledge of navigation had become general, and the
quantities of produce to be conveyed were so great as
to make it expedient to fetch them from the Countries of
their growth.
But the trade of Holland, though reduced as regarded
Europe, was still very considerable to India and the
West Indies until the latter part of the XVIIIth Cen¬
tury, when the contests with England, partly after 1780,
during our first American War, but much more after
the occupation of Holland by the French in 1795, led
to the most unfortunate results : to the loss of the
Dutch colonies, the continued suspension of their navi¬
gation, and a great depression of their funded property.
To these were added, after IS 10, the anti-commercial
edicts of Bonaparte, so that in the latter years of the war
the Country was plunged into the greatest distress.
The return of general Peace in IB 15, and the prospect
of its long continuance, revived the courage of the Dutch,
and led them to resume, in some degree, their Commer¬
cial activity. Without flattering themselves with a re¬
turn of their former prosperity, they have good grounds
to hope for a fair share of the trade of Europe. The
Rhine and the Maese are now more important than ever
as inlets into the neighbouring Countries, the difficulty
of ascending them being greatly lessened by steam navi¬
gation ; while in the maritime Provinces, the continued
level of the soil is very favourable to the conveyance of
bulky goods by land as well as by water. Great im¬
provements have of late been made in the public roads,
and that which in England is now sought at so heavy a
VOL, VÏ.
charge, a smooth surface, is found in Holland almost Commerce,
without expense. Add to this, that the scientific dis- «-v-^
coveries of the Age promise to be beneficial to Holland,
by lessening the heavy expense attendant on her peculiar
position. The strength of her dikes may be increased
by planting roots which in other Countries are found to
give tenacity to a sandy soil ; while the surprising im¬
provements lately made in England in raising water by-
steam-engines, cannot fail to be of service in a Country
so liable to suffer-from water overflowing and remaining
stagnant on the surface.
Commerce of England,
England was considerably later than Holland or Flam Historical
ders in arriving at Commercial eminence. Under William of
the Conqueror, the Public revenue appears to have been
between ¿^100,000 and ¿£200,000 a year, arising less from a^^d.^1000^
taxes than from the Royal demesnes. The population of to a d. 1500
England, whicli at the time of the Conquest hardly ex¬
ceeded a million, increased in the course of the succeed¬
ing three centuries to somewhat more than two millions,
such being the amount according to the census taken by
order of Government in 1377, the last year of the reign
of Edward III. The people were scattered in cottages
and hamlets over the open country, or rather over those
portions of it that were cultivated, for in those days
marshes, forests, and heaths covered a very large extent
of our territory. The villages, for they were too insig¬
nificant to be called towns, increased their population
very slowly. The pastures both for sheep and large
cattle were extensive : the chief export from the King¬
dom was wool, and the amount sent abroad varied from
¿£100,000 to ¿250,000 a year. This export took place
chiefly to Flanders, and, in a small degree, to France,
Spain, and Italy. London was the chief shipping port,
and the English of those days being unacquainted with
the Continental Languages, our foreign trade was con¬
ducted chiefly by foreigners residing in London ; viz,
Flemings, Italians, and Frenchmen. Business in bul¬
lion and coin was long carried on by Jews, but after
their expulsion, in the reign of Edward I., that important
branch was taken up by Italians from Venice, Pisa, and
Genoa, who were all called Lombards, and who gave
their name to the street so well known as the chief resort
of our Bankers.
Most part of the foreign trade of England in the
Middle Ages was conducted by Companies ; individual
capitals were scanty, and a joint stock was indispensa¬
ble to repair any considerable losses arising from ship¬
wreck or failures. The vessels employed in our foreign
trade were chiefly Dutch and Italian : those in the gation.
coasting trade were English, but they were few in num¬
ber ; for our towns were then too small to need any
great supplies of timber, coal, or other articles generally
brought by water. The coal-works at Newcastle, now
so interesting a part of our mineral treasures, were
wrought on a very small scale till after the year 1300,
for the fuel in common use throughout England was
wood, a great part of the country being covered with
forests. Coals, when first brought to London, were
used (as they are at present in France) only by smiths,
distillers, soap-boilers, and other manufacturers; not in
dwelling-houses, the smoke being considered injurious
to the health of a family. That prejudice continued
during several centuries ; but when it was at last re«?
moved, the superiority of coal as fuel, joined to the
Q
94 COMMERCE.
Effect of
war on
our trade.
Commerce, scarcity and high price of wood, rendered its use quite
general in London, and greatly increased the shipping
employed in our coasting trade.
The fisheries were carried on at an early date in the
Channel, as well as on the Eastern coast, and contributed
to the extension of several of our seaports, such as
Plymouth, Yarmouth, Colchester, Lynn.
The wars with France, waged by our Edwards and
Henrys, were very injurious to our productive industry,
but Civil wars are far more so than foreign contests,
whatever may be the expense of the latter. In this
manner the long struggles between the Houses of York
and Lancaster in the XVth Century greatly checked the
progress of our population, agriculture, and manufac¬
tures ; keeping the nation in a great measure from
reaping advantage from our extent of coast, our navi¬
gable rivers, and our mines of coal and iron. Happily,
those times of strife and bloodshed were succeeded by
a very long period (more than a century and a half) of
domestic quiet. This repose, together with the benefit
arising from the early introduction of the Reformation,
and a course of government, which, though very different
at different times, was, in the main, judicious, enabled
the Country to recover from its misfortunes, and to
establish its agriculture and tiade on a solid basis.
The XVIth The reign of Henry VII. afforded almost the first
Century, example of useful laws enacted in regard to the national
industry. Until then, the power of purchasing land had
been confined in England, as it is at present in Hungary
and other half-civilized Countries, to men of a certain
rank ; but a double blow was now struck at Feudal
usages, for while by one Act of Parliament landholders
were enabled freely to dispose of their estates by sale, by
another the compulsory services of the peasantry were
lessened or commuted for a money payment. Naviga¬
tion, too, now began to take a wider range, and voyages
were performed by English vessels to a considerable
distance ; to the Baltic, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Still
our intercourse with those Countries was small com¬
pared to that with Flanders and Holland, which^were
sufficiently advanced in Commerce to purchase our
wool, hides, and other raw produce, supplying us in
return with a variety of manufactured articles.
During the reign of Elizabeth the regulation of our
Commerce was committed to Cecil, a prudent, impartial,
and, so far as the state of information in that Age per¬
mitted, an enlightened Minister. He was very ready to
grant exclusive privileges for various branches of foreign
trade, such as that to the Levant, the Baltic, Africa, and,
lastly, to the East Indies. Such a course, however
contrary to our present impressions, was unavoidable in
an Age when individuals had little capital, and when,
without an assurance of ultimate advantage, they would
have been neither able nor willing to incur the expense
attendant on the outset of almost every mercantile settle¬
ment in a foreign Country.
We pass on to the latter part of the XVIth Century,
a time at which England had enjoyed a hundred years
of internal peace, and had reaped her full share of the
benefit arising from the influx of the precious metals
from America. Our towns were still small, and the in¬
habitants lived chiefly in the country, in Villages and
hamlets, but their situation, compared to that of their
forefathers, was amended in various respects. The
amount of the yearly exports and imports had increased ;
and so also had the personal comfort of all ranks, in food,
clothing, and lodging. The dwellings of the middle
and lower classes, from being little else than sheds or Commerce.
cabins of wood, were constructed, at least such of them
as were new, of stone and brick. This was the era at
which floors were substituted for the bare earth in the
lower part of the dwellings, and glass became generally
used in windows in lieu of the horn and lattices of
ruder times.
During the XVIIth Century, the Western or maritime The
part of Europe reaped the advantage of former dis- XVIIth and
coveries, and extended its navigation both to India and
America. The chief share of this Trade fell to the
Dutch, whose situation might be compared to that of
husbandmen practised in the labours of the field, and
ready to enter on the opening harvest, as they were
much more advanced in navigation and productive
industry generally, than either the French or English
of that Age. There was, however, a continued, though
very gradual, increase of our mercantile tonnage, and a
strong desire on the part of the Public to enlarge it at
the expense of our Batavian rivals ; hence our celebrated
Navigation Laws.^
So early as the reign of Henry VII. there were passed Our Nävi»
Acts of Parliament enjoining that certain commodities gation
from abroad should be imported only in English ships, baws.
manned by English seamen. Half a century later, in
the reign of Elizabeth, laws were passed to exclude
foreigners from our fisheries and coasting trade ; but it
was in 1651, and under the influence of Cromwell, that
the principal Navigation Law was enacted. Its chief
dispositions were as follows.
Merchandise of the growth or manufacture of Asia,
Africa( or America, to be imported only in English ves¬
sels, of which the master and chief part of the crew are
English.
Merchandise of the growth or manufacture of Europe
to be imported into Great Britain only in British ships
or in ships belonging to the Country in which the goods
were produced.
Such was the substance of the Act of 1651. In
1662 it was in some degree modified, and the injunction
to import in British ships was confined to certain articles,
called on that account " enumerated articles but these
comprised all goods that were bulky, or of importance
with a view to freight, such as corn, timber, hemp, flax,
wine, spirits, sugar.
These laws effectually prevented the Dutch from
acting the part of naval carriers between England and
other Countries, and necessarily increased our mercantile
tonnage, the amount of which was raised from 95,000
tons in 1660, to 190,000 tons in 1688.
Our North American colonies, in particular New Trade with
England, Virginia, and Maryland, considerably increased NorthAme-
their population and trade in the latter part of the
XVIIth Century. The shipping then employed in our ^ *
intercourse with them, though very different in size, was
equal collectively to about 200 vessels of 200 tons each.
There was an increase also in the trade of our West
Indian Islands, the chief of which at that time were Bar-
badoes and Jamaica. With all these colonies our prin¬
ciple of intercourse was monopoly for monopoly : we
required them to receive their manufactures wholly from
us, and to send to England in the first instance almost
all the produce they exported ; while, in return, we
opened to them our market of consumption, and im¬
posed high duties on similar goods when brought to us
* See that head in our Miscellaneous Division.
COMMERCE.
95
Commerce.
Trade with
Spanish
America.
With Portu¬
gal and
Brazil."
With India.
Acts of
Parliament
relating to
trade."
from other parts. Thus the flax, hemp, and ship-timber
imported into England from the Baltic were subject to
duty, while the same articles from North America were
duty free ; the culture of tobacco at home was prohibited,
in order that our market might be open to the tobacco of
Virginia. On the other hand, we required that the rice,
sugar, and other produce of our colonies destined for
the Continent of Europe should be sent in the first
place to England. The colonists were allowed to hold
direct intercourse only with the Countries South of Cape
Finisterre, viz, Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Levant; which
not being manufacturing Countries were not likely to
compete with us in the supply of finished goods.
Towards the latter part of the XVIIth Century, our
manufactures having acquired a certain degree of ex¬
tension, there took place a considerable export of them
to Cadiz, for the supply of Mexico and other Spanish
colonies. To this was, some time after, added an ex¬
tensive contraband traffic carried on between those colo¬
nies and our West Indian Islands. The Spanish Govern¬
ment exacted a duty on all manufactures imported into
America, and was very jealous of intercourse between
their colonists and Europeans ; but it was found im¬
possible to prevent smuggling along a coast of such vast
extent, and within the reach of such active navigators as
the English. The occasional rencounters between our
contraband traders and the guarda-costas^ or Custom¬
house vessels of the Spaniards, led to repeated conflicts,
and were one of the chief causes of the destructive war
between the two nations, which began in 1739.
Portugal being in close alliance with England, our
trade with that Country and her colonies was open and
unshackled : they bought from us quantities of woollens,
hardware, and other manufactures, giving us in return
wine, fruit, and occasionally gold from Brazil.
The nature of our East Indian trade differed mate¬
rially from that to North America or the West Indies.
We made no attempt to colonize India ; our exports to
it were less in merchandise than in silver ; our returns not
in produce but in calicoes, silks, and other light manu¬
factures. Of these, the half at least was re-exported to
the Continent of Europe, their consumption in England
being subjected to a heavy duty, in order that we might
preserve our home market for our own manufacturers.
The reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I.
had been the era of monopolies and exclusive grants ;
but under Cromwell many of these were abrogated.
This was a natural result of the progress of trade : the
capital, intelligence, and enterprise of merchants having
increased, it became fit and even requisite to open to
them the field of competition in business. Unfortunately
in the next reign, (that of Charles II.,) Government lent
itself to the urgency of our manufacturers and their
partisans in Parliament, so far as to impose heavy duties
on foreign goods. There was a general complaint on
the part of the Public, that a preference was given at
Court to French articles, and our Custom-house returns
certainly showed an increased import of the finer wool¬
lens and linens ; also of silk, paper, and glass from
that Country, the total value exceeding a million an¬
nually ; while the export of English articles to France
was comparatively insignificant. This led, in 1678, to
Acts of Parliament imposing a heavy duty on a number
of commodities from France; a course followed with
double vigour after the Revolution in 1688, and the
ensuing war ; national animosity concurring with the
belief that our interests called on us to exert our
utmost efforts to discourage the use of foreign articles Commerce.
and extend that of our own. In regard to English
goods exported. Government not only returned whatever
duties had been previously paid on them, but in various
cases granted a bounty on the export. It forbade also
the sending abroad our raw materials, such as wool or
hides, and half-finished articles, such as undyed cloths,
in order that all the work required to complete them
might be performed in this Country.
This was the beginning of what is called by Political TheMer-
Economists the Mercantile system ; a system which ap- cantile sys-
pears in a favourable light to men accustomed to judge
from first impressions, and who, conversant only with the
practice of trade, have little knowledge of its general
principles. Such men form their opinions on a very
confined view of things ; on the events passing under
their eyes, without considering that these are but a few
links in a complicated chain. Thus gold and silver
were in their view less the representatives of wealth, than
wealth itself ; and they judged it highly desirable to get
as much as possible of both into the Country : hence a
preference to a trade, such as that with Spanish Ame¬
rica, in which the returns were made in hard dollars.
Having become possessed of a certain portion of the pre¬
cious metals, the next point with the advocates of this sys¬
tem, was to secure our tenure ; hence the repeated prohibi¬
tions against the exportation of coin. It never seems to
have occurred to these reasoners that money, like any
other commodity, will find its way into a Country jxissess-
ing, either in produce or manufactures, articles which its
neighbours are desirous to obtain ; and that the true plan
to bring money into a Country is to favour the increase
of such commodities. Now the best method of favour¬
ing such increase is to lower duties, abolish exclusive
privileges, or otherwise remove the impediments to pro¬
duction. That done, the Legislature may safely trust
individuals with the sale of their property, satisfied that
wherever there is an abundance of valuable goods, there
will be no want of money to circulate them.
Another leading tenet in the Mercantile creed was that
v^e ought to make at home whatever is required for our
own consumption, even articles, such as silks, of which the
raw material is not of home growth. This might be a
very proper rule if every nation manufactured exclu¬
sively for itselfi and if our power of selling the articles,
in which we have an acknowledged superiority, such
as hardware and cottons, were restricted within specific
limits. But now that the World at large is open to our
exports, the wisest plan evidently is to leave manufac¬
turing industry to its natural course. One Country may
excel in one branch of a manufacture, and another in
another : thus as to silks, the French are superior in
fancy articles, the English in several other kinds of silk ;
and if we can sell the latter to our neighbours, it is
evidently our interest to buy fancy goods from them,
rather than to maintain an unprofitable competition in
making them. Let our general rule be to extend only
such manufactures as are best adapted to our national
means, such as require an abundant supply of fuel and
an extensive communication by canals. These are hard¬
ware, cottons, woollens, earthenware, glass ; and if we
can supply these on better terms than any other Country,
we may rest assured that their sale will be so augmented
as to afford us ample means for purchasing the articles
(and they are not many) which foreigners can supply on
better terms than our Countrymen.
The Revolution of 1688 led to our taking a promj^^
o 2
96 COMMERCE.
Commerce.
Effect on
trade.
The wars
after 1689.
Our inland
trade.
Interest of
money.
Increase of
our public
burdens.
nent part in Continental Politics and carrying on wars,
by means of the Funding system, on a scale of expense
till then altogether unknown. This had a remarkable
effect in several respects on the state of trade. First,
the decided superiority of our armed shipping obliged
both the French and Spaniards to trade with their colo¬
nies by means of neutrals, which proved a great advan¬
tage to Sweden, Denmark, and the seaports in the North
of Germany. These Northern States benefited also by
the increased demand for hemp, flax, canvass, and iron,
arising out of a state of war; while from England there
was an augmented export of clothing, arms, and other
military stores, these forming the most convenient mode
of paying subsidies to our allies. The natural effect
of the war was to lessen our intercourse, at least our
legitimate intercourse with France, for a great deal of
smuggling continued to take place between the two
Countries ; viz. in silks and laces from France to Eng¬
land, and in wool and hardware from England to
France.
Such was the state of our foreign trade in the middle
of the last century : in regard to our home traffic we are
arrived at the period when our inland communications
were greatly extended ; when our turnpike-roads were
improved, and canals began to be excavated. Hence
a remarkable increase in the manufacture of several bulky
articles, such as glass, pottery, and hardware, which
require canals for a double purpose ; first to bring coals
to the seat of manufacture during the process of pre¬
paration, and next to take the goods to market when
completed.
As to corn there was not, as in the present Age, an
insufficiency in our growth for our consumption ; there
was in general a surplus and an export of corn during
the first half of the XVIIIth Century.
The gradual increase of monied capital in England
was indicated by the progressive though slow reduction
of the rate of interest. In the middle of the XVTth
Century ten per cent, a year was allowed by law, and
was the usual rate for money lent on good security. In
a century later, under Charles II., money was commonly
lent at eight percent; but soon after 1700 the legal
rate was reduced to five per cent. Towards the middle
of the XVIIIth Century the current rate on good se¬
curity did not exceed four per cent. ; and in Holland
money could be borrowed still lower ; viz. at three per
cent.
In the hundred years which elapsed between the
accession of William III. and the French Revolution
England sustained five foreign wars, each conducted on
a great scale and at a very heavy charge. Their respective
dates were ;
From 1689 to 1697.
170-2 to 1713.
1740 to 1748.
1756 to 1763.
1775 to 1783.
The sacrifices attendant on such wars may be re¬
duced under two principal heads ; waste of capital as
shown by 'the yearly additions to the public debt ; and
loss of productive labourers, as well from the number
who fall in the contest as from the still greater number
who are withdrawn from agriculture, manufactures, and
mechanical works to the service of Government. Con¬
fining our estimate to the former of these heads, to the
increase of our public debt, we shall divide the wars
during the century in question into three parts ; thus,
The wars of King William and
Queen Anne lasted nearly twenty
years, and added to our debt.. *
Those under George II. fifteen
years
The American war under Geo.
III. eight years
Commercsw
¿^54,000,000
80,000,000
104,000,000
Each of these contests was maintained by our
Government with great ardour, and with as large a de¬
mand on our resources as it was possible to make with¬
out depreciating the currency. The waste of life and
property was consequently great, but that which took
place under William and Anne, was happily, in a great
measure, repaired during the long Peace which followed
the Treaty of Utrecht. After 1763 the season of relief
did not last so long, and the magnitude of our expendi¬
ture during the ensuing war with our colonies was un-
precedently large ; but, on the other hand, there was by
that time a great increase in our resources, in our
means of augmenting our products and of recovering
from the losses and burdens of war. Our canals were then
in a course of extension ; our towns had increased their
population ; the farmers were assured of ready sales
for their produce at fair prices ; the use of Bank paper
was becoming more general ; the cotton and hard¬
ware manufactures were in a state of activity ; and as
there was an increased demand for coal and iron, our
mines for both were wrought on a larger scale. These
are substantial constituents of public wealth, and they
enabled our Countrymen of the last generation to recover
from the gloom produced by that which at first seemed
an irretrievable misfortune, the separation of the North
American colonies from the Mother Country. These ad
vantages allowed our manufacturers to meet the French
and other rivals in foreign markets, and to retain the
supply of the United States of America notwithstanding^
the antipathy of the inhabitants to England.
Next came the Commercial Treaty with France, con¬
cluded in 1786, which opened the ports of one Country
to the other, and naturally led to a trial of their compa¬
rative ability to furnish the great articles of manufacture.
The advantage was in most articles on the side of this
Country, and the cause of it was not, as was so often
contended by Bonaparte and his partisans, unfairness
in the conditions of the Treaty, but the superior means
of our manufacturers ; a cause which still remains in
full force, and deters the French Government of the
present day, however friendly in its disposition to
England, from renewing the open intercourse, or in
other words, the competition between the two Countries.
Our financial difficulties were great in 1783 and the The period
following years, but our prospects gradually brightened from 1783
and our trade became flourishing both at home and abroad.
This improvement took place without the interference of
Government, for it was assuredly not caused by boun¬
ties, prohibitions, or other artificial expedients : it was
the legitimate result of our applying capital and indus¬
try to improve our national resources. Agriculture
prospered although the rise in the price of corn was
slight; our shipping was increased greatly notwith¬
standing its augmented cost. This, with the extension
of our manufactures and the increase of our population,
afforded a proof that, heavy as our burdens had be¬
come, we were not unable to bear them ; and that the
expenditure in our former wars, although occasionally
lavish and often injudicious, had not, as in the case
COMMERCE.
97
Subsequent
fluctua¬
tions of
trade.
Commercs. Holland, been carried so far as to produce a serious
decline in our productive industry.
The danger of such a decline was reserved for the
subsequent wars, conducted as they have been with an
unexampled profusion of treasure. Various causes
concurred to produce this extraordinary scale of ex¬
penditure. Our Sovereign was highly popular, while
the Revolutionary Government of France, and the
military usurpation which followed it, excited during
many years the greatest alarm. Mr. Pitt possessed
the public confidence in a high degree ; but above
all, the abundance of money arising from the exemp¬
tion of the Bank from cash payments removed the
usual checks on pecuniary supplies, and rendered
money abundant both with Government and the Pub¬
lic. Every departmer,t of productive industry felt the
advantage attendant on an uninterrupted command of
money. The old adage, " War begets poverty, and
poverty Peace," ceased to be applicable to England, for
all branches enjoyed, or seemed to enjoy, a degree of
prosperity hitherto unknown in time of war. The agri¬
culturist was enabled to pay an increased rent ; the
manufacturer to raise his rate of wages ; the merchant
found his transactions extend year after year, and profes¬
sional men in very many cases doubled the incomes which
they had received in Peace. No wonder, therefore, that
there should be a general belief during the war that the
wealth of the Country was on the increase ; few per¬
sons suspected that the rise of prices and incomes was,
in a great measure, nominal ; and hardly any could
foresee the extent of reaction at a Peace. It was not
until lately, that the continued decline of prices and
incomes has shown, beyond doubt, the unstable founda¬
tion of their increase during the war ; and has given
warning that a continued state of Peace is likely to bring
our markets still lower ; probably to the level of 1792,
©rounds of supposed grounds of our prosperity during the war
supposed are thus found to have been temporary and fallacious,
prosperity Our manufactures increased greatly in price, but that was
during indication of augmented wealth; it was owing chiefly
to a rise in the cost of labour, raw materials, and other
constituents of price. Since the Peace the picture has
been reversed ; the quantities annually manufactured
have increased greatly, but the prices have fallen in a
still greater ratio : the cause has been the decrease in
the cost of the raw material, in the rate of wages, and in
the profits of the manufacturer.
Our mercantile shipping presented a considerable in¬
crease during the war, but it was in a great measure
owing to the amount of tonnage employed by the
Transport Board. But of all the branches of our pro¬
ductive industry, our agriculture has placed in the most
striking light the diflerence of prices in War and Peace.
Corn and other country-produce continued to rise almost
without interruption during the twenty years of War ;
they have declined with equal uniformity during the
eighteen years of Peace. A similar rise and fall has
taken place in professional incomes, and if, in the im¬
portant head of house-rent, the decline does not extend
altogether so far, it has been owing to the^ progressive
increase of our population which since the Peace has
gained thirty per cent.
This continued decline of the prices of commodities,
and the consequent reduction of incomes, has come on
our merchants and manufacturers in a manner as little
expected, and as little understood, as was the rise of
prices and increase of incomes during the War. No
War.
subject has occasioned greater differences of opinion, or Commerce,
a greater variety of schemes for the relief of trade.
Most of these, when thoroughly investigated, are found
to give but slender assurance of the benefit so fondly
anticipated by their projectors : nor will merchants of
reflection consider it possible that the evils arising from a
lavish expenditure during twenty years, can be speedily
removed by any plans, financial or commercial, however
plausible. We have, however, the satisfaction of know¬
ing that the national resources are on the increase, and
that they bid fair to lessen, in the course of years, the
pressure now bearing so hard on the productive classes.
The first step towards a judicious application of these
resources is to acquire an accurate knowledge of our situ¬
ation, to obtain a distinct view of the origin and causes
of our difficulties. For that purpose we shall now
subjoin a summary of our Commercial and financial
aftairs from the entrance into office of the Statesman,
from whom the extraordinary fluctuations of the last half
Century certainly had their origin.
British Trade and Finances durwg the Administration
of Mr. Pitt
Mr. Pitt was placed at the head of the Treasury and
of the Government in 1784, at the early age of twenty-
five. His precocious advancement to this high station
w^as owing to several causes ; to his remarkable success
as a speaker, to the veneration entertained by the
nation for his father's memory, and to an impression
that the eminent qualifications of Lord Chatham bade
fair to reappear in his son. Our public men have
often had cause to regret coming too early into office ;
and often have they wished undone the favourite mea¬
sures of their early years. And if such was not the
case with Mr. Pitt, it was owing chiefly to the Coun¬
try remaining at peace during nine years after his ac¬
cession to office. The course to be followed by a Mi¬
nister during that period, though difficult, was not alto¬
gether so beset with perplexity as at a subsequent date.
Several of our present grievances were then, in a man¬
ner, unknown. The Corn Laws were then of very
limited operation ; provisions were dearer here than on
the Continent, but not in a degree to affect the success
of our manufactures or the comfort of our mechanics.
There was in those days no agricultural distress, for
though the prices of corn were lower than at present,
farming expenses were low in proportion, and there had
been no downfal from better times; no return from
Bank paper to cash payments ; no complaint of having
to pay in gold debts contracted in paper. The diffi¬
culties of that Age were altogether different : they arose
from the discouragement attendant on the recent loss of
our North American Provinces, and the low price of
our public funds. Several financial reforms were re¬
quired, but it was extremely unpopular to impose any
new tax to meet the deficiency attendant on such re¬
forms, or to make the revenue exceed the expendi¬
ture. The high duty on tea having led to a most ex- The duty
tensive system of smuggling, it was very desirable to on tea com
reduce the duty at least for some years, so as to cut up "^nted.
smuggling by the roots. A determination to that effect
was taken, but it required a substantial public advan¬
tage to reconcile Parliament or the nation to the taxes
granted in lieu, or, as it was called, as a commutation
for the tea duty. Some of the taxes imposed at this
time by Parliament, in particular the shop tax, Mr. Pitt
98
COMMERCE
Commerce, found it necessary to abandon. In a few years, however,
his difficulties were lessened by the growing produce of
the revenue, consequent on continued peace, increasing
population and extending trade. We possess but few
statistical documents for the period in question, and the
yearly increase of our numbers cannot be considered to
have been so high as at present, inasmuch as vaccination
was then unknown, and the cheapness of cotton-clothing,
which in later years has so greatly favoured the health
of the lower orders, did not then exist ; but the yearly
increase probably averaged one per cent, or upwards.
Hence an increase in the portion of revenue arising from
consumption. As to another material point, the value
of our manufactures exported, it rose during the earlier
years of Mr. Pitt's Ministry progressively from eleven
to fourteen millions; and eventually, in 1792, to eighteen
millions a year.
Commer- One of the first Commercial measures of ^Mr. Pitt
Gial Treaty ^^s a Treaty with France in 1786. The speech by which
with France, introduced this Treaty to the consideration of Parlia¬
ment was replete with sound and liberal views. The
conditions of the compact were fair and moderate, and
in the different transactions that ensued, a balance of
profit accrued to this Country, possessing, as it decidedly
did, superior advantages for trade and manufactures.
The Treaty thus became unpopular in France, and
proved a theme of frequent declamation with Bonaparte,
who, to ingratiate himself with the trading part of the
French, repeatedly declared that " never would he sign
such a Treaty as that which the art of the English
Ministers had extorted from the weakness of the Bour¬
bons."
The Sink" The year 1786 was the era of another measure of
ing Fund. Mr. Pitt, which for a long time was much vaunted—the
revival of the Sinking Fund. That fund originated
above a century ago with Sir Robert Walpole, in whose
day our finances differed greatly from their present
state ; our national debt being under sixty millions, and
our public revenue less than six millions a year. The
long peace enjoyed by this Country under that judicious
and vigilant Minister, added to the operation of even a
small Sinking fund, had the effect of greatly raising the
price of Stocks, so that in the year 1732 the three per
cents were at 100, and in 1739 at 107. As the loans
of individuals are affected in their terms by those of
Government, the low interest of the public funds caused
a low rate of interest generally, of which the monied
men complained, alleging that they could no longer
obtain a suitable return for their capital. To lessen
their complaints, as well as to avoid the odium of new
taxes, Sir Robert had no scruple in resorting from time
to time to the Sinking Fund for the payment of various
public expenses. This example his successors in office
showed themselves very ready to follow ; and the Sinking
Fund, though at no time wholly suspended, was so often
trenched on, that it did not discharge above fifteen
millions of the public debt in the course of half a cen-
tury.
Mr. Pitt's measure in 1786, was a revival of the
Sinking Fund, nearly as introduced by Sir Robert
Walpole, but with various safeguards to prevent the in¬
come constituting the fund from being diverted to any
other purpose whatever. With that view the whole was
put under the direction of a Commission, and the Com¬
missioners were rendered independent not merely of the
Ministry, but in some degree of Parliament. The sources
of the income of the Sinking Fund were.
1. An annual million to be paid to it out of the taxes, Commerce,
whatever might be the state of the revenue.
2. The amount of such annuities payable by Govern¬
ment as from time to time lapsed or expired by the
demise of the annuitants. And,
3. The interest of the Stock annually bought up by
the Sinking Fund ; such Stock not to be cancelled, but
to be entered in the books of the Bank in the name of
the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, the dividends
or interest on it going in aid of the Fund.
Such was the Sinking Fund of 1786 when brought
into full operation ; it extinguished annually about a
million and a half of three per cent. Stock : that is, the
public by paying in taxes a million sterling more than
they otherwise would, paid off as much of its debt as
reduced the interest by <£50,000 a year. This and this
only was the arithmetical operation of the measure ; but
benefit was expected from its principle, from Parliament
giving a pledge to the world that the nation, however
burdened by taxes, was determined to pay a million a
year above the Government expenditure, for the pur¬
pose of lessening its debt and keeping up the public
credit.
It is needless to enlarge on the flattering calculations Objections
of the effect of compound interest, with which Dr. Price
ushered in this boasted scheme. The annual million,
as well as the other sources of income to the Sinking
Fund, were evidently drawn from the pockets of the
Public ; in other words, they were abstracted from pro¬
ductive employment. The judicious Vauban, when
writing on the finances of France, long since told
the World, that were Governments wise, they would
be sparing of taxes : he said with truth, Uargent le mieux
employé est celui qui le Roi laisse entre les mains de ses
sujets, The Sinking Fund is now little thought of : it
has fallen almost into a state of non-efficiency. The '
question is how far circumstances, in the early part of
Mr. Pitt's Ministry, were such as to justify the adop¬
tion of the measure, or to reconcile its adoption with
the general admiration of his talents. Mr. Pitt was
then only in his twenty-seventh year, and could not have
reflected either long or profoundly on the sources of
national wealth. He had read Dr. Smith's Work, and he
discovered in his public speeches a very proper sense of
its value ; but that Work is not instructive on the subject
of taxes. But the great deficiency in Mr. Pitt's elements
of calculation was the absence of statistical documents,
and of proofs of the tendency of this Country to prosper
without any artificial aids. His natural good sense and
disposition to view the future in a favourable light,
might, and probably did, suggest to him reasons for con¬
sidering the national prospects as encouraging ; but he
was ill provided with documents on which to found such
an opinion with confidence. If, even at present, our
public men have no adequate idea of our growing
resources, it need not be matter of surprise that no man
of authority in those days should have come forward to
say, "Instead of making the nation pay a million a
year additional, keep the taxes at the lowest possible
amount, and trust to the benefit that will in a few years
accrue to the Treasury from a gradual removal of the
obstacles to the extension of productive industry." There
were in those days no population returns ; no evidence
that the increase of our towns added largely to the
national resources ; no proper estimate of the extent of
our iron mines ; nor of the benefit likely to result from
our abundance of coal when applied to steam machinery.
COMMERCE.
99
Commerce. Instead of such views, Mr* Pitt was probably assailed by
such suggestions as, The price of Stocks can be raised
only by continued purchases for account of Government,
and these can be made only by a Sinking Fund pro¬
vided with a yearly revenue ; the Stockholders desire
such a measure, and to the nation at large it will be an
indication of vigour ; a declaration that we are willing
to submit to an extra burden at present in order that we
may lighten the burdens of posterity/' This was very
plausible advice, and would be considered by the multitude
as both spirited and judicious. The course of our nar¬
rative will soon show the singular measures into which
Parliament was led, after Mr. Pitt's death, by the at¬
tractive name of a system of vigour so that we need
hardly wonder that he, young as he then was, surrounded
by feeble coadjutors, and unprovided with the documents
requisite to form right conclusions, should have pursued
a very different course from that which he would have
adopted in mature age and with more correct informa¬
tion.
A main cause of the Commercial and financial em¬
barrassments of this Country, has been the unacquaint-
arice of our public men with the principles of productive
industry. Of this ignorance a striking instance was at
that time given byMr.Fox, who,though opposed to Mr.
Pitt in so many of his measures, gave his cordial appro¬
bation to the Sinking Fund. This he was led to do
not from a knowledge of the subject, which he never
studied, but from the specious nature of the plan ; per¬
haps from a constitutional confidence which prompted
him, without much inquiry, to place a part of the
burden on our own shoulders instead of those of our
posterity. On the other hand Lord Greuville, so long
the colleague of Mr. Pitt, and his professed admirer,
subsequently altered his opinion of the Sinking Fund,
and has publicly maintained that the measure was im¬
politic.
French ^Ye are now arrived at the troubled era of the French
Revolution, ß^gyolution ; at the time (1792) when the Jacobins be¬
came guilty of the greatest excesses, and when the finan¬
cial relief to be expected from a continuance of Peace
seemed, in the view of our Court, and the major part of
our Nobility, a secondary object compared to the danger
that threatened us if we remained quiet spectators of the
commotions in France, Till this time Mr. Pitt had
maintained amicable relations with the ruling parties in
France, but when they had driven their King from his
throne, and declared their Government a Republic, he
was called on to come to a decision on the momentous
question of Peace or War. His personal wish was for
Peace : both the success of his financial measures, and
the prosperity of our trade, were connected with its
maintenance ; but after the murder of Louis, and the in¬
vasion of the Netherlands by the French, he assented,
and was in a manner obliged to assent, to the alternative
of War.
The determination once taken, it was conformable to
his character to prosecute the War with vigour ; to
regard his financial savings as secondary to our military
operations ; and while he maintained the Sinking Fund
as to form, to adopt a course which in fact suspended,
and much more than suspended, its reducing powers—a
yearly borrowing of money to a large amount. Our
navy, and still more our army, had been on a small
establishment during the preceding years, but both were
increased forthwith. In the second year of the War our
expenses were augmented ; in the third and fourth year
(1795—96) they were further increased, so that the scale Commerce,
of our expenditure much exceeded that of any former
period.
In raising supplies the Ministry experienced great
difficulty from two causes ; first the distress of trade
consequent on the high rate of interest, so much of
the capital of the Country being required by Govern¬
ment; and next the difficulty of providing for our dis¬
bursements abroad, which could not be met in Bank
notes but required specie. When a loan was proposed,
the anxious question in those days was not so much
what was its amount, as what part of the amount would
be required abroad. These were the chief causes of the
adoption of that measure which distinguished the late
wars from all others, and which gave Government a
great and long continued, but as the result has shown,
a delusive accommodation—the exemption of the Bank Exemption
from Cash payments. The immediate cause of that of the
measure was a continued drain of gold from the Bank
in February 1797 ; but we may safely affirm, that a step
of the kind had repeatedly entered into the consideration
of Mr. Pitt and the Bank Directors, as a relief from the
grievances under which all parties. Government, the
Bank, and the mercantile interest, laboured from the
magnitude of our expenditure. Anxious as were the
Bank Directors to support Government in the war,
they could not, in prudence, strip the Bank of its trea¬
sure so long as they were liable to pay cash for their
notes on demand. They watched, and were obliged
anxiously to watch, the exchanges with the Continent,
which a deficient harvest or the remittance of a large
subsidy to our allies never failed to render unfavourable
to us. In 1795 and 1796, both these causes had been
in operation: they had impoverished the Bank as to gold,
and had produced the greatest inconvenience to mer¬
chants by the difficulty of discounts. Accordingly, no
sooner did the exemption from paying in cash take
place, than the small notes issued by the Bank were
more favourably received by the mercantile body, who
hailed the change as the era of their relief, the dawn of
a season of abundance. The Bank was now no longer
under the necessity of watching the exchanges, or of re-
strictingtheir advances to eitherGovernment or merchants,
on account of their stock of cash being limited ; they
merely looked to the security, to the probability of the
bills offered to them being regularly paid when due.
The relief thus afibrded to the Public was general and
complete; it pervaded every part of the Country.
Fanners had no longer difficulty in paying their rents,
nor householders their taxes, greatly as they were now
increased. The price of commodities, whether produce
or manufactures, rose year after year ; the same was the
case with wages, salaries, professional incomes. The
War was no longer unpopular, and the financial mea¬
sures oí Mr. Pitt were extolled as the instruments of our
political salvation.
In this manner were we conducted to the end of the
first war with France. Happy would it have been had
we understood the precarious and unstable character of
a paper currency when not convertible into cash, and
had we been aware, that circumstances might, and very
probably would, arise, to carry its depreciation to a
serious length. During the first year of the War,
renewed in 1803, Mr. Pitt was out of office, but in Renewal of
questions of trade and finance his opinion had at all
times the greatest weight. An income-tax of five per
cent, was proposed by Mr. Addington, and met with
loo
COMMERCE.
Commerce, very little opposition after Mr. Pitt gave his opinion
that to Impose it on funded property was no breach
of faith with the public creditor. On another occa¬
sion in which he dissented from a tax proposed by
Mr. Adding'ton, and adopted by a majority of the
House, the members saw the Minister appear next day
in his place and withdraw the Bill they had sanc¬
tioned, doubtless because he considered the dissent of
Mr. Pitt as the most serious of evils. Next year,
1804, Mr. Pitt was recalled to office, but his tenure of
it was unhappily too short, for in less than two years his
death took place, at the early age of forty-seven, and in
the midst of our contest with France.
British Trade and Finances since the Death of Mr. Pitt,
The successors of Mr. Pitt in the financial depart¬
ment were first Lord Henry Petty, (now Lord Lans-
downe,) and afterwards Mr. Perceval. Both followed
up Mr. Pitfs plan of finance, the main feature of which,
after the increase of our circulating medium had re¬
lieved the wants and increased the incomes of indivi¬
duals, was " to raise the chief part of the supplies within
the year that is to borrow less than we had done pre¬
viously, and to look for the chief provision for our ex-
încreaseof penditure in high temporary duties ; in other words in
war-taxes, war-taxes, so called because Government was pledged
that they should continue only during the War.
When the Grenville Ministry was removed from
office in March 1807, our trade and finances fell under
the direction of men who moved in the footsteps of
Mr. Pitt, but who, when compared to him as to in¬
formation and judgment, were distant longo intervallo.
They had not been a year in office before they discovered
an unacquaintance with the course of our foreign trade,
a total unconsciousness of the precarious nature of our
Bank paper, by adopting a measure which Mr. Pitt
would never have sanctioned—the stoppage of neutral
navigation. This was effected by the Orders in Coun¬
cil of November 1807, a measure never thoroughly un¬
derstood either by the House of Commons or the Public.
These Orders were expressed in the complex style of
law papers, and their true object was kept studiously
out of sight, as well it might be, for never was there a
Commercial edict less to be justified, or less fitted to
bear investigation. The real account of it is as follows ;
Neutral ^ The War had by that time lasted above twelve years,
the advan- added heavily to the expense of our ship-
tages which owners : timber, hemp, wages of seamen were all en-
it enjoyed, hanced, and an extra time was generally required for the
voyages of our merchantmen from the necessity of wait¬
ing for convoy. From these various disadvantages
neutral vessels were free, and their navigation being
carried on at less cost, they had an advantage over Bri¬
tish shipping which could ill be brooked by the sub¬
jects of a Government which commanded the Ocean.
Hence repeated attempts on the part of our merchants to
cramp their navigation ; attempts which had been re¬
sisted by Mr. Pitt, and which had no chance^of success
with Lord Grenville. But the case was very different
on Mr. Perceval coming into office : from his profes¬
sional habits, he was necessarily unacquainted with
trade, and had unfortunately given his confidence to
those lawyers and merchants who were most clamorous
against neutrals. No sooner, therefore, had our attack
on Copenhagen in the Autumn of 1807 succeeded, than
the party in the Cabinet, whose creed was a system of
»
vigour," urged, and in despite, as was said, of the oppo- Commeic«.
sition of Lord Hawkesbury, obtained the adoption of
the Orders in Council against neutral navigation. Stopped in
They prescribed that " neutral vessels, whithersoever
bound, should put into a port either in England or in
one of our dependencies, there to pay certain charges and
receive a license or sanction for the continuance of their
voyage.'' Such an edict was not, in point of form, so
strong a measure as a direct stoppage of neutral navi¬
gation, but the authors of the Orders doubtless antici¬
pated that they would have that result, particularly in
the case of the Americans ; as a nation claiming to be
independent would hardly submit to such an acknow¬
ledgment of inferiority. The consequence was, that
the American Government prevented their merchant-
vessels from going to sea, and a general suspension of
their navigation took place.
The effects of this suspension on the trade, the credit, Conse-
and the finances of this Country were pernicious in of
a high degree ; much higher, indeed, than is even yet
known to the Public, for the evil was not at once ap¬
parent ; it came on us indirectly and covertly. First, as
to our Bank paper, the American merchants had been
highly instrumental in maintaining its credit in the fol¬
lowing manner. They sold every year to France, Hol¬
land, and the rest of the Continent of Europe produce
to a large amount ; larger by three, four, or five mil¬
lions than the value of the goods they took from those
Countries in return. In what manner was this balance
disposed of? It was paid to the Americans in money,
and was sent over by them from the Continent to
England, where it was applied to pay our merchants
and manufacturers for the very large quantities of goods
which they sent yearly to the United States. The Ame¬
ricans were thus the medium, or rather the cause, of
continued remittances to this Country in money or hills
of exchange; this had been the case every year since the
Bank exemption in 1797, and serves to explain a fact
which had surprised ourselves almost as much fo¬
reigners ; viz. that our Bank notes should escape depre¬
ciation so long after they had ceased to be payable in
cash. By stopping the navigation of the Americans
we deprived ourselves of this important resource. In¬
stead of buying our manufactures, they were obliged to
manufacture for themselves, to the incalculable injury of
our woollen and cotton trade ; while from the Continent
of Europe they could make us no more remittances
because we had precluded their intercourse with Holland
and the other Countries which supplied them.
The consequence was a rapid fall in the value of our Our Bank
Bank notes compared to coin, at first of ten or twelve
per cent., afterwards of fifteen, eventually of twenty per e .
cent., and upwards. Other causes, it is true, cooperated to
produce this unfortunate result, in particular our military
expenditure on the Continent, and the large amount of
specie sent abroad to buy corn ; but these would have
been, in a great measure, counterbalanced by remittances
from the Americans had they been allowed to continue
their trade. Unfortunately Mr. Perceval and several of
his colleagues continued to think differently ; the Ame¬
ricans bore their grievances in peace during four years,
but at last, in June 1812, they declared war against us.
In vain did Lord Liverpool repeal the obnoxious Orders
almost immediately after Mr. Perceval's death : the
Americans mistook his motives and persisted in the
war. It lasted nearly three years, and if we make a
computation of the loss of property caused to us from
COMMERCE.
101
Commerce, first to last by this unfortunate quarrel, first, by the
failure of Americans who were largely indebted to our
merchants; next, by the depreciation of our Bank
paper; and lastly, by the war with the United States,
we shall find the aggregate to be little short of two
hundred millions sterling ; that is, of the twenty-eight
millions which we now pay annually for the interest of
the public debt, no less than seven or eight millions are
to be traced to our unfortunate stoppage of the trade of
neutrals during the last seven years of the war !
The year 1812 was a season of trial for our finances ;
the war in Spain was at its height in point of expense,
while Russia required all the pecuniary aid we possibly
could afford her. Next year, 1813, called for still
greater efforts : the chances were now in favour of our
allies, and never could our resources be better applied
than in their support. It became necessary to trench
on the Sinking Fund : Ministers did so, but in an in-
Part of the direct and disguised manner. They thought it essential
supplies of to have the appearance of maintaining the integrity of
Fund^a^^"^ the Fund, and it will hardly be believed that at the time
propri^ed ^ large sum was drawn from it, there issued from Lord
to the war. Bexley's office a printed paper gravely stating that the
reduction of our debt would proceed more rapidly after
making this abstraction, than on the former plan which
abstracted nothing. So strange a misrepresentation
seems almost incredible, but in truth the history of the
Sinking Fund contains a series of misrepresentations
quite unworthy of the Government of a great Country,
and to be palliated only on the ground that, during an
arduous struggle. Ministers may be permitted, for the
sake of keeping up public credit, to resort to steps which
in time of Peace would be altoge*iher inexcusable. Nearly
half a century has elapsed since the Sinking Fund has
been held forth to the Public as our financial sheet-
anchor, the instrument by which we were to be relieved
from the pressure of our debt ; yet the actual bona ßde
reduction effected by it during all that period has not
exceeded thirty millions Î
It is now above twenty years since the date of our
Second Population Return, which established beyond
all question the progressive increase of our numbers and
resources. From that time forward Ministers were re¬
lieved from the necessity of artificial expedients ; fortified
by such a document, it would seem that they had merely
to declare to the Public that the repayment of our debt
was no longer requisite, and ought not to be attempted ;
that the great object was to favour the extension of our
productive industry, by which means our debt, though
the same in numerical amount, became less in propor¬
tion to the collective funds of the nation. At times,
Ministers appear to have been actuated by such views,
having repealed several taxes on account of the injury
they caused to trade and manufactures, such as those on
salt, on coals, on hemp and silk, and the tonnage duty
on shipping: but much that was injurious remained.
The occasions on which the financial knowledge of the
House of Commons was chiefly put to the test were in 1811,
in the discussions on the Bullion question, and in 1819 on
the resumption of cash payments. What an inattention to
facts did these discussions discover Î how scanty a know¬
ledge of Statistics î how great a tendency to adopt plau¬
sible theories and to hasten to premature conclusions !
The causes are that the mercantile Members of the
House are little in the habit of public speaking; while
of the other Members, the major part are unacquainted,
not merely with Commerce, but with the principles of
VOL. VI.
productive industry generally. Our great Universities, Commerce,
at which so many of the Members have received their
education, have not till very lately possessed the means
of instruction on such subjects ; and of the Works
hitherto printed on Political Economy the chief part are
obscure, intricate, abounding in theories, and deficient
in practical illustrations.
Having now brought down our narrative to the close of
the last War, we shall in the next place endeavour to
explain,
1. The sources of our high prices and large financial
supplies during that War; and
2. The causes of their diminution since the Peace.
Singular it certainly is, that in a Country in general
so enlightened as this, we should still be in doubt as to
a subject so nearly regarding us, and in respect to
which the opinion of the Public ought long since to
have been fixed. But neither our merchants nor our
public men are by any means agreed about the causes
of these fluctuations. The inquiry is long and com¬
plicated, and those who, from their official situation, were
best fitted to cast light on the subject, have been either
prevented by pressure of business from probing it to the
bottom, or have been unwilling to speak out as to a
course of poKcy, which, since the general reaction, has
been viewed unfavourably by the Public, and led them
to censure severely the management of the War.
To go back to the years 1790, 1791, 1792. This state of th«
Country was then in profound peace, and, if there were Country m
occasional complaints, as at present, of over-competi-
tion, the condition of our trade, manufactures, and agri¬
culture was, on the whole, satisfactory. The interest of
money was moderate, and capital might be borrowed on
fair terms to carry on any judicious undertaking ; but
there were few examples of sudden rise of price, and few
Companies whose stock or shares formed an object of
speculation on the Stock Exchange. This tranquil
condition of our national industry, this medium between
activity and stagnation, underwent a material change as
the War proceeded, and as our public establishments were
increased. The large demand for money by Govern- Effect in
ment in the shape of loans, raised the rate of interest, Warofpub-
and led to the suspension of many undertakings, such as He loans
canals, buildings, manufactories, for which abundant
capital and a low rate of interest are indispensable,
Hence the discharge and non-employment of a consider¬
able number of persons, partly in the middle, more in
the lower ranks. But that was soon balanced, and
much more than balanced, by the new employment
arising from the War, first in the army, the navy, and
the Civil service of Government; and next in the supply
of arms, clothing, naval stores, repairs of shipping,
building of barracks, and the performance of many other
contracts. That these employments were of great
extent was evident at the time to all who had the oppor¬
tunity of personal observation, and is equally evident
to others, by the unparalleled expense of the war, which
beginning at twenty millions sterling a year, extended
progressively to thirty, forty, and eventually to upwards
of fifty millions a year.
The number of men withdrawn from productive in¬
dustry, and employed in the army, navy, and militia,
was great beyond example. Already, in the year 1804,
they amounted to 400,000 under arms, to whom we
may add at least half as many for the manufacturers of
clothing and arms, the shipwrights, the importers of
P
102
COMMERCE.
Commerce, stores, the performers of contract work for Govern-
* ment under various forms ; making in all 600,000 men
employed for account of the Public. This very large
number was drawn from the able-bodied part of the
population, who would otherwise have been added to
our farming labourers, our mechanics, our manufacturers ;
in the same manner as the officers in the army and navy,
and the employes in the Civil offices, were young men
who would otherwise have been occupied professionally
or commercially. Hence a great demand during the
War for the service of individuals in the middle as in
the lower ranks ; a rise in the rate of wages, salaries,
and the price of commodities in general ; together with a
ready engagement for almost all, high or low, who were
able and willing to work. Many who, from deficient
activity or mediocrity of parts, would in a state of Peace
have remained unemployed, were brought by the War into
situations attended with income ; many of them in
the public service, others in that of individuals. No
wonder that under such circumstances the means of
rearing a family should be augmented, and that our
numbers should continue 4o increase. The waste of War
was little felt in comparison with the number (250,000
or 300,000) added annually to our population. The
rate of increase was greatest in towns, the higher wages
inducing many thousands of the country youths to be¬
come mechanics and manufacturers. Now in towns,
particularly in the larger towns, the working classes
being so much better paid than in the country, can
afford to live better, and to consume more articles pro¬
ductive to the Exchequer. They wear better clothing,
consume more animal food, as well as more groceries.
Increase of beer, and other exciseable articles. These details, homely
the revenue as they are, require to be stated, because the consump-
during the lower orders forms a material part of the
revenue, and our object is to show in what manner and
from what causes, the public income increased in so
remarkable a degree during the War.
Our taxable It may be useful to attempt a short sketch of the
income. heads of our taxable income. It consists first of the
income of the upper and middle classes, and next of
that of the better paid portion of the lower orders, the
whole coming under the following heads:
Rent of land ;
Rent of houses ;
Dividends from the public funds ;
Pay of the army, navy, and public offices ;
Income from trade and professions ; and, lastly,
The wages of the better class of mechanics and
manufacturers.
Now the effect of the War and of the extended circu¬
lation of Bank notes was a great increase in the pecu¬
niary receipts of individuals ; in the rate of wages,
salaries, and the price of commodities generally. This,
in other words, was so much added to the money amount
Its great of the national income subject to taxation. In 1792,
increase. before the War, our national income, subject to taxation,
appears not to have exceeded in money one hundred
and thirty millions sterling ;
Butin 1806, after thirteen years of war, it had risen
to two hundred and twenty millions ;
And eventually, in 1813, after twenty years of war, to
three hundred millions Î
Such was the extraordinary result of a War, conducted
chiefly by means of Bank paper. In former Ages thè
small Republic of Holland, which, compared to other
Countries, seems little more than a speck on the Map of
Europe, maintained long and expensive struggles with Commerce.
powerful States, in particular with Spain and France ;
but the scale both of the revenue and public debt of
Holland was but a miniature of that of England.
But how were we enabled to continue so long and
so enormously expensive a contest ? Because, of this
vast outlay nine parts in ten, or rather nineteen parts in
twenty, were little more than Vi circulation ; a reissue to
the Public for clothing, stores, the pay of the army and
navy, and other heads of expenditure, of the very large'
sums drawn from the Public by loans and war taxes.
Thus the Treasury received from the tax-gatherer and
loan-contractor a given sum ; it reissued the same in
payment of stores, of personal service, or of the interest'
of borrowed money ; and the respective parties, thus re¬
ceiving sums from the Treasury, paid back great part in
excise and other duties. Our taxes and our expenditure
were thus a continued circulation, and had they not been
so, neither this nor any other nation could have with¬
stood them for two years ; but the difficulty is explained
from the time at which we see the Exchequer returning
with one hand what it had received with the other ;
particularly when we find that no less than twenty mil¬
lions a year of our expenditure were at the charge of
posterity; that is, the money borrowed yearly during
the War was on an average twenty millions ; so that the
circulation of that very large sum stimulated our pro¬
ductive industry without any other burden at the time
than that of the interest.
It may be useful to explain what is meant by an ex- Charging
pression which is applicable to persons in trade under and counter-
any circumstances, but particularly under such as we charging in
are now describing. The rise which during the War
took place in the rate of wages, joined to a rise in the
price of raw materials, such as wool or flax, led neces¬
sarily to arise in the price of the finished article ; that is,
the manufacturer charged to his customer the additional
sum he had been obliged to pay to his workman and to
the grower of the raw material. The purchaser natu¬
rally objects to this extra demand or not, according as
he may find difficulty in charging it again to the export¬
ing merchant, or to whoever buys from him. But, at a
time when prices generally were on the rise, there was
little objection to an augmented charge ; the principal
point was to obtain the goods. In like manner our
farmers, receiving a higher price for their corn and
cattle, had no objection to pay back a part of their new
profits to the different shopkeepers and tradesmen from
whom they received supplies. It was thus that the
extra price paid in one stage of a transaction was repaid
to the disbursing party in the next ; charging and
countercharging went on in a circle ; and with compa¬
ratively few objections after the exemption from cash
payments in 1797 made money permanently abundant.'
Such were the causes of that remarkable state of
things in which our resources seemed to increase year
after year with the demands on them, and the magni¬
tude of our financial means were as much an object of
surprise to ourselves as to the nations of the Continent.
But so unnatural a combination of circumstances could
not last ; the War came to an end, and with it our loans
and War-taxes. Our army and navy were reduced; the The Peace
militia ceased to be embodied ; the contracts for stores and générai
were greatly lessened. The thousands and tens of thou-
sands of able-bodied men lately drawn away for the public
service, were now left quietly at home and allowed to fol¬
low a productive employment. Hence a general fall iix
COMMERCE.
103
Commerce, tiie price of commodities, followed by the non-employment
^ of very many persons, and by reduced wages to those who
were kept at work. Corn, which had so long fetched
a high price, now fell thirty and forty per cent. ; the fall
was equal in other articles, such as timber, hemp, flax,
in every thing, in short, of which the import from
abroad, long prevented by the War, was now open and
unrestricted. The consequence was the failure of many
thousand persons, whether agriculturists, merchants, or
manufacturers, and a general complaint that though the
income-tax, amounting to so much as fifteen millions a
year, was taken off, the pressure of our public burdens
was felt much more severely than during the War. In
fact, the Public have had since the Peace as much or
more difficulty in paying fifty millions a year, as had
been felt in paying seventy millions during the War.
Never was there a more unexpected result. Our public
men, far from anticipating financial embarrassment at a
Peace, had considered it likely to be, what Peace had
generally been in former Ages, à season of relief. The
War had lasted so many years, that few either of our
Ministers or our merchants, preserved an adequate re-
Not under- collection of a state of Peace. Sir Francis Baring, and
stood by our the men of his day, who had witnessed our financial
public men, difficulties at the end of the American War in 1783
and 1784, were no more ; we had lost Mr. Pitt also,
who, as he was the only Minister who could have pre¬
vailed on the nation to incur such an enormous expendi¬
ture, was the only one capable of devising measures for
lessening its eventual pressure. Lord Liverpool, Mr.
Huskisson, and others of our public men who gave, or
rather endeavoured to give attention to such subjects,
(for the urgency of current business is too great to
enable men in office to think either long or profoundly
on a difficult subject,) had not, from their time of life,
witnessed the state of our trade and finance at the close
of the American War. The consequence was that things
were left to their natural course, and no step was taken
by Government to lessen the reaction, or to relieve the
classes more particularly exposed to its pressure.
Lord Lauderdale, who had studied Political Economy,
and had given a great deal of attention to the Bullion
question, foresaw in the last year of the War apart of
the approaching reaction. He stated in Parliament,
that since the depreciation of Bank paper, twenty shil¬
lings of our currency were worth no more than fifteen
in gold or silver, and he recommended that, on, return¬
ing to cash payments, existing contracts should be ad¬
justed in that proportion. There could be no doubt of
the propriety of our returning, as soon as at all practi¬
cable, to cash payments, and of our getting quit of so
glaring an irregularity, as that of Bank notes not con¬
vertible into coin ; the question was on what terms, on
what proportional scale, the reinstatement of our cur¬
rency ought to take place. Had Parliament foreseen the
general decline of prices that has taken place, they
would probably have listened to the admonitions of his
Lordship, and of others, who entreated them to pause
before engaging to pay in cash without deduction, the
enormous sums that had been borrowed in paper. But
the close of the War was a time of general excitement;
we had fought our battles with success ; we had accom¬
plished the deliverance of Europe ; we had reduced
France and her proud ruler to their level; and
among so many subjects of self-congratulation we were
little disposed to listen to unfavourable views, or to
adopt negative measures. There was a general expect¬
ation among merchants, as among Members of Parlia- Commerce,
liament, that the depression of trade would be of short
duration ; an impression which the course of events has
been far from confirming.
Fluctuations in our Trade since the Peace.
The overthrow of Bonaparte in 1814, reopened Exports to
to our trade the Netherlands, France^ Italy, Denmark, the Conti-
in short every part of the Continent from which he
had excluded our merchandise during several years ;
that is, from the time that he had thought fit to enforce
the execution of his insane anti-commercial edicts
of Berlin and Milan. These prohibitory decrees were
coincident in point of time with our stoppage of the
American trade, and under the joint effects of the
two, the prices of various articles had risen to a height
almost unknown in the History of trade; tea selling
on the Continent for ten and twelve shillings a pound,
sugar for five and six shillings. This had led to
very singular expedients, such as conveying groceries
and other articles into Germany by land, unloading
them first at Salonichi in Greece, and carrying them,
on the backs of mules and horses, through Servia
and Hungary, into the heart of Germany, a distance of
nearly two thousand miles. Such was the miserable
waste of money and labour consequent on the struggle
between the two Governments ; our Ministers having
put an end to the navigation of neutrals, and Bona¬
parte being determined that British shipping should not
take their place. Happily the overthrow of his armies,
first in Kussia, afterwards in Germany, burst the chains
by which he fettered the activity of merchants, and
opened the Harbours of both the North and South of
Europe, to our exports. But, as usual, the ardour of
our merchants carried them too far, for they had no
adequate idea of the impoverishment of the Continent.
Looking on the Map at the vast extent of coast, and at
the number of large cities now re-opened to our trade,
our speculators considered, that if England alone con¬
sumed annually above 15,000 tons of tea, and 150,000
tons of sugar, the consumption of the Continent must
be at least equal. Of the success of these adventures,
the speculators had no doubt ; their anxiety was to lose
no time ; to be the first to arrive in the Continental
markets. The result however was, in general, unfor¬
tunate ; the foreign buyers were wholly unable to pay
the price required to indemnify the shippers in Eng¬
land : and since it was necessary that sales should be
made, thev were made at a ruinous sacrifice.
' éí
Such was the state of our foreign trade at the end of
1814. The year following was ushered in by the news
of the Peace between England and the United States of
America, which opened or seemed to open a great market
for our manufacturers. This was a new field and re
garded a class of our traders quite distinct from those who
had suffered by the exports of the year before. They
were, however, as full of ardour as their predecessors,
and, on referring to the Custom-house returns, we find
that the quantity of British goods sent abroad in 1815,
was great beyond example. But the result was very un- Exports to
propitious, and our merchants were now taught to their the United
cost how greatly our Government had erred in stopping States in
the American navigation during so many years. By
doing so they had impoverished our Transatlantic cus¬
tomers in nearly the same manner as Bonaparte, by
his tyranny, had impoverished Holland, Prussia, and
V 2
104
COMMERCE.
tress ia
1816.
Commerce, other parts of the Continent. The selüsh and head-
strong enthusiasts in this Country who, in 1807, had
prevailed on our Ministers to issue the Orders in Coun¬
cil against American navigation, had no idea of the
extent of the mischief that would recoil on ourselves.
The result For all this we suffered severely in 1815 and 1816;
unfortunate. Qyj. only satisfaction was that the very low prices at
which our goods were sold in the United States, checked
the new establishments in that Country, and showed
how unavailing it was in a quarter wherein labour is so
high-priced, to enter into competition with the manu¬
facturers of England.
Next came the overthrow of Bonaparte at Waterloo ;
an overthrow so complete as to give assurance of a
general and long-continued Peace : hence a great reduc¬
tion of the military establishments in every Country in
Europe ; the return of many hundred thousand men to
productive employment, and a general fall in prices.
Was it then matter of surprise, that so great and sudden
a transition should have produced that general stagna¬
tion of business; that want of work for the lower
orders ; that pecuniary embarrassment in the middle
and upper ranks, which will so long mark in gloomy
General dis- colours the year 1816? Corn and country-produce had
been at low prices during two years ; many of our
farmers had failed ; many others were paying their
rents out of their capital. Among merchants and
manufacturers the decline had been equally great ; and
men inquired anxiously of each other from what un¬
known cause the high prices and prosperity of a state
of War had been succeeded by such general impoverish¬
ment. On this occasion, however, our distress did not
last long ; favourable exchanges brought us large sums
of gold and silver from the Continent ; the Bank of
England, and, in consequence, the private Bankers, were
at ease as to money; and the bad harvest of 1816»
though productive of extreme suffering to many of the
lower orders, gave the farmers assurance of high prices
for a certain period to come. This operated as a stimu¬
lant to the employment of country-labourers ; and the
course of circumstances led to a corresponding revival
of industry in towns.
Circumstances were similar during the year 1818 ;
the demand for workmen and the rate of wages pro¬
gressively advanced ; funded property rose in price ;
the case was the same with landed property, so that this
proved the most stirring and apparently prosperous sea¬
son we had had for many years. It is necessary to say
" apparently," because unfortunately the high wages
and high prices of this interval, its large sales and
liberal profits, were of short duration. Trade had, as
usual, been overdone; we had imported of various com¬
modities more than we could turn to account at the
time ; the speculators, at least the needy part of them,
were unable to wait ; goods were forced on the market,
and the result was a series of losses, insolvencies, and
bankruptcies. At that moment, Parlkiment decided
on the resumption of cash payments; and although
the act was prospective, and allowed the Bank consider¬
able time to effect the change, there prevailed from that
time forward, among merchants as among agriculturists,
an apprehension that they would be straitened in pecu¬
niary means, and that the prices of commodities could
not be otherwise than low.
The years 1819 and 1820 were thus passed in a lan-
iu I8i9 and guid, discouraging manner ; in the latter ^the harvest
proved uncommonly abundant, and the price of corn
Revival ia
1818.
Low prices
and country-produce experienced a fall. This tended Commerce,
greatly to the relief of mechanics and the lower ranks
in towns, but as greatly to the injury of farmers, who Committee
declared loudly that with such low prices it was wholly on Agricui-
out of their power to pay their rents. Hence the ap-
pointment, by the House of Commons, of a Committee
on the state of agriculture, which sat many weeks, exa¬
mined a number of witnesses, and made a long and
comprehensive, though by no means a perspicuous
Report. The writers of that Report took a historical
view of the state of the landed interest for more than
half a century, and enlarged on the prosperity which had
always attended it when our merchants and manufac¬
turers were thriving. The inference was, that the
interests of traders and landholders were identified ; and
that it would be vain to expect relief to the one by im¬
posing a burden on the other. The agriculturists
complained of the pressure of taxes ; but the Report
forbade any attempt at trenching on the property of the
fundholder, and encouraged the landholders, at least
that large proportion of them who had to pay interest
on borrowed money, to expect relief from a very differ¬
ent cause ; from the probable fall in the rate of interest,
the state of the money-market indicating an approach¬
ing reduction from five to four pér cent. The expecta- Monied ca¬
tion thus held out was realized to a considerable extent, 1^®*
monied capital became abundant; and in the course of
1822 and 1823, a general reduction of the rate of in¬
terest took place.
This abundance of monied capital continued and pro- Its favour-
duced its usual effects ; a general rise in the value of
fianded property, which led many persons to sell out and on trade,
invest their money in various undertakings, such as the
purchase of land, building houses, improving roads, or
excavating canals. All this tended to create work and
excite a genera] activity. Add to this that the price of
corn having at last experienced a rise, the farmers were
in some measure relieved, and enabled to circulate money
as well by employing more labourers, as by making
purchases from tradesmen and manufacturers in towns.
The Commercial tide was now turned in our favour,
and the year 1824 proved eminently prosperous. It
was marked by a continued rise in the price of funded
property, a general briskness in our markets, and a con¬
siderable surplus in the public revenue. The abundance Joint Stock
of monied capital led to the fbrmatioti in that year of
numerous Joint Stock Companies. One of the first
of these was the Alliance Insurance Company, the
stock or Shares of which rose to a premium, not so
much from expectation of large profits, as from the
wealth of Mr. Rothschild and other leading parties in
the direction, and from general confidence in their ma¬
nagement. Next came the formation of several Mining
Companies in connection with Mexico, and one with
Brazil. This took place at a time by no means favour¬
able to prudent management, for whenever money has
been long abundant, the feeling engendered partakes more
of confidence than is fitted to commercial enterprise.
The Mining Companies formed in the first instance pro¬
ceeded on fair grounds ; on information which, though
very imperfect, had for its basis to engage only in mines
of good repute. For a time the stock or Shares of
these Companies bore a moderate premium : it was not
until the latter months of the year (1824) that their
price began to give evidence of an abuse of prosperity.
It then rose week after week, not from the receipt of
any intelligence of consequence, but from the continued
COMMERCE.
105
Commerce, abundance of money and from the puerile and visionary
feelings which influence the Slock Exchange, where,
whenever circumstances have been for some time favour¬
able, the example of a few leading purchasers is so often
followed by the mass with indiscriminate eagerness.
The year We are now arrived at the memorable 1825, a year
1825. in which the spirit of speculation in this Country reached
a height that rivalled the excitement of the Mississippi
scheme in France, or of the South Sea Company, a
century ago, in England. What were the causes of
such infatuation among merchants, who, in general,
had considerable experience, and had witnessed the
evils of reaction in the money market? It was to be
ascribed to a concurrence of flattering circumstances,—
to abundance of monied capital, a confidence that such
would continue, a progressive rise in the public funds,
and an exaggerated notion of the wealth of Mexico
and Peru. The real circumstances of Mexico were
little understood in England, or in any part of the
North of Europe. The persons who had emigrated
from Mexico after the Civil War, repaired not to this
Country nor to our West Indian Colonies, but to Cuba,
Bordeaux, and Spain. Cadiz and the smaller maritime
towns in Spain connected with Mexico in trade were
the proper quarters to obtain information ; but of all
the Mining Companies then formed, not one thought it
necessary to resort for admonitory instruction to so dis¬
tant a quarter. Their Directors had before them the
flattering statements of Baron Humboldt ; they had a
vague but highly favourable notion of the productive¬
ness of the mines of Mexico and Peru ; and they had
very little experience of the manner in which one sum
of money after another is absorbed in those hazardous
undertakings.
The managers of these Companies were almost
equally in the dark in regard to points of vital import¬
ance at home. The abundance of money in this Coun¬
try was great, but was it likely to continue, or did it
not proceed in a great measure from the issues of Banks,
issues necessarily uncertain and liable to be recalled
whenever the course of exchange should carry our gold
abroad ? Questions such as these were unfortunately
not put by one merchant to another ; for deliberate in¬
quiry and sober calculation were overlooked in the con¬
tinued rise of funded property and of almost all articles
of merchandise. Men began to think that abundance
of capital was natural to a state of Peace, and that the
difficulty would be in finding the means of investing it.
Hence the large sums so precipitately lent to the South
American States, which, whatever may be their eventual
prosperity, are at present thinly peopled, badly governed,
and, in many respects, in the infancy of their productive
industry.
Such was our connection with Spanish America in
1825. It had absorbed a large amount of British capi¬
tal ; but the great cause of pressure on our trade at the
end of that year, and the origin of the unfortunate
panic, was of a different nature : it was to be sought in
the purchase and import, on an extravagant scale, of
foreign goods, such as cotton, wool, silk, and timber.
This took place in the following manner. It is usual
at the end of the year for brokers in colonial produce
to report to their various friends and connections, in a
printed circular, the state of the home market, and the
Purchases amount of the expected supply. The import of cotton
on specula- having been less in 1824 than in preceding years, and
tionml825. stock on hand not great, it occurred to certain spe¬
culators that this bare state of things, joined to the Commerce,
great activity of our manufactures at Manchester and
elsewhere, was likely to cause an insufficiency in the
supply and a consequent rise of price. Hence exten¬
sive purchases of cotton were made in the Liverpool
market in January 1825, and orders for further purchases
were sent out to various foreign Countries; to Carolina,
Georgia, Brazil, and even to the East Indies. Silk and
a number of other articles were ordered in like manner ;
not that the supply was actually deficient but that it
might become so, in the event of our consumption pro¬
ceeding in an increasing ratio.
The Public were then altogether in a state to be ope¬
rated on by stimulants ; the prices of almost every
article of merchandise had risen progressively during the
preceding twelve months : hence an expectation that
they would continue to rise, and that purchases made
at almost any price would be attended with profit.
Hence also orders were sent abroad to buy up, not only Particularly
cotton, but wool, silk, and other articles ; and as these in foreign
orders were conveyed in the private letters of merchants,
and accompanied by no act of publicity, engagements
were unfortunately contracted to a great amount before
one merchant became aware of the extent of the purchases
of others. Suspicion of the extent was first entertained
by the underwriters at Lloyd's Coffee-house, who saw in
the insurances offered to them an evidence of imports to an
unprecedented amount. This took place in the Summer
months, but the magnitude of the purchases did not
become known until the Autumn, when the goods
reached this Country, and were reported at our Custom¬
houses. The sums to be paid for these imports were
immense, the goods having been in general bought at
high prices. Hence a continued drain of gold from the Our gold
Bank, the export of the precious metals amounting exported,
repeatedly, in this year of wonders, to so much as a
million sterling a month.
A few cautious persons had conceived alarm from a
verv different cause. A number of London Bankers
used during the War to have discount accounts at the
Bank of England ; several have continued them since
the Peace, but first-rate Bankers make it a rule to avoid
discounting at the Bank, their own reserves being in
general sufficient. But in this singular season it was
observed that Banking-houses of the highest character,
houses which had hardly ever been known to apply to
the Bank for discount, found it necessary to do so. The
cause was the continued demands on them by the country
Banks in their connection : the alternative for the London
house was either to withhold aid from the country Banks
at the risk of making them suspend payment ; or to
afford supplies, by submitting to send in bills for discount
at the Bank of England. They preferred the latter, and
supported the country Banks, so that, though a number
of the latter found their funds lessened during the Sum¬
mer, no failure of consequence took place among them
till the latter part of the year.
Many persons were surprised to find the scarcity of Distress of
money begin in the country, having expected it would our Banks,
have shown itself first in London. But, in fact, the
drain of gold was great in both at the same time ; that
it was^ not earlier felt in London was owing to the
large amount of treasure in the coffers of the Bank of
England, the accumulation of four years of favourable
exchanges.
Such were the chief causes of the two great mercan¬
tile convulsions (1816 and 1825} which have taken place
106
COMMERCE
Commerce, in this Country since the Peace. More than seven years
have elapsed since the latter and the greater of these
convulsions ; but there has occurred in that long interval
little to call for remark in this summary, because, in a
commercial sense, its character has been nearly uniform ;
viz. sales and purchases of merchandise have taken place
to a great extent, but almost always at low prices. One
part of our Custom-house books exhibits the quantity.
War.
Effects of The rise of prices during the War was caused as
Peace and follows:
priceofcom- demand for men for the public service raised
Tuodities. Ihe rate of wages, and the demand for money raised the
rate of interest, both of which ctended greatly to raise
prices.
2d, The insufficiency of our crops caused by an
unusual number of bad or indifferent seasons, (viz. 1794,
1795, 1799, 1800, 1804, 1809, 1811,) and by the ob¬
stacles to import from the Continent.
3d. The increase of taxation.
4th. The great expense of freight, insurance, and
other charges on the import of foreign goods.
5th. The depreciation of our Bank paper, particularly
in the last five years of the War.
another the value of our exports : in the former there Commewe.
has been a progressive increase ; in the latter an equally
regular decline ; the consequences to be expected from
long continued Peace, and open intercourse with Coun¬
tries in which the rate of wages and cost of subsistence
are lower than in England. To put this in a clear light,
we exhibit in opposite columns the respective effects of
Peace and War on the price of commodities.
Peace.
The fall of prices since the Peace has been caused by,
1st. The cessation of the demand for men and money
for the public service.
2d. Since the Peace the number of bad or indifferent
seasons (1816, 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831) has not been
so great ; and the only obstacles to import from the
Continent have been our Corn Laws.
3d. The taxes have been reduced by more than
twenty-five millions a year since the peace.
4th. Freight, insurance, and other import charges
were reduced more than half by the peace.
5th. Our Bank paper rose to a par with coin in 1816,
and, with the exception of one interval, (1818 and
1819,) has ever since maintained an equal value.
Much has been said of the fall in prices in England cumstances are now greatly altered : France is still
from the contraction of our paper currency, and of their suffering from a series of disastrous contests, and has a
fall in Europe generally, from the reduced supply of the population sorely divided in political feeling. Peace
precious metals during the last twenty years. Each is indispensable to heal the wounds inflicted by the
has been serious in its operation ; but the great and Revolution and the tyranny of Bonaparte, while as to
overpowering cause of the decline is the absence of a national union the present generation and probably the
demand by the Governments of Europe of either men or next must pass away ere it can be restored. And even
money for the purposes of War; the restoring to pro- were there to arise in France a Government inclined to
ductive employment the many millions of capital, the War, the power of that Country compared to ours is no
hundreds of thousands of able-bodied men who were longer such as to be a subject of serious alarm. A cen-
Prospectof formerly withdrawn from it. The prospects in regard tury ago. Great Britain and Ireland bore to France, in
continued to the price of commodities, of every class, whether point of population, the proportion of only 45 to 100 ; nor
Peace. agriculturists, manufacturers, or merchants,are all mainly was the proportion of national income much more in our
dependent on the probability of continued Peace. Any favour ; but so much greater has been the ratio of our
plan for the relief of the productive classes, for lessen- increase in the last hundred years, that, in population,
ing the pressure which has long borne, and still bears, we now hold the proportion of 75 to 100, and in tax-
so hard on them, must have reference to and depend on able income of 100 to 100. These are not mere cal-
the prospect of the nation in that respect. We shall, culations on paper ; they are actual results founded on Surprising
therefore, bestow a few paragraphs on an examination substantial and permanent grounds ; on the advantage increase
of this question : on the causes of the Wars which of our insular position; our extensive canals; our mines of our re-,
during the last century and a half have so seriously of coal and iron ; our superior capital ; our formed sources,
affected our commercial situation ; and on the circum- habits of industry. These have been the causes of the
stances which justify a hope of their less frequent surprising increase in our resources during the last cen-
occurrence in future. tury ; and they promise a still greater increase in that
Causes of ^ was not until the Revolution of 1688 that this which is now in progress.
former Country took a decided part in Continental politics, and At what period did the effects of this increase in our
Wars. began to carry on Wars on a large and expensive scale, wealth and numbers become apparent in our military
This sacrifice our increasing resources fortunately ena- exertions? To pass over the brilliant era of 1759, when
bled us to make, and it was strongly called for by the the talents of Lord Chatham may be considered to have
state of foreign politics. Louis XIV. had acquired a turned the scale in our favour, and to fix our attention
preponderance which threatened the independence of on 1778 and the following years, when France, Spain,
Europe ; Germany and Holland were unable to keep and Holland had taken part with America against us,
that restless Prince within bounds ; an extended coali- we found our resources, though wielded by so feeble a
tion was required ; and England was invited to be one Minister as Lord North, sufficiently great to conduct us
of its leading members. In our own days, a similar with honour out of the contest. In the Wars of the
dread, first of anarchy from the Revolution, afterwards present Century, the surprising increase of our national
Ol a general usurpation by Bonaparte, led us to make # ggg jjj Supplement to the Encyclopœdia Britannica^ the
unparalleled sacrifices in opposing France. But cir- heads England and France.
COMMERCE.
107
Disposition
of the
French.
Commerce, means was put beyond all doubt, and in fixing the con¬
ditions of the Treaties of Peace of 1814 and 1815, our
Ministers gave an assurance to the World, that they no
longer thought it necessary for the safety of England
that the power of France should be impaired. On
those occasions, our allies would readily have effected a
dismemberment of her territory, by separating from her
such Provinces as Alsace, Lorraine, Franche Comté,
and French Flanders : but our Ministers knew the aug¬
mented strength of this Country, and that France
was no longer an overmatch for us. Instead, therefore,
of seeking to weaken France, they appear to have con¬
sidered the maintenance of her integrity essential to the
equilibrium of the Commonwealth of Europe.
In the situation of the French, various circumstances
are in favour of continued Peace. The ship-owners, in¬
surers, and other classes, who in this Country derive
great temporary advantage from a state of War, are of
very little account in France : the same holds in regard
to the monied interest, the merchants and traders gene¬
rally ; all of these are on a footing much inferior to that
which the same classes now hold in England, or held in
Holland in the day of her prosperity. The great majority
of the French are agriculturists, and a state of War can
hold out little prospect of rise of price to the farmers of
a Country which imports very little, because in nine
years out of ten its produce is equal to its consumption.
When to all these inducements to Peace we add, that
the levies for the French army are still made by that
most odious law, the Conscription, a law which, ope¬
rating by ballot, keeps parents in continual uneasiness,
and takes young men from their homes at a time at which
they ought to enter« on employments for life, we shall
have little difficulty in believing that a renewal of War
would be extremely repugnant to national feeling in
France. It is, we believe, equally repugnant to the
views of the reigning Sovereign, who cannot but be
aware, that with the great political divisions now existing
in France, and which are li'kely to continue during the
present generation, a contest with this Country would
be replete with danger to his sway.
Another fertile source of War during the last century,
the desire of possessing Colonies, has also ceased ;
Mexico, Peru, Chili, Brazil, are now open to every flag,
and not likely to become a cause of War between the
Powers of Europe. We have learned to our cost, how
greatly they were overrated, and that Ages must elapse
ere they become really valuable. And those among us, who,
dazzled by the increase of money incomes during the
late contests, consider a state of War conducive to na¬
tional wealth, will do well to bear in mind the distress¬
ing reaction of the last eighteen years. The War, it is
true, added largely to the income of our agriculturists,
merchants, and manufacturers, but have we not, in
almost every year since 1814, witnessed the successive
disappearance of those splendid additions? Their
foundation was temporary ; resting on high prices and
the demand of Government for men and money, they
ceased together with their cause ; involving many classes
of the community in all the evils of a transition from
affluence to poverty, from hope to despondency. The
more enlightened part of the nation has now become
aware of the temporary nature of such gains and of the
immense loss attendant on such reactions. Our public
men may therefore be assured of its support in that
pacific course, by which alone they can hope to heal the
wounds of Ireland, or lighten the burdens of England.
Assuming it, therefore, as probable, that a state of Commerce.
Peace will be maintained for a considerable time, we
proceed to the interesting, it may be almost said, the^ff^p^^^^
anxious question, how far the reduced rate of prices
• ir6iiC6 on
attendant on Peace, will affect the state of our trade, trade.
The first point is to ascertain to what extent our pro¬
duce and manufactures have undergone reduction in
price, and in this we shall be aided by the returns of
our Custom-house. There is, as is well known, a O^cial
double registry of our exports in the Custom-house
books, one founded on the market price, or the value
as declared by the exporting merchants ; the other
a record of quantity rather than of price, the value
affixed to each kind of goods being the same year after
year, and taken from an official list or standard fixed so
far back as 1696. In this standard certain articles,
such as woollens, linens, cottons, are computed at so
much by the yard or piece ; while others, such as hard¬
ware, leather, soap, are reckoned by weight. The result
of this calculation is then entered in the Custom-house
Ledger, and as details of quantity would be uninterest¬
ing to the Public, the rule at the Custom-house is to
print nothing relative to weight or dimensions, but to
give the result in money, and in the shortest form, viz.
in one line for each year ; thus,
British Produce and Manufactures exported in the fol¬
lowing Years^ calculating first the quantities and
afterwards their amount in Money, according to the
ojficial standard of 1696.
War. Peace.
1810 ¿1^5,869,859
1811 32,809,671
1812 43,243,173
Total ofthreeKgj ggg
years or WarJ
Annual average 40,640,901
1826 ¿^40,96.'!,736
1827 52,219,280
1828 52,797,455
Total "flhfseluö 982,471
years or Peace J
Annual average 48,660,823
Colonies no
longer a
cause of
War.
These sums being merely an index of quantity, it fol- Exports
lows, that in that respect, there is, since the Peace, an
increase of more than 20 per cent, in our exports ; but ^ ^
in their value the result is very different.
Value, or Market Price of the ahovementioned exports,
as declared in the respective years, by the exporting
Merchants.
War.
1810 ¿^49,975,634
1811 34,917,281
1812 43,657,864
Peace.
1826 ¿^31,536,723
1827 37,182,857
1828 36,814,176
Total.. 105,533,756
Annual average 35,177,918
Total. . 128,550,779
Annual average 42,850,259
This return exhibits, in the first instance, a decrease
in the money value of our exports since the latter years
of the War, of nearly 30 per cent. And as we have seen
that our exports in late years are greater in quantity but less iu
than during the War by 20 per cent., it follows that value,
the total decrease, in the money value of British produce
and manufactures exported, is nearly 50 per cent, com--
pared to our prices twenty years ago ; that is, when
foreigners pay for our goods in money, we receive only
50 for articles which twenty years ago produced ¿Ç100 ;
a formidable reduction truly, but fortunately little more
than nominal, since the articles supplied by foreigners
in return, such as wool, cotton, silk, lead, have fallen in
an equal, or nearly an equal proportion.
108
COMMERCE.
Commerce. It may be interesting to our readers to mark the steps
in this progressive decline of prices ; and for this purpose
we shall select by far the most important article in our list
of exports,—our cottons. In the year 1814, the market
price of our cottons was nearly the same as the rate at
which they are valued in the Custom-house ledger ; that
is, a given quantity of cotton goods, amounting^ by the
official standard of valuation, to ¿^100, might have been
bought in the market for ¿£lü4. Observe how con¬
stantly, and even rapidly, the market price has declined
since that time.
Decrease in
the price of
cottons.
Years.
1814.
1815.
1816.
1817.
1818.
1819.
1820.
1821.
1822
1823.
1824.
1825.
1826.
1827.
1828.
Cotton Goods exported»
Valuation by the Custom¬
house Rates.
£W0
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Market Price.
..£104
.. 90
80
70
77
72
67
64
59
56
56
57
49
47
46
Of other
goods.
We find here a decline, and to a considerable amount,
in every year, except in the two seasons of excitement,
1818 and 1825. In other articles, the fall of price has
not been altogether so great as in cottons ; thus
Manufactures exported ; comparative value of the same
quantity at different periods ; viz. in 1814 and 1828.
Average Annual
Market Price Market Price
in late years, as
declared by the
Merchants.
in 1814.
in 1828.
Hardware ¿^100 . .
. . £66...
, .¿^1,300,000
Woollens
100 ..
.. 60. .,
. . 5,000,000
Linen.
100 . .
. . 58. ..
. . 2,000,000
Silk
100 ..
. . 48. ..
300,000
Cotton
100 . .
,. 44 • •,
,.14,000,000
Leather alone has!
1
nearly maintained
doo ..
. . 98..,
300,000
decrease.
This fall of price, however, is a loss only in some re¬
spects ; for if we inquire into the manner in which it
has taken place, or under what heads of charge it ought
to be appropriated, we shall find it to have arisen from
A reduced price of wool, cotton, silk, and other raw
materials ;
The man- A reduction of wages to the workmen, and of profit
lier of such their employers ;
Improvement of the machinery employed, and a con¬
sequent cheapening of manufacture from that, as well
as from the greater subdivision of the work.
As to the first of these heads, the supply of raw mate¬
rials continues abundant even at low prices. Cotton
has declined ever since the Peace, yet the import in¬
creases, though the price is now only half of what was,
some time since, accounted the lowest cost of its produc¬
tion. Of wool, the import from the North of Germany
alone is now much greater than it formerly was from all
foreign Countries together; and of silk, our Indian terri- Commerce,
tory offers a progressively increasing supply. Such are
the consequences of improved modes of cultivation, and
of the application to commercial objects of the vast
amount of labour and capital formerly absorbed by War.
Reduction of price from such a cause, or from im¬
provements in machinery, is evidently a public benefit ;
but a decrease in the wages of workmen, or in the profits
of their employers, is very different, and has, from its
long duration, given rise to much distress. Relief is to
be looked for, not from increase of income to either the
employers or their workmen, such being altogether un¬
likely in this season of profound Peace, but from a re¬
duction of expense ; a fall, as Adam Smith would have
termed it, in the cost of food, clothing, and lodging. This
reduction has already taken place to a considerable extent:
the decline in the average price of wheat in this Country
since the Peace having been in the proportion of three
to two ; (from 90^. to 60s. a quarter;) a fall so great
as to have caused the gradual disappearance of most
of the capital accumulated by farmers during the War,
and to have produced a heavy deduction from the pro¬
perty of landlords. In what manner has this great
chanffe affected our manufacturers and traders? In one Reduced
sense it has been advantageous, in another the reverse ;
it has lessened to them greatly the expense of subsist-
ence, but it has considerably narrowed the consumption trade,
of manufactures and merchandise by our now impove¬
rished agriculturists. The latter are in the present year
(1832) in the same depressed state as ten years ago,
and will do well to limit their expectation of relief to
two points : the probable fall in the rate of the interest
of money ; and a further reduction in farming charges ;
in a return, in short, to the scale of 1792.
Many of our landlords and farmers are, as is well
known, largely indebted for money borrowed on mort¬
gage and other security. The Committee on the state
of agriculture in 1821, aware that such engagements
were of great extent, and that in time of Peace repay¬
ment of the principal was not to be expected, confined
its attention to the prospect of the agriculturists paying
the yearly interest, and enlarged on the abundance of
monied capital as likely to lead to a reduced charge for
its use. The authors of that Report judged soundly, so
far as regarded our political prospects ; they knew the
anxiety of our public men to maintain Peace, and in¬
ferred from the state of France, that it was very unlikely
that the Government of that Country would for a long
time incur the hazard of War. The rate of interest de¬
clined, and borrowers obtained an abatement in general
from five to four per cent. ; but in a few years it rose
again, in consequence of the infatuation of our Country¬
men, on the opening of Spanish America. The sums
so imprudently advanced to that Country in loans and
mining speculations, or paid to foreigners for our imports
in 1825, exceeded all anticipation; and in conjunction
with political disquietude, have ever since kept our sur¬
plus of disposable capital within narrow limits. But
for some time back, circumstances have been indicative
of its renewed abundance, and as it is very unlikely
that our merchants will repeat the imprudence of send¬
ing large sums abroad, the agriculturists may entertain
a hope of the return of the advantages of 1822, without
the reaction which was then incurred by entering on a
new and unknown field.
Having now completed the Historical notice of our
COMMERCE.
109
Commerce, trade, we proceed to ^ive an account of its present state ;
beginning with our Manufactures, a subject of sufficient
interest to claim a minute and copious exposition.
MANUFACTURES OF ENGLAND; THEIR PROGRESS
AND PRESENT STATE.
Woollens,
The wool- We begin our sketch of the National Manufactures
lenmanu- Woollen trade, as well on account of itsimpor-
early^state? because wool was the chief article of export from
England in early times. It continued to be so for several
centuries after the Norman Conquest, and was the result
of two causes ; the great extent of our pastures, and
the inability of our population to manufacture into
cloth the quantity cf wool annually produced. Our
pastures are superior to those of France, Germany, or
Poland, because in England rain is of more frequent
occurrence, and droughts are comparatively rare ;
while on the Continent, at least in many inland parts,
the grass becomes dry and parched during the Summer
months. As to the state of our population, during
the Middle Ages it was almost all resident in cottages;
in other words, our agriculture was so rude and the per¬
sonal exertion of the husbandman was so little aided by
machinery or suitable implements, that the labour of
no less than four persons in five was needed in the
fields to provide the subsistence required by the com¬
munity at large. Of the smallness of our towns an
estimate may be formed from the following Table.
^f^En^la "d Population of the Chief Towns in England from a
1377 Census in 1377.
London 35,000
York 11,000
Bristol 9,000
Plymouth 7,000
Coventry 7,000
Norwich 6,000
Lincoln 5,000
Sarum, Wiltshire 5,000
Lynn 5,000
Colchester 4,500
Canterbury 4,000
Beverley 4,000
Newcastle on Tyne 4,000
Oxford 3,500
Bury, Suffolk 3,500
Gloucester ... .1 each some- \
Leicester > what more > 3,000
Shrewsbury ... J than J
Such was the limited population of our towns in the
XlVth Century : in the Xllth and Xlllth it was still
smaller, while Flanders could boast of considerable
cities in Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, and Brussels. Hence
the superiority of the Flemings in weaving as in other
Arts : their looms were better, their workmen were more
expert, their employment was more subdivided ; there
was, in short, a more ready supply in their towns of all
things auxiliary to a complicated process of manufacture.
English weavers, residing in hamlets or villages, and in¬
differently provided with the requisites for manufacture,
could prepare only coarse cloths ; the finer were made
in the Netherlands, and sent to England and France
for sale. The money thus obtained by the Flemings
VOL. VÍ.
for the cloths made of our wool supplied them with a
fund for the purchase of further quantities of the raw
material. Such was the routine of sale and purchase
between the two Countries during several centuries, but
our Countrymen became in time desirous of extending
their share of the manufacture. Accordingly, in the
middle of the XlVth Century, (in the active reign of Ed¬
ward III.,) weavers from Ghent were invited to settle
in England and to introduce the art of making the
finer woollens. They were established at first in villages
in Kent and Essex, not far from London ; not that the
spots in question had any marked advantage as to fuel
or water-power, the great considerations in the present
Age ; but on account of their vicinity to conveniences of
another kind, as by the Thames they could communi¬
cate on one side with London, on the other with the
Continent.
The inland Counties would not in that early Age
have been suitable for such establishments, being de¬
void not" only of canals but of roads, and presenting
neither opportunity of sale nor facilities for manufacture.
But in course of time those Counties became greatly im¬
proved, and the woollen manufacture extended to the
more remote parts of the Kingdom ; first to Gloucester¬
shire, where labour and fuel were cheap and wool was
to be purchased at the first hand ; and eventually to the
West Riding of Yorkshire, where to all these advan¬
tages was added the convenience of waterfalls for moving
O o
machinery.
The extension of the woollen m.anufacture of England
has been very gradual, because it was long carried on
by insulated workmen, and received little aid from the
mechanical discoveries and inventions which have caused
so rapid an increase in cotton-works. Another cause
of its slow increase in former times, was that the sale
of the fabric was long confined to the home-market.
France, Germany, and Belgium made woollens for
themselves ; it was not till after 1700 that the export of
English cloth to Portugal and Holland became consi¬
derable, or that our North American and West Indian
colonies acquired so large a population as to render them
customers of importance. At the time in question,
(1700,) the value of our woollens sold for home-con¬
sumption was computed not to exceed five or six millions
sterling ; that of our exports was between two and three
millions ; in all eight millions. In the course of the
hundred years that followed, the quantity made for the
home as for the foreign market appears to have nearly
doubled, and to have formed, in 1800, a total value of
about seventeen millions. At present, (1832,) the value
of our woollens exported continues nearly as thirty years
ago, about five millions yearly, but that of our home-
consumption may be computed at seventeen or eighteen
millions, making a total yearly value of twenty-two mil¬
lions or upwards, the quantity consumed at home having
naturally increased in proportion to our population.
Next as to the price of our woollen cloths at different
periods of our History, the fluctuations have been less
than is commonly imagined. In fact, if we pass over
the temporary enhancement which in this, as in almost
every article, prevailed during the Wars of the French
Revolution, we shall find the money price of woollens
to have been nearly uniform for more than a century
and a half. Of this we have the means of judging by com¬
paring the present prices with what is termed the official
value, or scale of prices adopted in the year 1696, for
the purpose of computing the value of our exports. So
Q
Commerce«
Slow pro¬
gress of thia
manufac¬
ture.
Value an¬
nually made
in England.
Price of our
woollens.
110
C o M M
E R C E
Commerce, great has been the fall in the cost of wool and woollen
cloth since 1815, that at present (in 1S32) the yjrice of
either in money is lower than it was a hundred and forty
years ago; it must be admitted, on the other hand, that
the cloth is lighter and less durable. The wages of the
weavers and other workmen are higher, but that addi¬
tional expense is balanced by the greater aid we now
derive from machinery, and the saving in the consump¬
tion of wool. The French have not yet made an equal
reduction in the quantity of the raw material ; they use
considerably more than our weavers in a given length of
cloth, and their woollens consequently are both thicker
and heavier.
Exports to The United States of America were long the chief
America. foreign market for our woollens, and as their population
was in a state of rapid increase, they purchased more
after their separation from us in 1783 than at the time
they were our colonies. The first blow given to this
great branch of our exports, was by an act of our own
Government; by the Orders in Council of 1807, which,
by stopping the foreign trade of the Americans, deprived
them of the means of purchasing and obliged them to
manufacture for themselves. Establishments were ac¬
cordingly formed for that purpose in the United States,
and a large amount of capital was invested in them, after
which it became in a manner obligatory on their Go¬
vernment to support them. That could be done only
by imposing heavy duties on foreign woollens, particu¬
larly those of England ; duties which formed a feature
unfortunately too prominent in the American tariff of
1828, and which are still persisted in to the incalculable
injury of both Countries.
Seats of the Next as to the chief seats of this manufacture in
woollen ma- England, and the number of persons employed on it.
nufacture in Though the value of the woollens made annually is
not nearly equal to that of our cottons, the number of
persons employed in the former is greater, because ma¬
chinery is less used. The mechanical improvements of
the past and present Age have been applied in the first
instance to cottons ; to woollens later and less exten¬
sively. As to the ports for the export of woollens, Lon¬
don was long the principal, but Liverpool has taken the
lead in that respect since the extension of canal naviga¬
tion and the great increase of the comparatively neigh¬
bouring towns of Leeds, Halifax, and Wakefield. The
West Riding of Yorkshire, which, half a century ago, was
supposed to supply a third of the woollens made in Eng¬
land, may now be considered as furnishing fully the half.
Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Somersetshire, the other
seats of this manufacture, have been nearly stationary ;
that is, without decreasing their respective quantities,
they have had but little share in the great augmentation
which has taken place during the last fifty years.
Supply of supply of the raw material at home, the last
wool. century has witnessed a great increase in the produc¬
tiveness of our pastures, in the size of our sheep, and,
consequently, in the weight of the fleeces. None of these,
however, have advanced in an equal degree with our
population, with the number of the buyers and wearers
of our cloths ; so that notwithstanding all the improve¬
ments in the mode of preparing wool, and the reduced
weight that now suffices for the same extent of cloth, a
great increase has taken place in the import of the raw
material. In former times, the only wool brought to
England in large quantities was from Spain, a Country
possessing in its mountains and valleys a great variety
of climate and pasture grounds : the finer qualities of
Spanish wool were useful, and indeed requisite for mix- Commerce,
ture with our own growth. About the year 1700, the im-
port of Spanish wool averaged about one million pounds Import of
annually ; it increased steadily, but slowly, till towards
the year 1775, when a rise in the price of English wool
and an extension of the manufacture caused a continued
increase of import, so that about 1800, the Spanish wool From
annually brought to this Country weighed about four mil- Spam,
lion pounds. 11 has continued in some degree to increase,
and may be said to have reached for some time back six
million pounds a year ; a large quantity certainly, but
bearing no proportion to the surprising augmentation of
our import from Germany. That Country, formerly of so From Ger-
little account in thé supply of wool, now annually sends many,
us from twenty to twenty-five million pounds weight, so
greatly has the management of its flocks improved in the
present Age, particularly in Saxony. Altogether the foreign
wool imported into England at present is about thirty
million pounds a year. Our home-growth being sub¬
ject to no duty or official inspection, its amount can only
be guessed at from the number of our sheep, and the
average weight of their fleeces. If, as has been com¬
puted, the growth of wool in Great Britain and Ireland
be so much as one hundred and flfty million pounds,
the total of the wool used in our manufactures is about
one hundred and eighty million pounds weight a year,
its value about 5^12,000,000 sterling.
The export of English wool, long strictly prohibited,
has been free since 1825 ; it averages at present about
three million pounds, and is made chiefly to France and
the Netherlands.
New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land now
send us a yearly supply of wool, in quantity about two
million pounds ; the quality remarkably good. It is
exempt from duty, while our imports from Germany,
Spain, and other foreign Countries, are subject to a duty
of a halfpenny or penny per pound, according to their
quality.
Linens,
We come next to a manufacture of as ancient, or nearly Linen
as ancient date in England as woollens, but of inferior
importance in a national view. Though our climate is
as favourable to the growth of flax and hemp as that of
the Countries in which these products have been most
cultivated, such as Flanders, Germany, or Livonia, linen
has not at any time ranked among our principal manu¬
factures. If of the common qualities enough for home-
consumption has been prepared in England, the finer
qualities have, in general, been imported ; in former
times from the Netherlands, but for a century and up¬
wards from the North of Ireland. Into Ireland, the cul- In Ireland,
tivation of flax and weaving of linen were introduced on
a large scale above one hundred and fifty years ago, and
have ever since been patronised by Government. Liberal
bounties were long paid on the export of linen, and what
was of far more importance than a bounty, the consump¬
tion of England, as regarded the finer qualities, was
supplied by the Irish manufacturers. The quantity of
linen imported from Ireland to England during the last
forty years has annually amounted to thirty, forty, and
forty-five millions of yards, a part of which was re-ex¬
ported, but a far greater part retained and consumed
at home. The average value of this yearly supply from
Ireland amounts, even at the reduced prices of late years,
to two millions sterling.
COMMERCE.
Ill
Commerce. In Scotland, the manufacture of linen has, in general,
been confined to the coarser qualities. On these, also,
a large bounty on exportation was given during nearly
In Scotland, a century that they might be enabled to maintain in
America and other foreign Countries, a competition
with the linens of Silesia and other parts of Germany,
which had taken a lead in the market, being both good
in quality and moderate in price. Bounties, it is now
admitted, are, in nine cases out of ten, impolitic, and it
had, perhaps, been better to have left our linen, like our
cotton manufacture, to its natural course : the effect,
however, of the aid from Government has been to esta¬
blish linen-weaving on a very large scale in Great
Britain as in Ireland, so that now that all bounty on
linen is withdrawn, our Countrymen can continue the
competition with the advantage of improved machinery,
of workmen long practised in their tasks, and of large
sums of capital invested in the business.
Principal In England, the chief seats of the linen manufacture
seats m ^re at Leeds and Barnsley in Yorkshire, and in towns
England, of less extent in Lancashire and Cumberland. In Scot¬
land, they are in the Eastern Counties, at Dundee,
Arbroath, and Montrose. In Ireland, the seat of the
linen manufacture is in the North, and the weavers
live generally in detached cottages; but at Leeds and
in Scotland, the business has for a considerable time
been carried on in factories or collective establish¬
ments for account of mercantile houses. The latter
having the command of capital, a subdivision of em¬
ployment, and the various other advantages of extensive
cooperation, seem likely to prove, or rather have already
proved, an overmatch for the cottage system ; so that
Ireland can scarcely hope, under present circumstances,
to increase her products, particularly in the more com¬
mon qualities.
Annual The increase in the quantity of our linen annually
value. manufactured has not been by any means in proportion
to our population, on account of the surprising exten¬
sion of our cotton manufacture during the last fifty
years. The total value of the linen made annually in
Great Britain and Ireland is at present about twelve
millions sterling, of which two millions are sent abroad ;
the coarser sorts going to the West Indies for Negro
clothing. As to the raw materials, both flax and hemp
are considered by agriculturists as exhausting crops ;
they are, consequently, much fitter objects of culti¬
vation in Countries like Prussia, Courland, or Li¬
vonia, where population is thin and corn low priced,
than in England, where the farmers find consumers of
corn in abundance almost at their doors. Our imports
accordingly have long been on a great scale ; of late
years they have amounted to about twenty thousand
tons of hemp and forty thousand tons of flax, three-
fourths of both being from St. Petersburg, Riga, Revel,
and other Russian ports in the Baltic and Gulf of Fin¬
land.
The Cotton Manufacture.
The history of the cotton manufacture in England dif¬
fers materially from that of the woollen or linen: its intro¬
duction was much later ; its extension has been far more
rapid. Indeed, the progress of the cotton manufacture
in England during the last sixty or seventy years is the
most remarkable event in the history of our productive
industry. About the year 1700, the total import of the
raw material did not exceed five thousand bags or bales ;
during many years its increase was slow, but in the early
part of the reign of George III. the invention of carding Commerce,
machines and spinning jennies greatly extended the
manufacture, so that in 1775, our average import of
cotton became nearly 18,000 bales.
By the end of the next twenty years, viz.
in 1796, it averaged 100,000 bales or bags ;
in 1801 .... above 150,000
in 1806 .... above 200,000
in 1810 and 1811 above 300,000
in 1816 ... .above 370,000
since which date it has continued to increase every year,
and at present (1832) exceeds the surprising number of
800,000 bales, the average weight of which is not less
than three hundred pounds each.
As the cotton plant requires a great degree of heat The weav-
to bring it to maturity, and India was one of the Tropical
Countries which was peopled at a remote date, we may practised in
consider it to have been one of the earliest seats of the India,
cotton manufacture. It certainly has been so since the
earliest records in authentic History, for cotton cloths
appear to have formed an article of export from India to
Europe at the time that the Indian trade was car¬
ried on by way of the Red Sea and Thebes in Upper
Egypt. The lightness of these cloths made them easy
Öltransport, while the low wages of workmen in India
prevented attempts in Europe to rival this manufacture
during many Ages, in short until the towns of modern
Italy acquired considerable population. Even their
efforts hardly deserved the name of rivalship, so superior
were the fabrics of the Hindus ; and it was not until
half a century ago that the improved machinery of Great
Britain enabled our workmen to balance the cheap
labour of the East.
We read in printed works of cotton manufactures at Progress
Manchester, so lonff as two centuries ag-o : but these were of the ma-
^ o o ' Cl*
cottons only in name, the raw material being wholly
wool, and the name of cotton given to the cloth from its
resemblance to the cottons made in India and Italy.
Wool ceased to be used in this manufacture seventy
years ago, but even then the process of preparing this
article for a market was very primitive. The cotton
weavers in Lancashire, like the linen weavers in the
North of Ireland, lived in detached cottages, and were
in the habit of going to market in the neighbouring
town, first to purchase thread, afterwards with the
finished web for sale. They thus received very little
aid from shopkeepers or dealers in towns during the
time the weaving was in progress. But about the year
1760, the Manchester dealers, finding' the demand for
cottons increase, came forward to assist the weavers so
far as to supply them with thread, or if they preferred it,
with raw cotton to be spun into thread by the weaver's
family ; engagingat the same time to be the purchasers
of the webs at a given price. The workmen were thus
considerably relieved, being assured of a market for all
or almost all the cloth they could get ready ; but spin¬
ning by hand being necessarily tedious, the quantity of
cottons made continued to be very limited. At last, in Mechanical
1767, an ingenious person, named Hargraves, invented inventions
the spinning jenny, a machine which from the first
enabled one person to spin eight threads with the same
ease as one, and which was eventual-Iy so simplified and
improved as to enable a boy or girl to work above one
hundred spindles.
This machine, however, was fit only for spinning the
weft or cross threads of a web, and had not the power
of giving the firmness or hardness required in the warps
Q 2
112
C O M M
E R C E
Commerce.
Ark-
wright's
discoveries.
The power
loom.
Import of
cottoa wool
Quantity
manufac¬
tured.
Decline of
price; its
causes.
or running threads ; but that great desideratum was soon
after supplied by the " spinning frame," the invention of
Mr. (afterwards Sir Richard) Arkwright, which spins a
vast number of threads of any degree of fineness and
hardness; leaving it to the yierson in attendance only to
supply the machine with cotton, and to join the threads
when they happen to break. For this most important
improvement a patent was given to Arkwright ; its
exclusive use during the period of the patent laid the
foundation of the vast fortune of his family ; and on
its expiring in 1785, its general adoption greatly extended
the cotton manufacture throughout the Kingdom.
One of the next improvements of consequence was the
introduction of the mule jenny, a compound of the spin¬
ning jenny and spinning frame. All these inventions
related to spinning, and surprisingly extended the quan¬
tity of yarn. The object then in request was machinery
for weaving, and that was sometime after supplied by the
most remarkable of all these inventions, the power loom,
or substitution of mechanical for manual labour in weav¬
ing. Power looms during the last fifteen years have
been multiplied to almost incredible numbers : they have,
it is true, caused a serious reduction in the wages of
weavers, and, consequently, a great deal of individual
distress, but, in a public view, they have been highly
advantageous. Without them, it would not have been
practicable to have increased so rapidly as we have done
the quantity of cottons made in this Country, or to have
competed so successfully with the lower wages of
foreigners.
Cotton in former times was imported from the Levant,
• chiefly from Smyrna afterwards from our West Indian
colonies, but from these the supply has been all along
limited. Carolina and Georgia did not begin the culti¬
vation of cotton until a recent date, viz. after 1790, but
it has since been extended in these States in a surprising
degree. Of late years, the South Western States, New
Orleans, and Alabama, have greatly increased their
cotton cultivation, so that the total yearly export from
the United States of America now exceeds eight hun¬
dred thousand bags of about three hundred pounds each,
of which above five hundred thousand bags are sent to
England. Next in the supply of cotton come Brazil,
the East Indies, and, during the last ten years, Egypt.
It is usual to compare the extent of manufacture in one
year with that in another by the number of bags con¬
sumed or wrought up weekly by our manufacturers. In
the year 1824, the number of bags so wrought up was
about 10,000 a week ; in 1827, it had increased to more
than 12,000 ; and it now exceeds 16,000 a week Î Com¬
paring these quantities with the consumption of the years
1816 and 1817, we find that the quantity of cottons
manufactured in Great Britain has more than doubled
in the course of twenty years ; but so great has been the
reduction in the cost of the article that the money value
of the vast quantity now annually made (between thirty
and thirty-five millions sterling) is not much above that
of the far smaller quantity prepared in 1817.
This great fall of price has been owing to several
causes ; partly to the reduced cost of the raw material,
and successive improvements in machinery. The decline
in cost of the raw material has been so great that the
pound of cotton yarn which in 1814 cost one shilling and
sixpence, is now supplied at seven-pence or eight-pence.
In all our manufactures there has been a large increase
in quantity and decline in price since the Peace ; but the
difference is greatest by far in cotton. In woollens,
silk, leather, and other articles, the increase in the quan Commerce,
tity annually made since the Peace has borne a propor-
tion to the increase in our population, viz. about thirty
per cent. ; but in cotton the increase has exceeded one
hundred per cent., so greatly is the use of cottons
extended in this Country, South America, and India.
Another remarkable feature in our cotton trade is the
magnitude of the export compared to our home-con¬
sumption. Of the woollens made in Britain the pro¬
portion .sent abroad is a fifth or sixth ; of our hardware
the proportion is somewhat more ; but of cottons it is
fully half. The reason is that they are sent not to a few
particular Countries, but to all parts of the World.
Taking the number 40 as the integer of our exports of
cotton and cotton yarn, the proportions of the diifei'ent Countries to
Countries will be as follows : which we
West Indies 5 export cot-
nest inaies o tons and
Brazil 5 cotton-yarn.
Spanish America 4
United States and British North America. 4
East Indies 4^
Africa 1
The Levant 1J
Germany 4
Italy
Portugal 2J
Spain 2
Netherlands I
Other parts 2
40
Germany and most parts of the Continent of Europe
manufacture such articles as woollens, leather, linen,
hardware, to the extent of nearly the whole of their con¬
sumption, because manufactures in those branches were
established in the respective Countries several centuries
ago, in times when England had no marked superiority
over her neighbours. But cottons came into demand at a
time when our pioductive industry was in an advanced
stage, when our capital had become large, our towns
populous, our machinery powerful, and fuel abundant
and cheap in almost all our towns, from the extent of
our canals.
These are the causes of the success of manufactures,
and in these the different Countries of the Continent,
even the Netherlands and North of Italy, whose popu¬
lation is dense, and their wealth of old date, are greatly
inferior to England : hence the far greater extension of
the cotton manufacture in this Country.
The cotton manufactures of France were very con- Cotton ma-
siderably extended about twenty years ago. Labour nufactures
in that Country is still somewhat cheaper than here,
but fuel is dearer and the machinery less complete.
The amount of cottons annually made by the French
is consequently stationary, and forms not quite a third
of that which is prepared in Britain ; nor are they likely
to gain on us in the race of competition, for they
cannot supply foreign markets at equally low prices.
The same reasoning holds in regard to the cot¬
tons of the Netherlands, Germany, and Swisserland :
in all those Countries establishments were commenced
with alacrity during the War, and in all it is now
found very difficult to withstand English competition
even when our goods are subjected to an import
duty. The dearness of provisions in England during
the late Wars, and the high rate of wages, were the main
grounds of the expected success of foreigners ; but these
COMMERCE.
lici
Increased
population
of English
Cotton ma¬
nufacturing
distr cts.
Commerce, disadvantages have gradually given way, particularly
since 1827, when our Corn laws were modified, and the
cost of provisions in England was brought so much nearer
to that of other Countries.
The consequence has been a continued increase in
the population of the cotton manufacturing districts.
According to the last census, that of 1831, the number
of inhabitants in the chief towns was as follows :
Manchester and Stockport .... 178,000
Bolton (Great and Little) 40,000
Oldham • . 32,000
Blackburn 27,000
Wigan 21,000
Bury 15,000
Warrington 16,000
Preston 33,000
Glasgow and suburbs 202,000
Paisley 60,000
In most of these places the increase of numbers
during the last seventy years has been in the remark¬
able proportion of nearly four to one ! Glasgow has an
extensive and varied trade distinct from the cotton manu¬
facture, but in all the other towns the cotton trade, in one
sil ape or other, is the main spring of local activity. The
total number of persons employed in it is not ascertained,
Ivif aïTiOunting probably to 400,000, would be far greater,
did not machinery perform so much of the work in
every stage. To conclude, this branch of our produc¬
tive industry has more than any other enabled us to bear
the unparalleled burdens of the times ; and it hap¬
pily promises to continue to be one of the pillars of
our National wealth; no other Country, whether in
Europe, America, or India, possessing advantages fcr
conducting it to be compared to those of Great Britain.
Ii'on and Hardware,
Early state great branches of manufacture, that of
of the ma- iron has been, next to cotton, the most remarkable in
uufacture of its increase. Iron-ore was known to exist in different
parts of England several centuries ago, and began to be
smelted in a few situations, such as the Forest of Dean
in Gloucestershire, where wood fuel was abundant and
in the vicinity of the mines. The demand for iron in¬
creasing, the consumption of the wood became so con¬
siderable, as to induce the cautious Ministers of Queen
Elizabeth to restrain it by Act of Parliament. The
ffreat desideratum now was to discover whether coal
could be made to answer the purpose of wood fuel in
smelting iron, and so early as the year 1619 a patent
was granted for the use of coal for that purpose. But
a very longtime elapsed ere the existing prejudices and
obstacles to the use of coal were removed. The works of
the first patentee for coal were destroyed by assemblages
of the people, who had been formerly employed in cut¬
ting and carrying wood fuel ; and other iron-masters
were deterred from following his example. The process
of smelting by coal thus remained in a rude state, and
there prevailed a general belief that iron so smelted was
of far inferior quality to that which was prepared by
wood or charcoal. But as the demand for iron increased
with our population during the XVIIth and XVIIlth
Centuries, the consumption of wood became so alarming
as to cause a multiplicity of complaints from the inhabit¬
ants of the districts adjoining the mines. Fortunately by
that time an increased familiarity with the use of coal had
improved our workmen in the method of applying it to Commerce,
smelting, so that the use of it for that purpose extended
itself considerably after the middle of the last century.
Seventy years ago our mechanics and hardware ma- Its sur-
nufacturers chiefly made use of Swedish iron, and the prising in-
quantity of English iron prepared did not exceed 20,000 creaso.
tons a year : it soon, however, experienced a great in¬
crease, for our furnaces had were so increased that the
iron made at them amounted
in 1788 to 68,000 tons,
1796 to 125,000
1806 to 250,000
1820 to 400,000
while at present (1832) it
is computed at nearly . 700,000
This vast quantity is made in the following parts of
the Country :
Scotland, chiefly at the Carrón works 40,000 tons.
Yorkshire and Derbyshire 65,000
Shropshire *. 80,000
North Wales 25,000
Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire 270,000
Staffordshire 220,000
It thus appears that the quantity of iron annually Decline in
made in this Country has tripled in the course of twenty
years. This increase has, perhaps, been too rapid, for
the present prices are not sufficient to indemnify the iron
masters, or to enable them to pay sufficient wages to
their workmen. A partial reduction of the number of
furnaces has consequently taken place, but notwithstand¬
ing the present depression, no branch of our pro
ductive industry is more likely to recover, for none
rests on more solid foundations. All our iron mines
are situated in the vicinity of coal, and most of them
have the advantage of a direct import of provisions from
Ireland ; in other words they are in the neighbourhood
of cheap materials and cheap labour. In the transport
of so heavy an article as iron, canals and railways
are of first-rate importance, giving our iron-works an
advantage not possessed by one in ten of those on
the Continent. It may fairly be assumed that of no
article is the use more likely to extend as Society aug¬
ments its numbers, or improves its habits and institu¬
tions. In England iron is in progress of substitu¬
tion for timber in various respects ; abroad there must
ere long be an end, particularly in France, to that im¬
politic system of high duties on English iron which go
far to deprive the French Public of a most useful mate¬
rial. Add to this the probability, in this Age of inven¬
tion and discovery, of further improvements in the mode
of smelting, or otherwise preparing' iron ; comparatively
recent as the manufacture is in this Country, and un¬
fettered as it is likely to remain in respect to duty or
excise regulations, which have so often proved an obstacle
to useful experiments and amended processes.
Of the total of the iron annually made in this Country
about a sixth part, or one hundred and twenty thousand
tons, are exported ; and the cheapness of freight in time
of Peace is in favour of an increase of our exports.
The name of cast or pig iron is given to the metal Pig iron
when first extracted from the ore : wrought or soft iron and
is pig iron refined, orrendeied malleable. This process y^ought
takes place in more than two-thirds of the iron an-
nually made, after which it is formed into bars, bolts,
rods, &c. for sale. The exports take place chiefly in
wrought iron, because it is fit for immediate use bv the
o •
lu C o M M E R C E.
Commerce. Mechanic, but, the prices stated at the iran-works, or in
the public papers, apply to pig iron. In years of brisk
trade, such as 1824 and 1825, these prices were so high
as ¿£*10 or ¿£*12 a ton; at present they are not half so
much; so that vast as is the quantity (700,000 tons)
made annually, the value does not exceed ¿£4,000,000,
to which ¿£1,000,000 or ¿£1,500,000 may be added for
the cost of forming pig into wrought iron.
iiardware. Such is the value of the whole of the iron or raw
material prepared annually in Great Britain; but the
hardware, or articles manufactured from iron, amount, in
consequence of the labour bestowed on them, to nearly
twice that sum. These articles are very various in their
kind, and are made in surprising quantities : they com¬
prise knives, scissors, razors, and all kinds of cutlery ;
bre-arms, swords, sabres, locks, bolts, bars, &c. In
addition, hardware comprises a variety of articles made
of tin, brass, copper, steel ; in short, the almost endless
list of goods which afford employment to the inhabitants
of Birmingham, Sheffield, and the populous towns in their
vicinity. In hardware, as in cotton, there has been, since
the Peace, a very great increase in quantity accompanied
by a heavy and general decline in price. As to the value
of the iron and hardware of all kinds made in Great
Britain at present, (1832,) the computed amount is
¿£17,000,000 sterling, of which about ¿£4,000,000, nearly
a fourth part, is sent abroad. The chief foreign mar¬
kets are the United States of America, Canada, India,
and the West Indies.
Though this, like other branches of manufacture, has
been for some time in a very depressed state, there is,
happily, the strongest reason to anticipate a revival of
its prosperity. The abundance of our coal and the
cheap rate at which both it and iron are conveyed by
canals, are of the greatest importance to this branch of
our industry, and have, indeed, been the chief causes of
its extension. To these are now to be added the advan¬
tages arising from the division and subdivision of em¬
ployment in towns of so great extent as Birmingham and
Sheffield, where the capital vested in trade is ample, and
the machinery and tools used by the manufacturers are
greatly superior to those of the Continent. In no other
Country can hardware articles of equal quality be sup¬
plied at so cheap a rate. We are therefore justified in
expecting a great eventual increase in the sale of our
iron and hardware both at home and abroad. At home,
iron is likely to be used more and more in public works,
such as railways, or in roofs, pillars, beams, canal boats,
as a substitute for timber. Abroad, particularly in
France, the use of iron and hardware articles cannot fail
to receive a great extension as soon as a reduction takes
place in the exorbitant and impolitic import duties.
Those duties were intended to protect the iron-works of
France, but the attempt is found to be unavailing ; most
of those works labouring, from insufficiency of fuel,
under so serious a disadvantage that the Government of
France would act wisely in making a pecuniary sacri¬
fice towards indemnifying the owners, rather than con¬
tinue to deprive its subjects of the various advantages
that would result from the cheapness of an article of
such first-rate importance as iron.
The Leather Manufacture,
Leather. This department of our productive industry is on a
footing considerably different from that of our cotton or
hardware. The chief consumption of it is at home, and
the export is comparatively small, because in this manu- Commerce,
facture we do not possess any marked advantage over
our Continental rivals. First, as to the supply cf the
raw material ; the number of cattle in Great Britain and
Ireland, computed at present between six and seven
millions, is a great addition to the number half a
century ago, while the weight of the animals, and
consequently the size and weight of their hides, has
increased surprisingly; but in neither is the augmen¬
tation proportioned to the increase in the consumption
of leather, which, like our population, has more
than doubled since the year 1780. We are conse¬
quently obliged to import annually a large quantity of
hides, partly from Lithuania and other Provinces of
Russia where cattle run wild in the forests, but more
from Paraguay, where among the immense herds that
ran2:e the uncultivated tracts, thousands and tens of
thousands of cattle are killed merely for the sake of
their hides. Unfortunately, the troubled politics of
that and other parts of South America for many
years past, have limited the supply of hides and have
kept up the cost of leather so highly that of all our
manufactures it has experienced the least decrease of
price since the Peace. It has been a matter of com¬
plaint that the repeal of the leather tax should have pro¬
duced hardly any abatement in the price of shoes ; but
we must not imagine that the repeal was unavaiÏÏng, fqir
it prevented the rise which would otherwise have fol¬
lowed our annually increasing consumption.
The vast quantity of hides supplied by the slaughter
of cattle in London are tanned chiefly in Bermondsey
in Southwark, the se¿it of the largest tanneries in the
World. There are also very extensive similar establish¬
ments in Lancashire, Staffordshire, and other Counties,
in which the towns are populous and the carriage of
hides from one part to another is facilitated by canals. In
the further process of the manufacture, we mean making
the leather into harness, saddlery, boots, shoes, &c.,
which is almost altogether carried on by manual labour,
little advantage is derived from our national supe¬
riority in fuel and machinery. In France, leather is
considerably cheaper than in England, but both its qua¬
lity and the workmanship of the different articles made
from it, are decidedly inferior. The total quantity of lea¬
ther tanned and otherwise prepared in England is about
25,000 tons ; the number of persons employed in the
various branches of the manufacture about 250,000 ;
and the value of all the articles made is about
¿£15,000,000 a year, of which shoes alone form the half
or upwards.
The making of gloves was 'carried on with consider- Gloves,
able profit during our Wars with France, but received
a serious check from the suspension, in 1812, of our
trade with the United States of America, which were
the chief foreign market for the article. Unfortunately
the depression has continued in a greater or less degree
ever since : the Americans now make gloves for them¬
selves and the French rival us in foreign markets.
Still we bid fair to maintain a competition with them,
the chief labour in this article (that of women) being
almost as cheap in England as on the Continent. Wor¬
cester, Yeovil, Ludlow, and Woodstock are the chief
seats, of the glove manufacture.
Silk,
The circumstances of our silk manufacture are very
different from those of our hardware. The whole of
COMMERCE
115
Commerce, the raw material must be imported : our canals are of
^ no importance in regard to an article so light in compa¬
rison with its value ; and even the cheapness of our
fuel is in this respect but a secondary advantage. How
then has it happened that the silk manufacture gained a
footing in England ? It seems to have owed its intro¬
duction to the large profits expected from an article
costly in itself and consequently used by the higher
Progress of classes. It was begun in this Country before the year
this manu- 1500, and attained a certain extent in the course of the
facture. XVIth Century, particularly in the reign of Elizabeth,
when a number of Flemish workmen settled in Eng¬
land in consequence of the political disturbances in the
Netherlands. A further stimulus was given to it a
century after by the repeal, in France, of the Edict of
Nantes, and the removal of a number of the manufac¬
turers to England. Unfortunately our Government
began at that time to listen to the doctrine of mono¬
polists, considering it politic to subject foreign silks to a
high duty, and eventually to prohibit them in toto,
Italy was then the quarter for supplying us with silk,
whether raw or organzine, or, as it is commonly called,
thrown silk. But in the year 1719, a Mr. Lombe, after¬
wards Sir Thomas Lombe, having obtained models of silk
mills from Italy, established one at Derby for the pur¬
pose of throwing silk. To perform this process in
England w^as accounted at the time a great acquisition ;
but there is now little doubt that the silk manufacture
would have succeeded better in this Country had we
been content to leave things to their natural course, and
to impose no restraint on the import of thrown silk,
while the duty on the manufactured article ought not to
have exceeded ten or fifteen per cent. With so mode¬
rate a duty there would have been very little inducement
to run the risk of smuggling foreign silks : the competition
would have been open, and Government would soon have
been enabled to judge whether the manufacture could
stand its ground in this Country without factitious aid.
But the course pursued was very different ; foreign silks
were either burdened with a very high duty or prohi¬
bited ; a strong temptation was thus afforded to smug¬
gling; and the amount of foreign silks clandestinely im¬
ported was probably not below half a million sterling a
year, which a century ago was a very large sum. Hence
a succession of complaints on the part of the workmen in
Spitalfields, one of the results of which was an Act of
Parliament obliging the masters to pay them wages
according to a fixed scale. This compulsory Act ended,
as compulsion in Commercial affairs always does, by de¬
feating its own object; the manufacturers, in self defence,
established silk-weaving in Provincial towns,(Manchester,
Norwich, Leek, Macclesfield,) which were out of the reach
of the Act ; and the result of the competition was a re¬
duction in the rate of wages in Spitalfields.
However, notwithstanding complaints on the part both
of the workmen and their employers, the silk manufacture
was continued and increased in correspondence with our
population, so that towards the year 1785 the value of
the silk annually made in England was computed to be
nearly ¿^5,000,000. It then began to suffer from the
Rivalshipof I'ivalship of cotton, which every year became more for-
cottoii. midable as mechanical improvements followed each other.
In the course of years, cotton fabrics became almost as
elegant and, beyond all comparison, cheaper than silk :
no effort on the part of the East India Company to re¬
duce the cost and increase the quantity of silk imported
from Bengal, could balance the cheapness of cotton, and
the ease with which, from the nature of its fibre, it Commerce
admits of the application of machinery. The latter ad-
vantage it ])ossesses in a remarkable degree over woolj
flax, and silk ; so that the mechanical improvements in
the manufacture of those articles have, in general, been
first tried and made to succeed in cotton.
The consequence of the rivalship of a manufacture
improving so rapidly as that of cotton, has been a fre¬
quent depression of the silk trade, and a recurrence of
complaints among the weavers, chiefly in Spitalfields,
but occasionally also in Coventry, Macclesfield, and the
other Provincial seats of this manufacture. At last, in
1825, Government adopted a new system ; the prohi¬
bition of foreign silks was declared at an end, and their
import was allowed on paying a duty of 30 per cent, ad
valorem. The duty on foreign thrown silk was lowered
from 145. 7í¿. per pound to bs. The reduced rates were
accounted by Government sufficient to protect both
our throwsters and weavers ; and in order to afford them
raw silk at a cheap rate, the duty on it was brought
down tu 3d. per pound.
This Act has now been in operation seven years, a
period of severe trial to the silk trade as to all orna¬
mental manufactures, in consequence of the reduced
circumstances of the majority of the consumers. Com¬
plaints have continued on the part of our manufacturers,
and a higher duty on foreign silks has been called for ;
but, on the other side of the question, reference has
been made to the rapid increase of the manufacture. This
fact is established by the increased import of the raw
material, which in the course of ten years has doubled :
it is further shown by the increase of our exports, which
though not yet large, (¿^400,000,) are fully double their
former amount. It has now become a general opinion,
that in all qualities of silk, except fancy goods, our
workmen are equal to those of France, while in several
they are superior.
The number of weavers and other persons, young
and old, employed in the silk trade, is not accurately
ascertained, but is computed to exceed 100,000 in the
whole Kingdom. The value made annually, in an Extent of
article so high priced, is large in proportion to the number the mauu-
of persons employed ; not less probably than ¿^10,000,000 facture,
sterling. Our chief export is to the United States of
America.
So far from acceding to an increase of the existing
duty on foreign silks, the advocates of free trade con¬
tend that it would be for the advantage of our manu¬
facturers if it \yere lowered to 15 per cent., as smug¬
gling would then cease. Be this as it may, the re¬
markable difference in the success of the cotton and silk
manufactures in this Country seems to have originated
ill the following causes.
1. The silk manufacture was long confined to
London, where provisions, fuel, and house rent are and
have long been considerably higher than in Lancashire.
2. The French and Italians had, in a manner, pre¬
ceded us in regard to silks, while the production and
supply of cotton for manufacture became large only at a
time when our disposable capital had become great,
when the supply of coal was extended by canals, and
our town population was rapidly on the increase.
Foreigners could buy the raw material as cheaply as
our Countrymen, but they were greatly inferior to u.s
both in capital and machinery.
3. To these the advocates of free trade add the
idvantage of leaving a manufacture to its natural
116 COMMERCE.
Lace and
stockings.
Commerce, course ; the interference of Government, even for the
purpose of protection, being found in most cases to be
eventually injurious.
Connected with the silk manufacture are the lesser
branches of lace and stockings. Lace is made in large
quantities in the midland Counties, viz. Buckingham,
Bedford, and Nottingham. It is a manufacture of old
date, and formerly gave employment to very many per¬
sons, chiefly females, to the number, it is said, of nearly
200,000 in all. The quantity of lace made in England
is at present greater than ever, but machinery has in
various respects superseded manual labour. Since the
General Peace in 1815, the price of lace of all kinds has
fallen greatly, so that the wages of the women employed,
as well as of the workmen engaged on the power and
hand looms, are much lower than formerly. Our chief
rivals in this manufacture are in Flanders, which has
long been noted for the variety and quality of its lace,
and still preserves a superiority in embroidery.
The stocking manufacture is carried on likewise in
the inland Counties of Nottingham, Derby, and Leices¬
ter ; the quantity made annually is now greater than
ever, but in this branch also machinery has greatly su¬
perseded manual labour. The value of the cotton and
silk stockings woven annually in England is not below
.£2,500,000.
Earthen- We come in the next place to manufactures of a more
ware homely nature, but which are likely, in the course of
time, to acquire great extension in this Country, in con¬
sequence of our local advantages. The cheapness of our
fuel is a first-rate point in making both glass and earth¬
enware ; while the extent of our canals is of equal con¬
sequence in sending them to a market. Both advan¬
tages are enjoyed at Newcastle in regard to glass, and
in Staffordshire (in the Pottery district) in respect to
earthenware. In the latter district a population of above
60,000 persons is engaged in preparing for market
as well the porcelain or finer qualities, as the cheap
and bulky earthenware required for common use. The
value of the whole made annually at the Potteries is
computed at £1,500,000, and ofthat made at Worcester,
Derby, and other parts, at between £700,000 and
£800,000. The portion of the whole exported yearly
is about £500,000. The United States of America are
our principal foreign market, and next to them Brazil
and the West Indies,
and glass. Iti the XlVth and XVth Centuries the making of
white glass was, in a manner, confined to Venice and
the chief towns of Italy ; while, from the expense at¬
tending its conveyance to England, its price was such
as to confine its use to the Court, the Nobility, and a
few affluent merchants. It was in the latter part of
the reign of Elizabeth, somewhat more than two cen¬
turies ago, that the improving circumstances of our
farmers, manufacturers, and middle ranks generally,
enabled them to adopt the use of what was at that time
considered a luxury : hence a motive for manufacturing
glass at home, particularly in the vicinity of our coal
mines. The French have long carried, and still carry
on this manufacture with spirit, but with means inferior
to ours, both as to fuel and conveyance by water. The
total yearly value of the glass made in Great Britain is
about £2,000,000; that of the exports £500,000.
Sugar re- Another manufacture in which our abundance of fuel
finery. of the greatest importance, is the refining of sugar ;
this is carried on to a great extent in England, as well
for home-consumption as for export. The latter, how- Commerc«,
ever, has been subjected to repeated checks from the
duties imposed on the import of our refined sugars at
Hamburg, St. Petersburg, and other ports, in which the
respective Governments have endeavoured to confine
the manufacture to their own citizens or subjects. The
Germans, our chief rivals in this branch, have the
advantage of cheap labour and of workmen accustomed
to the business ; we, on the other hand, obtain raw sugar
at a somewhat lower rate, and have, in most sitryations, a
cheaper supply of fuel. Our refineries are chiefly in
London, Bristol, Liverpool, and Newcastle : in London,
Bristol, and Liverpool, the refiners are supplied with raw
sugar landed on the spot; at Newcastle, the want of
this advantage is compensated, and perhaps more than
compensated, by the cheapness of fuel. But whether in
London or the outports, the workmen employed in this
exhausting manufacture are chiefly Germans. The value
of the refined sugar annually exported from England
is about .£2,000,000, and the chief markets are Italy
and Germany.
In the South of Europe, the climate being favourable Soap,
to the growth of olives, olive-oil is so abundant as to be
the raw material for the manufacture of soap ; but in
England and other Northern Countries recourse is had
to inferior materials, viz. tallow, soda, and potash.
The quantity of soap made annually in England is be¬
tween 50,000 and 60,000 tons, the value of which is
about £1,500,000, or, after adding a very heavy excise
duty, (3d. a pound,) £3,000,000. The latter is, of
course, the sum paid by the Public for an article on which
the duty ought to be moderate, as well from its being
indispensable to cleanliness, as from the smuggling to
which the high impost has given rise.
The total value of the hats made annually in Great Hats.
Britain is between £2,000,000 and £3,000,000 sterling:
the materials are the fur of the beaver for the finer hats,
and wool for the coarser, or, as they are commonly
called, felt hats. Having no superiority over neighbour¬
ing Countries, either in the purchase of these articles, or
in the process of the manufacture, we do not export
hats to the Continent of Europe : our foreign markets
are confined to our colonies and Brazil, and the amount
sent abroad not being above £200,000 annually, nine-
tenths of the hats made in England are consumed at
home.
We pass now to objects of a very different nature—to The brew-
the produce of our breweries and distilleries. There dis-
are eleven Porter Breweries in London, which col- ^^lery.
Ifcctively brew about two millions of barrels of porter
annually. The higher wages of labour in London and
the higher price of fuel, have led to competition in Pro¬
vincial towns in valions branches, but not in porter
brewing, because those drawbacks are counterbalanced
by the great advantage of a market on the spot, nine-
tenths of the beer made being consumeddn the Metro¬
polis and its vicinity.
In regard to a different liquor, spirits distilled from
corn, the advantage of a market on the spot is of less
importance, the freight from a distant port being a less
serious charge on an article which is of considerable
value for its bulk. The London distillers must there¬
fore reckon on a continual competition with Scotland
and the North of Ireland, notwithstanding the advan¬
tage to London of the late reduction in the coal duty.
Malt has been subjected to an excise duty in England
above a centurv and a half, and if the returns of the
COMMERCE.
1!7
Commerce. Public Offices be assumed as a fair criterion of the
quantity of beer annually consumed, the result is that its
increase has borne a very inadequate proportion to the
increase of our population. Thus in the forty years be¬
tween 1787 and 1827, our numbers increased between
70 and 80 per cent, while the quantity of beer sold
hardly increased 30 per cent. The means of purchase
on the part of the lower orders having augmented in the
course of that period, to what are we to ascribe their
limited consumption of beer? To two causes : the ex¬
tended use of tea and coffee, and the unreasonable
amount of the beer duty, which exceeded the prime cost
of the article until so lately as 1830, when it was reduced.
The quantity of barley made into malt in England has
not during many years exceeded an average of 3,300,000
quarters ; but now that the duties on both beer and
spirits are so materially reduced, the quantity of barley
made into malt is in a course of progressive increase.
The motive for lowering the duty on beer was twofold :
the relief of the lower orders, and the benefit of the
agriculturists. In the case of spirits the ground of
reduction was different; it was to check illicit distilling,
which prevailed to a most pernicious extent in Ireland
and Scotland. That effect it produced, and the con¬
sumption of the different parts of the United Kingdom
is now understood to be almost wholly of duty-paid
spirits. The yearly average may be stated thus :
Ireland, 9,000,000 gallons of home-made spirit.
Scotland, 6,000,000 ditto.
England, 8,000,000 ditto.
But of the quantity prepared in Scotland a considerable
part is for the English market, in which there is also a
consumption of rum and brandy far beyond that of the
other proportions of the Empire.
Mineral Products,
Lead. Lead mines were wrought in Derbyshire before
the XIIIth Century • at present they are worked not
only in that County, but in Cumberland, Yorkshire,
and Wales. The quantity formerly raised from our
mines was above 20,000 tons annually, of which the
half was exported. Of late years, however, the quan¬
tity of our exports has been much lessened by the
rivalship of lead mines in the South of Spain, the ores
of which are much more productive than those of this
Country, and are wrought, of course, at less expense.
The consequence has been a great decline in the price
of lead ; viz. from £23 to £14 per ton since the year
1820, so that many of the workmen in our mines have
been obliged to emigrate.
Tin. In tin there is less dread of foreign competition, few
Countries in Europe being possessed of tin mines : the
chief rivalship in that respect is from a very distant
quarter—the tin mines in the Island of Banca wrought
by Chinese settlers. The produce of these mines is
brought chiefly to Singapore, and is shipped in vessels
which call at that port in their voyage homeward from
China. The quantity of tin yearly prepared in England
is between 4000 and 5000 tons, almost all in Cornwall;
the average value is nearly £4 per hundred weight.
Copper. The copper mines of England are chiefly in Corn¬
wall, and the quantity raised from them has been greatly
increased during the last fifty years. Instead of 2000
or 3000 tons, the former produce, the quantity raised at
present is 12,000 tons, of which more than one half is
VOL. VI.
exported. The increase in the produce of our copper Commerce,
mines has been owing less to discoveries of ore than to
the successful application of steam-engines to clearing
the mines of water. Coal in Cornwall being brought
from a distance, and consequently rather high-priced,
it is necessary to study economy in its consumption ; in
other words to raise the water by pumping with as
small a quantity of fuel as possible. Successive im¬
provements have carried this economy of fuel to a great
length ; the shape of the boilers has been altered, and
the air excluded with a degree of care unknown in Nor¬
thumberland and Staffordshire, where coals are abun¬
dant and cheap. The consequence of this, and of the
reduced cost of labour and materials, is, that our copper
mines are at present in a prosperous state, although
their produce is sold considerably below its former price.
The importance of our coal mines, great at all times. Coal,
has increased surprisingly since the extension of our
canals and the application of steam to mechanical pur¬
poses. An eminent French writer, aware how much we
owe to this precious mineral, calls coal cette vive force en
lingots ; and a Writer of our own Country describes it
as " hoarded power applicable to almost any purpose
which human labour directed by ingenuity can accom¬
plish." The quantity of coal consumed in London has
been increased from time to time with the population of
the Metropolis. It was in 1700 about 350,000 chal¬
drons; in 1750 about 500,000 ; in 1800 about 900,000 ;
and at present (1832) about 1,600,000. The consump¬
tion for the whole Kingdom appears to be nearly
16,000,000 tons, including the large quantities used in
manufactures, particularly in the making of iron, the
smelting of copper and other metals.
The coal trade has long been one of the chief nurseries
of our seamen. The number of men and boys employed
in the coal trade between the Northern sea-ports and
the Metropolis is about 15,000.
The export of coal was formerly subjected to a heavy
duty, viz. seventeen shillings and sixpence per chaldron :
this is now reduced to three shillings and fourpence,
and safely may we increase our sales to foreigners, for
the coal fields of this Country are so extensive as to
afford a supply which at the present rate of consump¬
tion, would probably last more than a thousand years.
Nor is it likely that the amount consumed in England
will increase in proportion to our population, since
there are various methods of economizing coal, of which
we need only mention one of very easy application,
that of heating buildings by steam.
The coal conveyed coastways, particularly to London,
was long subject to a heavy duty, thus increasing
greatly the cost of an article already enhanced by the
charge of freight. This ill-judged and pernicious tax
proved a drawback on the industry of all the Southern
Counties: happily it is now repealed, as is an equally ob¬
jectionable tax on coal brought by canals from Stafford¬
shire and other inland Counties.
Salt, which in all Countries is of great importance Salt
for consumption, is in England valuable likewise as an
article of export. It is obtained chiefly in Cheshire in the
neighbourhood of Northwich, where there are vast quanti«
ties of rock salt in the mines, and of brine or salt-water in
the springs. The rock salt when dug out is not sufficiently
pure for use, but when mixed with the brine from the
springs and refined in large iron pans, it is called white
salt, and forms a great object of export from Liverpool
to the United States of America. During the late wars
R
118
COMMERCE.
Commerce, with France salt was subjecled to a very high duty ;
this was repealed in the year 1823, and although all
the advantages anticipated from the repeal have not yet
been realized, there seems little doubt that the Public
will gain more by the unrestricted use of so valuable a
commodity than by the produce of the tax, large as it
was.
In the South of France, and in other warm Countries,
salt is obtained by evaporating sea-water by the heat of
the sun : the crystals of salt made in that way are accounted
purer than the salt of the mines, in consequence of the
comparative slowness of the process. A small quantity
(8000 or 9000 tons) of sea-salt thus prepared is im¬
ported annually from Portugal into England. The
quantity of English salt consumed in this Country is
computed at 150,000 tons annually ; but the quantity
sent abroad is considerably greater. The chief foreign
markets are the United States of America, British
North America, Russia, Prussia, and the Netherlands.
In each of these Countries it is less expensive to pay the
freight of salt on vessels coming from Liverpool, than
to pay the land carriage of salt from their own mines,
or to evaporate it from sea-water at their respective
ports ; particularly in the Baltic, where the proportion of
salt in sea-water is much less than in the Ocean.
The Shipping of England,
Its pro- The mercantile shipping of England was quite in-
gressive in- significant until the time of Henry VII. ; it increased
erease. progressively during the reigns of that Prince and his
successors of the Tudor and Stuart race, yet so slowly
that at the Restoration, in 1660, it hardly amounted to
100,000 tons. In the period between 1660 and 1689
the increase was rapid, because our Navigation Laws had
come into full operation, and during several years (from
1674 to 1679) our flag had all the benefit of neutra¬
lity, the Dutch, who were then the great monopolists of
shipping business, being involved in war with France.
In our subsequent contest with the latter Power (from
1689 to 1697) our mercantile tonnage was necessarily
lessened, but during the ensuing interval of Peace it
recovered, and was found in 1702 to amount to 270,000
tons, manned by 27,000 seamen. In the present Age
of extended navigation it is curious to observe the
slender returns made on that occasion from our principal
sea-ports •
Vessels. Seamen,
i n 1702, London. ....... 560 .... 10,000
Bristol......... 165 .... 2,400
Hull 115 1,200
Liverpool 102 .... 1,100
Exeter 120 .... 1,000
Yarmouth 143 .... 700
The following Table exhibits the remarkable increase of
our shipping during last Century.
British Shipping after 1702. Tonnage of the Vessels
cleared outwards in various years.
Years. Tonnage.
1709 244,000
1715.... 421,000
1728 433,000
1738 476,000
1750 610,000
1765 726,000
Years. Tonnage. Commerce,
1774 900,000
1785 1,075,000
1789 1,515,000
1802 1,627,000
As we draw nearer to the present time the returns of
our mercantile navy are more complete.
British Shipping engaged in Foreign Trade {distinct
from the Coasting Trade,) which entered inwards in
the following Years.
Years. Tonnage. Seamen.
1820 1,668,000 .... 100,000
1824 1,797,000 109,000
1828 2,094,000 119,000
1829 2,184,000 122,000
1830 2,180,000 .... 122,000
Tonnage of the Merchant Vessels belonging to our prin¬
cipal Seaports in 1829.
Tonnage.
London 573,000
Newcastle 202,000
Liverpool 162,000
Sunderland 108,000
Whitehaven 73,000
Hull 72,000
Bristol 50,000
Aberdeen 46,000
Yarmouth 44,000
Whitby 42,000
Glasgow 41,000
Greenock 36,000
Dundee 32,000
Scarborough 28,000
Leith 26,000
Plymouth 25,000
Belfast 25,000
Dublin 24,000
Dartmouth 24,000
Grangemouth (Scotland). 24,000
Beaumaris 22,000
Cork 17,000
All the lesser Ports 504,000
Total of the United Kingdom.. 2,200,000
British plantations. . 317,000
Seamen belonging to the mercan¬
tile shipping of Great Britain
and Ireland in 1829 134,500
Seamen belonging to the British
Plantations 20,000
No part of the mercantile community has suffered Deciine in
more severely since the Peace than the shipping in- the value
terest, and in no branch of our industry is the competi- shipping,
tion of foreigners more to be dreaded than in ship¬
building. The cost of provisions being so much less
abroad, the wages of shipwrights are comparatively low,
while in some quarters, particularly in the ports of
Norway and the Baltic, timber is much cheaper. Ship¬
building, in England, has consequently diminished ;
from 100,000 to 150,000 tons is the measurement now
annually constructed ; and that chiefly owing to our
Navigation Laws, which, notwithstanding the relaxation
of lafe years, require that British built vessels should
still be exclusively employed in several important
branches. This applies as well to the home trade as to
the trade with our colonies, India, and China.
COMMERCE.
119
Commerce. Oui merchant vessels were formerly built in a great
measure at Blackwall, Woolwich, and other yards on
Ports for the Thames ; hence the name of river built but the
ship-build- wages of the Northern ports have long since at-
tracted the chief part of this business to
Hull, Whitby,
Newcastle, Scarborough,
Sunderland, Whitehaven.
The vicinity of the New Forest to Southampton and
of the Forest of Dean to Chepstow, led during the late
War to establishments for ship-building at those ports, but
they have as yet been attended with little advantage to the
speculators. Nor does it seem likely that, in any part of
the Kingdom, the distress of the ship-builders will be
effectually relieved until the duty on Baltic timber shall
be repealed or materially reduced. When a measure of
that kind shall be adopted, the intelligence of our work¬
men, their better tools, and the greater capital of their
employers, may enable us to maintain a competition
with the ship-builders of the Baltic and the United States
of America.
The mercantile shipping employed in our trade with
Canada and our other North American
Colonies amounts to 400,000 tons.
With our West India Colonies. ... 220,000
With the East Indies , 100,000
With China 20,000
The number of vessels, generally small, employed in
our coasting trade and in our intercourse with Ireland
is about 3000 ; of which the half in tonnage, if not in
number, belong to the coal trade.
The fish It has often been matter of surprise, that with such
enes. abundance of fish on our coasts, and such liberal en¬
couragement from Government, our fisheries should
not have attained a greater extension. The value of all
the fish caught on our coasts and in our rivers does
not exceed ¿^2,500,000, not one-tenth part of the
price of the butcher's meat annually consumed in
England. This is to be ascribed, partly to the fre¬
quency and long duration of our Wars, partly to the
inefficacy of systems of bounty in almost any form.
Something also is to be attributed to the sale of fish
in London having until lately been confined to one
market. The removal of that abuse, joined to the ad¬
ditional capital and number of hands now employed in
the fishery, will greatly increase the quantity of fish
brought to the Metropolis and the inland towns. Acce¬
lerated conveyance by steam-boats and steam-carriages
will operate to the same result. At times when, as
in the year 1812, bread and butcher's meat were high-
priced, the experiments made in forwarding fish to inland
districts were highly encouraging ; large quantities,
slightly corned, having been sent from the coast to the
interior at a charge almost too inconsiderable to be
named.
The Newfoundland fishery has long been conducted
on an extensive scale, and employs about 6000 seamen.
But the herring fishery on our coasts has been the chief
object of bounty on the part of Government, for the
double purpose of enabling our Countrymen to compete
with the Dutch, and to render the fishery a nursery for
seamen. Many years ago a bounty was given on the
busses or vessels employed in this fishery : subsequently,
in 1808, the bounty was extended, and was paid partly
on the tonnage employed, partly on the quantity of fish
caught and cured. After the general Peace of 1815, the
form of the bounty was further altered, and was awarded
solely in proportion to the quantity caught. Of late Commerce
years, however, the rule of withdrawing all artificial v—
encouragement has been applied to this branch of our
industry ; the bounty has totally ceased since 1830, and
it is considered that in this, as in the case of silk, the
capital and labour employed will now be better rewarded
than when the bounty was in operation. Men engaged
in other employments, who used to go to sea during a few
months in Summer for the sake of the bounty, are now
withdrawing and leaving the business to fishermen, who
make it their regular and almost constant occupation.
Summary of our Imports and Exports,
The chief articles of import from other Countries into Our im-
England are the following. ports distiu-
From Ireland ; linens, oats, wheat, cattle, pigs, salted g^ished by
provisions and butter, the whole forming an amount of
¿^6,000,000 or <£7,000,000 annually. triL
From the Baltic, viz, Russia, Poland, Prussia, Sweden ;
timber, pitch, tallow, iron, wheat, hemp, flax, pot-ash.
From Holland ; oats, wheat, seeds, cheese, butter,
also gin.
From France ; wine, brandy, silk, lace.
From Germany; corn, wool, flax, linen, also timber
and Rhenish wine.
From Spain and Portugal ; wine, brandy, oil, fruit.
From Italy and the Levant ; silk, oil, fruit, and drugs.
From Egypt ; cotton.
From the United States of America; cotton, tobacco,
rice, and flour.
From South America ; cotton, hides, indigo, cochineal.
From the West Indies ; sugar, rum, coffee, cotton,
pimento.
From the East Indies ; indigo, silk, cotton, sugar,
spiceries, and occasionally rice.
From China; tea, silk, nankeens, tin.
From Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, New¬
foundland ; furs, skins, timber, fish, and seal-skins.
Such are our principal articles of import. Our exports Exports,
consist of cottons and hardware to almost all the Coun¬
tries mentioned above ; of woollens, linens, earthenware,
to most of these Countries ; and to a smaller number, of
refined sugar, coffee, indigo, glass, machinery, coals,
fish, to which are to be added articles of a very different
nature, viz. silk, stationery, hats ; all, or almost all,
being manufactures, while our imports are generally of
raw produce.
Next, as to the amount in money of our imports and
exports.
Value of our annual Imports from and Exports to
Foreign Countries ; being an average of several years,
hut having reference more particularly to the year
1829.
Imports from Exports to
Russia ,. o £4,000,000 . . £3,000,000
Sweden and Norway. 250,000 . . 300,000
Denmark 480,000 . . 250,000
Prussia 1,300,000 . . 800,000
Germany 2,000,000 .. 10,000,000
Netherlands 2,000,000 . . 5,000,000
France 2,000,000 . 1,000,000
Portugal and Madeira 400,000 . . 2,000,000
Spain 1,000,000 .. 3,000,000
Italy 800,000 . . 4,000,000
Turkey and Greece.. . 500,000 .. 1,500,000
rj O
120
COMMERCE.
Commerce,
Imports from
Egypt £ 250,000
Cape of Good Hope, . 250,000
West Coast of Africa . 250,000
Mauritius 500,000
New South Wales.. . 120,000
British North America 900,000
West Indies 8,000,000
United States of Ame-1 ^
rica J * '
Mexico and Columbia,1
, , . r '1 \ } 250,000
(exclusive ot silver) j
Buenos Ayres 500,000
Brazil 1,500,000
Exports to
£130,000
380,000
500,000
300,000
300,000
2,000,000
5,000,000
6,000,000
1,000,000
1,300,000
4,000,000
Mode of
With some Countries, such as the United States of
liquidating America, the amount in money of our imports and ex-
balances. ports is nearly equal : with others, such as Germany,
Spain, and France, the difference is great; to a degree,
indeed, which makes it at first difficult to understand
in what manner the balances are liquidated. The means
of doing so are partly by the transmission of specie, but
more by bills of exchange drawn by the merchants of
one Country on those of another, for example, from
Brazil on Portugal. These, when remitted to London,
form a fund for paying to our merchants a part of the
balances annually due to them by Brazil. The bourses^
or mercantile exchanges of London, Amsterdam, Paris,
Hamburgh, and, in a lesser degree, those of Lisbon,
Cadiz, Frankfort, are the central points for such nego¬
tiations for the sale and purchase of the bills, by means
of which the debts of one nation to another are liqui¬
dated with comparatively little transfer of coin or bul¬
lion. This arrangement may be compared to the manner
in which the London bankers discharge their daily ba¬
lances with each other by an exchange of cheques, with¬
out requiring any large sum in Bank notes. So far do
the bankers carry this economy of money, that balances
amounting to £4,000,000 may be, and generally are
liquidated without using more than £200,000 in notes.
It is fit to add that the mode of valuing the imports
in the preceding Table is different from that of valuing
the exports. The latter are estimated at the market
price, agreeably to the sums declared by the exporting
merchants ; the former by an official scale established so
long since as 1696, when the prices of most of the articles
we import were lower than at present. Were our
imports rated at the current or market price, the sums
would be considerably larger, and there would conse¬
quently be a greater approach to equality in the value of
our imports and exports. We subjoin a Table of the
Value of our Exports classed, not by the Countries to
which they are sent, but by the respective articles.
Cotton cloth £13,000,000
Cotton yarn 2,000,000
Woollens 5,000,000
Linen (chiefly Irish) 2,000,000
Iron and steel 1,300 000
Hardware and cutlery 1,400,000
Low valua¬
tion of im¬
ports.
Brass and copper articles
Lead and shot
Tin, wrought and unwrought
Machinery and mill work ...
Silks
Haberdashery and millinery .
Earthenware.
Glass
700,000
180,000
350,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
500,000
500,000
Leather, viz, shoes, saddlery, har-| qqq Commerce.
ness ) '
Sugar, chiefly refined 2,000,000
Soap and candles 270,000
Hats 200,000
Salt 300,000
Beef and pork salted 150,000
Fish 300,000
Coals 400,000
Beer and ale 300,000
All lesser articles, whether of produce) j.
n, ^ > 5,000,000
or manufacture ) '
The above is the value as declared by the shipping
merchants, and applies to the years 1830 and 1831.
The preceding statements may receive some illustra- Trade of
tion by a comparison of the trade of this Country with ^"gland
that of our Transatlantic brethren. While the i^^ports
into England consist chiefly of raw produce, or the ma- of the
terials of manufacture, such as cotton, wool, timber, and United
our exports are almost wholly of manufactures,—in the States of
United States, the reverse holds in both respects. There,
the imports consist of manufactured goods, the exports of
raw produce. The causes in either case are obvious ;
England has an abundant population with a limited
territory ; while in America, the population is still thinly
spread, and the territorial surface is almost boundless.
It has been the practice of almost every Government
in Europe to study an indiscriminate extension of manu¬
factures without much attention to the limitations ren¬
dered proper by the nature of their respective territories;
hence the endless prohibitions and high duties on
foreign articles under the mercantile system. To that
system a number of our merchants and some of our
public men are still attached, and the Americans, much
as they have professed to admire freedom in trade, have
given an unfortunate proof of the contrary by the Tariff The Tariff
enacted in 1828, which burdens all foreign manufactures of 1828.
with heavy duties. By what means was an act so con¬
trary to the general rules of the American Government
passed into a law ? By the influence of the manufac¬
turers ; for the Tariff is an attempt to confine to that in¬
terest the supply of manufactures of almost every kind
consumed in the States ; in particular cottons and wool¬
lens. This Tariff has already been the source of much
division between the different States of the Union ; it
has of late been somewhat modified, but cannot fail, if
persisted in, to lead to very serious discontents. The
extent of evil arising from it has not yet been fully de¬
veloped, but it will, we may be assured, be as great as
that which this Country has so long suffered from the
imprudent interference of Government in former Ages
with the natural course of trade.
The chief obstacles to manufacturing industry in Manufac-
America are the high price of labour, the want of good un-
roads, and the remoteness of the towns from each other.
Ages must pass before these drawbacks can be removed, states,
and at present it would evidently be more advisable to
direct the surplus capital and labour of the Country to
the culture of the soil. The chief products of the United
States, wheat, cotton, tobacco, rice, have all, it is true,
fallen greatly in price since the Peace ; yet that ought
not to discourage the cultivation of articles for which the
markeji is so extensive, embracing, as it does, the West
Indies, South America, England, and several Countries
in Europe.
The situation of England in respect to manufactures
COMMERCE. 12J
Commerce.
Advantages
of England
as a manu¬
facturing
Country.
Our disad¬
vantages.
Computed
profit from
our manu¬
factures and
trade.
is quite different from that of the United States ; we
possess remarkable advantages in
1. The cheapness of fuel, and the consequent facility
of applying steam to machinery.
2. in case of communication, whether by sea, by
canals, or by roads.
3. In the cheapness of iron, and a decided superiorffy
in all machinery and tools made of iron.
These are physical advantages ; but to them we may add
others of a different kind almost equally important, viz.
The lower rate of interest consequent on the magni¬
tude of our disposable capital ; and
The division and subdivision of employment, parti¬
cularly since the population of our towns has received
so great an increase in the present Age.
On the other hand, we are subject to several draw¬
backs ; they are as follows :
1. The price of provisions, which, though greatly
reduced, are still from 10 to 15 per cent, above the rate
of our foreign rivals.
2. The pressure of taxation, or rather of particular
taxes, such as that on timber, which cramps our inter¬
course with the Baltic, and that on sugar, the amount
of which is so great as almost to ruin our West India
planters.
3. In high charges resulting from the War and a de¬
preciated currency. In the case of articles sold in open
market, such as corn and manufactures, the war charges
have fallen long since ; but they still exist in an oppres¬
sive form in other cases, such as the rent of land let on
lease, in the rent of houses, in professional fees, and in
various other demands, in which our laws and usages are
such as hardly to allow of a direct or speedy reduction.
After these ample details of our commercial industry,
it would be desirable to convey an estimate of the annual
profit attendant on undertakings so vast. No attempt
was made to calculate such profit until the imposition
of the Property-tax in the beginning of this century,
when, among the other returns to the treasury, there
appeared one of the collective income of our merchants
and manufacturers. Mr. Pitt forming, as persons not
engaged in trade are generally inclined to do, a high
estimate of its profits, had computed the probable amount
of mercantile income in Great Britain at forty millions
annually ; but the returns made under the Act proved
considerably less, having in no year exceeded thirty mil¬
lions. There were, no doubt, many cases in which
mercantile men declared less than their real income ;
but, on the other hand, there were not wanting examples
of their continuing to return the usual amount of income
in years in which they had sustained heavy losses ; their
apprehension being that a diminished return might affect
their credit.
What, it maybe asked, is the probable amount of the
income of our merchants and manufacturers at present,
compared to its amount during the War? The number of
persons employed in Commerce is, doubtless, far greater
at present, but there is, and has long been, a general
complaint of insufficient profit, even in the branches which
have received the greatest extension, such as cotton and
hardware. The causes of this are sufficiently clear ;
during the War, the keenness of competition was greatly
lessened by the demands of Government ; the public
service attracted annually many thousands of our popu¬
lation and many millions of our capital ; hence a conti¬
nued rise in prices as well as in the wages and incomes
of all ranks. But since the Peace, capital, intelligence,
labour, have all returned to their natural channels and Commerce,
been directed to the increase of products. This,
added to the changes in the currency, has caused a
great and general fall in prices, wages, and incomes;
and although the number of persons employed in this
Country in trade and manufactures is greater by fully
30 or 40 per cent, than it was twenty years ago, it is
very questionable whether the income of this augmented
number, if returned in money, would be at all equal to
that of the same classes during the War. We say, if
returned in money,because there can be little doubt
that in the power of purchasing goods, the present
income of our merchants and manufacturers is consi¬
derably greater than during the War in consequence of
the comparative cheapness of commodities.
This leads to the consideration of the greatest of all Fluctua-
the changes that have taken place in the state of Com- the
merce during the present Age—the change in the value
of gold and silver. During twenty years (from 1793 to
1813) prices were progressively on the rise, and during
a period nearly as long, they have been, with very few
intervals, on the decline. Many persons ascribe this
decline to the reduced supply of gold and silver, the mines
of America, formerly so productive, having, during the last
twenty years, yielded less than half their usual amount.
Whatever be the cause, the extent of loss from de¬
clining prices is enormous ; nor can any one say with
confidence how the evil is to end. The deficiency in
the produce of the American mines continues year
after year, and the present management of them, whe¬
ther by the native owners or the English Companies,
is much less successful than that which was followed in
the time of the Spanish Government. We have seen in
a preceding part of this Essay (p. 90, 91.) how greatly
the influx of gold and silver from America extended the
trade of Europe in the XVIth and XVIIth Centuries ;
and it is a matter of the greatest interest to ascertain
how far it may be possible to lessen the pressure at
present so severely felt from their diminished supply. To
arrive at a decided opinion on this subject, it is requisite
to go back to an early period in the production of the
precious metals, a subject closely connected with the
History of Commerce, and on which considerable light
has been thrown by a late publication of Mr. Jacob, of
the Board of Trade, already known to the Public by his
Reports on the Agriculture of Germany and Poland.
Mr. Jacob's book discovers extensive research, and ex¬
hibits in connection a great deal of information which
had previously existed in a very scattered state.
The Precious Metals ; Historical Sketch of their Produc-
tioUy and of their Influence on Commerce.
Gold and silver appear to have been in estimation at
an early period in every Country of which we possess
records. This was a natural consequence of the beauty
and durability of these metals : valued at first as orna¬
ments, their use as a circulating medium began subse¬
quently, and for many years after it did begin, they were Circulated
paid and received by weight, and not in the form of coin, at first by
for coin requires an established Government, as well as weight,
an improved state of Society. Abraham, the earliest
Patriarch of whom we have a circumstantial history, and
who lived about nineteen centuries before the Christian
Era, is described in Scripture as rich in those metals, and
as paying for his purchases in silver, not in coin but by
weight, according to the currency of the merchant."
Gold was too scarce and too valuable to form the circu
122 COMMERCE.
Egypt early
civilized.
Oommerce. lating medium of that early Age : it was used almost
wholly for ornament, like sapphires, pearls, rubies,
and other jewels. In this manner it was applied by
King Solomon in building the Temple at Jerusalem and
the Royal Palace. " He overlaid," we are told in Scrip¬
ture, " the oracle with gold ; also the whole altar that
was by the oracle, he overlaid with gold." We have
already noticed (page 79.) the extension of the trade of
Judœa at that epoch. The quantity of gold brought into
the Royal coffers in the reign of Solomon appears to have
been between <^200,000 and .^300,000 sterling a year ;
that of the silver brought in is not distinctly stated. At
that time the only wealthy Countries were Assyria,
Egypt, and Judsea, for Greece was then only in a primi¬
tive stage of civilization.
The early Annals of the Jews are of great interest to
the student of Ancient History, as furnishing information
not only of themselves, but of the Egyptians and Phoe¬
nicians, long before it could have been obtained from
any other quarter. The earliest date of written records
in Greece was later by five centuries than the time of
Moses, and the promulgation of his laws in a written
form. It appears from this and other facts in History,
that the use of letters was known in Egypt much earlier
than in Greece, for it was chiefly to the fortunate circum¬
stance of Moses being educated at the Court of Pharaoh
that he owed his superior attainments. " He was
skilled," says the Scripture, " in all the learning of the
Egyptians." The mines in Nubia and other parts,
wrought for account of the Egyptian Government, had
been so far productive as to replenish the public treasury,
and afford to the industrious and prudent the means of
laying up property in the portable form of gold and
silver. By this the Israelites had profited ; for it is ap¬
parent from Scripture, that on leaving Egypt, they
carried with them a considerable stock of the precious
metals. The additions made to this stock in their sub¬
sequent wars were generally lodged in the public trea¬
sury, and protected by the solemn sanction of Religion :
all was kept in the Tabernacle under the title of Trea¬
sure of Jehovah." It follows that the metallic wealth
existing in so considerable an amount under Solomon,
was the accumulation of successive Ages, and its extent
is thus in no way inconsistent with his limited territory,
or the still more limited property of his subjects. That
politic Monarch married a daughter of the King of
Egypt, and maintained a close alliance with Tyre, which
was then at a high point of prosperity. There were
happily no national jealousies to interfere with the cor¬
diality of the two Countries : the Jews, amidst all their
offensive wars, had had none with the Phœnicians, whose
territory was fortunately at some distance from Judaea.
After the reign of Solomon, there took place, as is well
known, great disorders in the Jewish Government, but
amidst all these, the public treasure, or a considerable
part of it, appears to have been preserved, and to have
been removed to Babylon after the conquest of Judsea
by Nebuchadnezzar. In Babylon this and much other
treasure, conveyed thither from conquered Provinces, fell
into the hands of the Persians on the conquest of the
Empire by Cyrus. His successor Carnbyses added to it
an ample store from the treasury of Egypt. Persia
was now the principal Empire in the World, and its
yearly revenue is understood to have amounted to three
or four millions sterling. By this is meant the clear
sum forwarded by the Satraps, or Provincial Governors
10 the Royal exchequer, after defraying all local charges.
The public
treasure in
Jerusalem,
The Trea¬
sury of
Persia.
But of this large amount very little was put into the Commerce,
form of coin. " The gold and silver," says Herodotus, ^
were melted and poured into earthen vessels, and these,
when filled, were removed, leaving the metal in a solid
mass. When wanted for payments, a piece was broken
off of the amount required for the occasion, and issued
in the shape of coin." The gold coins of that Age are
the earliest of any specimens known to exist : they were
called, after the reigning Monarch, Darios, and were worth
each about twenty-five shillings of our present money.
The treasury of Athens could not, of course, enter Of Athens,
at all into comparison with that of the Monarchs of
Persia. It received from the petty Islands of the
Archipelago, and other tributaries, a yearly revenue of
,^120,000 sterling, and the sum accumulated at Athens
before the Peloponnesian war, was equal to about
¿£1,200,000 sterling. That sum, so much greater than
the contents of any other treasury in Greece, was one
main cause of Athens being enabled, notwithstanding
her heavy losses, to make head against Sparta and her
confederates during nearly thirty years.
About a century after the brilliant era of Athens, the
course of events led the Macedonian armies into the
heart of Persia, and delivered the Royal treasures at
Persepolis, Ecbatana, and other great cities, into the
possession of Alexander. The amount of the whole is
said to have been nearly .^40,000,000 sterling, a sum far
greater than had as yet been collected in any other Country,
butnotimprobablewhen we consider that it continued to
be the practice of the Persian Government not to coin and
circulate their gold and silver, but to keep them stored.
Passing in the next place to Italy and the Romans, Of Rome,
we find that the extension of their dominion had the
natural effect of bringing large amounts in gold and
silver to the Capital from the Countries successively con¬
quered. These came first into the hands of the military
commanders and of the Civil governors of Provinces.
The use of coined gold and silver had not even then be¬
come general, so that a considerable time elapsed ere
these treasures were circulated among the Public; they
remained a long time in the coffers of the State.
We are next to advert to the means of obtaining re- Mininjx foi
guiar supplies of silver and other metals ; to the Art of silver and
mining. That Art could not, it is evident, have
carried on in ancient times in a manner at all similar to
the systematic and refined form which it now bears in
Germany and England. A rude Tribe could begin only
by working the ore found near the surface : when that
was consumed, the working was necessarily carried on
under ground ; a task of great difficulty, deficient as
they were in those Ages in tools and machinery. Egypt
appears to have taken a lead in mining as in other useful
Arts. The mines wrought for account of its Government
were situated at a great distance, being in Nubia about Nubia,
latitude 22° North, distant nearly a fortnight's journey
from Assuan, the ancient Syene. The rude mode of
mining practised there appears to have borne a consider¬
able resemblance to that which is still followed in
Spanish America : the ores were brought to the suriace,
not as in this Country in baskets drawn or hoisted up a
shaft, but on the backs of workmen, a practice still com¬
mon in Mexico and Peru. Again the ore, when ground
to a powder, was thrown into a gentle current of water,
in which the metallic or heavy particles sank to the
bottom, and the lighter or earthy were carried away by
the stream. A supply of mining labourers was kept up
somewhat on the plan adopted by the Russians iq
COMMERCE.
123
tvommerce.
Gold ob-
tained from
the sand of
rivers.
Mines in
Greece.
In Thrace.
In Italy.
In Spain.
Siberia ; by sending thither captives taken in war,
convicts, and all political delinquents, with their families.
The produce of these and other mines wrought for the
Government of Egypt greatly exceeded that of any
other mines in ancient times.
Such was in early Ages the mode of obtaining silver
as well as copper and iron : gold, on the other hand, was
procured by a more uncertain, but less laborious process ;
by washing the sand brought down by streams from
mountain districts. This practice prevailed in various
parts of the ancient World ; in the Eastern Provinces of
Persia; in that part of India (the North-West) which
was subject to the Persians ; and even in the remote
region of Abyssinia, great part of which being moun¬
tainous, has streams which supply the materials of such
a traffic. The Abyssinians appear to have conveyed their
gold-dust by the Red Sea to Egypt and Phœnicia, thus
furnishing to Thebes in Upper Egypt an additional
source of wealth.
The Greeks acquired the Art of mining from the
Phoenicians, and carried it on first in the Islands, such
as Crete, Thasus, Eubcea ; afterwards on the mainland,
particularly in Attica. The work was performed by
slaves, who belonged to the proprietors of the mines, and
were hired by the adventurers or lessees of the mines at
a fixed rate. The latter supplied them with provisions
and clothing, and added, at the end of the month, a
small payment in money, equal, in power of purchase,
to about thirty shillings of our currency. In the moun¬
tainous parts of Thrace there were silver mines which
had been wrought for Ages, but which falling into the
hands of Philip of Macedón, were rendered far more pro¬
ductive under his politic management, and yielded him
a portion of the treasures which he employed with such
fatal effect against the independence of Greece.
Turning from Greece to Italy, we find the first ac¬
counts of mining relate to Etruria, into which the
useful Arts had been early introduced from Greece, by
a colony from Corinth. The Etrurians obtained from
their mines, first copper, afterwards iron. The copper
required by the Romans for coin in the days of their re¬
publican simplicity was during several centuries drawn
from Etruria. Gold was obtained in small quantities
in two parts of the North of Italy : in the North-West,
in the Province of Aosta, by washing the sands of the
Po ; and in the North-East of Italy, in the country
round Aquileia, as well as in certain parts of Illyria.
Spain being one of the most mountainous Countries
in Europe, and visited at an early epoch by the
Phoenicians and Carthaginians, it was to be expected
that its metallic treasures would be turned to account.
Gades, or Cadiz, was one of the earliest settlements of
the Phoenicians ; Seville, Malaga, Carthagena, followed
some time after ; and in a few generations a number of
smaller towns were formed by settlers from the East, for
the natives of Spain were quite in a state of barbarism.
The population being, moreover, very thinly spread, it
became necessary for the working of the mines to bring
over labourers from Africa. The mines first wrought for
Phoenician account were probably situated along the base
of the Sierra Morena, near the Guadalquiver, by which
their produce would be conveyed first to Seville, after¬
wards to the sea. In that quarter (at Guadal canal, in
the Province of Cordova) was the silver mine of Bebulo,
from which Hannibal is said to have stored his military
chest before crossing the Alps, and striking such disas¬
trous blows at the power of Rome.
The Romans possessed no silver mines until tne pro¬
gress of their arms, in the first and second wars with
Carthage, led to their occupying the mines of their ad¬
versaries in Sardinia, Sicily, and the South of Spain,
They soon after obtained possession of the mines of
Macedón, and at a subsequent date of those of Persia
and Nubia. In ancient times nine-tenths of the manual
labour done was performed by slaves ; or, to speak more
correctly, the lower orders employed in country work,
in mining, or in almost any kind of labour, were paid
more by maintenance than by money. The practice of
paying the labourer in money, and leaving it to him to
provide for himself and family, was then but partially
followed ; still less was it the rule to apportion the re¬
muneration of mining workmen according to the pro¬
duce of the ores they raised. The latter is the only
effectual means of checking the expense of mining, and
as a Public Body is ill fitted to enforce the economy re¬
quisite in fresh undertakings, the Roman Government
allowed the mines of the State to be gradually aban¬
doned ; so that after the Vth Century there seems to
have been, in a manner, an end to mining for the public
account. For account of individuals, mining was still
carried on in certain parts, but we are now arrived at the
Dark Ages, when there is a failure of records of various
kinds, and of none more than of those relating to the
precious metals. One thing admits of little doubt, viz.
that from the reduced supply of gold and silver, there
was a gradual reduction in the money prices of commo¬
dities in the latter Ages of the Empire ; that is, an ounce
of silver or gold then went further in the purchase of
commodities than in the flourishing times of Rome—in
the days of Augustus and of Trajan.
The laws passed from time to time by the Anglo-
Saxon Princes prescribe the prices of certain commodi¬
ties. Thus, those enacted about the year 1000 fixed the
value of a horse at a price that would make 35s. of our
present money, that of a mare or colt at 23s., of an ox
or cow at only 7s. Cattle were then of very diminutive
size, much inferior to those of later times ; but the price
prescribed for an ox or cow is so low as to be accounted
for only by the uncultivated state of the Country ; by
tillage being limited to particular spots, while four-fifths
of the land were forest or waste. Hence animal food
was so cheap as to be an object in the market only after a
bad season, when corn was scarce and dear; at other
times the value of the animal in England was little more
than the value of his hide, as is the case at present in
the wilds of Russia and of Buenos Ayres.
The price of wheat also in England during the Middle
Ages is deserving of a few remarks. It is stated in
several of our ancient records, but it did not form a fair
criterion of the value of gold and silver for two reasons :
first, wheat in those days was less the food of the lower,
and even of the middle classes, than rye or barley ; and,
secondly, at a time when there were few storehouses
for corn, little disposable capital to invest in it, and
wretched roads to take it to market, the plenty in one
part of the Country could not be made to relieve the
scarcity in another. Hence the price of wheat differed
greatly from year to year, and in separate districts.
These facts are useful in estimating the value of silver
in the Middle Ages. They tend to confirm the opinion
of the late Arthur Young, that the average price of
wheat in England during the Xlllth, XIVth, and
XVth Centuries was not below a fifth of its present
price, or 10s, a quarter. Labour, in like manner, was
Commerce,
Mining
under the
Romans.
Gold and
silver scaic
in the Mi
die Ages.
Price of
cattle in
England in
the Middle
Ages.
Of wheat.
124 C O M M E R C E.
Commerce.
The Ame¬
rican mines.
Pioduce of
the Ameri¬
can mines
fioin 1600
to 1700,
From 1700
to 1810.
paid in those days with silver and copper in very small
sums ; but if to these we add the value of maintenance,
which was almost always supplied to tbe labourer, we
find that his remuneration was not so trifling as is com¬
monly thought. Allowance also is to be made for the
general inferiority of the workmen and of the articles
sold in so rude an era, particularly manufactures, which
with the exception of a few, such as woollens and
leather, were nearly as dear as in subsequent periods of
our History. The result seems to be that in the Xlllth,
XlVth, and XVth Centuries in England, and as far as
we know in Europe generally, the value of silver may
be stated in the proportion of one to three, when com¬
pared with its present value ; ¿^100 in those days being
equal, in the power of purchasing the various requisites
of housekeeping, to ¿^300 at present, and not to more.
We now come to a remarkable epoch in the produc¬
tion of the precious metals, the occupation of Mexico
and Peru by the Spaniards. The supply of gold and
silver obtained from the Western hemisphere during
thirty years after its discovery, was wholly insignificant.
Hispaniola, the only important Country then occupied
by the Spaniards, was quite unimportant as a seat of
mines. But in the year 1521, Cortez invaded Mexico,
and occupied the Capital, together with most of the
inhabited districts. After this event, the supply of
silver from America to Europe increased to half a million
sterling a year ; an amount trifling according to our
present ideas, hut by no means so in an Age when so
small a portion of the Public could afford to use silver
plate, and when, consequently, almost ail the silver that
was imported was added to the money in circulation.
In the course of thirty years, the effect on prices in Eng¬
land, from this and other causes, was very remarkable.
"My father," said Bishop Latimer, when preaching in
1548 before his young Sovereign Edward VI., " my father
rented forty years ago a farm at six pounds a year. He
kept hospitality for his neighbours ; he gave alms to the
poor; hut he that now has the same farm pays fourteen
pounds of yearly rent, and is consequently unable to do
any thing for his Prince, his children, or the poor."
Other causes, doubtless, had a share in this rise of
rent ; but it is remarkable, that about the time this Dis¬
course was delivered, the discovery of the rich mine
of Potosí in Peru took place, after which the import of
silver from America to Europe proceeded in an augmented
ratio ; at the rate, it is calculated, of two millions sterling
a year. To this chiefly is attributed the rise of prices
which continued during almost the whole of the long
reign of Elizabeth, towards the close of which most ar ^
tides cost nearly twice as much as forty or fifty years
before.
The mines of Potosi yielded considerable produce
during the early part of this Century, hut fell off towards
its close ; new mines, however, were opened in Peru and
in the vast inland tract between that Country and La
Plata. But the chief increase was in Mexico, and from
the mines now held by London Companies, hut which
from causes, which shall be explained forthwith, have as
yet proved unprofitable in their hands.
During the XVIIIth Century the produce of the Ame¬
rican mines experienced a great increase, particularly in
Mexico. Quicksilver had now become cheaper, and rude
as was the method of extracting the silver from the ore,
the abundance of the latter was such as to afford a large
return. From Peru also the supply of silver was large,
particularly from the mines of Pasco, the object of so un¬
fortunate a speculation by a London Company in the year
1825. Adding to all these the gold obtained in Brazil,
the result was that, during the XVIIIth Century, America
yielded on an average precious metals to the amount of
six or seven millions sterling a year.
The insurrection of 1810 in Mexico was followed by a
Civil war, by the destruction of part of the machinery
employed on the mines, and some time after by the
abandonment of a number of mining establishments.
The effect of these disorders has been to reduce an
annual produce of seven millions of silver to half that
quantity ; and as the mines in Europe have merely kept
up their very limited supply, the consequence has been
a decrease in the amount of coin in circulation throuirh-
out the civilized World of more than sixty millions ster¬
ling in the last twenty years, or more than three millions
on an average annually.
This decrease has taken place as follows. The quan¬
tity of gold and silver required for plate, watches, and
ornamental manufacture is very large ; probably not
less than to the value of six millions sterling yearly. To
this is to he added a loss by the wear of coin, by ship¬
wreck, and other accidental causes to the amount of one
million annually. To India, China, and other parts of
the East, the annual transmission of silver from America
and Europe, though less great than formerly, still
amounts to nearly two millions, making in all a demand
on the mines of eight or nine millions each year. And
as the average produce of the mines in the last twenty
years has been only five millions, there has been an an¬
nual deficiency of three or four millions sterling.
But the actual deficiency has been considerably more,
for gold and silver have been required in large quantities
by several Countries, particularly England and Austria,
to replace the paper-money that has been called in. At
the general Peace of 1815, Austria had in circulation
about a hundred millions sterling of Government paper;
hut as it was greatly depreciated, the Government con¬
sidered itself jqstified in requiring it to he exchanged
for paper payable in cash on demand, giving of the latter
twenty florins, or two pounds sterling, for every fifty
florins, or five pounds of the former. This operation
absorbed gold and silver to the amount probably of
twenty millions sterling. In England the absorption of
specie has been still greater ; the necessity imposed on
our Banks of paying in cash on demand, and the subse¬
quent replacing of the small notes by sovereigns, must
have required the appropriation of specie (chiefly gold)
to the amount of nearly twenty-five millions sterling.
Add to these for the further sums required in the United
States of America, in Russia, and other parts of Europe,
a computed amount of fifteen millions, and we shail
have a total of sixty millions sterling in gold and silver
required to replace Bank or Government paper. The
deficiency in the supply from the mines being to the
same amount, the total différence between 1810 and the
present time is no less than one hundred and tw enty
millions sterling ; that is if four hundred and twenty
millions sterling formed the currency of the civilized
World twenty years ago, that sum is now reduced to
three hundred millions.
So great a decrease would have been quite ruinous to
trade, had not this Country and Europe happily con¬
tinued at peace ; there are now no demands for the mili¬
tary chests of armies, and not much for hoarding by
timid individuals. Improved means of conveyance now
transport gold and silver in a very few days from one
Commerce.
Reduced
produce
since 1810,
Its effect on
the circulat¬
ing me¬
dium.
Aggravated
by the re¬
duction of
paper cur¬
rency.
COMMERCE.
125
ICO.
Commerce. Capital in Europe to another ; from London to Paris ;
from Paris to Vienna ; from Amsterdam to Hamburgh ;
from Hamburgh to Berlin, By these means a given
sum, such as ¿100,000 in gold, is made to perform cer¬
tain exchange operations which might have required
twice or thrice the amount in time of War. And for¬
tunate it is for the interests of Commerce that it should be
so; for the great and general increase of population, and
the equally great increase of commodities requiring an
augmented supply of money to circulate them, would
otherwise have greatly aggravated the distress arising
from the diminished stock of the precious metals.
English It was in 1824 that several Associations or Companies
Companies formed in London to put the mining works again
wirh^ Me:¿ ^ activity. They obtained leases of the prin¬
cipal mines, provided large capitals, and sent out to
Mexico agents, machinery, and mining workmen. The
efforts of these Companies have as yet been unsuccess¬
ful, owing chiefly to the following causes •
1. The mines were dilapidated to a much greater
degree than was expected, and required very expensive
repairs.
2. There being no silver mines in England, the
agents and workmen sent out were, and still are, unac¬
quainted with the proper processes, particularly for
separating the silver from the ore. They follow the rude
practice of the Mexicans, with very little attention to the
improved methods which have been in course of adop¬
tion in Germany during the last thirty or forty years.
3. Mining, like all undertakings of difficulty in
Mexico, had been managed by natives of Spain, the
Mexicans having neither the information nor the activity
required for such enterprises. But the Civil war having
ended in favour of the Mexicans, the Spaniards were
obliged to leave the Country, which was thus deprived
of their capital, and of what it could equally ill afford,
their intelligence and habits of business.
In the absence of Spaniards, the English arriving at
the mines had recourse to the natives, who being igno¬
rant of Mechanics, Chemistry, and the principles of
mining, proved most incompetent assistants. They had,
in nine cases out of ten, no other object than to cause as
much English capital as possible to circulate amongst
them. Hence the absorption of the chief part of the
funds of the Companies in a very few years.
Such have been the causes of the failure hitherto of
the Mining Associations ; but what, it may be asked, is
the prospect for the future ? First, the mines of Mexico
are very numerous, those that are exhausted bearing but
a small proportion to those that continue productive.
The ore is abundant but not rich : hence the necessity
of employing many thousand workmen. In fact, the
great extent to which mining has been carried in
Mexico, compared to Peru and other Provinces of
Spanish America, has been owing to a very simple
cause, the greater supply of labourers. In Peru the
population is chiefly in valleys, while the mines are in
mountains, the keen air of which is highly pernicious to
the workmen from the plains; but in Mexico, a con¬
tinued table-land, the temperature is nearly the same
througnout. The labourers employed at the mines have
consequently good health, and progressively increase
their numbers, like the .niners in Cornwall and in
Saxony.
It thus appears that the arguments in favour of a
prospective increased supply of silver, are
The abundance of ore in the mines ;
VOL. VI.
Prospect of
the Mexi
L'an mines.
The increasing number of mining workmen; Commerce.
And, on the assumption of continued Peace, a further
supply of capital from England to work the mines.
On the other side of the question are :
The unacquaintance of our miners with silver ore ;
The general ignorance of the Mexicans ; and
The very slow progress of the Companies in correct¬
ing the defects of their present system.
It is well known that in any Country, Joint Stock
Companies succeed only when the agency of their ser¬
vants is confined to a few plain objects, and when all
that admits of being delegated, is transferred to indivi¬
duals acting on their own account. Thus at most of
the mines in Europe the practice is to sell the ores as
soon as they are raised to the surface, leaving to indivi¬
duals the nice and difficult task of reducing the ores, or
separating the silver from the dross. But in Mexico
that practice is by no means general ; several of the
mining districts are as yet too poor and too thinly peopled
to supply persons qualified to reduce the ores ; and there
are considerable difficulties in bringing such persons
from Europe and settling them at the mines.
It is thus almost impossible to calculate with con¬
fidence the future produce of the Mexican mines, but a
large increase is certainly not to be expected at present.
And it is a Historical fact of great importance, that at no
period during the last two hundred years has the supply
of silver from America had much effect in raising prices
in Europe : it has done little more than keep them at the
scale they attained in the XVIth Century. Although
the influx of silver was regularly on the increase, the
consumption of it extended in nearly an equal propor¬
tion. The causes are, that of the silver raised annually
from mines, only a third part is converted into coin,
while two-thirds are used for plate, and other purposes
of ornament. The demand for silver thus increases
with the population and wealth of the civilized World ;
these have advanced continually during the last two cen¬
turies, and at no period has there been a greater prospect
of their further increase than at present.
It follows, therefore, that an augmented supply of
silver would be readily absorbed by the demands of the
civilized World ; and that there is at present no prospect
of any such increase as would cause a rise in the price of
commodities.
Commercial Prospects of England.
While few departments of industry have been fol- Merchants
lowed in practice to so great an extent as Commerce,
hardly any has been less an object of study in habits,
regard to its principles. The habits of merchants are
strictly practical, and when they act by rule, even
the most judicious among them are unconscious that
they do so, because such rules exist only in the mind of
the individual, being the result not of study or of the
lessons of others, but of his personal experience during
a number of years. Many merchants are remarked as
well for intelligence and reflection, as for extensive in¬
formation ; but as that information is not reduced into
a system, and is brought forth only in occasional con¬
versation, it expires, in a great measure, with the pos¬
sessor ; so that new generations are left to acquire
experience, like their predecessors, by length of time
and practice in business. Readily do we admit that
practice and intercourse are as indispensable in forming
a merchant as a lawyer or physician, but they do not
s
126
COMMERCE
Commerce.
Errors from
their defi¬
cient infor¬
mation.
The year
1825.
Mexico.
Poverty of
mining dis¬
tricts,
and of all
thinly
peopled
Countries.
supersede instruction by principle any more in trade
than in law or medicine. Like these proessions, Com¬
merce has its general rules ; its precepts affirmative and
negative. Supported by the former, the merchant will
persevere in an occupation or a connection which tempo¬
rary disappointments might otherwise make him aban¬
don : deterred by the latter, he will avoid those tempting
but fallacious undertakings in which his unthinking
brethren are so ready to engage.
The most eifectual mode of proof is by example, and
if we look for a case of suffering on the part of our mer¬
chants, from their being merely practical men, we shall
find it unfortunately too soon: we need go no further
than seven or eight years back, when the trade of Mexico
and the rest of Spanish America was opened to this
Country. Aware that quantities of gold and silver had
for many Ages been supplied by those Countries, our
merchants considered them wealthy in other respects,
and entitled to large credits, as well for the manufac¬
tures they bought from us, as for the money which their
respective Governments proposed to borrow. Hence arose
large exports of our merchandise, followed by extensive
loans on the faith of South American funds, and equally
extensive advances on the security of their mines. We
will not dwell on the amount of the loss thus incurred ;
on the millions thus transferred from England to the
Western Hemisphere : the point is to consider whether
the mania would have been carried so far had our mer¬
chants had the benefit of instruction in the Principles of
Commerce. In the course of such instruction one of
the earliest lessons would have been, that Countries pro¬
ducing gold and silver are in general poor ; that mines
of those metals do not, any more than mines of coal, or
iron, or copper, offer their treasures on easy terms, but
must be wrought with great labour, and under careful
superintendence. The expense of mining is in general
such as to restrict the profit on it to the same limited
scale as the profit on agriculture or manufactures.
Another important lesson derived from studying the
History of Commerce is, that thinly peopled Countries,
like Spanish America, are invariably bare of capital,
whatever be their advantages as to soil and climate.
The reasons are obvious : capital is a plant of slow
growth, the result of skill, labour, and perseverance ;
advantages to be found only in populous and long
settled communities. Holland, with a marshy soil and
an uninviting climate, has long proved a valuable cus¬
tomer for our manufactures, because the amount of her
population and the advanced state of their productive
industry, enable her to supply us in return either with
valuable commodities or with money arising from the
sale of such commodities. But a region like Spanish
America, which, compared to England, has not on the
same extent one inhabitant to twentv, can have no
wealth arising from manufactures, and not much arising
from Country products. Of all such products, whether
the indigo, sugar, and cotton of a tropical climate, or
the corn and wines of more temperate regions, the
main constituent is labour, and labour can never be
abundant where the population is scanty. Simple as
are these truths, a knowledge of them on the part of
our mercantile Countrvmen in the unfortunate vear
1825, would have been the means of saving many mil¬
lions to Enofland.
Our next example of miscalculation as to Commerce
shall be of quite a different nature, and taken from the con¬
duct of our Government in the last Century. It is now sixty
years since the origin of our differences with our North
American Colonies which burst forth into open war in
1775, and ended, after a seven years' struggle, in their se¬
paration from the Mother Country. Those Colonies had
long been bound by Acts of Parliament to take their ma¬
nufactures from England, and to send all their exported
produce, their tobacco, their flour, their timber, to this
Country in the first instance; that we might purchase
as much as was wanted for our use, and have a profit
on the sale of the remainder to foreigners. These re¬
strictions seemed to our Statesmen, as to our merchants,
of great advantage to the Mother Country. The war
with the Colonies was of long continuance, and many
persons in England lamented it, but they did so chiefly
on considerations of humanity. No speaker in Parlia¬
ment, no practical merchant, came forward to maintain
that we should be able to retain our trade with the Ame¬
ricans without the aid of monopoly, England being the
only Country in Europe that could afford the long
credit rendered necessary by their scanty capital. Peace
came in 1783, and our Countrymen were prepared to
resign a great part of this trade, when to their surprise
they found it not only continue but increase. Could
political feeling have decided the question the result
would have been different. The national attachment of
the Americans was to the French. They had fought
together against us ; they had a mutual jealousy of our
naval power ; they were eager to draw closer their con¬
nection by the ties of commercial intercourse ; but all
was unavailing. Then, as at present, France was bare
of capital, and not rich in manufactures ; she could sup¬
ply America only with wines and silk ; the other great
articles of consumption, woollens, linen,cotton, hardware,
continued to be drawn from England. The result
has been, that from America separated, or, as she styled
herself, independent, we have reaped much more advan¬
tage than from the same Country when subject to our
colonial laws. How much blood and treasure would
have been saved had our Statesmen and our merchants
been earlier aware of this truth ; and had they known
that the chief subject for their consideration was merely
whether our Colonists were sufficiently advanced in
political science to conduct their own Government. If
they were so, it was clearly for the mutual advantage of
Countries so distant from each other, to separate, each
confining itself to the administration of its own affairs.
But of all examples of error arising from deficient
knowledge of the principles of trade, the most striking
was afforded during our late Wars with France. Minis¬
ters, merchants, Members of Parliament, were all de¬
ceived by appearances ; all joined in believing that the
impoverishing effect of former Wars was completely
belied by our situation, Commercial and Financial,
during that long contest. Money seemed every year to
increase in abundance ; the country gentleman receiv¬
ing augmented rents for his farms ; the town land¬
lord for his houses ; the manufacturer a higher price
for his woollens, his linens, his hardware ; while the
humble mechanic, and the still humbler country labourer,
experienced a progressive increase in their wages. So
general a rise in the scale of payments could, in the
general opinion, proceed only from increased wealth,
and that wealth must, according to the mercantile
creed, be obtained at the expense of our neighbours.
Of this we had an amusing example in the writings of
the late Arthur Young. " The French Revolution^" he
said, burst forth like a volcano, laying the industry,
Commerce
War with
the North
Americans
in 1775;
its causes.
Wars of the
F rench Re¬
volution ;
financial
miscalcu¬
lations.
COMMERCE
Commerce, manufactures, and Commerce of France, and eventually
those of Uie whole Continent, in the dust. Britain
became the emporium of the World, and such a scene
of wealth and prosperity filled every eye in this happy
Country as the Sun before had never shone upon."
Such was the general opinion of our merchants, and
as to the cause of any great change, practical men seldom
go far for a solution ; our navy was unresisted on the
ocean, and our mercantile shipping had increased ;
hence a common belief that our augmented wealth arose
from foreign trade. Even men the least connected with
Government, had no distinct idea of the temporary
nature of our prosperity or of the probability of a re¬
action. Not that we were without examples in History
of such a reaction ; for Sir William Temple, in his in¬
teresting account of the trade of Holland in iheXVIlth
Century, had described, in a manner equally clear and
impressive, the general stagnation in mercantile affairs
which followed the Peace of Westphalia. A similar fall
of prices took place after the Peace of Utrecht in 1713,
and, in some degree, after our Peace with France, Spain,
and the United States of America, in 1783. But of
these latter changes there was no clear or satisfactory
record, and, unfortunately, before the close of the last
War, we had lost in Pitt the only Minister familiar
with such a transition, the only one who, during the ex¬
citement of the War, had warned his colleagues of the
reaction to be apprehended at a Peace. Serious, in¬
deed, has that reaction proved ; in point of time it has
lasted nearly twenty years, while as to degree, it has, in
very many cases, amounted to half the income of whole
classes of the community.
Yet, long as has been the period of suffering, the
Public are not, even at present, agreed as to its causes.
By some it is ascribed to the free-trade system and the
competition of foreigners ; by others, and a very nume¬
rous body, to the resumption of cash payments ; while
a third party attribute it mainly to the decreased pro¬
duce of the silver mines of America during the last
twenty years. Each of these causes has, doubtless,
contributed to the fall of prices, but they are insufficient
to account for so great and general a result : for this fall
has taken place in France, Italy, Germany, Countries
in which Banks are almost unknown, and where, conse-
Causes of quently, there were no small notes tobe called in. It must
the decline he owing, therefore, to causes of very comprehensive
of prices, operation, and what so likely to hold the first rank in
the list as the change from general War to general
Peace ; a change which gave back so many millions of
capital, and so many hundred thousand hands to pro¬
ductive employment; which renewed the intercourse
between all Countries, substituting open and unre¬
stricted trade for the barbarous anti-commercial edicts of
Bonaparte. If, in proof of this, we select any parti¬
cular class of Society, we shall find that the decline of
prices since the Peace has borne a remarkable propor¬
tion, both in its nature and degree, to their rise during
the War ; those who profited most during the contest
having, in general, been the most reduced since the
Peace. This holds in regard to most of the productive
classes, or those who earn their support chiefly by per¬
sonal exertion, and the employment of a limited capital.
Of this description are farmers, and the very numerous
Body, who, whether agriculturists, traders, or profes¬
sional men, carry on their business with borrowed
money. All these classes find the payment of their
rent, interest, and other fixed money charges, much
more heavy since the fall in the price of the commodi- Commerce,
ties in which they respectively deal ; involving as it
does a decrease in the wages, salaries, and professional
fees, which form their respective incomes. But that is not
all : a similar decline has taken place in the value of their
fixed capital, such as stock in trade, machinery, or build¬
ings. Cramped thus in their power of employing the
lower orders, a number of the latter are thrown out of
work. We hear, year after year, of a superabundance
of country labourers, owing not to there being more
labourers than are required to raise the requisite supply
of provisions, for of late years we have imported corn
largely, but to the reduced capital of our farmers, which
prevents them from giving employment to those who
want it.
From hew many classes of the community do we
hear similar complaints ? From the manufacturers of
woollens, cottons, linen, and more pointedly still from
ship-builders, and the iron and hardware merchants.
One important part of our national property, houses,
long maintained a high rent in consequence chiefly of
our increasing population ; but of late that property also
has fallen. How easily might we continue this painful
catalogue, this enumeration of losses and embarrass¬
ments consequent on the lavish use of paper money
during the War. How clearly could all this be traced
to a deficient knowledge of the Principles of Commerce
and finance ; but we will not dwell on past errors : we
will turn to a more cheering theme ; to the prospect of
surmounting our distress and the means by which it is
to be attempted.
Amidst all these embarrassments and complaints. Prospect of
there is evidently no falling off in the productive powers relief; our
of the Country. The quantity of our yearly crops, the
extent of our manufactures, the amount of our mercan
tile shipping, are all greater than at any former time,
and all in a state of progressive increase. It follows,
then, that the real wealth of the Country continues in
an augmenting ratio ; the pressure on us arises from
the evils of transition ; from unfortunate fluctuations in
our currency ; from the prices of very many articles,
whether of produce or manufacture, having fallen in a
greater degree than the charge of preparing and bring¬
ing them to market. Now such a disproportion cannot
continue ; if we are not able to foresee in what manner
or after what lapse of time the equilibrium will be re¬
stored, we may safely assume that restored it will be,
because the existing insufficiency of price is as contrary
to fairness and justice, as its long continuance would be
contrary to all experience.
First, as to our annual growth of corn and other Our agri-
country produce. During the War, considerable un- cultural
easiness was felt by the Public at the insufficiency of our
crops and at our consequent dependence on foreigners.
" Provisions," it was said, " will rise in price, and our
manufacturers will go to cheaper Countries. The corn-
exporting part of Europe may, it was added, again fall
under the sway of a madman like Paul of Russia, or of
a headstrong despot like Bonaparte; in times of scarcity
the consequences might be most injurious." But from such
an apprehension we are now almost wholly relieved ; the
quantity of our yearly produce is increased ; agricul¬
tural improvemen.ts are extending in Ireland, in Canada,
and on the shores of the Euxine ; Countries too
remote from each other to be controuled by any single
power. Sixty years ago it was a common notion, that
the English raised as much produce, and prepared as
128 COMMERCE
Commerce.
il eland.
Our manu¬
facturers
not likely
to go
abroad.
Superiority
of England,
in roads,
canals,
coal, iron.
much of manufactures as the limited extent of our ter¬
ritory admitted ; and a French Political Economist, the
father of the well-known Mirabeau, told his Country¬
men in a printed Work : You have been outstripped
in the career of productive industry by the English, but
do not apprehend that they will continue to take the
lead, for they have advanced as far as it is possible for
them to go." Yet, at that time our annual crops were not
half their present amount; our mercantile tonnage not
one-third; our export of manufactures not much above
a fourth of the present quantity ! So much for the
accuracy of this foreigner: among ourselves, a well-
known writer on population long since sounded the
alarm at our increasing numbers; while one of his an¬
tagonists, writing twenty years ago, comforted us with
the assurance that we might be tranquil until our ave¬
rage numbers should amount to three hundred persons on
a square mile. To that limit we are now fast approach¬
ing, the census of 1831 exhibiting about two hundred
and seventy persons in England to the square mile ; yet
our farmers supply the augmented number with pro¬
visions as easily as their fathers and grandfathers sup¬
plied half the number in a former Age. The truth is,
that we are wholly unable to fix a limit to the produc¬
tive powers of a Country ; Ireland, the most densely
peopled part of the United Kingdom, which at present
supports eight millions of inhabitants, may, under an im¬
proved system of agriculture, so add to her produce, as,
at no remote date, to support, perhaps, twice her pre¬
sent numbers, and to send to England twice or three
times as much wheat and oats as at present. We
may, therefore, safely dismiss the apprehension of our
manufacturers taking up their residence in cheaper
Countries : at present provisions are not dearer in
England than on the Continent by so much as a fifth or
twenty per cent. ; and there is great reason to think
that the difference will become progressively less.
But whatever disadvantage our workmen may labour
under in regard to provisions, is balanced, and more
than balanced by the cheapness of the other constituents
of manufacturing prosperity, such as coal, iron, roads,
canals, railways. In coal we have an unquestioned
superiority, both as to the quality of the mineral and
the means of conveying it. Coal is found in various parts
of the interior of Europe ; in Poland, in Austria, in
Spain ; but how limited are the means of transport¬
ing it, and how long the time that must elapse ere those
poor and thinly peopled Countries will be able to make
the canals and railways required for that purpose Î The
same holds in regard to iron, our mines of which were
hardly known forty years ago, when we were content to
look to Sweden for the supply of an article, of which we
now make above 600,000 tons annually. As to canals,
it is now about seventy years since they began to be
excavated in England ; that is, since the intercouse
between our chief towjis became such as to defray a
mode of transport which in the outset is very costly.
Now, on the Continent of Europe, canal communica¬
tion is extensive only in the Netherlands; in France,
much as it has been spoken of, it is still on a very
limited scale ; while in Italy, Germany, Spain, the
canals are absolutely insignificant. It follows that
most of the improvements effected in this Country at
so heavy an expense, remain to be made on the
part of the nations attempting to rival us ; and with
how inferior means on their part as to capital and Commerce,
machinery ! v—
Equally inferior are their means as far as such de-
pend on the distribution of their population ; with them Population,
the majority of the inhabitants reside in the country ;
with us they reside in towns. Take the twelve prin¬
cipal towns of France, and compare the number of
their inhabitants with that of the twelve principal towns
of England and Scotland, and in the case of each of the
places compared, the superiority of numbers will be
found on our side. Again, take!the whole town popula¬
tion of France, and extensive as that Country is, the
aggregate of the inhabitants of her towns will not be
found to equal in number the town population of Great
Britain and Ireland. In England, so improved is our
agriculture, so important are the advantages arising from
farming capital, from better implements, from subdivision
of work, that thirty-three persons in one hundred are
sufficient to raise provisions for the community at large;
while in France the labour of fully fifty persons in one
hundred is required for that purpose. How great is Che
superiority of workmen collected in towns over a
scattered peasantry Î bow steady their continuance at
one kind of employment I how exact their execution î
Their better wages enable them to consume much more
of taxed commodities ; hence the large revenue of
Holland a century and half ago, at a time when in the
rest of Europe the names of Excise and Customs
were hardly known : hence at present the payment
in this Country by duties on consumption of twice as
much revenue as in France. To whatever part of
Commercial History we look, whether to ancient or
modern times, to Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece, Carthage ;
to Modern Italy, the Netherlands, or the Hanse Town.s,
we find increase of town population the cause and accom¬
paniment of augmented wealth. Nor is there any rea¬
son to question that we .shall keep up and increase our
superiority in this respect. The difference of expense
between town and country is less in England than on
the Continent, because the extent of our communications
both by sea and land facilitate the transport of corn,
fuel, timber, and other bulky commodities, and cause an
approach to equality in most parts of the Kingdom.
The improvements now in progress in our turnpike
roads and railways bid ikir to lessen further the cost of
provisions in towns, and greatly to augment the num¬
ber of their inhabitants.
Enough has now been stated to show how little we Internal
have to apprehend from the competition of foreigners, regulations.
In our internal regulations, our laws relating to trade.
Banking, and taxes, so far as the latter affect trade,
our present sufferings are caused in a considerable de¬
gree by mistaken Legislation ; by abuses allowed to re¬
main on the Statute book on little other ground but
that of prescription. This, however, is not the place, nor
indeed, if it were so, have we either room or inclination to
enter upon the dangerous and difficult review by which
this subject must be illustrated. It may suffice to ex¬
press our hope, that a time has now arrived in which
the narrowness of private opinion will be superseded
by a more expansive general reasoning, and in which
Mercantile interests will be regulated not by ca])rice,
accident, or prejudice, but by the more sure and enlight¬
ened guidance of a study of The Principles of
Commerce.
POLITICAL ECONOMY
Definition
of the
Science.
Political Definition of the Science,
Economy. We propose in the following Treatise to give an outline
of the Science which treats of the nature, the production,
and the distribution of wealth. To that Science we give
the name of Political Economy. Our readers must be
aware that that term has often been used in a much wider
sense. The earlier writers who assumed the name of
Political Economists avowedly treated not of wealth but
of government. Mercier de la Riviere entitled his
Work The Natural and Essential Organization of So¬
ciety^ and professed to propose an organization which
shall necessarily produce all the happiness that can be
enjoyed on earth."^ Sir James Steuart states, that
" the principal object of the Science is to secure a certain
fund of subsistence for all the inhabitants, to obviate
every circumstance which may render it precarious, and
to provide every thing necessary for supplying the wants
of the society.^t The modern continental writers have
in general entered into an equally extensive inquiry.
** Political Economy," says M. Storch, " is the Science
of the natural laws which determine the prosperity of
nations, that is to say, their wealth and their civiliza-
tion."i M. Sismondi considers " the physical welfare
of man, so far as it can be the work of government, as
ihe object of Political Economy."§ " Political Eco¬
nomy," says M. Say, is the economy of society ; a
Science combining the results of our observations on the
nature and functions of the different parts of the social
body."|| The modern writers of the English school
have in general professed to limit their attention to the
theory of wealth ; but some of the most eminent among
them, after having expressed their intention to confine
themselves within what appears to us to be their proper
province, have invaded that of the general legislator or
the statesman. Thus Mr. M'Culloch, after having de¬
fined Political Economy to be " the Science of the laws
which regulate the production, accumulation, distribu¬
tion, and consumption of those articles or products that
are necessarily useful or agreeable to man, and possess
exchangeable value or, "the Science of values;"
adds, that " its object is to point out the means by which
the industry of man may be rendered most productive of
wealth, to ascertain the circumstances most favourable to
its accumulation, the proportions in which it is divided,
and the mode in which it may be most advantageously
consumed."^*
It is impossible to overstate the importance of these
inquiries, and it is not easy to state their extent. They
involve, as their general premises, the consideration of
the whole theory of morals, of government, and of civU
and criminal legislation ; and, for their particular premises,
* Discours Préliminaire^ liv. vi.
•i- Vol. i. p. 2.
t Tom. i. p. 21.
§ Nouveaux Principes dl Economie Politique^ liv. i. ch. ii.
Il Cours Complet^ tum. i. p. 1, 2.
Principles^ ^c. p. 1.
Ibid. p. 8
VOL. VI. 1:29
a knowledge of all the facts which affect the social con- Political
dition of every community whose conduct the Economist Economy,
proposes to influence. We believe that such inquiries
far exceed the bounds of any single Treatise, and indeed
the powers of any single mind. We believe that by ® cience
confining our own and the reader^s attention to the
nature, production, and distribution of wealth, we
shall produce a more clear, and complete, and instruc¬
tive work than if we allowed ourselves to wander into
the more interesting and more important, but far less
definite, fields by which the comparatively narrow path
of Political Economy is surrounded. The questions, to
what extent and under what circumstances the possession
of wealth is, on the whole, beneficial or injurious to its
possessor, or to the society of which he is a member?
what distribution of wealth is most desirable in each
different state of society? and what are the means by
which any given Country can facilitate such a distribu¬
tion?—all these are questions of great interest and diffi¬
culty, but no more form part of the Science of Political
Economy, in the sense in which we use that term, than
Navigation forms part of the Science of Astronomy. The
principles supplied by Political Economy are indeed
necessary elements in their solution, but they are not the
only or even the most important elements. The writer
who pursues such investigations is in fact engaged on the
great Science of legislation ; a Science which requires a
knowledge of the general principles supplied by Political
Economy, but differs from it essentially in its subject, its
premises, and its conclusions. The subject of legislation
is not wealth, but human welfare. Its premises are
drawn from an infinite variety of phenomena, supported
by evidence of every degree of strength, and authorizing
conclusions deserving every degree of assent, from per¬
fect confidence to bare suspicion. And its expounder is
enabled, and even required, not merely to state certain
general facts, but to urge the adoption or rejection of
actual measures or trains of action.
On the other hand, the subject treated by the Political
Economist, using that term in the limited sense in which
we apply it, is not happiness, but wealth ; his premises
consist of a very few general propositions, the result of
observation, or consciousness, and scarcely requiring
proof, or even formal statement, which almost every
man, as soon as he hears them, admits as familiar to his
thoughts, or at least as included in his previous know¬
ledge; and his inferences are nearly as general, and, if
he has reasoned correctly, as certain, as his premises.
Those which relate to the nature and the production of
wealth are universally true; and though those which re¬
late to the distribution of wealth are liable to be affected
by the peculiar institutions of particular Countries, in the
cases for instance of slavery, legal monopolies, or poor
laws, the natural state of things can be laid down as the
general rule, and the anomalies produced by particular
disturbins; causes can be afterwards accounted for. But
his conclusions, whatever be their generality and their
truth, do not authorize him in adding a single syllable of
T
130
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Political advice. That privilege belongs to the writer or the
Economy, statesman who has considered all the causes which may
promote or impede the general welfare of those whom
th^^cience addresses, not to the theorist who has considered only
one, though among the most important, of those causes.
The business of a Political Economist is neither to re¬
commend nor to dissuade, but to state general prin¬
ciples, which it is fatal to neglect, but neither advisable,
nor perhaps practicable, to use as the sole, or even the
principal, guides in the actual conduct of affairs. In the
mean time the duty of each individual writer is clear.
Employed as he is upon a Science in which error, or
even ignorance, may be productive of such intense and
such extensive mischief, he is bound, like a juryman, to
give deliverance true according to the evidence, and to
allow neither sympathy with indigence, nor disgust at
profusion or at avarice—neither reverence for existing
institutions, nor detestation of existing abuses—neither
love of popularity, nor of paradox, nor of system, to deter
him from stating what he believes to be the facts, or
from drawing from those facts what appear to him to be
the legitimate conclusions. To decide in each case how
far those conclusions are to be acted upon belongs to
the art of government, an art to which Political Eco¬
nomy is only one of many subservient Sciences ; which
involves the consideration of motives, of which the
desire for wealth is only one among many, and aims at
objects to which the possession of wealth is only a sub¬
ordinate means.
The confounding Political Economy with the Sciences
and Arts to which it is subservient has been one of the
principal obstacles to its improvement. It has acted
thus in two different modes
First, by exciting in the public unfavourable pre¬
judices.
And, secondly, by misleading Economists, both with
respect to the object of their Science and the means of
attaining it.
With respect to the first of these obstacles, it has often
been made a matter of grave complaint against Political
Economists, that they confine their attention to wealth,
and disregard all consideration of happiness or virtue.
It is to be wished that this complaint were better
founded, but its general existence implies an opinion
that it is the business of Political Economists not merely
to state propositions, but to recommend actual measures,
for on no other supposition could they be blamed for
confining their attention to a single subject. No one
blames a writer upon tactics for confining his attention
to military affairs, or, from his doing so, infers that he
recommends perpetual war. It must be admitted that
an author who, having stated that a given conduct is
productive of wealth, should, on that account alone, re¬
commend it, or assume that, on that account alone, it
ought to be pursued, would be guilty of the absurdity
of implying that happiness and the possession of wealth
are identical. But his error would consist not in con¬
fining his attention to wealth, but in confounding wealth
with happiness. Supposing that error, and it is a very
obvious one, to be avoided, the more strictly a writer con¬
fines his attention to his own Science, the more likely he
is to extend its bounds.
Secondly, the confounding the Science of Political
Economy with the Sciences and Arts to which it is sub¬
servient, has .seduced Economists sometimes to undertake
inquiries too vague to lead to any practical results, and
sometimes to pursue the legitimate objects of the Science
by means unfit for their attainment. To their extended Political
view of the objects of Political Economy is to be at- Economy
tributed the undue importance which many Economists
have ascribed to the collection of facts, and their neglect Science
of the far more important process of reasoning accurately
from the facts before them. We are constantly told that it
is a Science of facts and experiment, a Science avide de
faits. The practical applications of it, like the practical
applications of every other Science, without doubt, re¬
quire the collection and examination of facts to an
almost indefinite extent. The facts collected as ma¬
terials for the amendment of the poor-laws, and the
opening of the trade to China, fill more than twice as
many volumes as could be occupied by all the Treatises
that have ever been written on Political Economy ; but
the facts on which the general principles of the Science
rest may be stated in a very few sentences, and indeed
in a very few words. But that the reasoning from
these facts, the drawing from them correct conclusions,
is a matter of great difficulty, may be inferred from the
imperfect state in which the Science is now found after it
has been so long and so intensely studied.
This difficulty arises partly from the extremely com¬
plicated nature of the subjects which it investigates, and
the consequent abstractness and generality of its terms,
A description, if it were possible, of all the different
things which are designated by the word wealth,** or
even by the less comprehensive word " capital,'* would
fill an Encyclopaedia. It arises partly, also, from the
circumstance, that the terms which we are forced to use
as signs for these abstractions are taken from ordinary
language, commonly used in senses too wide or too
narrow for scientific purposes In the case, therefore,
both of the writer and of the reader, they are often as¬
sociated with ideas which are intended to be excluded,
or separated from ideas which are meant to be compre¬
hended. Thus, in ordinary language, the word capital
is sometimes used as comprehending every species of
wealth, and sometimes as confined to money.
It Economists had been aware that the Science depends
more on reasoning than on observation, and that its
principal difficulty consists not in the ascertainment of
its facts, but in the use of its terms, we cannot doubt
that their principal efforts would have been directed to
the selection and consistent use of an accurate nomen¬
clature. So far is this from having been the case, that
it is only within a very short period that serious atten¬
tion has been given to its nomenclature. The Wealth of
Nations contains scarcely a definition : most of the
modern French writers, and some indeed of our own,
have not only neglected definitions, but have expressly
reprobated their use ; and the English Work which has
attracted the most attention during the present century,
Mr. Bicardo's Principles of Political Economyj is de¬
formed by a use of words so unexplained, and yet so
remote from ordinary usage, and from that of other
writers on the same subject, and frequently so inconsist¬
ent, as to perplex every reader, and not unfrequently to
have misled the eminent writer himself. We do not
complain of all his innovations in language : such inno¬
vations are, for scientific purposes, frequently indispen¬
sable, and we shall be forced to make many ourselves.
What we do complain of is, that his innovations, such,
for instance, as the substitution of the word value for
cost, are frequently unnecessary, and are almost always
made without any warning to his readers ; and that the
same words, such, for example, as the adjectives high
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
131
Political and low^ when applied to wages, are used by him some-
Economy, ^jjues in their popular sense, as expressing an amount,
' and sometimes in a technical sense of his own, as ex¬
pressing a proportion.
Our object in these remarks has been not only to ac¬
count for the slow progress which has as yet been made
by Political Economy, and to suggest means by which
its advancement may be accelerated, but also to warn
the reader of the nature of the following Treatise. He
will find it consist, in a great degree, of discussions as to
the most convenient use of a few familiar words. Such
discussions it is impossible to render amusing, but we
trust that they will be useful, by directing his attention
to the great difficulties of the Science, though he may
often disapprove our classification or nomenclature.
WeaUh,
Wealth. Having stated that the Science which we propose to
consider, and to which we apply the term Political
Economy, is the Science which treats of the nature, the
production, and the distribution of wealth, our first busi¬
ness is to explain the meaning in which we use the
word wealth.
Under that term we comprehend all those things,
and those things only, which are transferable, are limited
in supply, and are directly or indirectly productive of
pleasure or preventive of pain ; or, to use an equivalent
expression, which are susceptible of exchange; (using
the word exchange to denote hiring as well as absolute
purchase;) or, to use a third equivalent expression, which
llave value ; a word which, in a subsequent portion of
this Treatise, we shall explain at some length, merely
premising at present that we use it in its popular sense,
as denoting the capacity of being given and received in
exchange.
Of the three qualities which render any thing an
article of wealth, or, in other words, give it value, the
most striking is the power, direct or indirect, of pro¬
ducing pleasure, including under that term gratification
of every kind, or of preventing pain, including under
that term every species of discomfort. Unfortunately,
we have no word which precisely expresses tliis power ;
utility, which comes nearest to it, being generally used
to express the quality of preventing pain or of indirectly
producing pleasure, as a means. We shall venture to
extend the signification of that word, and consider it as
also including all those things which produce pleasure
directly. We must admit that this is a considerable in¬
novation in English language. It is, however, sanctioned
by Mr. Malthus, {Definitions^ p. 234,) and has been
ventured by M. Say in French, a language less patient
of innovation than our own. Feeling the same diffi¬
culty, he has solved it in the same way by using the
term utilité as comprehending every quality that
renders any thing an object of desire. Attractiveness
and desirableness have both been suggested to us as
substitutes, but on the whole they appear to us more
objectionable than utilityy objectionable as we must
admit that word to be.
Utility, thus explained, is a necessary constituent of
value ; no man would give any thing possessing the
slightest utility for a thing possessing none ; and even
an exchange of two useless things would be, on the part
of each party to the exchange, an act without a motive.
Utility, however, denotes no intrinsic quality in the
things which we call useful; it merely expresses their re¬
lations to the pains and pleasures of mankind. And» Political
as the susceptibility of pain and pleasure from particular ^conomyt
objects is created and modified by causes innumerable,
and constantly varying, we find an endless diversity in
the relative utility of different objects to different per¬
sons, a diversity which is the motive of all exchanges.
The next constituent of value is limitation in supply.
It may appear inaccurate to apply this expression to any
class of things, as it, in fact, belongs to all ; there being
nothing which, strictly speaking, is unlimited in supply.
But, for the purposes of Political Economy, every thing
may be considered as unlimited in supply in its existing
state, of which a man may have as much as he pleases
for the mere trouble of taking it into his possession.
Thus the water of the open sea is, in our use of the
term, unlimited in supply ; any man who chooses to go
for it may have as much of it as he pleases: that portion
of it which has been brought to London is limited in
supply, and is to be obtained not merely by going to the
reservoir and taking possession of it, but by giving for
it an equivalent. The copper ores which Sir John
Franklin discovered on the shores of the Arctic Sea
may be considered, in their existing state., as unlimited in
supply ; any man may have as much of them as he has
strength and patience to extract. The extracted por¬
tion would be limited in supply, and therefore sus¬
ceptible of value Many things are unlimited in
supply for some purposes, and limited for others.
The water in a river is in general more than suffi¬
cient for all the domestic purposes for which it can be
required ; nobody pays therefore for permission to
take a bucketfull : but it is seldom sufficient for all
those who may wish to turn their mills with it ; they
pay, therefore, for that privilege.
It must be further observed that, for economical pur^
poses, the term limitation in supply alwa\s involves the
consideration of the causes by which the existing supply
is limited. The supply of some articles of wealth is
limited by insurmountable obstacles. The number of
Raphael's pictures, or of Canova's statues, may be di¬
minished, but cannot possibly be increased. There are
others of which the supply may be increased to an in¬
definite extent. Such things may be considered as com¬
paratively limited in supply, in proportion, not to the
existing supply of each, but to the force of the obstacles
opposed to their respective increase. It is supposed
that there is now about forty-five times as much of silver
extracted from the mines, and current in Europe, as
there is of gold. Human exertion is the only means by
which the supply of either can be increased, and they
may both be increased by human exertion to an amount
of which we do not know the limit. The obstacle, there¬
fore, by which they are each limited in supply is, the
amount of human exertion necessary to their respective
increase. About sixteen times more exertion is neces¬
sary to produce an ounce of gold than an ounce of silvei.
The obstacle, therefore, which limits the supply of gold
is sixteen times more powerful than that which limits
the supply of silver. In our sense of the term, therefore,
gold is only sixteen times more limited in supply than
silver, though the actual weight of silver in Europe is
forty-five times as great as that of gold. To take a
more familiar example, the number of coats and waist¬
coats in England is perhaps about equal. The supply
of each may be increased by human exertion to an inde¬
finite extent; but it requires about three times as
much exertion to produce a coat as to produce a waist-
T 2
132 POLITICAL ECONOMY
Wealth.
Political coat. As the obstacle, therefore, which limits the supply
Economy. Qf coats is three times as forcible as that which limits
the supply of waistcoats, we consider coats three
times more limited in supply than waistcoats, though
the existing supply of each may perhaps be equal.
Whenever, therefore, we apply the words limited in
supply^ as a comparative expression, to those commo¬
dities of which the quantity can be increased, we refer
to the comparative force of the obstacles which limit the
respective supplies of the objects compared.
The third and last quality which a thing must possess
to constitute it an article of wealth, or, in other words, to
give it value, is transferablenessj by which term (we are
sorry to say, an unusual one) we mean to express that
all or some portion of its powers of giving pleasure, or
preventing pain, are capable of being transferred, either
absolutely, or for a period. For this purpose it is ob¬
vious that it must be capable of appropriation ; since no
man can give what he cannot refuse. The sources of
pleasure and preventives of pain which are absolutely
incapable of appropriation are very few. We almost
doubt whether there are any, and we are sure that the
instances which are usually given are incorrect. " The
earth," observes M. Say, Econ. Pol. liv. ii. ch. ix. is
not the only material agent with productive power,
but it is the only one, or nearly so, that can be appro¬
priated. The water of rivers and of the sea, which
supplies us with fish, gives motion to our mills, and
supports our vessels, has productive powers. The wind
gives us force, and the sun heat, but happily no man
can say, * The wind and the sun belong to me, and I
will be paid for their services.'" Now, in fact, air and
sunshine are local. This is so obvious that it would be
absurd to prove, by serious induction, that some situa¬
tions have too much wind, and others too little, or that
the sun's rays are more powerful productive agents in
England than in Melville Island, or in the Tropics than
in England. And as the land is every where capable of
appropriation, the qualities of climate, which are attri¬
butes of that land, must be so too. What gives their
principal value to the vineyards of the Côte Rotie, but the
warmth of their sun? or to the houses which overlook
Hyde Park, but the purity of their air? Rivers and
the sea are equally unfortunate illustrations. Many of
the rivers of England are not less strictly appropriated,
and are far greater sources of wealth, than any equal
superficies of land. When M. Say visited Lancashire,
he must have found every inch of fall in every stream
the subject of lease and purchase. And so far are the
services of the sea from being incapable of appropriation,
that, during the late war, ¿60,000 was sometimes paid
for a licence to make use of it for a single voyage ; and
the privilege of fishing in particular parts of it has been
the subject of wars and treaties.
The things of which the utility is imperfectly trans¬
ferable may be divided into two great classes. The first
comprises all those material objects which are affected by
the peculiar mental associations, or adapted to the pecu¬
liar wants, of individuals. A mansion may flatter the pride
of its owner as having been the residence of his an¬
cestors, or be endeared to him as the scene of his child¬
hood ; or he may have built it in a form which pleases
no eye, or laid it out in apartments that suit no habits
but his own. Still ils substantial powers of affording
warmth and shelter will obtain him purchasers or
tenants, though they may demand a reduction from the
price in consequence of those very qualities which, with
him, formed its principal merits. The palace of St. Fohhcal
James's is full of comfort and convenience, and would ^ conomy
supply a man of large fortune with an excellent resir
dence ; but the long suite of apartments within apart¬
ments, which is admirably adapted to holding a Court,
would be a mere incumbrance to any but a royal per¬
sonage. Any individual might hire Alnwick or Blen¬
heim, and enjoy their mere beauty and magnificence,
perhaps, more than their owners who have been long
familiarized to them ; but he could never feel the pecu¬
liar pleasure which they seem fitted to give to a Percy
and a Churchill. There are many things, such as
clothes and furniture, which sink in utility in the estima¬
tion of every one but their purchaser, from the mere fact
of having changed hands. A hat or a table which has
just been sent home does not appear to the purchaser
less useful than when he saw it in the shop; but if he
attempt to resell either, he will find that with the rest of
the world it has sunk into the degraded rank of second¬
hand.
Thesecond class of things imperfectly transferable in¬
cludes the greater part, perhaps all, of our personal
qualities. This classification, which places talents and
accomplishments among the articles of wealth, may ap¬
pear at first sight strange and inconvenient ; it certainly
is différent from that of most Economists. We will
therefore venture to illustrate it more fully.
Health, strength, and knowledge, and the other
natural and acquired powers of body and mind, appear
to us to be articles of wealth, precisely analogous to a re¬
sidence having some qualities that are universally useful,
and others peculiarly adapted to the tastes of its owner.
They are limited in supply, and are causes of pleasure
and preventives of pain far more effectual than the pos¬
session of Alnwick or of Blenheim. A portion of the
advantages which arise from them are inseparably an¬
nexed to their possessor, like the associations of an he¬
reditary property; another portion, and often a very
large one, is as transferable as the palpable convenience
of the mansion, or beauty of the gardens. What can¬
not be transferred are the temporary pleasure which
generally accompanies the exercise of any accomplish¬
ment, and the habitual satisfaction arising from the con¬
sciousness of possessing it. What can be transferred are
the beneficial results which follow from its having been
employed during the period for which its services have
been hired. If an Erskine or a Sugden undertakes my
cause, he transfers to me, for that occasion, the use of
all his natural and acquired ability. My defence is as
well conducted as if I had myself the knowledge and the
eloquence of an accomplished advocate. What he can¬
not transfer is the pleasure which he feels in the exercise
of his dexterity ; but how small is his pleasure compared
to mine, if he succeeds for me ! A passenger may envy
the activity and intrepidity of the crew; they cannotac
tually implant in him their strength, or their insensibility
to danger; but so far as these qualities are means
towards an end, so far as they enable him to perform
his voyage with quickness and safety, he enjoys ttie use
of them as fully as if they belonged to himself. A
hunter probably feels somewhat the same sort of plea¬
sure in the chase which Erskine felt in court; and this
pleasure cannot be transferred any more than his muscles
or his lungs; but, so far as his strength, speed, and
bottom are means towards the end of enabling his rider
to keep up with the hounds, they can be purchased oi
hired as effectuallv as his bridle or saddle. In the
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 133
Political greater part of the world a man is as purchasable as a
Economy, j^o^se. In such Countries the only difference in value
between a slave and a brute consists in the descree in
which they respectively possess the saleable qualities
that we have been considering. If the question whether
personal qualities are articles of wealth had been pro¬
posed in classical times, it would have appeared too
clear for discussion. In Athens, every one would have
replied that they, in fact, constituted the whole value of an
efjL-^v^oy opyavov. The only differences in this respect
between a freeman and a slave are, first, that the free¬
man sells himself^ and only for a period, and to a cer¬
tain extent, the slave may be sold by others, and abso¬
lutely ; and, secondly, that the personal qualities of the
slave are a portion of the wealth of his master ; those of
the freeman, so far as they can be made the subjects of
exchange, are a part of his own wealth. They perish
indeed by his death, and may be impaired or destroyed
by disease, or rendered valueless by any changes in the
customs of the Country which shall destroy the demand
for his services; but, subject to these contingencies, they
are wealth, and wealth of the most valuable kind. The
amount of revenue derived from their exercise in England
far exceeds the rental of all the lands in Great Britain.
Of the three conditions of value, utility, transfer-
ableiiess, and limitation in supply, the last is by far the
most iiuportant. The chief sources of its influence on
value are two of the most powerful principles of human
nature, the love of variety, and the love of distinction.
The mere necessaries of life are few and simple. Pota¬
toes, water, and salt, simple raiment, a blanket, a hut, an
iron pot, and the materials of firing, are sufficient to sup¬
port mere animal existence in this climate: they do, in
fact, support the existence of the greater part of the in¬
habitants of Ireland; and in warmer Countries much
less will suffice. But no man is satisfied with so limited
a range of enjoyment. His first object is to vary his food ;
but this desire, though urgent at first, is more easily satis¬
fied than any other, except perhaps that of dress. Our
ancestors, long after they had indulged in considerable
luxury in other respects, seem to have been contented
with a very uniform though grossly abundant diet. And
even now, notwithstanding the common declamation
on the luxury of the table, we shall find that most
persons, including even those whose appetites are not
controlled by frugality, confine their principal solid
food to but a few articles, and their liquids to still fewer.
The next desire is variety of dress ; a taste which has
this peculiarity, that, though it is one of the first symp¬
toms that a people is emerging from the brutishness of
the lowest savage life, it quickly reaches its highest
point, and, in the subsequent progress of refinement, in
one sex at least, diminishes until even the highest ranks
assume an almost quaker-like simplicity.
Last comes the desire to build, to ornament, and to
furnish : tastes which are absolutely insatiable where
they exist, and seem to increase with every improve¬
ment in civilization. The comforts and conveniences
which we now expect in an ordinary lodging are more
than were enjoyed by people of opulence a century ago:
and even a century ago a respectable tradesman would
have been dissatisfied if his bed-room had been no
better furnished than that of Henry VIH., which con¬
tained, we are told, only a bed, a cupboard of plate, a
joint-stool, a pair of andirons, and a small mirror.^
* Henry, History of Great Britain, book vi. ch. vü.
And yet Henry was among the richest and the most Political
magnificent sovereigns of his times. Our great grand- I^conomy,
children perhaps will despise the accommodations
the present Age, and their poverty may, in turn, be
pitied by their successors.
It is obvious, however, that our desires do not aim so
much at quantity as at diversity. Not only are there
limits to the pleasure which commodities of any given
class can afford, but the pleasure diminishes in a rapidly
increasing ratio long before those limits are reached.
Two articles of the same kind will seldom afford twice
the pleasure of one, and still less will ten give five times
the pleasure of two. In proportion, therefore, as any
article is abundant, the number of those who are provided
with it, and do not wish, or wish but little, to increase
their provision, is likely to be great ; and, so far as they
are concerned, the additional supply loses all, or nearly
all, its utility. And in proportion to its scarcity the number
of those who are in want of it, and the degree in which
they want it, are likely to be increased ; and its utility,
or, in other words, the pleasure which the possession of a
given quantity of it will afford, increases proportionally.
But strong as is the desire for variety, it is weak
compared with the desire for distinction: a feeling
which, if we consider its universality and its constancy,
that it affects all men and at all times, that it comes with
us from the cradle, and never leaves us till we go into
the grave, may be pronounced to be the mo.st powerful
of human passions.
The most obvious source of distinction is the posses¬
sion of superior wealth. It is the one which excites
most the admiration of the bulk of mankind, and the
only one which they i'eel capable of attaining. To
seem more rich, or, to use a common expression, to keep
up a better appearance, than those within their own
sphere of comparison, is, with almost all men who are
placed beyond the fear of actual want, the ruling princi¬
ple of conduct. For this object they undergo toil which
no pain or pleasure addressed to the senses would lead
them to encounter ; into which no slave could be lashed
or bribed. But this object is attained by appearances,
and, indeed, cannot be attained by any thing else.
All the gold in the Paetolus, even if the Pactolus
were as rich as when Midas had just washed in it, would
obviously confer no distinction on the man who was
unable to exhibit it. The only mode by which wealth
can be exhibited is, by the apparent possession of some
object of desire which is limited in supply. Mere limi¬
tation of supply, indeed, unless there be some other cir¬
cumstance constituting the article in question an object
of desire, or, in other words, giving it utility, is insuffi¬
cient. This circumstance must be its having some
quality to which some person beside the owner annexes
the notion of utility. The original manuscript of every
schoolboy^s exercise is as limited in supply as any thing
can be, but there is nothing to make it an object of
desire after it has served its purpose in school. It is
merely a blotted manuscript, unique certainly, but
valueless. But if the original manuscript of the Wealth
of Nations could be discovered, it would excite an in¬
terest throughout Europe. Curiosity would be eager to
trace the first workings of a mind whose influence will
be felt as long as civilized society endures. It might,
perhaps, be purchased by some ignorant collector only
for the purposes of ostentation, but it could not serve
even those purposes unless recommended by some cir¬
cumstance beyond mere singularity.
134
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Wealth.
Political It is impossible, however, to conceive any thin^ more
Economy, trifling" or more capricious than the circumstances which
may make a thing an object of desire, and therefore, in
our extended use of that word, give to it utility when its
supply is narrowly limited.
The substance which at present is the greatest object
of desire, and of which, therefore, a given quantity
will exchange for the greatest quantity of all other
things, is the diamond, A bracelet belonging to the
King of Persia, the stones in which do not weigh two
ounces, is said to be worth a million sterling. Now, a
million sterling would command the whole labour of
about thirty thousand English families for a year. If
that labour were employed in producing and repro¬
ducing commodities for the purposes of sale, it would
probably give for ever a clear annual income equal to
the labour of three thousand families, or twelve thou¬
sand individuals. It would place at the disposal of
its owner all the commodities that could be produced
by all the labour of all the inhabitants of a con¬
siderable town. And a few pieces of mineral, not
weighing two ounces, capable of gratifying no sense
but the sight, and which any eye would be tired of
looking at for a minute, is invested by our caprice
with a value equal to that of the commodities which
would give comfortable support to thousands of human
beings in an advanced state of civilization. Hard-
ness and brightness must have been the qualities
which first attracted notice to the diamond. They en¬
abled it to please the eye and adorn the person, and
thus associated with it the notion of utility But a
diamond weighing an ounce is not found once in a cen¬
tury ; there are not five such known to exist. The pos¬
session of an object of desire so limited in supply soon
became one of the most unequivocal proofs of wealth.
And, as to appear rich is the ruling passion of the bulk
of mankind, diamonds will probably continue the objects
of eager competition while the obstacles that limit their
supply are undiminished. If a Sindbad should discover
a valley of diamonds, or we should succeed in manufac¬
turing them from charcoal, they will probably be used
only as ornaments for savages, playthings for children, and
as affording tools and raw materials for some of the Arts ;
and we may send cargoes of diamonds to the coast of
Guinea to be bartered tor equal quantities of ivory or gum.
Value.
Our definition of wealth, as comprehending all those
things, and those things only which have value^ requires
us to explain at some length the signification which we
attribute to the word value; especially as the meaning of
that word has been the subject of long and eager con¬
troversy. We have already stated that we use the word
value in its popular acceptation, as signifying that
quality in any thing which fits it to be given and re¬
ceived in exchange ; or, in other words, to be lent or
sold, hired or purchased.
So defined, value denotes a relation reciprocally exist¬
ing between two objects, and the precise relation which
it denotes is the quantity of the one which can be ob¬
tained in exchange for a given quantity of the other.
It is impossible, therefore, to predicate value of any
object, without referring, expressly or tacitly, to some
other object or objects in which its value is to be esti¬
mated ; or, in other words, of which a certain quantity
can be obtained in exchange for a certain quantity of the
object in question.
We have already observed that the substance which at Political
present is most desired, or, in other words, possesses Economy,
the highest degree of value, is the diamond. By this we
meant to express that there is no substance of which a
given quantity will exchange for so large a quantity of
every other commodity. When we wished to state the
value of the King of Persia's bracelet, we stated first
the amount of gold, and afterwards of English labour,
which it would command in exchange. If we had at¬
tempted to give a perfect account of its value, we could
have done so only by enumerating separately the
quantity of every other article of wealth which could be
obtained in exchange for it. Such an enumeration, if it
could have been given, would have been a most instruc¬
tive commercial lesson, for it would have shown not onlv
the value of the diamond in all other commodities, but
the reciprocal value of all other commodities in one
another. If we had ascertained that a diamond weigh¬
ing an ounce would exchange for one million five hundred
thousand tons of Hepburn coal, or one hundred thousand
tons of Essex wheat, or two thousand five hundred tons of
English foolscap paper, we might have inferred that the
coal, wheat, and paper would mutually exchange in the
same proportions in which they were exchangeable for the
diamond, and that a given weight of paper would pur¬
chase six hundred times as much coal, and forty times as
much wheat.
The causes which determine the reciprocal values of
commodities, or, in other words, which determine that
a given quantity ot one shall exchange for a given
quantity of another, must be divided into two sets; those
which occasion the one to be limited in supply and use¬
ful, (using that word to express the power of occasion¬
ing pi easure and preventing pain,) and those which oc¬
casion those attributes to belong to the other. In ordi¬
nary language, force of the causes which give utility
to a commodity is generally indicated by the word de¬
mand ; and the weakness of the obstacles which limit
the quantity of a commodity by the word supply.
Thus the common statement that commodities ex¬
change in proportion to the demand and supply of each,
means that they exchange in proportion to the force or
weakness of the causes which give utility to them re¬
spectively, and to the weakness or force of the obstacles
by which they are respectively limited in supply.
Unfortunately, however, the words demand and sup¬
ply have not been always so used. Demand is some¬
times used as synonymous with consumption, as when
an increased production is said to generate an increased
demand ; sometimes it is used to express not only the
desire to obtain a commodity, but the power to give the
holder of it something which will induce him to part with
it. A demand," says Mr. Mill, Political Economy, p. 23,
3d edition, means the will to purchase and the power
of purchasing." Mr. Malthus, Definitions in Political
Economy, p. 244, states that "demand for commodities
has two distinct meanings : one in regard to its extent,
or the quantity of commodities purchased ; the other in
regard to its intensity, or the sacrifice which the de-
manders are able and willing to make in order to satisfy
their wants."
Neither of these expressions appears to be consistent
with common usage. It must be admitted that the
word demand is used in its ordinary sense when we
say that a deficient wheat harvest increases the «demand
for oats and barley. But this proposition is not true if
we use the word demand in any other sense than as
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 135
Political expressing the increased utility of oats and barley ; or, in
Economy, other words, the increased desire of the community to
obtain them. The deficiency of wheat would not give to
^ the consumers of oats and barley any increased power of
purchasing them, nor would the quantity purchased or
consumed be increased. The mode of consumption
would be altered; instead of being applied to the feeding
of horses, or to the supply of stimulant liquids, a certain
portion of them would be used as human food. And,
as the desire to eat is more urgent than the desire to feed
horses, or drink beer or spirits, the desire to obtain oats and
barley, or, in other words, the pleasure given, or the pain
averted, by the possession of a given quantity of them,
or, in other words, the utility of a given quantity of
them, would increase. A fact which, in ordinary lan¬
guage, would be expressed by saying, that the demand
for them was increased.
But though the vagueness with which the word de¬
mand has been used renders it an objectionable term, it
is too useful and concise to be given up ; but we shall
endeavour never to use it in any other signification than
as expressing the utility of a commodity; or, what is
the same, for we have seen that all utility is relative, the
degree in which its possession is desired.
We cannot complain of equal vagueness in the use of
the word supply. In ordinary language, as well as in
the writings of Political Economists, it is used to signify
the quantity of a commodity actually brought to market.
The complaint is, not that the word supply has been
used in this sense, but that, when used in this sense, it
has been considered as a cause of value, except in a few
cases, or for very short periods. We have shown, in the
examples of coats and waistcoats, aud gold and silver,
that the reciprocal value of any two commodities de¬
pends, not on the quantity of each brought to market,
but on the comparative force of the obstacles which in
each case oppose any increase in that quantity. When,
therefore, we represent increase or diminution of sup¬
ply as affecting value, we must be understood to mean
not a mere positive increase or diminution, but an in¬
crease or diminution occasioned by a diminution or in¬
crease of the obstacles by which the supply is limited.
To revert to our original proposition, the reciprocal
values of any two commodities must be determined by
two sets of causes; those which determine the demand
and supply of the one, and those which determine the
demand and supply of the other. The causes which
give utility to a commodity and limit it in supply may
be called the iutrinsic causes of its value; those which
limit the supply and occasion the utility of the commo¬
dities for which it is to be exchanged, may be called the
extrinsic causes of its value. Gold and silver are now
exchanged for one another in Europe in the proportion
of one ounce of gold for about sixteen ounces of silver.
This proportion must arise partly from the causes which
give utility to gold and limit its supply, and partly from
those which create the utility and limit the supply of
silver. When talking of the value of gold we may con¬
sider the first set of causes as influencing its general
value, since they affect its powers of commanding every
commodity in exchange. The second set of causes af¬
fect gold only so far as it is to be exchanged for silver,
which maybe called one of its specific values ; the ag¬
gregate of its specific values forming its general value,
if while the causes which give utility to silver and limit
it in supply were unaltered, those which affect gold
should vary; if, for instance, fashion should require
every well-dressed man to have all his buttons of pure Political
gold, or the disturbances in South America should per- Economy,
manently stop all the gold works of Brazil and Colom-
bia, and thus (as would be the case) intercept five-sixths
of our supplies of gold, the reciprocal values of gold
and silver would in time be materially varied. Though
silver would be unaltered both as to its utility and as to
its limitation in supply, a given quantity of it would ex¬
change for a le?^ quantity of gold, in the proportion
perhaps of twenty to one, instead of sixteen to one. As
between one another the rise and fall of gold and silver
would precisely correspond, silver would fall and gold
would rise one-fourth. But the fall of silver would not
be general but specific; though fallen as estimated in
gold, it would command precisely the same quantities as
before of all other commodities. The rise of gold would
be general ; a given quantity of it would command one-
fourth more not only of silver, but of all other commo¬
dities. The holder of a given quantity of silver would
be just as rich as before for all purposes except the pur¬
chase of gold ; the holder of a given quantity of gold
would be richer than before for all purposes.
The circumstances by which each different class of
commodities is invested with utility and limited in
supply are subject to perpetual variation. Sometimes
one of the causes alone varies. Sometimes they both
vary in the Same direction ; sometimes in opposite direc¬
tions. In the last case the opposite variations, wholly
or partially, neutralize one another.
The effects of an increased demand concurrent with
increased obstacles to supply, and of diminished de¬
mand concurrent with increased facility of supply, are
well exemplified by hemp. Its average price before the
revolutionary war, exclusive of duty, did not exceed ¿^.30
per ton. The increased demand occasioned by a mari¬
time war, and the natural obstacles to a proportionate
increase of supply, raised it, in the year 1796, to above
¿^50 a ton ; at about which price it continued during the
next twelve years. But in 1808, the rupture between Eng¬
land and the Baltic powers, the principal source of our
supplies, suddenly raised it to £118 a ton, being nearly
four times the average price in peace. At the close of
the war, both the extraordinary demand and the extra¬
ordinary obstacles to the supply ceased together, and
the price fell to about its former average.
We have already stated that the utility of a commo¬
dity, ill our extended sense of the term utility, or, in
other words, the demand for it as an object of purchase
or hire, is principally dependent on the obstacles which
limit its supply. But there are many cases in which,
while the existing obstacles remain unaltered, the de¬
mand is affected by the slightest susp cion that their
force may at a future period be increased or diminished.
This occurs with respect to those commodities of which
the supply is not susceptible of accurate regulation, but
is afforded either in uncertain quantities and at stated
periods, between which it cannot be increased or di*
minished,—in the case for instance of the annual products
of the earth,—or is dependent on our relations with
foreign Countries. If a harvest deficient by one-third
should occur, that deficiency must last for a whole year,
or be supplied from abroad at an extravagant cost. If
we should go to war with Russia, the obstacles to the
supply of hemp would be increased while the war lasted.
In either case the holders of corn or hemp would obtain
great profits. In all rich Countries, and particularly in
our own, tUere is a great number of persons who have
186 POLITICAL ECONOMY.
V alue.
Political large masses of wealth capable of being suddenly ap-
Economy.^ plied to the purchase of any given objects. The instant
such persons suspect that the obstacles to the supply of
any article are likely to be increased, they are anxious to
become holders of it. Thev enter the market as new
demanders ; the price rises, and the mere fact that it
has risen is a cause of its rising further. The details of
commerce are so numerous, the difficulty of obtaining
early and accurate information is so great, and the facts
themselves are so constantly changing, that the most
cautious merchants are often forced to act upon very
doubtful premises ; and the imprudent, dazzled by the
chance of an enormous gain, which will be their own,
and little restrained by the fear of a loss which may prin¬
cipally fall upon their creditors, are often ready to act
upon scarcely any premises at all. They see that the
price of some article has risen, and they suppose that
there must be some good cause for it. They see that if
they had purchased a month ago, they would have been
gainers now, and conclude that if they purchase now
they will be gainers a month hence. So far is this
reasoning, if it can be called reasoning, carried, that a
rise in the price of any one important commodity is
generally found to occasion a rise in the price of many
others. A" (thinks a speculator) " bought hemp before
the price had risen and has resold it at a profit. Cotton
has not yet risen, nor do I see clearly why it should
rise, any more than I see why hemp should have risen,
but it probably will rise like hemp, therefore I will
purchase."
Those who are not practically conversant with com¬
mercial transactions, and who are probably accustomed
to consider our merchants and capitalists as men of
sober minds, and cautious conduct, may perhaps think
that we exaggerate the influence of imagination over
judgment when we suppose that large fortunes are often
risked on such reasoning as this. We cannot support
our view better than by the authority of Mr. Tooke, a
merchant of great talent and knowledge, and, at the
period when he wrote, forced, for his own safety, to
watch narrowly the phenomena which he described.
The passages which we subjoin are taken from his ac¬
count of the circumstances which occasioned the extra¬
ordinary rise of prices in the beginning of 1825. The
close of each year* is the period at which, by annual
custom, the stocks of goods on hand, and the prospects
of supply and consumption for the coming season, are
stated and reasoned upon by merchants and brokers in
circular letters addressed to their corre.spoiidents and
employers. By these circulars it appeared (at the close
of 1824) that, of some important articles, the stock on
hand fell short of that at the close of the preceding-
year. From this the conclusion was more or less
plausibly deduced, that the rate of the annual consump¬
tion of those articles was outrunnins: the rate of the
annual supply, and that an advance in price ought to
take place ; and at the same time, there w^ere, as in the
case of cotton and silk, confident reports of the failure of
crops or other causes which would inevitably diminish
the forthcoming supply. Expectation of scarcity was
thus combined with actual deficiency in exciting the
spirit of speculation. This was directed in the first
instance to the articles which, upon fair mercantile
grounds, justified and called for some advance in price,
inasmuch as the rate of the consumption of them had
♦ Considerations on the State of the Currency, p. 43.
outrun the average rate of supply. The rise, however, Political
which would have been requisite to increase the supply, Economy,
or to diminish the consumption, would, in most of the
cases in question, have been trifling. Value.
" But when speculation is once on foot, the rise of
any one article may not only be in a ratio far greater
than the occasion really calls for, but may cause in¬
directly a rise in other commodities.
" The impulse, therefore, to a rise being given, and
every succeeding purchaser having realized, or appear¬
ing to have the power of realizing, a profit, a fresh in¬
ducement appeared in every step of the advance to bring
fimward new buyers. These were no longer such only
as were conversant with the market: many persons
were induced to go out of their own line, and to embark
their funds, or stretch their credit, with a view to engage
in what was represented to them by the brokers a cer¬
tain means of realizing a great and immediate gain.
" Cotton exhibited the most extraordinary instance of
speculation carried beyond all reasonable bounds. Silk,
wool, and some other articles in which some advance
was justified by the relative state of the supply and de¬
mand, became the subjects of a speculative anticipation,
and advanced much beyond the occasion, as the event
proved, though not in so great a degree as cotton.
" Never did the public, that part of it at least which
entered into the vortex of the operations in question,
exhibit so great a degree of infatuation, so complete an
abandonment oí all the most ordinary rules of mercan¬
tile reasoning since the celebrated bubble year 1720, as
it did in the latter part of 1824, and in the first three or
four months of 1825.
" The speculative anticipation of an advance was no
longer confined to articles which presented a plausible
ground for some rise however small. It extended itself
to articles wffiich were not only not deficient in quantity
but which were actually in excess. Thus coffee, of which
the stock was increased compared with the average of
former years, advanced from 70 to 80 per cent. Spices
rose in some instances from 100 to 200 per cent, with¬
out any reason whatever, and with a total igno¬
rance on the part of the operators of every thing con¬
nected with the relation of the supply to the consump¬
tion.
" In short, there was hardly an article of merchandise
which did not participate in the rise. For it became
the business of the speculators or the brokers, who were
interested in raising and keeping up prices, to look mi¬
nutely through the general Price Currents with a view
to discover any article which had not advanced, in order
to make it the subject of anticipated demand.
" If a person not under the influence of the prevailing
delusion ventured to inquire for what reason any parti¬
cular article had risen, the common answer was, * Eveiy
thing else has risen, and therefore this ought to rise.' *'
When we consider that the supply of large classes of
commodities is dependent on our amicable or hostile re¬
lations with foreign States, and on the commercial and
financial legislation both oí those States and of our own
Country, and that the supply of still larger classes is de¬
pendent not only on those contingencies, but on the ac¬
cidents of the seasons,—and when we consider how the
demand is affected not merely by the existing, or the
anticipated obstacles to the supply, but often by a spirit
of speculation as blind as that of a gambler ignorant of
the odds and even of the principles of his game,—it is
obvious that the general value of all commodities, the
POLITICAL ECONOMY
]37
Political quantity of each which will exchange for a given
Economy, quantity of every other, can never remain the same for a
single day. Every day there will be a variation in the
/alue. demand or the supply of one or more of the innume¬
rable classes of commodities which are the objects of ex¬
change in a commercial Country. A given quantity ol
the commodity which has varied will consequently ex¬
change for a greater or a less quantity of all other com¬
modities. All other commodities, therefore, will have
varied in value as estimated in the first-mentioned com¬
modity. It is as impossible for one commodity to remain
perfectly unaltered in value while any other is altered, as
it would be for a light-house to keep at the same dis¬
tance from all the ships in a harbour while any one of
them should approach it or recede.
But it may be asked, what do we mean when we say
that a commodity has, for a given period, remained
steady in value ?
The question must be answered by referring to the
different effects produced on the value of a commodity
by an alteration in the intrinsic, or an alteration in the
extrinsic, causes on which value depends. If the causes
which give utility to a commodity and limit its supply,
and which we have called the intrinsic causes of its value,
are altered, the rise or fall in its value will be general. A
given quantity of it will exchange for a greater or a less
quantity than before of every other commodity which
has not also varied at the same time, in the same direc¬
tion, and in the same degree : a coincidence which
' O
rarely occurs. Every other commodity must also rise or
fall in value as estimated in the first-mentioned commo¬
dity, but not generally.
The fluctuations in value to which a commodity is
subject by alterations, in what we have called the ex¬
trinsic causes of its value, or, in other words, by altera¬
tions in the demand or supply of other commodities,
have a tendency, like all other extensive combinations of
chances, to neutralize one another. While it retains the
same utility, and is limited in supply by the same
causes, a given quantity of it, though it may exchange
for a greater or a less quantity of different specific com¬
modities, will in general command the same average
quantity as before of the general mass of commodities ;
what it gains or loses in one direction being made up in
another. It may be said, without impropriety, therefore
to remain steady in value. But the rise or fall in value
which a commodity experiences in consequence of an
alteration in its utility, or in the obstacles to its supply,
is, in fact, entirely uncompensated. It is compensated
only with regard to those commodities of which the
utility or the supply has also varied at the same time
and in the same direction. And as quite as many are
likely to experience a similar variation, but in an op¬
posite direction, there is really no compensation. A
-commodity, therefore, which is strikingly subject to such
variations, is properly said to be unsteady in value.
But we may be asked to account for another and not
unfiequent statement, that at particular periods ail com¬
modities have been observed to rise or fall in value.
Literally taken, this statement involves a contradiction in
terms, since it is impossible that a given quantity of
every commodity should exchange for a greater or a less
quantity of every other. When those who make this
statement have any meaning, they always tacitly exclude
some one commodity, and estimate in that the rise or fall
of all others. The excluded commodity is, in general,
money or labour.
VOL. VI.
Estimated in labour, all commodities, money included, Political
have fallen in value in England since the XVIth Century. Economy.
It is scarcely possible to mention one of which a given
quantity will not purchase less labour than it did at the
close of Elizabeth's reign ; estimated in money, almost
all commodities, labour included, have fallen in Eng¬
land since the termination of the late war.
The last remark which we shall now make on value is,
that, with a very few exceptions, it is strictly local. A ton
of coal at the bottom of the pit near Newcastle is perhaps
worth 2s. 6d., at the pit's mouth it is peihaps worth bs.,
at ten miles off 7s., at Hull 10s. By the time the collier
has reached the Pool, its cargo is seldom worth less than
ids. a ton ; and the inhabitant of Grosvenor Square may
perhaps think himself fortunate if he can fill his coal
cellars at 25s. a ton.^ A ton of coal, though physically
identical, must be considered, for economical purposes,
as a different commodity at the bottom of the pit and
at its month, in Hull and in Grosvenor Square. At
every different stage of its progress it is limited in
supply by different obstacles, and consequently ex¬
changeable for different things and in different propor¬
tions. Supposing that at Newcastle a ton of the best
wheat is now worth about twenty tons of the best coal :
the same wheat and coal at the west end of London
may probably exchange in the proportions of about four
tons of coal for one of wheat. At Odessa, they may
perhaps exchange about weight for weight.
Whenever, therefore, we speak of the value of a com¬
modity, it is necessary to state the locality both of the
commodity in question, and of the commodity in which
its value is estimated. And in most cases we shall find
their respective proximity to the places wheie they are
respectively to be made use of one of the principal con¬
stituents of their respective values. The purchaser of
the distant commodity has to consider the labour of
transporting it to the place of consumption, the time for
which that labour must be paid in advance, and the
taxation, and the risk of injury or loss to which it may
be subject in its transit. Nor is this all. He must also
consider the danger that its quality may not correspond
with the description or sample which guided him in
making the purchase. The whole expense and risk
attending the transport of a diamond from Edinburgh
to London are but trifling ; but its value is so depend¬
ent on its form and lustre, and those are qualities as to
which it is so difficult to satisfy any purchaser who
cannot ascertain them by inspection, that it would be
difficult to obtain in London a fair price for a diamond
in Edinburgh. Again, though a given quantity of coal
from a given mine is generally of an ascertained quality,
yet the expense, loss of time, risk, and taxation, which
must be incurred in its transport from Newcastle to
Grosvenor Square, are such that a ton of coal, when it
has reached Grosvenor Square, may be of nearly five
times the value which it bore at Newcastle.
Objections to Definition of Wealth considered.
The definition of wealth, as comprehending all those Objectons
things, and those things only, which have value, or, in to defini-
other words, which may be purchased or hired, does
not, we believe, precisely agree with that adopted by any
Economist except Archbishop Whately.
* These prices are merely assumed for the purpose of illus¬
tration.
U
13» POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Political
Economy^
Objections
to defini¬
tion of
wealth
considtred.
The principal differences are these. some writer^
confine the term wealth to what have been termed
material products; some to those things which have
been produced or acquired by human labour; and some
object to the ideas of value or exchange being introduced
into the definition of wealth.
The question whether the things which have been
called immaterial ought to be considered articles of
wealth, we shall consider when we treat of production.
Some of the writers who, expressly or impliedly,
restrict the term wealth to the things, the produc¬
tion or appropriation of which has cost human labour,
as for instance Mr. Mill, Mr. M'Culloch, Colonel
Torrens, Mr. Malthus, and M. Flores-Estrada, appear
to suppose that a definition so restricted will com¬
prise every thing that can properly be termed v»^ealth ;
others, among whom is Mr. Ricardo, admit that there
are some things falling within that term which have not
been acquired by human exertion, butthink them so few
or unimportant that it is better to omit them than to
disorder the symmetry of the Science by extending it to
any thing that is not the result of labour.
The former doctrine is clearly stated in the following
passages from Mr. Malthus, Colonel Torrens, and Mr,
M'Culloch.
Wealth. Tlie material things necessary, useful, or
agreeable to man, which have required some portion of
human exertion to appropriate or produce."*
" Wealth, considered as the object of economical
Science, consists of those material articles which are
useful or desirable to man, and which it requires some
portion of voluntary exertion to procure or to preserve.
Thus two things are essential to wealth : the possession
of utility, and the requiring some portion of voluntary
exertion or labour. That which has no utility, which
serves neither to supply our wants, nor to gratify our
desires, is as the dust beneath our feet, or as the sand
upon the shore, and obviously forms no portion of our
wealth ; while, on the other hand, things which possess
the highest utility, and which are even necessary to our
existence, come not under the denomination of wealth,
unless to the possession of utility be superadded the
circumstance of having been procured by some voluntary
exertion. Though the air which we breathe and the
sunbeams by which we are warmed are in the highest
degree useful and necessary, it would be a departure from
the precision of language to denominate them articles of
wealth. But the bread which appeases the cravings of
hunger, and the clothing which protects us from the
rigour of the season, though not more indispensably
requisite than the former, are with propriety classed
under the term wealth ; because to the possession of
utility they add the circumstance of having been pro¬
duced by labour."t
" Labour is the only source of wealth. Nature spon¬
taneously furnishes the matter of which all commodities
are made; but until labour has been expended in appro¬
priating matter, or in adapting it to our use, it is wholly
destitute of value, and is not, nor ever has been, con¬
sidered as forming wealth. Place us on the banks of a
river, or in an orchard, and we shall inevitably perish of
thirst or hunger, if we do not, by an effort of industry,
raise the water to our lips, or pluck the fruit from its
parent tree.
* Malthus, Deßnifions, p. 234.
f Torrens, Production of Wealth, ch. i.
" An object which it does not require any portion of Political
labour to appropriate or to adapt to our own use maybe of
the very highest utility, but, as it is the free gift of nature,
it is utterly impossible it can possess the smallest value."* defini-
Mr. M'Culloch appears to use the word labour as tion of
including all voluntary action. And without doubt, if wealth
we use the word labour in so extended a sense, it is oonsideied.
true that labour is almost necessarily incidental to the
enjoyment of wealth. If it be an act of industry to
gather an apple, it is equally an act of industry to raise
it from one's plate ; and every guest at a festival earns
his food by the labour which he exerts in appropriating
his own portion. Such attempts as these to bend facts
and language into accordance with hasty generalization
have thrown on Political Economy a degree of ridicule
which is one of the principal obstacles to its progress.
Mr. Malthus, Colonel Torrens, and the other Econo¬
mists who consider labour, using that word in its
popular sense, as a necessary constituent of wealth,
appear to have been led to that opinion by observing,
first, that some quality besides mere utility is necessary
to value ; secondly, that all those things which are
useful, and are acquired by labour, are valuable; and
thirdly, that almost every thing which is valuable has
required some labour for its acquisition. But the fact
that that circumstance is not essential to value will be
demonstrated if we can suppose a case in which value
could exist without it. If, while carelessly lounging
along the sea-shore, I were to pick up a pearl, would
it have no value? Mr. M'Culloch would answer that
the value of the pearl was the result of my appropriative
industry in stooping to pick it up. Suppose then that
I met with it while eating an oyster? Supposing
that aerolithes consisted of gold, would they have no
value? Or, suppose that meteoric iron were the only
form in which that metal were produced, would not the
iron supplied from heaven be far more valuable than
any existing metal? It is true that, wherever there is
utility, the addition of labour as necessary to production
constitutes value, because, the supply of labour being
limited, it follows that the object, to the supply of which
it is necessary, is by that very necessity limited in supply.
But any other cause limiting supply is just as efficient a
cause of value in an article as the necessity of labour
to its production. And, in fact, if all the commodities
used by man were supplied by nature without any
intervention whatever of human labour, but were sup¬
plied in precisely the .same quantities as they now are,
there is no reason to suppose either that they would
cease to be valuable, or would exchange in any other
than their present proportions.
The reply to Mr. Ricardo is, first, that the articles of
wealth which do not owe the principal part of their
value to the labour which has been bestowed on their
respective actual production, form, in fact, the bulk of
wealth instead of a small and unimportant portion of it ;
and secondly, that, as limitation of supply is essential to
the value of labour itself, to assume labour, and exclude
limitation of supply, as the condition on which value
depends, is not only to substitute a partial for a general
cause, but pointedly to exclude the very cause which
gives force to the cause assigned.
We have lastly to consider the objections which have
been raised to the definition of wealth as a general name
for the things which have value. Those who use the
* PfincipUi of Political Economy, 66—72,
POLITICAL ECONOMY,
139
Political
Economy.
Objections
to defini¬
tion of
wealth
considered.
word value as synonymous with cosU or as compre¬
hending* whatever is useful, of course object to its intro¬
duction into the definition of wealth ; and so should we
do if we used the word value in either of those senses.
But other writers, using the word value in its popular
sense, have objected that, according to the definition
which we have adopted, the same thing will be wealth
to one person and not to another. This consequence
is evident; and it is evident that even to the same person
the same quality may be wealth under some circum¬
stances, and not so under others. The knowledge of
English law is profitable in England, that of French law
in France ; if an English lawyer, with no other property
than his knowledge, were to settle in France, or a French
lawyer in England, he would find himself instantly re¬
duced from affluence to poverty. The power of telling
long stories is a source of profit in Asia, but valueless
in Europe. According to our nomenclature, therefore,
it would be wealth in Persia, and cease to be so in
England. If an actress should embrace a religious
sect of which the tenets should be incompatible with
the stage, her vocal and dramatic talents would no
longer be exchangeable, she would no longer be able to
let them out by the evening. We should say, therefore,
that they had ceased to be a part of her wealth But
we aie at a loss to conceive how the power of making
this distinction is an objection to the language in ques¬
tion. It seems to be its principal convenience.
Again, Colonel Torrens supposes a solitary family, or
a nation in which each person should consume only his
own productions, or one in which there should be a
community of goods, and urges, as a reductio ad absur¬
dum^ that in these cases, though there might be an
abundance of commodities, as there would be no ex¬
changes, there would, in our sense of the term, be no
wealth. The answer is, that, for the purposes of Political
Economy, there would be no wealth ; for, in fact, in
such a state of things, supposing it possible, the Science
of Political Economy would have no application. In
such a state of society. Agriculture, Mechanics, or any
other of the Arts which are subservient to the production
of the commodities which are, with us, the subjects of
exchange, might be studied, but the Science of Political
Economy would not exist We may add, that if the
common usage which identifies wealth with the things
which hate value is a convenient one in all the forms
which human nature really exhibits, it is no objection
to it that it would not be convenient in a state of society
of which we have no experience.
Statement of the four Elementary Propositions of the
Science.
Statement We have already stated that the general facts on
of the ele- which the Science of Political Economy rests are com¬
mentary pi-ised in a few general propositions, the result of ob-
Iiropositions ^ ^ ^ ^ ,
of the servation or consciousness. I he propositions to which
Science. we then alluded are these :
1. That every man desires to obtain additional wealth
with as little sacrifice as possible,
2. That the population of the world., or y in other
words, the number of persons inhabiting it, is limited
only by moral or physical evil, or by fear of a defi¬
ciency of those articles of wealth which the habits of the
individuals of each class of its inhabitants lead them
to require.
3. That the powers of labour, and of the other instru¬
Political
Economy.
Statement
of the ele¬
mentary
propositions
of the
Science.
ments which produce wealth, may be indefinitely in-
creased by using their products as the means of further
production,
4. That, agricultural skill remaining the same, ad¬
ditional labour employed on the land .within a given
district produces in general a less proportionate return,
or, in other words, that though, with every increase of
the labour bestowed, the aggregate return is increased,
the increase of the return is not in proportion to the
increase of the labour.
The first of these propositions is a matter of conscious¬
ness, the three others are matter of observation. As
the first and second involve little use of the peculiar
abstractions of Political Economy, except those implied
in the term wealth, and may therefore be explained
with little recourse to its peculiar nomenclature, we shall
consider them immediately ; leaving the third and fourth
for discussion in a subsequent part of this Treatise. They
are however so nearly self-evident, that we will venture
in the mean time to assume their truth. No one who
reflects on the difference between the unassisted force of
man, and the more than gigantic powers of capital and
machinery, can doubt the former proposition ; and, to
convince ourselves of the other, it is necessary only to
recollect that, if it were false, no land except the very
best could ever be cultivated : since, if the return from
a single farm were to increase in full proportion to any
amount of increased labour bestowed on it, the produce
of that one farm might feed the whole population of
England.
General Desire for Wealth,
In stating that every man desires to obtain additional General de
wealth with as little sacrifice as possible, we must not be
supposed to mean, that every body, or indeed anybody,
wishes for an indefinite quantity of everything; still
less as stating that wealth, though the universal, either
is, or ought to be, the principal object of human desire.
What we mean to state is, that no person feels his whole
wants to be adequately supplied ; that every person
has some unsatisfied desires which he believes that
additional wealth would gratify. The nature and the
urgency of each individual's wants are as various as the
differences in individual character. Some may wish
for power, others for distinction, and others for leisure ;
some require bodily, and others mental amusement ;
some are anxious to produce important advantage to
the public; and there are few, perhaps there are none,
who, if it could be done by a wish, would not benefit
their acquaintances and friends. Money seems to be the
only object for which the desire is universal ; and it is so,
because money is abstract wealth. Its possessor may
satisfy at will his ambition, or vanity, or indolence, his
public spirit or his private benevolence ; may multiply the
means of obtaining bodily pleasure, or of avoiding bodily
evil, or the still more expensive amusements of^ the mind.
Any one of these pursuits would exhaust the largest
fortune within the limits of individual acquisition ; and, as
all men would engage in some of them, and many in all,
the desire for wealth must be insatiable, though the
modes in which different individuals would employ it
are infinitely diversified.
An equal diversity exists in the amount and the kind
of the sacrifices which different individuals, or even the
s '
same individual, will encounter in the pursuit of wealth.
u 2
140
POLITICAL
ECONOMY.
Political Qjjiy jg same sacrifice more severe to one
. another, as some will not give up ease or leisure
General de Study, others good air and a country life, and others
sire for recreation and society, but the absolute desire for wealth
wealth. on the one hand, and the absolute will to encounter toils
or privations in its pursuit on the other, are stronger in
some men than in others. These differences form some
of the principal distinctions in individual and national
character. Experience, however, shows, and indeed it
might have been predicted à priori^ that the greatest
and longest continued sacrifices will be made in those
Countries in which property is most secure, and the road
to social eminence is the most open. The inhabitants
of Holland and of Great Britain, and of the Countries
that have derived their institutions from Great Britain,
the nations which up to the present time have best
enjoyed those advantages, have up to the present time
been the most ardent and the most successful in the
pursuit of opulence. But even the Indians of Mexico,
though their indolence makes them submit to poverty
under which an Englishman would feel life a burthen,
would willingly be rich if it cost them no trouble.
It may be necessary, however, to explain our
motives for dwelling on so much that is self-evident.
Our first reason is, that the proposition in question,
though we are not aware that any one has thought that
it required to be formally stated, is assumed in almost
every process of economical reasoning. It is the corner¬
stone of the doctrine of wages and profits, and, generally
speaking, of exchange. In short, it is in Political Eco¬
nomy what gravitation is in Physics, or the dictum de
omni et nulla in Logic ; the ultimate fact beyond which
reasoning cannot go, and of which almost every other
proposition is merely an illustration. In an attempt to
state the evidence on which the Science rests, it appeared
to us improper to omit its foundation, though at the
hazard of appearing to take up our reader's time in
defending what it may be supposed that nobody ever
thought of questioning.
But, in the second place, this proposition, apparently
self-evident, has been impliedly questioned. It is directly
opposed to a doctrine of considerable popularity, and
supported by great names,—we mean the doctrine of
over-production or universal glut.
By the word glut is meant the production of a given
commodity in an abundance, either absolutely beyond
the desires of its intended consumers, or beyond the
amount for which they are able and willing to offer in
exchange equivalents sufficient to induce the producer
to continue his operations. Books are, perhaps, the
commodities most subject to gluts. The proportionate
expenses of printing and advertising increase so rapidly,
if the number of copies printed be much reduced, and
authors are so little subject to underrate the probable
demand for their labours, that scarcely any edition con¬
sists of less than two hundred and fifty copies, and very
few of less than five hundred. But we have seen calcula¬
tions showing that not in one case out of two hundred are
. • • t
all the copies sold off at the price at which they originally
came out. In ordinary cases, from fifty to one hundred
are sold in the first year, and thirty or forty in the
second ; by the end of which time the book has been
forgotten, and the unsold copies are put up to sale at
periodical auctions among the booksellers. The best
that can happen to them is to be purchased on this
occasion in order to be again offered to the public ; but
the majority of Works are found to be worth purchase
not as books, but as paper. They are unsold at the .
trade sales, and find their way General de-
In vicum vendentem thus et odores sire for
Et piper, et quidquid chartis amicitur ineptis. weahh.
We have selected books as affording an illustration of a
glut arising from a miscalculation not of the ability, but of
the willingness of purchasers. The opening of a new trade
is generally followed by gluts occasioned by miscalcula¬
tions of both. Every one must recollect, when Brazil and
Spanish America first became accessible, our exports of
skaits, and fire-irons, and warming pans to the tropics.
And, until their real poverty was known, we continued to
fill their warehouses with cargoes, adapted indeed to their
wants, but far beyond their means. Miscalculations of this
kind must obviously be of frequent occurrence ; and
perhaps what ought to excite our surprise is, not the
extent to which they prevail, but the degree in which
they are avoided. But it appears clear that they can
arise only from one or the other of two causes : either
from the articles of wealth, with respect to which the
glut exists, having been prepared for persons who do not
want them, or from those persons not being provided
with other articles of wealth, suited to the desires of the
producers of the first-mentioned articles of wealth, to
offer in exchange for them. Partial gluts, occasioned
by the one or the other of these causes, are among the
most ordinary commercial occurrences. But the opinion
to which our doctrine is opposed is that which admits
the possibility not only of partial but of universal gluts,
which supposes it possible that there may be at the
same time a glut of services and commodities in general,
—that we may have too much of every thing ; a doctrine
not only of frequent occurrence in conversations on
commercial subjects, but even maintained by some dis¬
tinguished writers. Now as by the assumed hypothesis
of a universal glut all the articles of wealth exist not
only in abundance, but in superabundance, an absolute
deficiency of equivalents cannot be one of its causes.
And it can scarcely be supposed that there can be such
a general state of commercial cross-purposes as to pre¬
vent, in the majority of cases, the proper sellers and
purchasers from meeting. It can scarcely be supposed
that when A has what B wants, and B what A wants,
A and B should, in the majority of instances, instead of
finding out and exchanging with one another, offer their
respective commodities to Y and Z, who, having also each
reciprocal wants and supplies, neither wish to purchase
from A or B, nor have discovered the means of exchang¬
ing with one another. But if it be absurd to suppose
that a general glut could be occasioned by such an
universal spirit of blundering as this, the only remaining
hypothesis on which the existence of a general glut can
be supposed is that of a general satiety, that all men may
be so fully provided with the precise articles which they
desire as to afford no market for each other's superflui¬
ties. And this doctrine is opposed to the proposition
with which we set out, that every man desires to obtain
additional wealth.
Population.
Having explained the sense in which we use the word Population,
wealth, and stated, or rather recalled to the recollection
of our readers, the general desire to obtain additional
wealth with the least possible sacrifice, we now proceed
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
14Í
Political to consider the second of the four elementary propositions
Economy. which the Science of Political Economy is founded ;
namely, that the population of the world, or, in other
' words, the number of persons inhabiting- it, is limited
only by moral or physical evil, or by fear of the defi¬
ciency of those articles of wealth which the habits of the
individuals of each class of its inhabitants lead them to
require.
Tt is now generally admitted, indeed it is strange
that it should ever have required to be pointed out, that
every species of plant or animal which is capable of in¬
crease, either by generation or by seed, must be capable
of a constantly increasing increase; every addition to its
numbers being capable of affording a source of still
further additions ; or, in other words, that wherever there
is a capacity of increase, it must be a capacity of in¬
crease not by mere addition but by multiplication; or,
to use the short form in which the proposition is usually
stated, not in an arithmetical, but in a geometrical ratio.
The rate at which any species of plant or animal is ca¬
pable of increasing must depend on the average power
of reproduction and the average period of existence of
the individuals of which it is constituted. Wheat, we
know, is an annual, and its average power of reproduc¬
tion, perhaps, about six for one; on that supposition, the
produce of a single acre might cover the globe in fourteen
years. The rate at which the human race is capable of
increasing has been determined by observation. It has
been ascertained that, for considerable periods and in
extensive districts, under temperate climates, it has
doubled every twenty-five years.
The power of reproduction in the human race must,
under similar climates, be always the same. We say,
under similar climates, because the acceleration of
puberty, which has been sometimes observed in tropical
climates, unless checked, as is probably the case by an
earlier cessation of child-bearing, would occasion in¬
creased fecundity. Now, the United States of America,
the districts in which the rate of increase which w^e have
mentioned has been most clearly ascertained, are not
remarkable for the longevity of their inhabitants. We
may infer, therefore, that such is the average power of
reproduction and average duration of life in the in¬
dividuals constituting the human species, that their
number may double every twenty-five years. At this
rate the inhabitants of every Country would, in the
course of every five centuries, increase to above a mil¬
lion times their previous' number. At this rate the po¬
pulation of England would, in five hundred years, ex¬
ceed fifteen million millions : a population which would
not allow them standing room. Such being the human
powers of increase, the question is, by what checks is
their expansion controlled ? How comes it that the po¬
pulation of the world, instead of being now a million
times as great as it was five hundred years ago, ap¬
parently has not doubled within that time, and certainly
has not quadrupled ?
Mr. Malthus has divided the checks to population
into the preventive and the positive. The first are
those which limit fecundity, the second those which de¬
crease longevity. The first diminish the number of
births, the second increase that of deaths. And as fe¬
cundity and longevity are the only elements of the calcu¬
lation, it is clear that Mr. Malthus's division is exhaust¬
ive. The positive check to population is physical evil.
The preventive checks are promiscuous intercourse and
abstinence from marriage. The first is moral evil ; the
second is, with a very few exceptions, so few indeed that
they do not affect the result, founded on an appre- couomy.
hended deficiency of some of the things to which we jT*
have given the general appellation of wealth. All the
preventive and positive checks may therefore be dis¬
tributed under prudence, moral evil, and physical evil.
We will first consider the positive check.
We have seen that this check includes all the causes
which tend, in any way, prematuiely to shorten the du¬
ration of human existence : such as unwholesome occu¬
pations, severe labour, or exposure to the seasons, bad or
insufficient food or clothing, bad nursing of children, ex¬
cesses of all kinds, the corruption of the air from natural
causes, or from large towns, wars, infanticide, plague,
and famine. Of these, some arise from the laws of
I'.ature, and others from the crimes and follies of man :
all are directly and immediately felt in the form of
physical evil, though many of them are the result, more
or less remotely, of moral evil.
The final and irresistible mode in which physical evil
operates is the want of the necessaries of existence ;
death produced by hardship or starvation. This is
almost the only check to the increase of the irrational
animals, and as man descends towards their condition
he falls more and more under its influence. In the
lowest savage state it is the principal and obvious
check; in a high state of civilization it is almost imper¬
ceptible; but is unperceived only in consequence of the
operation of its substitutes.
We have already stated that, as a general rule, addi¬
tional labour employed in the cultivation of the land
within a given district produces a less proportionate re¬
turn. And it has appeared that such is the power of
reproduction and duration of life in mankind, that the
population of a given district is capable of doubling
itself at least every twenty-five years. It is clear, there¬
fore, that the rate at which the production of food is
capable of being increased, and that at which population,
if unchecked, would increase, are totally different. Every
addition made to the quantity of food periodically pro¬
duced makes in general a further periodical addition
more difficult. Every addition to the existing popula¬
tion diffuses wider the means of still further addition.
If neither evil, nor the fear of evil, checked the popula¬
tion of England, it would amount in a century to above
two hundred millions. Suppose it possible that we might
be able to raise or to import the subsistence of two hun¬
dred millions of people : is it possible that one hundred and
twenty-five years hence we should be able to support four
hundred millions? or, in one hundred and fifty years,
eight hundred millions? It is clear, however, that long
before the first century had elapsed, long before the period
at which, if unchecked, we should have attained two hun¬
dred millions, no excellence in our institutions, or salu¬
brity oí climate, or unremitting industry, could have saved
us from being arrested in our progress by a constantly in¬
creasing want of subsistence. If all other moral and phy¬
sical checks could be got rid of, if we had neither wars
nor f bertinism, if our habitations, and employments, and
habits were all wholesome, and no fears of indigence or
loss of station prevented or retarded our marriages, fa¬
mine would soon exercise her prerogative of controliing,
in the last resort, the multiplication of mankind.
But though it be certain that the absence of all other
checks would only give room for the irresistible in¬
fluence of famine, it is equally certain that such a state
of thinors never has existed and never will exist«
O
142
POLITICAL ECONOMY
Political In the first place the absence of all the other moral
Economy, physical evils which retard population implies a de-
^ree of civilization not only high, but higher than man-
Population. ef^joyed. Such a society cannot be
supposed to want sagacity sufficient to foresee the evils
of a too rapidly increasing population, and prudence suf¬
ficient to avoid them. In such a state the preventive
check would be in full operation, and its force is quite
sufficient to render unnecessary even the approach of
any positive check.
Ánd, secondly, it is impossible that a positive check,
so goading and so remorseless as famine, should prevail
without bringing in her train all the others. Pestilence
is her uniform companion, and murder and war are her
followers. Whole bodies of men will not tamely lie
down to die, and witness, while they are perishing, their
wives, and children, and parents, starving around them.
Wiiere there is a diversity of fortunes, famine generally
produces that worst form of civil war, the insurrection of
the poor against the rich. Among uncivilized nations it
produces those tremendous hostile migrations in which
a whole people throws itself across a neighbouring
frontier, and either perishes in the attempt to obtain a
larger or a more fertile territory, or destroys the former
]H)ssessors, or drives them out to be themselves ag¬
gressors in turn.
in fact, almost all the positive checks, by their mutual
reaction, have a tendency to create and aggravate one
another; and the destruction of those who perish im¬
mediately by one may generally be found to have been
remotely occasioned or promoted by one or more of the
others. Among nations imperfectly civilized the widest
and the most wasting of the positive checks is predatory
war. A district exposed to it is likely to suffer all the
others. Mere fear of invasion must generally keep the
great body of its inhabitants pent up in crowded and
consequently unwholesome towns; it must confine their
cultivation to the fields in the immediate neighbourhood
of those towns, and, if it does not destroy, must so much
impede their commerce as to render it useless as a
source of subsistence; and when the invasion does
come, it is often followed by the complete extirpation of
the invaded community. This is the check which has
kept Africa, and the central parts of Asia, in their com¬
paratively unpeopled state.
In his journey from Abyssinia to Sennaar, Bruce
crossed the territory of Atbara, subject to the incursions
of the Da\eina Arabs. The whole seems to have been
a scene of desolation. He passed a night at Garigara,
a village, of which they had destroyed the crops a year
before. The inhabitants had all perished with hunger,
and their remains were unburied and scattered over the
ground where the village had stood. The travellers
encamped among the bones: no space could be lound
free from them. His next stage was Teawa. " Its con¬
sequence," he observes, " was to remain only till the
Daveina should resolve to attack it, when its corn fields
being burnt and destroyed in a night by a multitude of
horsemen, the bones of its inhabitants scattered upon
the earth would be all its remains, like those of the
miserable village of Garigara."
Among the positive checks to the po])ulation of un¬
civilized, or partially civilized, nations, the next in im¬
portance to war is famine. When a people depends
principally on that subsistence which is most easily ob¬
tained, and such is the case among the nations in ques¬
tion, the mere variations of the seasons must, ifom time
to time, produce destructive want. Where society is Political
better constituted, the evil of these variations is miti- Economy,
gated, partly from the superfluity of the more opulent ^
classes, partly by importation, and principally by a re- ^
curre nee to a less expensive diet ; but in a barbarous,
and consequently a poor and non commercial people,
they are among the most frighful forms of national
calamity. The histories which we possess of such
Countries always particularize periods of dearth as
among the most memorable events recorded. They
seem in a constant oscillation between the want en¬
dured by a population that has increased to the utmost
limits of subsistence, and the plenty enjoyed by the sur¬
vivors after that population has been thinned by war,
pestilence, or famine. The remainder of the positive
checks, such as infanticide and unwholesomeness of
climate, habits, or situation, appear rather to facilitate
early marriages than to produce any actual diminution,
or prevent any actual increase of population. Inlanti-
cide has been supposed to be rather favourable to po¬
pulation, by opposing to the prudential check to mar¬
riage a mode of disposing of its offspring, which may
appear easy in contemplation, but from which the feel¬
ings of the parents eventually recoil. The unwhole¬
someness of some districts is unquestionably such as to
keep them totally unpeopled, or inhabited by strangers,
whose numbers must be constantly recruited. Such,
for instance, appears to be the case in the most un¬
healthy parts of Italy. Such is the case with large
manufacturing towns even in the most favourable
climates, unless great skill and great care are directed
towards their cleanliness and ventilation. And in a
newly colonized Country like the back settlements of
America, where the abundance of land and the con¬
stantly increasing means of subsistence would render
any preventive check unnecessary, any cause diminish¬
ing longevity must retard increase. But with these ex¬
ceptions, unhealthiness rather causes the successive
generations to pass more rapidly away, than diminishes
the actual number of inhabitants. In some of the
healthiest districts of Swisserland the average annual
mortality does not exceed one in forty-eight. In many of
the marshy villages of Holland it exceeds one in twenty-
three. But it would be rash to expect the population
of the former to be more dense or to increase more
rapidly than that of the latter. The case is, in fact, the
reverse. In the Swiss villages of which we have been
speaking the births are as rare as the deaths; the
population is thin and stationary. Among the Dutch
the births somewhat exceed the deaths ; the population
is dense and is increasing. It is obvious, indeed, that
the proportion of annual births to the whole number of
people being given, the rate of increase must depend on
the proportion borne by the annual deaths. And again,
the proportion of deaths to the whole number of people
being given, it must depend on the proportion borne by
the births ; or, to use a shorter form of expression, given
the longevity it must depend on the fecundity, and
given the fecundity it must depend on the longevity.
If both are given, the rate of increase may be calculated ;
but from only one, the conclusion must be in the dis¬
junctive. If the annual births bear a large proportion
to the existing number of people, we may conclude
either that the population is rapidly increasing, or that
the positive checks are in powerful operation. On the
other hand, fa^m a small pioportion of annual deaths
ma) be inieireJ either a rapid increase of numbers, or a
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
143
Political strong influence of the preventive checks. The average
Economy. ¿Q^^tion of life in England is greater than in the United
States of America; but so much greater is the force of
the preventive checks, that the rate of increase in
America is about double that in England. Again, the
average duration of life in the Swiss villages to which
we have referred is the same as it is in England ; but
the preventive check in England, strong as it appears
when compared with its force in America, is so much
weaker than it is in some districts in Swisserland, that,
with the same annual mortality, the population is in the
one Country stationary, in the other rapidly progressive.
But although the average longevity in a Country
affords no decisive evidence as to the increasing or sta¬
tionary number of its inhabitants, it is among the least
deceittPul tests of their prosperity ; far less so than tliat
on which legislators formerly relied, the number of
births. There is not an evil, moral or physical, which
has not a tendency, directly or indirectly, to shorten life,
but there are many which have a direct tendency to
increase fecundity. The extraordinary duration of life
m Great Britain, exceeding, as it does, the average of
any other equally populous district, is a convincing
proof of the general excellence of our climate, our insti¬
tutions, and our habits.
We now proceed to consider the preventive checks
to the increase of population. We have seen that
they are promiscuous intercourse and abstinence from
marriage.
The first does not appear to be of sufficient import¬
ance to require much consideration. It is said to pro¬
duce some effect in checking the increase of the higher
classes in some of the South Sea Islands; and it ap¬
pears to have produced the same effect to a considerable
extent among the West Indian negroes. But the
nobility of the South Seas scarcely deserve to be sepa¬
rately considered. And, while the other forms of moral
and physical evil were accumulated, as they were among
the West Indian slaves, it is probable that the removal
of this evil alone would have done little to promote the
increase of their population.
But, with these exceptions, there are scarcely any
females whose fecundity is prevented or diminished by
promiscuous intercourse, except those unhappy indivi¬
duals whose only trade is prostitution. And they form
so small a proportion of the population of the whole
world that the check to population, occasioned by their
unfruitfulness, may safely be disregarded.
The only remaining check is abstinence from mar¬
riage. Our readers are of course aware that, by the
woid " marriage," we mean to express not the peculiar
and permanent connection which alone, in a Christian
Country, is entitled to that name, but any agreement be¬
tween a man and woman to cohabit under circumstances
likely to occasion the birth of progeny. We have already
observed that abstinence from marriage is almost uni-
formly founded on the apprehension of a deficiency of
some of the things which we have denominated by the
general term wealth, or, in other words, on prudence.
Some cases certainly occur in which men remain un¬
married, although their fortunes are so ample that the
expenses of a family would be unperceived. But the
number of persons so situated is so small that they
create an exception which would scarcely deserve atten¬
tion, even if this conduct were as common among them
as it is, in fact, rare.
We shall scarcely, therefore, be led into error if, in
considering the preventive checks, we confine our atten- Political
tion to prudence, and assume that, as nothing but phy- Economy,
sical evil directly and immediately diminishes the Ion-
gevity of mankind, nothing but an apprehended defi- Eopulatioiio
ciency of some of the articles of wealth prevents their
fecundity.
But though an apprehended deficiency of some of the
articles of wealth is substantially the only preventive
check to the increase of population, it is obvious that
fear of the want of different articles operates, with all
men, very differently; and even that an apprehended
want of the same article will affect differently the minds
of the individuals of different classes. An apprehended
want of corn would produce on the minds of all Eng¬
lishmen a very different effect from an apprehended
want of silk. An apprehended want of butcher's meat
would affect very differently the minds of Englishmen
of different classes. It appears to us, therefore, con¬
venient to divide for this purpose the articles of wealth
into the three great classes of necessaries, decencies,
and luxuries, and to explain the different effects pro¬
duced by the fear of the want of the articles of wealth
falling under each class. We must begin, however, by
stating, as precisely as we can, what we mean by the
words necessaries^ decencies, and luxuries ; terms which
have been used ever since the Moral Sciences first at¬
tracted attention, but with little attention to precision or
to consistent use.
It is scarcely necessary to remind our readers thai
these are relative terms, and that some person must
always be assigned with reference to whom a given
commodity or service is a luxury, a decency, or a
necessary.
«>
By necessari.es, then, we express those things, tlie
use of which is requisite to keep a given individual in
the health and strength essential to his going through
his habitual occupations.
By decencies, we express those things which a given
individual must use in order to preserve his existing
rank in society.
Every thing else of which a given individual makes
use, or, in other words, all that portion of his consump¬
tion which is not essential to his health and strenirth,
O ^
or to the preservation of his existing rank in society,
we term luxury.
It is obvious that when consumed by the inhabitants
of different Countries, or even by different individuals
in the same Country, the same things may be either
luxuries, decencies, or necessaries.
Shoes are necessaries to all the inhabitants of Enir-
land. Our habits are such that there is not an indi¬
vidual whose health would not suffer from the want of
them. To the lowest class of the inhabitants of Scot¬
land they are luxuries : custom enables them to go
barefoot without inconvenience and without degrada¬
tion. When a Scotchman rises from the lowest to the
middling classes of society, they become to him de¬
cencies. He wears them to preserve, not his feet, but
his station in life. To the highest class, who have
been accustomed to them from infancy, they are as
much necessaries as they are to all classes in England.
To the higher classes in Turkey wine is a luxury and
tobacco a decency. In Europe it is the reverse. The
Turk drinks and the European smokes, not in obe¬
dience, but in opposition both to the rules of health and
to the forms of society. But wine in Europe and the
pipe in Turkey are among the refreshments to which a
144 POLITICAL
Political guest is entitled, and which it would be as indecent to
Economy, j-gfyge in the one Country as to offer in the other.
it has been said that the coal-heavers and lightermen,
Popu a ion. ^oiYie others amon^ the hardworking London
labourers^ could not support their toils without the
stimulus of porter. If this be true, porter is to them
a necessary. To all others it is a luxury. A carriage
is a decency to a woman of fashion, a necessary to a
physician, and a luxury to a tradesman.
The question, whether a given commodity is to be
considered as a decency or a luxury, is obviously one
to which no answer can be given, unless the place, the
time, and the rank of the individual using it be
specified. The dress which in England was only
decent a hundred years ago, would be almost extrava¬
gant now, while the house and furniture which now
would afford merely decent accommodation to a gentle¬
man, would then have been luxurious for a Peer. The
causes which entitle a commodity to be called a neces¬
sary are more permanent and more general. They
depend partly upon the habits in which the individual
in question has been brought up,partly on the nature of
his occupation, on the lightness or the severity of the
labours and hardships that he has to undergo, and
partly on the climate in which he lives
Of these causes we have illustrated the two first by the
familiar examples of shoes and porter. But the princi¬
pal cause is climate. The fuel, shelter, and raiment,
which are essential to a Laplander s existence, would
be worse than useless under the Tropics. And as
habits and occupations are very slowly changed, and
climate suffers scarcely any alteration, the commodities
which are necessary to the differeni classes of the in¬
habitants of a given district may, and generally do, re¬
main for centuries unchanged, while their decencies and
luxuries are continually varying.
Among all classes the check imposed by an appre¬
hended deficiency of mere luxuries is but slight. The
motives, perhaps we might say the instincts, that
prompt the human race to marriage, are too poweriui
to be much restrained by the fear of losing conveniences
unconnected with health or station in society. Nor is
population much retarded by the fear of wanting mere
necessaries. In comparatively uncivilized Countries, in
which alone, as we have already seen, that want is of
familiar occurrence, the preventive check has little
operation. They see the danger, but want prudence
and self-denial to be influenced by it. On the other
hand, among nations so far advanced in civilization as
to be able to act on such a motive, the danger that any
given person or his future family shall actually perish
from indigence appears too remote to afford any geiieial
rule of conduct.
The great preventive check is the fear of losing de¬
cencies, or, what is nearly the same, the hope to ac¬
quire, by the accumulation of a longer celibacy, the
means of purchasing the decencies which give a higher
Sficial rank. When an Englishman stands hesitating
between love and prudence, a family actually starving is
not among his terrors ; against actual want he knows
that he has the fence of the poor-laws. • But, however
humble his desires, he cannot contemplate without anxiety
a probability that the income which supported his social
rank, while single, may be insufficient to maintain it
when he is married; that he maybe unable to give to
his children the advantages of education which he en¬
joyed himself; in short, that 1 e may lose his caste. Men
ECONOMY.
of more enterprise are induced to postpone marriage, not Political
merely by the fear of sinking, but also by the hope that Economy,
ill an unincumbered state they may rise. As they mount
the horizon of their ambition keeps receding, until P»P"latioa.
sometimes the time has passed for realizing those plans
of domestic happiness which probably every man has
formed in his youth.
It is by this desire of decencies, as distinguished from
necessaries, that long-settled civilized Countries are
preserved from the evils of a population greatly ex¬
ceeding the means of comfortable subsistence. There
are few triter subjects of declamation than the con¬
trast between ancient simplicity and modern luxury.
Few virtues, however useful, have received more ap¬
plause than the contented and dignified poverty, the
indifference to display, and the abstinence from unne¬
cessary expense, which all refined nations attribute to
their ancestors. Few vices, however mischievous, have
been more censured than the ostentatious expenditure
which every succeeding generation seems to consider its
own characteristic.
It certainly seems at first sight that habits of unneces¬
sary expenditure, as ihey have a tendency to diminish
the wealth of an individual, must have the same effect
on the wealth of a nation. And, separately considered,
it appears clear that each act of unproductive consump¬
tion, whatever gratification it may afford to the con¬
sumer, must, pro tanto, impoverish the community.
It is so much taken from the common stock and de¬
stroyed. And as the national capital is formed from
the aggregate savings of individuals, it is certain
that if each individual were to expend to the utmost
extent of his means, the whole capital of the Country
would be gradually wasted away, and general misery
would be the result. But it appears equally certain
that if each individual weie to confine his expenditure
to mere necessaries, the result would be misery quite as
general and as intense.
We have seen that the powers of populatitm, if not
restrained by prudence, must inevitably produce almost
every form of moral and physical evil. In the case which
we are supposing, the wants of society would be confined
to the food, raiment, and shelter essential to the support
of exisience ; and they would all consist of the cheapest
materials. At present, among civilized nations, the cul¬
tivation of the land employs only a portion of its inhabit¬
ants, and, generally speaking, as a nation increases in
wealth, a smaller and smaller proportion ; in England
not one third ; and a great part of the labourers so
employed are producers of luxuries. Indeed, as po¬
tatoes afford a food five or six times as abundant as
corn, and more than twenty times as abundant as
meat, and, as far as can be judged by the appear¬
ance and powers of the lower Irish, quite as whole¬
some, meat and corn may be considered luxuries,
to the extent in which they are more expensive than
potatoes. Nor, consistently with the existence of private
property, and of the desire of wealth, can the mode of
cultivation be directed to the obtaining the largest pos¬
sible return. The object is to obtain the largest return
that is consistent with profitable farming, but, in the
pursuit of this object, quantity of produce must often be
sacrificed to economy of labour or time.
_ f
If there were no desire for any thing beyond necessaries,
both the existing partition of the land, and the existing
division of labour, would be varied. No family would
wish to occupy more land than the small plot necessary to
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
145
Political afford them potatoes and milk. Supposing them to give
conomy.^ to it the utmost nicety of garden cultivation, its manage-
p . ment would still leave them time to produce the coarse
' manufactures necessary for their own use. The whole of
the population would be agricultural. 761,348 families
so employed at present in Eno-land, although their labour
is far from being directed to the production of the
greatest possible amount, provide, without much assist¬
ance from importation, subsistence for the whole of our
2,745,336 families. If all were so employed, and if
quantity of produce were their sole object, it is
probable that in ordinary seasons the soil of Eng¬
land, instead of fifteen millions, could feed at least
sixty millions of people ; and that of Europe, instead
of two hundred, eight hundred millions. And that, in
the absence of any checks more powerful than those
experienced in the United States of America, the popu¬
lation of Europe might in fifty years amount to eight
hundred millions. Indeed it is probable that, under the
circumstances which we are supposing, the increase in
Europe would be for a considerable time rather more
rapid than that which has taken place in America. Pre¬
ventive checks would not exist ; marriages could not be
hindered or even delayed by prudence, since there could
be no reason to anticipate want ; the habit of early
marriages would put an end to profligacy ; and, as all
our habits would be eminently healthy, the positive
checks would be reduced to their minimum.
So far the picture is rather pleasing ; it exhibits a
state of society, not rich certainly, nor refined, but sup¬
porting a very numerous population in health and
strength, and in the full enjoyment of the many sources
of happiness connected with early marriage. But it is
obvious that this could not last for ever ; it could not last
indeed for two hundred and fifty years. By that time
the population of Europe would amount to above three
million millions ; a number which the wildest imagina¬
tion cannot conceive capable of existing simultaneously
in the whole earth.
Sooner or later, therefore, the increase must be checked ;
and we have seen that prudence is the only check that
does not involve vice or misery. But such is the force
of the passions which prompt to marriage, and such is
each man's reliance on his own good conduct and good
fortune, that the evils, whatever they may be, the appre¬
hension of which forms the prudential check, are fre¬
quently incurred. Where that evil is the loss of luxuries,
or even of decencies, it is trifling in the first case, and
bearable in the second. But, in the case which we are
supposing, the only prudential check would be an appre¬
hended deficiency of necessaries 5 and that deficiency,
in the many instances in which it would actually be
incurred, would be the positive check in its most fright¬
ful form. It would be incurred not only in consequence
of that miscalculation of chances to which all men are
subject, and certainly those not the least so who are
anxious to marry, but through accidents against which
no human prudence can guard. A single bad harvest
may be provided against, but a succession of unfavour¬
able seasons (and such successions do occur) must reduce
such a people to absolute iamine. When such seasons
affect a nation indulging in considerable superfluous ex¬
penditure, they are relieved by a temporary sacrifice of
that superfluity. The grain consumed in ordinary years
by our breweries and distilleries is a store always at
hand to supply a scarcity, and the same may be said of
VOL. VI.
the large quantity of food raised for the support of Political
domestic animals, but applicable to human subsistene. Bcotiomy.
To these resources may be added the importation from
abroad of necessaries instead of luxuries and the mate-
rials of luxury, of corn, for instance, instead of wine.
It may be said however, and indeed it has been said,
that while the globe remains in its present irregularly
occupied and irregularly cultivated state, emigration
affords to all comparatively thickly-peopled nations a
resource so ample and so easy as to render every pruden¬
tial check to population unnecessary.
It is obvious that if capital and skill equal to those
bestowed on the best parts of Flanders, or of the
Scotch Lowlands, could be applied to the whole
habitable world, a population ten times, perhaps
one hundred times, perhaps even five hundred times
as large could be maintained, as well, perhaps far
better, than the one thousand millions now supposed
to exist on its surface. It is possible, we will not say
even that it is improbable, that in the course of centuries,
or rather of hundreds of centuries, these splendid visions
may be realized. But all experience shows that no
numerous and civilized nation, surrounded by other civi¬
lized nations, can venture to rely on emigration as a
permanent and adequate check to population. We say
no numerous and civilized nation surrounded by other
civilized nations ; for we are aware that the hordes ot
Central Asia and of the Northern parts of Europe, and
the surplus inhabitants of some small communities, such
as the petty States of ancient Greece and Phœnicia,
appear to have found, the one in colonization, the others
in armed migrations, a periodical outlet ; and that the
Americans of European descent have enjoyed for cen¬
turies, and for centuries to come may enjoy, in the
immense continent behind them, room for as rapid an
increase of (heir numbers as the most unchecked propa¬
gation can supply. But these are not examples which
Europe, as now constituted, can imitate. When all the
land frontier is appropriated,—when invasion for the pur¬
pose of settlement is impossible, and the solitary traveller
is repelled by a different language, different laws, diffe¬
rent arts, and often a different religion,—when the other
alternative is an expensive and distant voyage, and
either an unsettled, and therefore in general an unwhole¬
some country, or equal obstacles from variations of
laws, language, religion, and arts, in a previously settled
district,—when these are the difficulties to be encountered,
no extensive and systematic emigration will be persisted
in. Even the different parts of the same empire afford
little assistance to one another, if difference of language,
or habits, or considerable distance be interposed. The
Austrian dominions contain some of the most thinly and
some of the most thickly peopled portions of Europe ;
but Hungary is not colonized from the plains of Lom-
bardy. If any European nation could hope to make
emigration a complete substitute for prudence, that hope
might be entertained by the inhabitants of the British
Islands. We have the command of unoccupied conti-
rientsin each hemisphere, îhe largest navy that the world
t ver saw to convey us to them, the largest capital that
ever has been accumulated to defray the expense, and a
population remarkable not merely for enterprise, but for
enterprise of this particular description. These advan¬
tages we have enjoyed for centuries ; almost from the
times of the Tùdors we have possessed a large outskirt
of empire far exceeding in extent our European posses-
X
146
POLITICAL
ECONOMY.
Political sions. And yet during this long period how little effect
Economy, emigration produced on our numbers ! The swarms
which we have sent out, and which we now send out,
seem to be instantaneously replaced. We have founded
one empire, and probably shall found many ; but, after
once a colony has been planted, its principal increase
arises, not from the comparatively scanty recruits whom
it receives from home, but from the unrepressed force of
human fecundity.
In a future portion of this Treatise we shall explain
with more detail the causes which impede emigration ; at
present we shall only repeat that all experience shows
its inability to keep down the population of any large,
well peopled, and tolerably civilized Country, such as
Europe, China, or Hindostán. It appears, therefore,
that habits of prudence in contracting marriage, and of
considerable superfluous expenditure, afford the only
permanent protection against a population pressing so
closely on the means of subsistence as to be continually
incurring the misery of the positive checks. And as
the former habits exist only in a civilized, and the latter
only in an opulent society, it appears equally clear that,
as a nation advances in civilization and opulence, the
positive checks are likely to be superseded by the pre¬
ventive. If this be true, the evil of a redundant popu¬
lation, or, to speak more intelligibly, of a population too
numerous to be adequately and regularly supplied with
necessaries, is likely to diminish in the progress of im¬
provement. As wealth increases, what were the luxuries
of one generation become the decencies of their succes¬
sors. Not only a taste for additional comfort and con¬
venience, but a feeling of degradation in their absence,
becomes more and more widely diffused. The increase
in many respects of the productive powers of labour
must enable increased comforts to be enjoyed by in¬
creased numbers ; and as it is the more beiieticial, so it
appears to be the more natural course of events that
increased comfort should not only accompany but rather
precede increase of numbers.
But although we believe that, as civilization advances,
the pressure of population on subsistence is a decreasing
evil, we are far from denying the prevalence of this pres¬
sure in all long-settled Countries ; indeed in all Countries
except those which are the seats of colonies applying the
knowledge of an old Country to an unoccupied territory.
We believe that there are few portions of Europe the inha¬
bitants of which would not now be richer if their numbers
were fewer, and would not be richer hereafter if they
were now to retard the rate at which their population is
increasing. No plan for social improvement can be
complete unless it embrace the means both of increasing
the production of wealth and of preventing population
from making a proportionate advance. The former is
tobe effected by legislative, the latter by individual pru¬
dence and forethought. The former must be brought
about by the governing classes of society ; the latter de¬
pends almost entirely on the lower. As a means of
improvement, the latter is, on the whole, more efficient.
It may be acted upon or neglected by almost every one.
But, in the present state of public opinion and of com¬
mercial and fiscal policy in Europe, perhaps a greater
progress may be made by insisting on the former. The
statesman who neglects either considers only a portion
of the subject.
But we must admit that ours are not the received
opinions ; or perhaps we ought to say, that our state¬
ment is opposed, on the one side or on the other, to the Political
language used by almost every writer who has directly Ulconomy,
treated the subject of population. Almost every Econo-
mist will be found, in that part of his writings in which
what has been called the principle of population is the
immediate and principal question considered, to range
himself under one oí two hostile banners, each opposed
not only to the other, but also to the doctrines which
we have endeavoured to explain. On one side are
those who believe that an increase of numbers is neces¬
sarily accompanied not merely by a positive, but by a
relative increase of productive power; that density of
population is the cause and the test of prosperity ; and
that, " were every nation under the sun to be released
from all the natural and artificial checks on their in¬
crease, and to start off breeding at the fastest possible
rate, many, very many generations must elapse before
any necessary pressure could be felt." *
On the other side are those who maintain that popu¬
lation has a tendency (using the word tendency to
express likelihood or probability) to increase beyond the
means of subsistence ; or, in other words, that, whatever
be the existing means of subsistence, population is likely
fully to come up to them, and even to struggle to pass
beyond them, and is kept back principally by the vice
and misery which that struggle must produce.
The whole of our previous remarks afford an answer
to the first-mentioned class of writers. We shall not
therefore recur to tiiem. The opinions of the other class
we shall consider ai some length ; and we will begin by
the following quotations from Mr. M'Culloch, Mr.
Mill, and Mr. Malthus.
Among the valuable notes which Mr. M'Culloch has
appended to his edition of the IVealih of Nations, one of
the most interesting treats of population; and one of
the objects oí that note is to show that the population
of the United States of America cannot continue to
increase for any very considerable period at the rate at
which it has increased during the last hundred years.
We are perfectly convinced of the correctness of this
anticipation ; and we make the following extract not
with any intention to oppose Mr. M'Culloch's opinions
as to America, but because we are anxious to express
our dissent to the form in which he lays down the
general doctrine of population.
" It may be said perhaps," says Mr. M'Culloch, ** that
allowance must be made for the effects of the improve¬
ments which may be supposed to take place in agricul¬
tural science in the progress of society, or the possible
introduction, at some future period, of new and more
prolific species of crops. But it is easy to see that the
influence of such improvements and changes must, sup¬
posing them to be realized in the fullest manner, be of
very temporary duration ; and that it cannot affect the
truth of the principle, that the power of increase in the
human species must always, in the long run, prove an
overmatch for the increase in the means of subsistence.
Suppose by some extraordinary improvement the quan¬
tity of food and other articles required for the subsist¬
ence and accommodation of man annually produced in
Great Britain were suddenly doubled ; the condition of
all classes being in consequence signally improved,
there would be less occasion for the exercise of moral
* Scrope, Principles of Political Economy^ 1833, p. 27Ô.
POLITICAL
ECONOMY.
147
Political restraim; the period of marriage would therefore be
Economy, accelerated, and such a powerful stimulus would be given
to the principle of increase, that in a very short period
opu a ion. ijiß jpQpiilation would be again on a level with the means
of subsistence ; and there would also, owing to the
change that must have been made in the habits of the
people with respect to marriage, during the period that
the population was rising to the level of the increased
supply of food, be an extreme risk lest it should become
too abundant, and produce an increased rate of mor¬
tality. Although, therefore, it is not possible to assign
any certain limits to the progress of improvement, it is
notwithstanding evident that it cannot continue for any
considerable period to advance in the same proportion
that population would advance supposing food were
abundantly supplied. The circumstance of inferior
lands, which require a greater outlay of capital and
labour to make them yield the same supply as those
that are superior, being invariably taken into cultivation
in the progress of society, demonstrates, what is other¬
wise indeed sufficiently obvious to every one, that, in
despite of improvements, the difficulty of adding to the
supplies of food is progressively augmented as popula¬
tion becomes denser."
Mr. Mill's view^s are to be found in his discussion
of wages. Principles^ &c., ch. ii. s. 2. " If it were," he
observes, the natural tendency of capital (by which
term Mr. Mill designates the instruments of labour, the
materials on which they are to be employed, when pro¬
duced by labour, and the subsistence of the labourer)
to increase faster than population, there would be no
difficulty in preserving the prosperous condition of the
people- If, on the other hand, it were the natural tend¬
ency of population to increase faster than capital, the
difficulty would be very great. There would be a per¬
petual tendency in wages to fall ; the progressive fall of
wages would produce a greater and a greater degree of
poverty among the people, attended with its inevitable
consequences, misery and vice. As poverty, and its
consequent misery, increased, mortality would also in¬
crease : of a numerous family born, a certain number
only, from want of the means of well being, would be
reared. By whatever pioportion the population tended
to increase faster than capital, such a proportion of those
who were born would die; the ratio of increase in
capital and population would then remain the same,
and the fall of wages would proceed no further. That
population has a tendency to increase faster than, in
most places, capital has actually increased, is proved
incontestably by the condition of the population in most
parts of the globe. In almost all Countries the condi¬
tion of the great body of the people is poor and misera¬
ble. This would have been impossible, if capital had
increased faster than population. In that case wages
must have risen; and high wages would have placed
the labourer above the miseries of want. This general
misery of mankind is a fact which can be accounted
for upon one only of two suppositions: either that
there is a natural tendency in population to increase
faster than capital, or that capital has, by some means,
been prevented from increasing so fast as it has a tend¬
ency to increase. This, therefore, is an inquiry of the
highest importance."
As the result of that inquiry, Mr. Mill decides the
second alternative in the negative ; and consequently
conceives himself to have established the former, namely.
that there is a natural tendency in population to increase Political
faster than capital.
Mr. Malthus's opinions appear to have been con- p ,
siderably modified during the course of his long and
brilliant philosophical career. In the first edition of
his great Work the principle of population was repre¬
sented as an insurmountable obstacle to the permanent
welfare of the mass of mankind. And even in the last
edition the following passages are open to the same
construction
There are few States in which there is not a con¬
stant effort in the population to increase beyond the
means of subsistence. This constant effort as constantly
tends to subject the lower classes of society to distress,
and to prevent any great permanent amelioration of
their condition. These effects, in the present state of
society, seem to be produced in the following manner :
—We will suppose the means of subsistence in any
Country to be just equal to the easy support of its in¬
habitants. The constant eflfort towards population,
which is found to act even in the most vicious societies,
increases the number of people before the means of
subsistence are increased. The food, therefore, which
before supported eleven millions, must now be divided
between eleven millions and a half. The poor conse¬
quently must live much worse, and many of them
be reduced to severe distress. The number of labourers
also being above the proportion of work in the market,
the price of labour must tend to fall, while the price of
provisions would at the same time tend to rise. The
labourer therefore must do more work to earn the same
as he did before. During this season of distress the
discouragements to marriage and the difficulty of
rearing a family are so great that the progress of
population is retarded. In the mean time, the cheap¬
ness of labour, the plenty of labourers, and the
necessity of an increased industry amongst them, en¬
courage cultivators to employ more labour upon their
land, to turn up fresh soil, and to manure and improve
more completely what is already in tillage, till ulti¬
mately the means of subsistence may become in the
same proportion to the population as at the period
from which we set out. The situation of the labourer
being then again tolerably comfortable, the restraints to
population are in some degree loosened ; and after a
short period the same retrograde and progressive move¬
ments, with respect to happiness, are repeated." Popu-
latían^ book i. chap. 2. " According to the principle of
population, the human race has a tendency to increase
faster than food. It has, therefore, a constant tendency
to people a Country fully up to the limits of subsist¬
ence ; meaning, by these limits, tiie lowest quantity of
food which will maintain a stationary population."
Book iii. chap. i. note.
But when the opposite doctrine, namely, that, in the
absence of disturbing causes, subsistence is likely to
increase more rapidly than population, was brought
before him by Mr. Senior, he appears to have disavowed,
we will not say his former expressions, but the infer¬
ences to which they lead.
*'The meaning," says Mr. Malthus, "which I in¬
tended to convey by the expression to which you ob-
iect" (that population has a tendency to increase
faster than food) " was, that population was always
ready and inclined to increase faster than food, if the
checks which repressed it were removed ; and that
X 2
148
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Political though these checks might be such as to prevent popu-
^nomy. advancing upon subsistence, or even to keep
Population ^ greater distance behind, yet that, whether popu¬
lation were actually increasing faster than food, or food
faster than population, it was true that, except in new
colonies, favourably circumstanced, population was
always pressing against food, and was always ready to
start off at a faster rate than that at which the food was
actually increasing/'
We are quite agreed that, in the capacity of reason
and forethought, man is endowed with a power naturally
calculated to mitigate the evils occasioned by the pressure
of population against food. We are further agreed that,
in the progress of society, as education and knowledge
are extended, the probability is that these evils will
practically be mitigated, and the condition of the labour¬
ing classes be improved."*
So explained, Mr. Malthus's opinions are opposed to
the expressions of Mr. Mill and Mr. M'Culloch ; his admis¬
sion that, " in the progress of society, the probability is
that the evils occasioned by the pressure of population
against food will be mitigated," is opposed to Mr. M'Cul-
loch's statement, that the power of increase in the
human species must always in the long run prove an
overmatch for the increase in the means of subsistence
and to Mr. Mill's, " that the tendency of popula¬
tion to increase faster than, in most places, capital has
actually increased, is proved incontestably by the condi¬
tion of the population in most parts of the globe."
Archbishop Whately, with his usual acuteness, has in
the following passage traced the question to a verbal
ambiguity.
"The doctrine, that, since there is a tendency in popu¬
lation to increase faster than the means of subsistence,
hence the pressure of population against subsistence may
be expected to become greater and greater in each succes¬
sive generation, (unless new and extraordinary remedies
are resorted to,) and thus to produce a progressive dimi¬
nution of human welfare—thisdoctrine, which some main¬
tain in deñance of the fact that all civilized Countries
have a greater proportionate amount of wealth now
than formerly, may be traced chiefly to an undetected
ambiguity in the word * tendency,' which forms a part
of the middle term of the argument. By a * tendency'
towards a certain result is sometimes meant, the exist¬
ence of a cause which, operating unimpeded, would
produce that result. In this sense it may be said, with
truth, that the earth, or any other body moving round a
centre, has a tendency to fly off at a tangent ; (/. e.) the
centrifugal force operates in that direction, though it is
controlled by the centripetal ; or, again, that man has a
greater tendency to fall prostrate than to stand erect ;
(¿. c.) the attraction of gravitation and the position of
the centre of gravity are such that the least breath of air
would overset him, but for the voluntary exertion of
muscular force : and, again, that population has a tend¬
ency to increase beyond subsistence ; (¿. e.) there are in
man propensities which, if unrestrained, lead to that
result.
" But sometimes, again, ' a tendency towards a certain
result' is understood to mean * the existence of such a
state of things that that result may be expected to take
place/ Now it is in these two senses that the word is
used, in the two premises of the argument in question.
Butin this latter sense, the earth has a greater tendency
to remain in ils orbit than to fly off from it; man has a Political
greater tendency to stand erect than to fall prostrate ; and Economy,
(as may be proved by comparing a more barbarous with
a more civilized period in the history of any Country) in Populatioa,
the progress of Society, subsistence has a tendency to
increase at a greater rate than population. In this
Country, for instance, much as our population has in¬
creased within the last five centuries, it yet bears afar
less ratio to subsistence (though still a much greater
than could be wished) than it did five hunclred years
ago."*
It is obvious that if the present state of the world,
compared with its state at our earliest records, be one of
relative poverty, the tendency of population to increase
more rapidly than subsistence must be admitted. If
the means of subsistence continue to bear precisely
the same proportion to the number of its inhabitants, it
is clear that the increase of subsistence and of numbers
has been equal. If its means of subsistence have in¬
creased much more than the number of its inhabitants,
it is clear not only that the proposition in question is false,
but that the contrary proposition is true, and that the
means of subsistence have a natural tendency (using
these words as expressing what is likely to take place)
to increase faster than population. Now what is the
picture presented by the earliest records of those na¬
tions which are now civilized, or, which is the same,
what is now the state of savage nations?—a state of
habitual poverty and occasional famine. A scanty popu¬
lation, but still scmtier means of subsistence. Admit¬
ting, and it must be admitted, that in almost all Coun¬
tries the condition of the great body of the people is
poor and miserable, yet, as poverty and iniseiy were their
original inheritance, what inference can we draw from
the continuance of that misery as to the tendency of
their numbers to increase more rapidly than their wealth ?
But if a single Country can be found in which there
IS now less poverty than is universal in a savage state,
it must be true that, under the circumstances in which
that Country has been placed, the means of subsistence
have a greater tendency to increase than the population,
Now this is the case in every civilized Country. Even
Ireland, the Country most likely to afford an in¬
stance of what has been called the tendency of
things, poor and populous as she is, suffers less from
want with her eight millions of people than when her
only inhabitants were a few septs of hunters and fishers.
In our own early history, famines, and pestilences, the
consequences of famine, constantly recur. At present,
though our numbers are trebled or quadrupled, they are
unheard of.
The United States of America afford the best ascer¬
tained instance of great and continued increase of num¬
bers. They have afforded a field in which the powers
of population have been allowed to exhaust their energy;
but, though exerted to their utmost, they have not as yet
equalled the progress of subsistence. Whole colonies
of the first seitlers perished from absolute want; their
successors struggled long against hardship and priva¬
tion ; but every increase of their number seems to have
been accompanied or preceded by increased means of
support. If it be conceded that there exists in the hu
man race a natural tendency to advance Ifom barbarism
to civilization, and that the means of subsistence are
proportionably more abundant in a civilized than in a
Appendix io Senior's» Lectin on Population, p. 61—82.
♦ Archbishop Whately, Lectures on Political Econoiaij. Lecture 9.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
149
Political savage state, and neither of these propositions can be
, denied, it must follow that there is a natural tendency
Population subsistence to increase in a greater ratio than popu¬
lation.
But although Mr. Malthus himself, in his earlier
publications, has perhaps fallen sometimes into the
exaggeration which is natural to a discoverer, the error,
if he has committed one, does not affect the practical
conclusions which place him, as a benefactor to man¬
kind, on a level with Adam Smith. Whether, in the
absence of disturbing causes, it be the tendency of sub¬
sistence or of population to advance with greater rapidity,
is a question of slight importance, if it be acknowledged
that human happiness or misery depend principally on
their relative advance, and that there are causes, and
causes within human control, by which that advance
can be regulated. These are propositions which Mr.
Malthus has established by facts and reasoning which,
opposed as they were to long-rooted prejudice, and
assailed by every species of sophistry and clamour, are
now admitted by the majority of reasoners, and even
by a large majority of those who take their opinions
upon trust.
To explain what are the causes of the relative increase
of subsistence and population is rather the business of a
writer on politics than of a Political Economist. At pre¬
sent we will only say that knowledge, security of property,
freedom of internal and external exchange, and equal
admissibility to rank and power, are the principal causes
which at the same time promote the increase of sub¬
sistence, and, by elevating the character of the people,
lead them to keep at a slower rate the increase of their
numbers. And that restrictions on exchange and corn-
merce, artificial harriers excluding the great majority of
the community from the chance of social eminence, and,
above all, ignorance, and insecurity of person and pro¬
perty, are the general causes which both diminish the
productiveness of labour, and tend to produce that brutal
state of improvidence in which the power of increase,
unchecked by prudence, is always struggling to pass the
limits of subsistence, and is kept down only by vice and
misery. We use the expression general causes, to ex¬
clude those causes which, being peculiar to certain na¬
tions, require separate consideration. Such are the
superstitious desire of oflspring in China, the political
motives which formerly occasioned the creation of free¬
holders in Ireland, and the administration of the poor
laws in some parts of England. But, omitting these
details, it may be generally stated that all that degrades
the character, or diminishes the productive power of a
people, tends to diminish the proportion of subsistence to
population, and vice versa. And consequently that a
])opulation increasing more rapidly than the means of
subsistence is, generally speaking, a symptom of mis-
government indicating deeper-seated evils, of which it is
only one of the results.
And, notwithstanding the passages which we have
cited, we believe these to be also the opinions of Mr.
Mill and of Mr. M'Culloch. We believe that neither
of these eminent writers doubts that the situation of the
inhabitants of Europe has been gradually improving
during the last 500 years. We believe that neither of
them considers the improvement as having reached its
limit, or as having any definite limit whatever. When
they speak of the probable destinies of mankind, they
teach the same doctrine as ourselves. It is only when
separately discussing the subject of population that they
have used the language to which we have ventured to Political
object. We believe that they have used it without Economy,
being misled by it themselves, and, perhaps on that
very account, without perceiving its tendency to mislead
others. But that those whose acquaintance with Poli¬
tical Economy is superficial (and they form the great
mass of even the educated classes) have been misled
by the form in which the doctrine of population has
been expressed appears to us undeniable. When such
persons are told that it is the tendency of the human
race to increase faster than food"—"to people a country
fully up to the means of subsistence," they infer that
what has a tendency to happen is to be expected. Be¬
cause additional population may bring poverty, they
suppose that it necessarily will do so : because increased
means of subsistence ma?/ be ibllowed and neutralized
by a proportionate increase in the number of persons to
be subsisted, they suppose that such will necessarily be
the case. And unhappily there are many whom indo^
lence, or selfishness, or a turn to despondency, make
ready recipients of such a doctrine. It furnishes an easy
escape from the trouble or expense implied by every
project of improvement. What use would it be,"
they ask, to promote an extensive emigration ? the
whole vacuum would be immediately filled up by the
necessary increase of population. Why should we alter
the Corn Laws? If food were for a time more abundant,
in a very short period the population would he again
on a level with the means of subsistence^ and we should
be just as ill off as before."
There are many also, particularly among those who
reason rather with their hearts than their heads, who
are unable to assent to these doctrines, and jet believe
them to be among the admitted results of Political
Economy, Such persons ai)ply to the whole Science the
argumentum ah absurdo; and, instead of inquiring into
the accuracy of the reasoning, refuse to examine the
premises from which such objectionable conclusions are
inferred.
It is because we believe these misconceptions to be
extensively prevalent that we have ventured to detain
our readers by this long discussion. A discussion which
some may think a mere dispute about the more conve¬
nient use of a word, and others an attempt to prove a
self-evident fact.
Production.
Having explained the sense in which we use the word Production,
wealth, and given an outline of the doctrine of popula¬
tion, we now proceed to consider production, or the
means by which wealth is produced. The first terms
to be defined are the verb produce^ and the substantive
product.
To produce, as far as Political Economy is concerned,
is to occasion an alteration in the condition of the ex¬
isting particles of matter, for the occasioning of which
alteration, or for the things thence resulting, something
may be obtained in exchange. This alteration is a
product. It is scarcely necessary to remind our readers
that matter is susceptible neither of increase nor dimi¬
nution, and that all which man or any other agent
of which w^e have experience can effect, is to alter
the condition of its existing particles. But as Political
Economy treats only of wealth, and therefore only
of those alterations of which wealth is the result, we
are forced to exclude all other alterations from the
definition of products. Tne child who builds a castle
150 P O L I T I C A L E C O N O M Y.
Political with sand on the shore, and the child who kicks it
Economy, down, each occasions effects the same in kind as the man
who builds or pulls down a palace; but as the exertions
Production, htter entitle him to be paid, he is properly said
to produce^ and the result of his conduct, whether it be
the covering with buildings ground previously unoccu¬
pied, or rendering vacant what was previously built
over, is pro[)erly called a product.
Products have been divided into material and im¬
material, or, to express the same distinction in dif¬
ferent words, into commodities and services. This
distinction appears to have been suggested by Adam
Smith's well-known division of labour into produc¬
tive and unproductive. Those who thought the prin¬
ciple of that division convenient, feeling at the same
time the difficulty of terming unproductive the labour
without which all other labour would be inefficient, in¬
vented the term services, or immaterial products, to
express its results.
It appears to us, however, that the distinctions that
have been attempted to be drawn between productive
and unproductive labourers, or between the producers of
material and immaterial products, or between commo¬
dities and services, rest on differences existing not in the
things themselves, which are the objects considered, but
in the modes in which they attract our attention. In
those cases in which our attention is principally called
not to the act of occasioning the alteration, but to the
result of that act, to the thing altered. Economists have
termed the person who occasioned that alteration a pro¬
ductive labourer, or the producer of a commodity or
material product. Where, on the other hand, our atten¬
tion is principally called not to the thing altered, but to
the act of occasioning that alteration, Economists have
termed the person occasioning that alteration an unpro¬
ductive labourer^ and his exertions, services, or imma¬
terial products. A shoemaker alters leather and thread
and wax into a pair of shoes. A shoeblack alters a
dirty pair of shoes into a clean pair, in the first
case our attention is called principally to the things as
altered. The shoemaker, therefore, is said to make or
produce shoes. In the case of the shoeblack, our at¬
tention is called principally to the act as performed.
He is not said to make or produce the commodity, clean
shoes, but to perform the service of cleaning them. In
each case there is of course an act and a result ; but in
the one case our attention is called principally to the
act, in the other to the result.
Among the causes which direct our attention princi¬
pally to the ac¿, or principally to the result^ seem to be,
first, the degree of change produced ; and secondly, the
mode in which the person who benefits by that change
generally purchases that benefit.
1. Where the alteration is but slight, especially if the
thing that has been subjected to alteration still retains
the same name, our attention is directed principally to
the act. A cook is not said to make roast beef, but to
rfrmit; but he is said to make a pudding, or those
more elaborate preparations which we call made dishes.
The change of name is very material : a tailor is said
to wííífre cloth into a coat ; a dyer is not said to make
undyed cloth into dyed cloth. The change produced by
the dyer is perhaps greater than that produced by the
tailor, but the cloth in passing through the tailor's
hands changes its name ; in passing through the dyer's
it does not : the dyer has not produced a new name^
nor, consequently, in our minds, a new thing.
The principal circumstance, however, is the mode in Political
which the payment is made. In some cases the pro- Economy,
ducer is accustomed to sell, and we are accustomed to
purchase, not his labour, but the subject on which that Production,
labour has been employed ; as when we purchase a wig
or a chest of medicine. In other cases, what we buy is
not the thing altered, but the labour of altering it, as
when we employ a haircutter or a physician. Oui
attention in all these cases naturally fixes itself on the
thing which we are accustomed to purchase ; and accord¬
ing as we are accustomed to buy the labour, or the thing
on which that labour has been expended,—as we are, in
fact, accustomed to purchase a commodity or a service,
we consider a commodity or a service as the thing pro¬
duced. The ultimate object both of painting and of
acting is the pleasure derived from imitation. The
means adopted by the painter and the actor are the
same in kind. Each exercises his bodily organs, but
the painter exercises them to distribute colours over a
canvass, the actor to put himself into certain attitudes,
and to utter certain sounds. The actor sells his exer¬
tions themselves. The painter sells not his exertions,
but the picture on which those exertions have been em¬
ployed. The mode in which their exertions are sold
constitutes the only difference between menial servants
and the other labouring classes : a servant who carries
coal from the cellar to the drawing-room performs pre¬
cisely the same operation as the miner who raises them
from the bottom of the pit to its mouth. But the con¬
sumer pays for the coals themselves when raised and
received into his cellar, and pays the servant for the
act of bringing them up. The miner, therefore, is said
to produce the material commodity, coals ; the servant
the immaterial product, or service. Both, in fact, pro¬
duce the same thing, an alteration in the condition of
the existing particles of matter ; but our attention is
fixed ill the one case on the act, in the other on the
result of that act.
In the ruder states of societv almost all manufac-
tures are domestic: the Queens and Princesses of heroic
times were habitually employed in overlooking the la¬
bours of their maidens. The division of labour has
banished from our halls to our manufactories the distaff
and the loom ; and, if the language to which we have
been adverting were correct, the division of labour must
be said to have turned spinners and weavers from un¬
productive into productive labourers ; from producers of
immaterial services into producers of material commo¬
dities.
But objecting as we do to a nomenclature which
should consider producers as divided, by the nature of
their products, into producers of services and producers
of commodities, we are ready to admit the convenience
of the distinction between services and commodities
themselves, and to apply the term service to the act of
occasioning an alteration in the existing state of things,
the term commodity to the thing as altered ; the term
product including both commodities and services.
It is to be observed that, in ordinary language, a person
is not said to produce a thing unless he has employed
himself for that especial purpose. If an English oyster-
fisher should meet with an oyster containing a pearl,
he would be called not the producer of the pearl, but its
casual finder. But a Ceylon oyster-fish er, whose trade
is to fish for pearl oysters, is called a producer of pearls.
The mere existence of the pearls is in both cases owing
to the agency of nature ; their 'existence as articles of
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
151
Political value is in both cases owing to the agency of the fisher
Economy, in removing them from a situation in which they were
valueless. In the one case he did this intentionally, in
Production other accidentally. Attention is directed in the one
sumption 3^ency, and he is therefore called the producer
of the pearl. In the other case it is directed to the
agency of nature, and he is called only the appropriator.
But it appears to us the more convenient classification,
for scientific purposes, to term him in both cases the
producer.
Economists have in general opposed consumption to
production. They have defined consumption to be the de¬
struction wholly, or in part, of any portion of wealth. And
they consider it as the ultimate object of all production.
Tout ce qui est produit^'*' says M. Say, est consomme ;
par conséquent^ toute valeur créée est détruite^ et rHa été
créé que pour être détruite.
" Consumption," says Mr. Malthus, " is the great
purpose and end of all production."t *' By consump¬
tion," says Mr. M*Culloch, "is meant the annihilation
of those qualities which render commodities useful or
desirable. To consume the products of Art and in¬
dustry is to deprive the matter of which they consist of
utility, and consequently of the exchangeable value com¬
municated to it by labour. Consumption is, in fact, the
end and object of human exertion, and when a com¬
modity is in a fit state to be used, if its consumption be
deferred, a loss is incurred."|
That almost all that is produced is destroyed is true ;
but we cannot admit that it is produced for the purpose
of being destroyed. It is produced for the purpose of
beinii made use of. Its destruction is an incident to its
use, not only not intended, but, as far as possible,
avoided. In fact, there are some things which seem
unsusceptible of destruction except by accidental injury.
A statue in a gallery, or a medal, or a gem in a cabinet,
may be preserved for centuries without apparent de¬
terioration. There are others, such as food and fuel,
which perish in the very act of using them, and hence,
as these are the most essential commodities, the word
consumption has been applied universally as express¬
ing the making use of anything. But the bulk
of commodities are destroyed by those numerous
gradual agents which we call collectively time^ and the
action of which we strive to retard. If it be true that
consumption is the object of all production, the inha¬
bitant of a house must be termed its consumer, but it
would be strange to call him its destroyer ; since it would
unquestionably be destroyed much sooner if uninhabited.
It would be an improvement in the language of Political
Economy if the expression "to use" could be sub¬
stituted for that "to consume." There is, however, so
much difficulty in changing an established nomencla¬
ture, that we shall continue to use the word consump¬
tion, premising that we use it to signify primarily the
making use of a thing ; a circumstance to which its de¬
struction is generally, but not necessarily, incidental.
The wealth of a Country will much depend on the
question, whether the tastes of its inhabitants lead them
to prefer objects of slow or of rapid destruction.
It will depend, however, much more on their preference
of productive or unproductive consumption.
Productive consumption is that use of a commodity
* Say, Principles^ tome iii. p. 276.
f PrincipleSy 8çc. p. 219
+ /i/. p. 511—612. 2d Ed.
which occasions an ulterior product. Unproductive Political
consumption is, of course, that use which occasions no ,
ulterior product. The characteristic of unproductive production
consumption is, that it adds to the enjoyment of no one and con-
but the consumer himself. Its only effect upon the sumption,
rest of the community is to diminish pro tanto the mass
of commodities applicable to their use.
Some commodities are unsusceptible of any but unpro¬
ductive consumption ; sucharelace, embroidery, jewellery,
and the other personal ornaments which are simply
decorative, and afford neither warmth nor protection.
Under this head may also be ranked tobacco and snuff,
and the other stimulants, of which the best that can be
said is, that they are not injurious. A much larger
class of commodities is designed solely for productive
use, and is never consumed unproductively, but by mis¬
take. In this class are all tools, from the simplest to
the most complicated ; from the spade and the raft, to
the steam engine and the Indiaman. But the generality
of commodities maybe used, according to the will of the
proprietor, productively or unproductively ; may be
consumed so as to substitute some product in lieu of
that which has been destroyed, or without any further
beneficial result than the immediate pleasure which has
accompanied their use. Whatever is capable of sup¬
porting human existence may be used to maintain those
who are themselves producers, or those who are not.
In the first case it is productively, in the second unpro¬
ductively consumed.
The distinction between productive and unproduc¬
tive consumers is less clearly marked than that between
productive and unproductive consumption. To divide
men into two classes, productive and unproductive con¬
sumers, would, in fact, be a false division, there being
few who do not in some respects belong to boih classes.
So far as a man's consumption is essential to his pro¬
duction, he belongs to the first class ; so far as it is not
essential, to the second. Those only can be called
simply unproductive who return nothing whatever for
what they consume ; those only simply productive who
indulge in no superfluous consumption whatever.
To the first description belong those who, being pro¬
vided, through their own previous exertions, or by the
accidents of donation or inheritance, with a fund suffi¬
cient for their subsistence, are content to dedicate their
revenue and their leisure to the purposes of mere
enjoyment. This class is never large in any state of
society. In an ignorant, and consequently a poor com¬
munity, the number of those possessing a maintenance
independent of exertion is necessarily small. Among
civilized nations the love of accumulation, of power, of
distinction, and of occupation, and the nobler desire of
being more or less extensively useful, all powerfully
counteract the slothful principles of our nature. As pro¬
perty becomes more secure, as the avenues to influence
are opened, as merit and wealth rise in public estimation
over the accidents of birth, as barbarous prejudices de¬
grading to industry wear out, as the influence of sound
religion teaches men that they were created for better
purposes than selfish pleasure or useless mortification,
in fact, as civilization improves, all the motives to vo¬
luntary exertion acquire force. And though the num¬
ber of those who might live in idleness increases, the
proportion of those who are unhappy enough to exercise
that privilege diminishes.
Another class consists of those who derive their
support solely from the spoil or the chanty of others.
152 POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Political The number of those who live by rapine has ob-
Economy. piously a tendency to diminish in the progress of civili-
zation. About mendicancy there may be some doubt.
Production n i,u ^
and con- some supertiuous wealth seems necessary to its
sumption, existence, and it may be supposed likely to increase
with the superfluity on which it feeds. That laws ill
is'amed or ill administered may allow it so to increase
we know, from our own experience. But there seems
to be no reason to doubt that, under a wise system
of commercial and municipal legislation, the number
of able-bodied paupers might be so reduced as to be
practically unimportant.
The last class of unproductive consumers consists of
those whom age or infirmity has rendered permanently
incapable of production. We say permanently, to exclude
children, and those suffering under temporary disability.
Though a child or an invalid make no immediate return,
their support is the necessary condition of their future
services. This is by far the largest of the unproductive
classes, and one not likely to suffer relative diminution,
the same causes which tend to obviate disease and injury
tending also to prolong life where their effects are in¬
curable. But from the information collected in the
House of Commons' Report on Friendly Societies, 5th
July, 1825, vol. iv., we are inclined to think that in
this Country the class in question cannot amount to a
fortieth part, or about two and a half per cent, of the
whole community.
The number of absolutely productive consumers, that
is, of persons who consume solely for the purpose of re¬
producing, is much smaller. It may be a question in¬
deed whether in a Country free from slavery, or regu¬
lations resembling slavery, any such class is to be found.
Thß humblest labourer has some expenses which are
not essential to his health and strength. We endeavour
to give to our domestic animals nothing beyond what is
strictly necessary, and in the Countries where man is
considered as a domestic animal it might be expected
that the consumption of a slave would be equally limited.
But even the slave generally acquires some peculium,
which implies that his ordinary subsistence somewhat
exceeds his wants»
It appears from this analysis that the bulk of the com¬
munity are neither productive nor unproductive con¬
sumers, but may be referred to the one class or to the
other, according to the portion of their expenses for the
time being under consideration. Sp far as the hus¬
bandman takes just enough of the least expensive food,
is just sufficiently clad with the simplest raiment, and in¬
habits a dwelling just sufficiently weather-tight and spa¬
cious to protect him from the seasons, he is a productive
consumer. But his pipe and his gin, and generally
speaking his beer, and the humble ornaments of his
person and his dwelling, form his unproductive con¬
sumption,
We do not, of course, mean it to be inferred that all
personal expenditure beyond mere necessaries is ne¬
cessarily unproductive. The duties of those who fill
the higher ranks in society can seldom be well per¬
formed unless they conciliate the respect of the vulgar
by a certain display of opulence. If a Judge, or an
Ambassador, required by his station to support an es¬
tablishment costing Í2000 a year, should spend ¿^4000,
half of his consumption would be productive, and the
other half unproductive. It would be a great mistake,
however, to consider the third footman behind his coach,
though a njere useless weight to the horses, an unpro¬
ductive consumer. What the footman consumes are his Fohfieal
wages, and, so far at least as he consumes them in ,
order to enable himself to perform his services as foot¬
man, he is a productive consumer. The things unpro-
ductively consumed are his services, and they are con¬
sumed by his master. Nor is it to be supposed, on the
other hand, that all consumption even of necessaries by
those who are themselves producers, is a productive con¬
sumption. The half-employed pauper whose labour is
worth ¿CIO a year, and whose consumption is ¿C20, con¬
sumes unproductively the difference.
Having explained the nature of production and con- Instru-
sumption, we now proceed to consider the agents by "Stints of
whose intervention production takes place. prodiction.
The primary instruments of production are labour, I. Labour,
and those agents of which nature, unaided by man,
affords us the assistance.
Labour is the voluntary exertion of bodily or mental
faculties for the purpose of production. It may appear
unnecessary to define a term having a meaning so pre¬
cise and so generally understood. Peculiar notions
respecting the causes of value have, however, led some
Economists to employ the term labour in senses so
different from its common acceptation, that for some
time to come it will be dangerous to use the word with¬
out explanation. We have already observed that many
recent writers have considered value as solely depend¬
ent on labour. When pressed to explain how wine in
a cellar, or an oak in its progress from a sapling to a
tree, could, on this principle, increase in value, they re¬
plied that they considered the improvement of the wine
and the growth of the tree as so much additional labour
bestowed on each. We do not quite understand the
meaning of this reply; but we have given a definition of
labour, lest we should be supposed to include in it the
unassisted operations of nature. It may also be well to
remind our readers that this definition excludes all those
exertions which are not intended, immediately or
through their products, to be made the subjects of ex¬
change. A hired messenger, and a person walking for
his amusement, a sportsman, and a gamekeeper, the
ladies at an English ball, and a company of Natch
girls in India, undergo the same fatigues ; but ordinary
language does not allow us to consider those as under¬
going labour who exert themselves for the mere pur¬
pose of amusement.
Under the term " the agents offered to us by nature," II. Nat ual
or, to use a shorter expression, ** natural agents," we agents,
include every productive agent so far as it does not
derive its powers from the act of man.
The term " natural agent" is far from being a conve¬
nient designation, but we have adopted it partly because
it has been already made use of in this sense by eminent
writers, and partly because we have not been able to
find one less objectionable. The principal of these
agents is the land, with its mines, its rivers, its natural
forests with their wild inhabitants, and, in short, all its
spontaneous productions. To these must be added the
ocean, the atmosphere, light and heat, and even those
physical laws, such as gravitation and electricity, by the
knowledge of which we are able to vary the combina¬
tions of matter. All these productive agents h^-ve in
general, by what appears to be an inconvenient synec¬
doche, been designated by the term land; partly because
the land, as a source of profit, is the most important of
those which are susceptible of appropriation, but chiefly
because its possession generally carries with it the com-
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
153
Political mand over most of the others. And it is to be remem-
Economy. though the powers of nature are necessary to
V afford .a substratum for the other instruments of produc-
Xnstrii«
ments of work upon, they are not of themselves, when
Production, universally accessible, causes of value. Limitation in
supply is, as we have seen, a necessary constituent of
value ; and what is universally accessible is practically
unlimited in supply.
III. Absti- But although human labour, and the agency of ria-
neuce. ture, independently of that of man, are the primary
productive powers, they require the concurrence of a
third productive principle to give to them complete
efficiency. The most laborious population, inhabiting
the most fertile territory, if they devoted all their
labour to the production of immediate results, and
consumed its produce as it arose, would soon find their
utmost exertions insufficient to produce even the mere
necessaries of existence.
To the third principle, or instrument of production,
without which the two others are inefficient, we shall
give the name of abstinence : a term by which we ex¬
press the conduct of a person who either abstains from
the unproductive use of what he can command, or de¬
signedly prefers the production of remote to that of
immediate results.
It was to the effects of this third instrument of pro¬
duction that we adverted when we laid down, as the
third of our elementary propositions, that the powers
of labour and of the other instruments which produce
wealth may be indefinitely increased by using their pro¬
ducts as the means of further production. All our
subsequent remarks on abstinence are a developement
and illustration of this proposition ; we say develope¬
ment and illustration, because it can scarcely be said to
require formal proof.
The division of the instruments of production into
three great branches has long been familiar to Econo¬
mists. Those branches they have generally termed
labour, land, and capital. In the principle of this divi¬
sion we agree ; though we have substituted different
expressions for the second and third branches. We
have preferred the term natural agent to that of land,
to avoid designating a whole genus by the name of one of
its species : a practice which has occasioned the other
cognate species to be generally slighted and often for¬
gotten. We have substituted the term abstinence for
that of capital on different grounds.
The term capital has been so variously defined that it
may be doubtful whether it have any generally received
meaning. We think, however, that, in popular accepta¬
tion, and in that of Economists themselves when they
are not reminded of their definitions, that word signifies
an article of wealthy the result of human exertion^ em¬
ployed in the production or distribution of wealth. We
say the result of human exertion, in order to exclude
those productive instruments to which we have given the
name of natural agents, and which afford not profit, in
the scientific sense of that word, but rent.
It is evident that capital, thus defined, is not a
simple productive instrument ; it is in most cases the
result of all the three productive instruments combined.
Some natural agent must have afforded the material,
some delay of enjoyment must in general have reserved
it from unproductive use, and some labour must in
general have been employed to prepare and preserve
it. By the word abstinence^ we wish to express that
s agent, distinct frqm labour and the agency of nature,
VOL. VI.
the concurrence of v:hich is necessary to the existence Political
of capital,' and which stands in the same relation
to profit as labour does to wages. We are aware
that we employ the word abstinence in a more extensive ments of
sense than is warranted by common usage. Attention is Production,
usually drawn to abstinence only when it is not united Abstinence,
with labour. It is recognised instantly in the conduct
of a man who allows a tree or a domestic animal to
attain its full growth ; but it is less obvious when he
plants the sapling or sows the seed corn. The obser¬
ver's attention is occupied by the labour, and he omits
to consider the additional sacrifice made when labour is
undergone for a distant object. This additional sacri¬
fice we comprehend under the term abstinence; not
because abstinence is an unobjectionable expression
for it, but because we have not been able to find one to
which there are not still greater objections. We once
thought of using providence but providence implies
no self-denial, and has no necessary connection with
profit. To take out an umbrella is provident, but not
in the usual sense of the word profitable. We after*
wards proposed " frugality," but frugality implies some
care and attention, that is to say, some labour ; and
though in practice abstinence is almost always accom¬
panied by some degree of labour, it is obviously neces¬
sary to keep them separate in an analysis of the instru¬
ments of production.
It may be said that pure abstinence, being a mere
negation, cannot produce positive effects; the same re¬
mark might as well be applied to intrepidity, or even to
liberty, but who ever objected to their being considered
as equivalent to active agents? To abstain from the en¬
joyment which is in our power, or to seek distant rather
than immediate results, are among the moSt painful ex¬
ertions of the human will. It is true that such exertions
are made, and indeed are frequent in every state of society,
except perhaps in the very lowest, and have been made in
the very lowest, for society could not otherwise have im¬
proved; but of all the means by which man can be raised
in the scale of being, abstinence, as it is perhaps the most
effective, is the slowest in its increase, and the least ge¬
nerally diffused. Among nations those that are the least
civilized, and among the different classes of the same
nation those which are the worst educated, are always
the most improvident, and consequently the least ab¬
stinent.
We have already defined capital to be an article of CapitaL
wealth, the result of human exertion, employed in the
production or distribution of wealth, and we have ob¬
served that each individual article of capital is in general
the result of a combination of all the three great instru¬
ments of production—labour, abstinence, and the agency
of nature.
When a man has possessed himself of any article of
wealth, and resolves to employ it, not for the mere
purposes of enjoyment, but as capital, or, in other words,
as a means of further production, or of distribution, there
appear to be eight modes in which his design may be
effected.
1. He may intentionally destroy it, in order to obtain
the effects which are the direct consequences of its destruc¬
tion. The consumption of gunpowder in a mine, and of
coals in the furnace of a steam-engine, afford instances.
The food which every producer must consume in order
to keep himself in the health and strength necessary
to enable him to continue a producer is also thus con¬
sumed.
154 POLITICALEGONOMY.
Political 2. He may retain it and employ it for purposes of
, vvrhich its gradual destruction is the incidental but not
Instru- intended, or, in all cases, the necessary consequence,
ments of All implements and machinery are thus employed.
Production. 3. He may vary its form, as when materials are con-
Capital. verted into finished commodities.
4. He may simply retain it until its value has been
increased by changes occasioned by the lapse of time,
or by an altered state of the market. The proprietor of
a vineyard who, immediately after an abundant vintage,
retains his wine, aims at both these advantages.
5. He may keep it ready for sale to meet the wants
of his customers. A shopkeeper's finished articles or
stock in trade are thus employed.
6. He may give it to the proprietor of some natural
agent for the use of that agent; as when a farmer pays
rent to his landlord.
7. He may give it to a labourer in exchange for his
exertions ; or, in other words, he may employ it in the
payment of wages.
8. He may give it in exchange for some other com¬
modity, to be itself employed as capital ; or, in other
words, he may use it commercially.
Most capitalists employ portions of their capital in all
these eight modes.
If we suppose a wine retailer's capital to consist of
the knowledge which he has acquired during his educa¬
tion for his business, of the warehouse and the simple
machinery necessary to his trade, of the stock of com¬
modities necessary for his own current consumption,
and of one hundred pipes of wine in wood and in
bottle, we shall find that his knowledge, and machinery,
and necessaries are destroyed without ever being directly
exchanged: the only difference being, first, that his know¬
ledge remains unimpaired until either his death or his
retirement from business makes it suddenly valueless,
while his buildings, and machinery, and clothes, furniture,
and food are consumed and replaced at successive
periods ; and, secondly, that the destruction of his food
is immediate, and that of his buildings, machinery, fur¬
niture, and clothing is gradual. We shall find that of
the wine he retains a portion until it shall have been
improved by age, and keeps a portion as stock in trade
ready for immediate sale, but ultimately sells the whole
and pays away its price, partly in rent for the land
covered by his buildings, partly in wages to his clerks,
porters, shopmen, and other labourers, partly in keeping
up his buildings and machinery, and partly in the re¬
purchase of wine, bottles, and corks to keep up the stock
in his warehouse and shop. What remains of the price
of his wine, and something must remain, or he would
be in a worse situation than one of his own labourers,
is generally termed his profit: a part of it he must
employ in replacing the stock of commodities necessary
to keep himself in health and strength ; the remainder
he may employ either in his own personal enjoyment
and that of his friends, which is an unproductive use,
or in the increase of his own capital, or in creating a
capital for some other person, in the education, for
instance, of his son, which are productive uses.
Adam Smith has divided capital into fixed and circu¬
lating.
" There are two ways," he observes, " in which a
capital may be employed so as to yield a revenue or
profit.
First, it may be employed in raising, manufactur¬
ing, or purchasing goods, and selling them again with a
profit. The capital employed in this manner yields no Political
revenue or profit to its employer while it either remains
in his possession or continues in the same shape. The
goods of the merchant yield him no revenue or profit of
till he sells them for money, and the money yields him Productioni
as little till it is again exchanged for goods. His Capital,
capital is continually going from him in one shape, and
returning to him in another, and it is only by means of
such circulation, or successive exchanges, that it can
yield him any profit. Such capitals, therefore, may
properly be called circulating capitals.
" Secondly, it may be employed in the improvement
of land, in the purchase of useful machines and imple¬
ments of trade, or in such like things as yield a revenue
or profit without changing masters or circulating any
further. Such capitals, therefore, may properly be
calledßxed capitals.
" The capital of a merchant is altogether a circulating
capital. He has occasion for no machines or instru¬
ments of trade, unless his shop or warehouse be con¬
sidered as such.
Some part of the capital of every master artificer
or manufacturer must be fixed in the instruments of his
trade. This part, however, is very small in some, and
very large in others. A master tailor requires no other
instruments of trade than a parcel of needles ; those
of a master shoemaker are a little, though but a little,
more expensive.
In other works a much greater fixed capital is re¬
quired. In a great iron work, for example, the furnace,
the forge, the slit mill, are instruments of trade which
cannot be erected without a very great expense. That
part of the capital of the farmer which is employed in
the instruments of agriculture is a fixed, that which is
employed in the wages and maintenance of his labour¬
ing servants is a circulating, capital. He makes a profit
of the one by keeping it in his own possession, and of
the other by parting with it. A herd of cattle, bought
in to make a profit by their milk and increase, is a fixed
capital ; the profit is made by keeping them. Their
maintenance is a circulating capital ; the profit is made
by parting with it." Book ii. ch. i.
We are not aware that the principle of Adam Smith's
division has ever been directly objected to. There may
be some doubt, perhaps, whether the terms fixed and
circulating are the best that could have been selected ;
but Adam Smith has stamped on them the meaning which
he intended, and they have passed current in that signi¬
fication ever since.
Mr. Ricardo, however, with the inattention to esta¬
blished usage which so much diminishes the usefulness
of his writings, has used the terms fixed and circulating
capital in a totally different sense. In this he has been
followed by Mr. Mill ; and as neither of these writers
intimates that his use of the words is not the common
one, it may be well to mark the difference
" According as capital is rapidly perishable," says
Mr. Ricardo, and requires to be frequently repro¬
duced, or is of slow consumption, it is classed under the
heads of circulating or of fixed capital : a division not
essential, and in which the line of demarcation cannot
be accurately drawn. A brewer, whose buildings and
machinery are valuable and durable, is said to employ
a large portion of fixed capital ; on the contrary, a shoe¬
maker, whose capital is chiefly employed in the payment
of wages, which are expended on food and clothing, com¬
modities more perishable than buildings and machinery.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
155
Instru¬
ments of
Political is said to emplóy a large proportion of capital as circu-
Ecbnomy. Jating capital. Ch. i. sec. 4.
Mr. Ricardo might well remark that the line of de¬
marcation between his two sorts of capital cannot be
Production, accurately drawn ; for what can be more vague, or more
Capital. void of positive meaning, than such comparative terms as
slow and rapid ? The singular circumstance is that both
he and Mr. Mill should have supposed, and it appears
clear that they did suppose, that their division followed
that of Adam Smith. It is obviously a cross division.
The master tailor's needles which Adam Smith selects
as an example of fixed capital, because the tailor retains
them, would, according to Mr. Ricardo, be circulating,
because they are perishable. On the other hand, the
materials and stock in trade of an iron founder would
be circulating capital according to Smith, and fixed
according to Ricardo,
We may be able to make the nature of capital, and
Adam Smith's conception of it, still clearer by quoting
his subdivision of fixed and circulating capitals.
Fixed capital," he says, " consists chiefly of the
four following articles :
First, of all useful machines and instruments of
trade which facilitate and abridge labour.
" Secondly, of all buildings used for the purpose of
trade or manufacture ; such as shops, warehouses, and
farm-buildings, &e. They are a sort of instruments of
trade, and may be considered in the same light.
" Thirdly, of the improvements of land, of what has
been profitably laid out in clearing, draining, enclosing,
manuring, and reducing it into the condition most
proper fur culture. An improved farm may be regarded
in the same light as one of those useful machines which
facilitate and abridge labour.
" Fourthly, of the acquired and useful abilities of
all the members of the society. The acquisition of such
talents by the maintenance of the acquirer during his
education, study, or apprenticeship, costs an expense,
which is a capital fixed and realized, as it were, in his
person. The improved dexterity of a workman may be
considered in the same light as a machine or instrument
of trade which facilitates and abridges labour.
" The circulating capital is composed likewise of four
parts :
** First, of the money by means of which all the
Other three are circulated and distributed to their proper
consumers.
Secondly, of the stock of provisions in the possession
of the butcher, the grazier, &c., for the purpose of sale.
" Thirdly, of the materials, whether altogether rude
or more or less manufactured, of clothes, furniture, and
building, which are not yet made up, but remain in the
hands of the growers, manufacturers, or merchants.
" Fourthly, of the work which is made up and com¬
pleted, but is still in the hands of the merchant or manu¬
facturer ; such as the finished work in the shops of
the smith, the goldsmith, the jeweller, and the china
merchant. The circulating capital consists, in this
manner, of the provisions, materials, and finished work of
all kinds which are in the hands of their respective
dealers, and of the money that is necessary for circulat¬
ing and distributing them to their final consumers,"
Book ii. c. i.
This enumeration contains, perhaps, some useless dis¬
tinctions, and, we think, two improper exclusions, but,
generally speaking, it gives an excellent view of the
different species of capital.
The things which appear to be improperly excluded Political
are, first, the necessaries of life, consumed by the Economy,
labourer and the capitalist for their own support; and,
secondly, the houses and other commodities of slow con- j^g^ts'of
sumption which the owner lets out to the consumer. Production.
Adam Smith can scarcely be said to have explained his Capital,
reason for excluding from the term capital the neces¬
saries in the possession of the labourer. He merely
observes that the labourer consumes as sparingly as he
can, and derives his revenue only from his labour. The
attention of Mr. Malthus has been drawn to the subject ;
he agrees in this respect with Adam Smith, and on the
following grounds:
" The only productive consumption, properly so called,
is the consumption or destruction of wealth by capitalists
with a view to reproduction. This is the only marked
line of distinction which can be drawn between produc¬
tive and unproductive consumption. The workman whom
the capitalist employs consumes that part of his wages
which he does not save, as revenue, with a view to sub¬
sistence or enjoyment ; and not as capital with a view
to production.'' Definitions^ p. 258.
Mr. Malthus would admit that (he coals in the furnace
of a steam-engine are productively employed ; because
their consumption is the necessary condition to the
engine's performing its work. And in what does the
consumption of food by a labourer differ from that of
coals by a steam-engine ? Simply in this, that the
labourer derives pleasure from what he consumes, and
the steam-engine does not. If a labourer were so con¬
stituted as to feel no craving for food, and no gratifica¬
tion from eating, and were reminded of its necessity
only by the debility consequent on its want, would not
his meals, taken as they would be solely to enable him
to undergo his fatigues, be productively consumed?
Nature has wisely enforced an act of daily necessity by
the stimulus of hunger, and the reward of enjoyment,
but do that stimulus and enjoyment detract from its
productiveness ? Is the ploughman's dinner less the
means of his toils because he considers it as their end ?
»
Is not the food of working cattle productively employed?
Does not the owner of a West Indian estate consider the
supplies which he sends to his slaves as a capital destined
to productive consumption ?
Adam Smith has stated at length his reasons for ex¬
cluding from the term capital the houses and other
articles which the owner lets out to the consumer.
" One portion," he states, " of the stock of a society
is reserved for immediate consumption, of which the
characteristic is that it affords no revenue or profit. The
whole stock of mere dwelling-houses makes a part of
this portion. If a house be let to a tenant, as the house
itself can produce nothing, the tenant must pay the rent
out of some other revenue which he derives either from
labour, or stock, or land. Where masquerades are
common, it is a trade to let out dresses for the night.
Upholsterers frequently let furniture by the month or
the year. The levenue, however, which is derived from
such things must always be ultimately derived from
some other source of revenue. A stock of clothes may
last for several years ; a stock of furniture half a century
or a century ; but a stock of houses, well built and pro¬
perly taken care of, may last many centuries. Though
the period of their total consumption, however, is more
distant, they are still as really a stock reserved for im¬
mediate consumption as either clothes or furniture."
Book ii. eh. i.
Y 2
156
POLITICAL
ECONOMY.
Political This lang;uage would have been consistent if Adam
Kconomy. Smith, like most of his successors, had conhued the term
capital to the instruments of further consumption. But
^"ents of includes under that term thinj^s
Production, incapable of productive consumption, if they have not
Capital. reached the hands of those who are finally to use them.
If a diamond necklace in a jeweller's shop be correctly
termed capital, and Adam Smith has expressly stated that
it is so, why is not a house which has been just finished
by a speculative builder ? It is difficult to perceive why he
should have laid so much stress on the perishableness of
the things in question. Perishableness and durability
are not elements in the distinction between what is and
what is not to be correctly termed capital. Many of the
things which are used productively are of almost evanes¬
cent existence, such as the gas which lights a manufac¬
tory. On the other hand, the jewels of a noble family
are not capital, though no limits can be assigned to their
duration. It is at least conceivable that a house might
be built so as not to require repair, and would this
circumstance affect the question ? In fact, however,
the perishableness of these things is unfavourable to Adam
Smith's view, as it shows their resemblance to things
which he has admitted to be capital. A cellar of wine
at a tavern-keeper's falls under his third class of circu¬
lating capitals; gradually the cellar is emptied, and
when the last bottle has been drunk the capital is at an
end. A house let ready furnished, a circulating library,
a job carriage, a stage-coach, or a steam-packet, differs
from the cellar of wine only because the pt ()gress of its
consumption is less capable of being measu ed. Every
day that it is used a portion wears away ; and that por¬
tion is as much purchased and as much consumed by
the hirer of the house or the carriage as the bottle of
wine taken from the cellar. It is true that it may be
consumed unproductively, and that in that case the hirer
must pay the rent from some other revenue, as is the
case with the price of whatever is unproductively con¬
sumed. But the portion of the house and furniture and
carriage, for the time being unconsumed, is as much the
capital, in the sense in which Adam Smith uses that word,
of the upholsterer and the hackneyman, as the unconsumed
portion of the wine is the capital of the tavern-keeper.
Capital may again be divided, according to the pur¬
poses to which it is applicable, into reproductive, simply
productive, and unproductive.
We apply the term reproductive to all those articles of
wealth which may be used to produce things of the
same kind with themselves. All agricultural stock is
reproductive ; and so are all the necessaries of life.
That portion of them which is consumed by the capital¬
ists and labourers employed in producing necessaries is
one of the means by which the regular supply is kept
up. The coals in the furnace of a steam-engine used in
workiuiï a coal mine, the iron instruments in an iron
work, and a ship freighted with timber and naval stores
are all reproductively employed.
We apply the term simply productive to those articles
of wealth which, though instruments of production, can¬
not be employed in producing things of the same kind
with themselves. Á lace machine is simply productive.
Its use is to make lace, but that lace cannot be employed
to make a new machine. All the tools and machinery
employed in the production of those things which can¬
not be productively consumed are themselves simply
productive.
We apply the term unproductive or distributive
capital to those commodities which are destined to nn-
productive use, but have not become the properly of those ^
who are to be their ultimate consumers. Instru-
A very great portion, perhaps the greater portion in ments of
value, of the commodities produced in an improved state Production,
of society, fall under this head at their first production. Capital.
We have already observed that, in every state of society,
the number of absolutely unproductive consumers is
small, and the number of absolutely productive con¬
sumers still smaller. But as wealth increases every
man increases his unproductive consumption, until the
whole amount in the whole society of such consumption
may, and often does, exceed the whole amount of pro¬
ductive consumption. If we look through the shops of
an opulent city we shall find the commodities destined
to mere enjoyment far exceeding in value those destined
to be employed in further production.
Some of Adam Smith's successors have excluded the
things of which we are now speaking from the teim
capital. We have followed his example in including
them, lor two reasons.
First, because their exclusion is an unnecessary devia¬
tion from ordinary language. To say that a jeweller,
with £50,000 worth of diamond ornaments in his shop,
had no capital, would be an assertion of which few
hearers would be able to guess the meaning.
But, in the second place, if it were possible to do,
what certainly is much wanted, to form a new technical
nomenclature for Political Economy, still we should
include under the term capital the commodities in ques¬
tion. All Economists include under that term the ma¬
terials and the instruments with which these commo¬
dities are formed. If the rough diamond and the gold
in which it is to be set are capital while separate, it
seems difficult to see what convenience there is in a
nomenclature which denies them to be capital when
united. Again, no Economist will doubt that a profit is
received in proportion to the average time during
which the commodities in question are retained by the
capitalist. Why this profit is paid we shall endea¬
vour to show hereafter, but the fact that it is paid
may be assumed as unquestioned. But Economists are
agreed that whatever gives a profit is properly termed
capital.
The principal advantages derived from abstinence, or,
to express the same idea in more familiar language, from
the use of capital, are two : first the use of implements;
and second the division of labour.
Implements, or tools, or machines (words which ex¬
press things perhaps slightly different in some respects,
but precisely similar so far as they are the subjects of
Political Economy) have been divided into those which
produce power, and those which transmit power. Under
the first head are comprehended those which produce
motion independently of human labour. Such are, for
instance, those machines which are worked by the force
of wind, of water, or of steam.
The second head comprises what are usually termed
tools, such as the spade, the hammer, or the knife
which assist the force, or save the time of the workman,
but receive their impulse from his hand.
To these two classes a third must be added, including
all those instruments which are not intended to pro¬
duce or transmit motion, using that word in its popular
sense. This class includes many things to which the
name of implement, tool, or machine is not generally
applied. A piece of land prepared for tillage, and the
POLITICAL E C O N O ai T,
167
Political corn wrlh which it is to be sown/are among- the irnple-
Economy. ments by whose use the harvest is produced. Books
and manuscripts are implements more productive than
ments'of those invented by Arkwright or Brunei. Again, many
Production. t)f the things which popularly are called implements.
Capital. such as the telescope, have no reference to motion ; and
others, such as a chain, or an anchor, or indeed any fast¬
ening whatever, are intended not to produce or trans¬
mit, but to prevent it.
The instruments which derive their impulse from the
person who works them are in general of a simple de¬
scription, and some of them are to be met with in the
rudest state of human society. The first subsistence
offered by nature to the savage consists of the brutes
around him ; but some instruments beyond the weapons
which she has given to him must enable him to take
advantage of her bounty.
It will be observed that we consider the use of all
implements as implying an exercise of abstinence, using
that word in our extended sense as comprehending all
preference of remote to immediate results. In civilized
society this appears to be strictly true. It is obviously
true as to the use of all those instruments and materials
which may be used at will, either for the purpose of pre¬
sent enjoyment, or for that of further production, such,
for example, as the greater part of agricultural stock.
It is equally true as to the making of all those imple¬
ments which are incapable of any but productive use,
such as tools and machinery in the popular acceptation
of those words. In an improved state of society, the
commonest tool is the result of the labour of previous
years, perhaps of previous centuries. A carpenter's tools
are among the simplest that occur to us. But what a
sacrifice of present enjoyment must have been under¬
gone by the capitalist who first opened the mine of
which the carpenter's nails and hammer are the product !
How much labour directed to distant results must have
been employed by those who formed the instruments
with which that mine was worked! In fact, when we
consider that all tools, except the rude instruments of
savage life, are themselves the product of earlier tools,
we may conclude that there is not a nail, among the
many millions annually fabricated in England, which is
not to a certain degree the product of some labour for
the purpose of obtaining a distant result, or, in our no¬
menclature, of some abstinence undergone before the
Conquest, or perhaps before the Heptarchy.
The same remark applies to the acquired abilities
which Adam Smith has properly considered a capital
fixed and realized in the person of their possessor. In
many cases they are the result of long previous exertion
and expense on his own part; exertion and expense
which might have been directed to the obtaining objects
of immediate enjoyment, but which have, in fact, been
undergone solely in the hope of a distant reward. And
in almost all cases they imply much expense, and con¬
sequently much sacrifice of immediate enjoyment on the
part of parents or guardians. The maintenance of a
boy during the first eight or nine years of his life is
indeed an unavoidable burthen, and therefore cannot be
considered a sacrifice. But almost all that is expended
on him after that age is voluntary. At nine or ten he
might earn a maintenance in an agricultural, and more
than a bare maintenance in a manufacturing employ¬
ment, and at twenty-one obtain better wages than at
any subsequent period of his life. But even the lowest
department of skilled labour is in general inaccessible
except at an expense very great, when we consider by Political
whom it is to be borne ; ¿15 or ¿20 is a low apprentice Economy,
fee, but amounts to half the average annual income of
an agricultural family. The greater part of the re- mTnts of
muneration for skilled labour is the reward for the ab- Productioa
stinence implied by a considerable expenditure on the Capit4l.
labourer's education.
We must admit, however, that this reasoning does not
apply to society in that rude state which is not perhaps
within the scope of Political Economy. The savage
seldom employs in making his bow or his dart time
which he could devote to the obtaining of any object of
immediate enjoyment. He exercises therefore labour
and providence, but not abstinence. The first step in
improvement, the rise from the hunting and fishing to
the pastoral stale, implies an exercise of abstinence^
Much more abstinence, or, in other words, a much
greater use of capital, is required for the transition from
the pastoral to the agricultural state ; and an amount
not only still greater, but constantly increasing, is ne¬
cessary to the prosperity of manufactures and com¬
merce. An agricultural Country can remain stationary;
a commercial and manufacturing one cannot. The
capital which fifty years ago enabled England to be
the first of commercial and manufacturing nations was
probably far inferior in extent and efficiency to that
now possessed by France, or even to that of the late
Kingdom of the Netherlands. If our capital had re¬
mained stationary, we should have sunk to a second or
third rate power. The same consequence might now
follow if commercial restraints, or the waste of a long
war, should check the increase of our present capital,
while that of our rivals should continue progressive.
Having shown the connection between abstinence
and the employment of implements, the next thing to
be considered is the advantage which the use of imple¬
ments affords. This subject, however, we shall pass over
very briefly ; partly because an attempt to give any thing
like an adequate account of it, however concise, would
far exceed the limits of this Treatise ; partly because the
subject has been considered at some length in the Ar¬
ticles in this Encyclopœdia on Mechanics and Manufac¬
tures ; and partly because we believe all our readers
to be aware that the powers of man are prodigiously in--
creased by the use of implements, though probably no
man ever had, or ever will have, sufficient knowledge
of details and perception of their relations and con¬
sequences, to estimate the whole amount of that in¬
crease. A few remarks on those instruments which
produce motion, or, as it is technically termed, power,
are all that we can venture on.
The superior productiveness of modern compared with
ancient labour depends, perhaps, principally on the use of
these instruments. We doubt whether all the exertions of
all the inhabitants of the Roman Empire, if exclusively
directed to the manufacture of cotton goods, could, in a
whole generation, have produced as great a quantity as
is produced every year by a portion of the inhabitants
of Lancashire ; and we are sure that the produce would
have been generally inferior in quality. The only
moving powers employed by the Greeks or Romans
were the lower animals, water, and wind. And even
these powers they used very sparingly. They scarcely
used wind except to assist their merchant vessels in a
timid coasting ; they used rivers as they found thern,
for the purposes of communication, but did not connect
them by canals ; they used horses only for burthen ansí
158 POLITICALECONOMY.
Political draught, and the latter without the assistance of springs.
Economy. They made little use of that powerful machine to which
we give the general name of a mill, in which a single
^e^nts of turning under the impulse of animal power, or
Production, water, or steam, enables a child to apply a
Capital. force equal sometimes to that of a thousand workmen.
A ship of the line under full sail has been called the
noblest exhibition of human power : it is, perhaps, the
most beautiful. But if dominion over matter, if the power
of directing inanimate substances, at the same time to
exert the most tremendous energy, and to perform the
most delicate operations, be the test, that dominion and
power are no where so strikingly shown as in a large
cotton manufactory. One of the most complete which
we have seen is that constructed by the late Mr. Mars-
land at Stockport ; and, as it exhibits very strikingly
both the power and the manageableness of machinery,
it may be worth while to give a short description of it,
as we saw it in 1825.
Mr. Marsland was the proprietor of the Mersey for
about a mile of its course, and of a tongue of land which
two reaches of the river form into a peninsula. Through
the isthmus of this peninsula he bored a tunnel suffi¬
cient to receive seven wheels of large diameter, and to
give passage to enough of the river to turn them ; these
wheels communicated rotatory motion to perpendicular
shafts ; and the perpendicular shafts communicated the
same motion to numerous horizontal shafts connected with
them by pinions. Each horizontal shaft ran below the
ceiling of a work-room more than a hundred feet long.
The buildings connected with the wheels worked by the
river contained six or seven stories of work-rooms, each
supplied with its horizontal shaft. The rotatory motion
was carried on from each horizontal shaft by means of
small solid wheels called drums, affixed to the principal
shaft of each detached piece of machinery, and connected
with the great horizontal shaft of the work-room by a
leathern strap. Many of these rooms were not occupied
by Mr. Marsland himself. He let out, by the hour, the
day, or the week, a certain portion of the floor of a work¬
room, and the liberty to make use of a certain portion of
the horizontal shaft. The tenant placed his own ma¬
chinery on the floor, connected its drum with the shaft that
revolved rapidly above, and instantly saw his own small
mechanical world, with its system of wheels, rollers, and
spindles, in full activity, performing its motions with a
quickness, a regularity, and, above all, a perseverance,
far beyond the exertions of man. In the operation of
machinery, power, like matter, seems susceptible of in¬
definite aggregation and of indefinite subdivision. In
the performance of some of its duties the machinery
moved at a rate almost formidable, in others at one
scarcely perceptible. It took hold of the cotton of
which a neckcloth was to be made, cleaned it, arranged
its fibres longitudinally, twisted them into a strong and
continuous thread, and finally wove that thread into
muslin. It took the wool of which a coat was to be
made, and, after subjecting it to processes more nume¬
rous than those which cotton experiences, at last wove
it into cloth. For thousands of years, in fact from the
last ffreat convulsion which traced the course of the
river, until Mr. Marsland bored his tunnel, had the
Mersey been wasting all the energy that now works so
obediently.
One of the most striking qualities of machinery is its
susceptibility of indefinite improvement. On looking
through the instructive evidence collected by the Com¬
mittee on Artisans and Machinery, (1824,) it will be Political
found that nothing is more impressed on the minds of
the witnesses than the constant tide of improvement, ^
rendering obsolete in a very few years all that might ments of
have been supposed to be perfect. Productiou,
Mr. Holdsworlh, a spinner and machine-maker at Capital.
Glasgow, states that the best mills at Glasgow are equal
to the best mills at Manchester erected three or four
years before. Mr. Holdsworth's history of his own
proceedings will illustrate many of the previous observa¬
tions.
He is asked whether he got his machinery from Man¬
chester when he first commenced business. He replies:
" I did not ; I contemplated making it myself, and made
the attempt, but there was so much difficulty in getting
good workmen, and the expense of tools was so serious,
that I desisted. I then selected a well-qualified young
mechanic, and engaged him to make it for me. I gave
over to him my patterns and my plans, and he executed
well the machinery required in the first mill. Two
years after I built a second mill, the machinery of which
was also executed by him. After two years more I
built a third and a larger mill, the machinery of which
I made myself."
He is asked why he made the last machinery himself,
and replies :
In the first place that machine maker was very
busy (it appears, subsequently, that, at the time of the
examination, that maker could not have taken an order
to execute any part of it under sixteen months, and that
there were then eight or nine mills waiting for machinery,
some of which had been ready for twelve months, and
had only a small part of their machinery, and others
had been ready six months and were empty ;) and as
machine makers do not like to alter their plans, I could
not prevail upon him to execute the improvements then
recently made in Manchester." Fifth Report, p. 378.
Mr. J, Dunlop is asked (p. 473) how far he consi¬
ders the American factories behind those of Glasgow.
He replies, about thirty years. He goes on to state that
they are in a progressive state, and the men very active
and industrious. He is then asked whether, " suppos¬
ing English machinery transported to America, with the
assistance of English foremen, he does not think the
population of America would soon be taught to work in
their factories equally to the men of this Country?"
He answers, "Yes, I think they would ; but before they
could acquire that we should be ahead of them a long
way again. I reason comparing Scotland with Eng¬
land. We began the business of cotton-spinning later,
we were of course behind, and we have always been
behind ; we have never been able to get up, and I be¬
lieve never will."
Sixty years form a short period in the history of a
nation ; yet what changes in the state of England and
the Southern parts of Scotland have the steam-engine
and the cotton machinery effected within the last sixty
years. They have almost doubled the population, more
than doubled the wages of labour, and nearly trebled
the rent of land. They enabled us to endure, not cer¬
tainly without inconvenience, but yet to endure, a public
debt more than trebled, and a taxation more than quad¬
rupled. They changed us from exporters to importers
of raw produce, and consequently changed our corn laws
from a bounty on exportation to nearly a prohibition of
importation. They have clad the whole world with a
light and warm clothing, and made it so easy of ac-
POLITICAL
E C O N O M 7
159
Political quisition that we are perhaps scarcely aware of the
Economy, whole enjoyment that it affords.
There appears no reason, unless that reason be to be
raTntsof among our own commercial institutions, why the
Production in^pi'ovements of the next sixty years should not equal
Capital. those of the preceding. The cotton machinery is far
from perfection ; the evidence which we have quoted
shows that it receives daily improvements ; and the
steam-engine is in its infancy : its first application to
vessels is within our recollection ; its application to
carriages has scarcely commenced ; and it is probable
that many other powers of equal efficiency lie still un¬
discovered among the secrets of nature, or, if known, are
still unapplied. There are doubtless at this instant in¬
numerable productive instruments known but disregarded
because separately they are inefficient, and the effect of
their combination has not been perceived. Printing
and paper are both of high antiquity. Printing was
probably known to the Greeks ; it certainly was prac¬
tised by the Romans, as loaves of bread stamped with
the baker's initials have been found in Pompeii. And
paper has been used in China from times immemorial.
But these instruments separately were of little value.
While so expensive a commodity as parchment, or so
brittle a one as the papyrus, were the best materials for
books, the sale of a number of good copies sufficient to
pay the expense of printing could not be relied on.
Paper without printing was more useful than printing
without paper ; but the mere labour necessary to con¬
stant transcription, even supposing the materials to be
of no value, would have been such as still to leave books
an expensive luxury. But the combination of these
two instruments, each separately of little utility, has
always been considered the most important invention iu
the history of man.
The second of the two principal advantages derived
from abstinence, or, in other words, from the use of
capital, is the division of labour.
We have already observed that division of produc¬
tion would have been a more convenient expression than
division of labour; but Adam Smith's authority has
given such currency to the term division of labour, that
we shall continue to employ it, using it, however, in the
extended sense in which it appears to have been used
by Adam Smith. We say appears to have been used,
because Smith, with his habitual negligence of precision,
has given no formal explanation of his meaning. But
in the latter part of his celebrated first chapter, he ap¬
pears to include among the advantages derived from the
division of labour all those derived from internal and
external commerce. It is clear, therefore, that, by divi¬
sion of labour, he meant division of production, or, in
other words, the confining as much as possible each dis¬
tinct producer and each distinct class of producers to
operations of a single kind.
The advantages derived from the divi.sion of labour
are attributed by Smith to three different circumstances.
" First, to the increase of dexterity in every particular
Workman ; secondly, to the saving of the time which is
commonly lost in passing from one species of work to
another; and lastly, to the invention of a great number
of machines which facilitate and abridge labour, and
«nable one man to do the work of many."
Smith was the first writer, who laid much stress on
the division of labour. The force and the variety of the
examples by which he has illustrated it make the first
chapter perhaps the most amusing and the best known
in his whole Work. But, like most of those who have Political
discovered a new principle, he has in some respects Economy,
overstated, and in others understated, its effects. His
remark, that the invention of all those machines by jj^entTof
which labour is so much facilitated and abridged seems Production,
to have been originally owing to the division of labour," Capital,
is too general. Many of our most useful implements
have been invented by persons neither mechanics by
profession, nor themselves employed in the operations
which those implements facilitate. Arkwright was, as
is well known, a barber ; the inventor of the power-
loom is a clergyman. Perhaps it would be a nearer ap¬
proach to truth if we were to say that the division of
labour has been occasioned by the use of implements.
In a rude state of Society, every man possesses, and
every man can manage, every sort of instrument. In
an advanced state, when expensive machinery and an
almost infinite variety of tools have superseded the few
and simple implements of savage life, those only can
profitably employ themselves in any branch of manufac¬
ture who can obtain the aid of the machinery, and have
been trained to use the tools, by which its processes are
facilitated ; and the division of labour is the necessary
consequence. But, in fact, the use of tools and the di¬
vision of labour so act and react on one another, that
their effects can seldom be separated in practice. Every
great mechanical invention is followed by an increased
division of labour, and every increased division of labour
produces new inventions in mechanism.
•Alterius sic
Altera poscit opem res et conjurât amice*
The increased dexterity of the woi'kman, and the
saving of the time which would be lost in passing from
one sort of work to another, deserve the attention which
they have received from Adam Smith. Both are con¬
sequences, and the first is a very important consequence
of the division of labour. But he has passed by, or at
least has not formally stated, other advantages derived
from that principle which appear to be far more im¬
portant.
One of the principal of these advantages arises
from the circumstance that the same exertions which
are necessary to produce a single given result are
often sufficient to produce many hundred or many
thousand similar results. The Post-office supplies a
familiar illustration. The same exertions which are
necessary to send a single letter from Falmouth to
New York are sufficient to forward fifty, and nearly
the same exertions will forward ten thousand. If every
man were to effect the transmission of his own corre¬
spondence, the whole life of an eminent merchant might
be passed in travelling, without his being able to de¬
liver all the letters which the Post-office forwards for
him in a single evening. The labour of a few indivi-
D O
duals, devoted exclusively to the forwarding of letters,
produces results which all the exertions of all the in¬
habitants of Europe could not effect, each person acting
independently.
The utility of government depends on this principle.
In the rudest state of society each man relies principally
on himself for the protection both of his person and of
his property. For these purposes he must be always
armed, and always watchful ; what little property he has
must be movable, so as never to be far distant from its
owner. Defence or escape occupy almost all his
thoughts, and almost all his time, and, after all these
160 POLITICAL EC ONOM\.
Political
Economy.
Instru¬
ments of
Production,
Capital.
sacrifices, they are very imperfectly effected. If ever
you see an old man here," said an inhabitant of the
confines of Abyssinia to Bruce, " he is a stranger ; the
natives all die young by the lance.'*
But the labour which every individual, who relies on
himself for protection, must himself undergo is more
than sufficient to enable a few individuals to protect
themselves, and also the whole of a numerous com¬
munity. To this may be traced the origin of govern¬
ments. The nucleus of every government must have
been some person who offered protection in exchange
for submission. On the governor and those with whom
he is associated, or whom he appoints, is devolved the
care of defending the community from violence and
fraud. And so far as internal violence is concerned,
and that is the evil most dreaded in civilized society, it
is wonderful how small a number of persons can pro¬
vide for the security of multitudes. About fifteen
thousand soldiers, and not fifteen thousand policemen,
watchmen, and officers of justice, protect the persons
and property of the seventeen millions of inhabitants of
Great Britain. There is scarcely a trade that does not
engross the labour of a greater number of persons than
are employed to perform this the most important of all
services.
It is obvious, however, that the division of labour on
which government is founded is subject to peculiar
evils. Those who are to afford protection must neces¬
sarily be intrusted with power ; and those who rely on
others for protection lose, in a great measure, the means
and the will to protect themselves. Under such cir¬
cumstances, the bargain, if it can be called one, between
the government and its subjects, is not conducted on
the principles which regulate ordinary exchanges. The
government generally endeavours to extort from its
subjects, not merely a fair compensation for its services,
but all that force or terror can wring* from them without
injuring their powers of further production. In fact, it
does in general extort much more ; for if we look
through the world we shall find few governments whose
oppression does not materially injure the prosperity of
their people. When we read of African and Asiatic
tyrannies, where millions seem themselves to consider
their own happiness as dust in the balance compared
with the caprices of their despot, we are inclined to sup¬
pose the evils of misgovernment to be the worst to
which man can be exposed. But they are trifles com¬
pared to those which are felt in the absence of govern¬
ment. The mass of the inhabitants of Egypt, Persia,
and Eurmah, or to go as low as perhaps it is possible,
the subjects of the Kings of Dahomi and Ashantee, en¬
joy security, if we compare their situation with that of
the ungoverned inhabitants of New Zealand. So
strongly is this felt that there is no tyranny which men
will not eagerly embrace, if anarchy is to be the alter¬
native. Almost all the differences between the different
races of men, differences so great that we sometimes
nearly forget that they all belong to the same species,
may be traced to the degrees in which they enjoy the
blessings of good government. If the worst govern¬
ment be better than anarchy, the advantages of the best
must be incalculable. But the best governments of
which the world has had experience, those of Great
Britain and of the Countries which have derived their
institutions from Great Britain, are far from having at¬
tained the perfection of which they appear to be sus¬
ceptible. In these governments the subordinate duties
are generally performed by persons specially educated Political
for these purposes, the superior ones are not. It seems Et-'onomy,
to be supposed that a knowledge of politics, the most
extensive and the most difficult of all Sciences, is
natural appendage to persons holding a high rank in Production,
society, or may be acquired at intervals snatched from Capital,
the bustle and the occupation of laborious and engross¬
ing professions. In despotisms, the principal evils arise
partly from the ignorance, and partly from the bad
passions of the rulers. In representative governments,
they arise principally from their unskilfulness. It is to
be hoped that a further application of the division of
labour, the principle upon which all government is
founded, by providing an appropriate education for
those who are to direct the affairs of the State, may pro¬
tect us as effectually against suffering under ignorance
or inexperience in our governors, as we are now pro¬
tected against their injustice.
Another important consequence of the division of
labour, and one which Adam Smith, though he has al¬
luded to it, has not prominently stated, is the power
possessed by every nation of availing itself, to a certain
extent, of the natural and acquired advantages of every
other portion of the commercial world. Colonel Torrens
is the first writer who has expressly connected foreign
trade with the division of labour, by designating inter¬
national commerce as the territorial division of
labour."
Nature seems to have intended that mutual depend¬
ence should unite all the inhabitants of the earth into
one commercial family. For this purpose she has in¬
definitely diversified her own products in every climate
and in almost every extensive district. For this pur¬
pose, also, she seems to have varied so extensively the
wants and the productive powers of the different races
of men. The superiority of modern over ancient
wealth depends in a great measure on the greater use
we make of these varieties. We annually import into this
Country about thirty million pounds of tea. The whole
expense of purchasing and importing this quantity
does not exceed ¿£2,250,000, or about Ls. flcZ. a pound,
a sum equal to the value of the labour of only forty-five
thousand men, supposing their annual wages to amount
to ¿£50 a year. With our agiicultural skill, and our
coal mines, and at the expense of above 40s. a pound in¬
stead of Is. 6cZ., that is, at the cost of the labour of
about one million two hundred thousand men instead
of forty-five thousand, we might produce our own tea,
and enjoy the pride of being independent of China.
But one million two hundred thousand is about the
number of all the men engaged in agricultural labour
throughout England. A single trade, and that not an
extensive one, supplies as much tea, and that probably
of a better sort, as could be obtained, if it were possible
to devote every farm and every garden to its domestic
production.
The greater part of the advantage of rather importing
than growing and manufacturing tea arises, without
doubt, from the difference between the climates of China
and England. But a great part also arises from the
different price of labour in the two Countries. Not
only the cultivation of the tea plant, but the preparation
of its leaves, requires much time and attention. The
money wages of labour are so low in China, that these
processes add little to the money cost of the tea, In
England the expense would be intolerable. When a
nation, in which the powers of production, and coq-
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
161
Political sequently the wages of labour, are high, employs its
Economy, own members in performing duties that could be as
effectually performed by the less valuable labour of less
Production, civilized nations, it is guilty of the same folly as a farmer
Capital. should plough with a race-^horse.
Division of A iu • . X £• xu J* • • r
labour Another important consequence or the division ot
labour is the existence of retailers ; A class who, with¬
out being themselves employed in the direct production
of raw or manufactured commodities, are, in fact, the
persons who supply them to their ultimate purchasers,
and that at the times and in the portions which the con¬
venience of those purchasers requires. When we look
at a map of London and its suburbs, and consider that
that province covered with houses contains more than a
tenth of the inhabitants of England, and consumes
perhaps one-fifth in value of all that is consumed in Eng¬
land, and obtains what it consumes, not from its own
resources, but from the whole civilized world, it seems
marvellous that the daily supply of such multitudes
should be apportioned with any thing like accuracy to
their daily wants. It is effected principally by means of
the retailers. Each retailer, the centre of his own system
of purchasers, knows, by experience, the average amount
of their periodical wants. The wholesale dealer, who
forms the link between the actual producer or importer,
and the retailer, knows also, by experience, the average
amount of the demands of his own purchasers, the re¬
tailers ; and is governed by that experience in purchas¬
ing himself from the importer or producer. And the
average amount of these last purchases affords the data
on which the importers and producers regulate the
whole vast and multifarious supply. It can scarcely be
necessary to dwell on the further advantages derived
from the readiness and subdivision of the retailers
stock ; or, to point out the convenience of having to buy
a steak from a butcher, instead of an ox from a grazier.
These are the advantages to which we formerly referred,
as enabling the retailer to obtain a profit proportioned
to the average time during which his stock in trade re¬
mains in his possession
We now proceed to show that the division of labour
is mainly dependent on Abstinence, or, in other words,
on the use of Capital.
" In that rude state of society," says Adam Smith,
" in which there is no division of labour, in which ex¬
changes are seldom made, and in which every man
provides every thing tor himself, it is not necessary tliat
any stock should be accumulated or stored up before¬
hand in order to carry on the business of the society.
Every man endeavours to supply, by his own industry,
his own occasional wants as they occur. When he is
hungry, he goes to the forest to hunt ; when his coat is
worn out, he clothes himself with the skin of the first
large animal he kills; and when iiis hut begins to go to
o ' ~ O
ruin, he repairs it as well as he can with the trees and
the turf that aie nearest to it.
But when the division of labour has once been
thoroughly introduced, the produce of a man's own
labour can supply but a very small part of his occasional
wants. The far greater part of them are .supplied by
the produce of other men s labour, which he purchases
with the produce, or, what is the same thing, with the
price of the produce of his own. But his purchase
cannot be made until such time as the produce of his
own labour has not only been completed, but sold. A
stock of goods of different kinds, therefore, must be
stored up somewhere, sufficient to maintain him, and to
VOL, Vi.
supply him with the materials and tools of his work, till Political
such time, at least, as both these events can be brought Economy,
about. A weaver cannot apply himself entirely to his
peculiar business, unless there is beforehand stored up Productionr
somewhere, either in his own possession, or that of
some other person, a stock sufficient to maintain him, labour."
and to supply him with the materials and tools of his
work, till he has not only completed, but sold his web.
This accumulation must evidently be previous to his ap¬
plying his industry for so long a time to such a peculiar
business.'^ Wealth of Nations, book ii. Introduction.
Perhaps this is inaccurately expressed ; there are
numerous cases in which production and sale are con¬
temporaneous. The most important divisions of labour
are those which allot to a few members of the commu¬
nity the task of protecting and instructing the re¬
mainder. But their services are sold as they are per¬
formed. And the same remark applies to almost all
those products to which we give the name of services.
Nor is it absolutely necessary in any case, though, if
Adam Smith's words were taken literally, such a neces¬
sity might be inferred, that, before a man dedicates
himself to a peculiar branch of production, a stock of
goods should be stored up to supply him with subsist¬
ence, materials, and tools, till his own product has been
completed and sold. That he must be kept supplied
with those articles is true ; but they need not have been
stored up before he first sets to work, they may have
been produced while his work was in progress. Years
must often elapse between the commencement and sale
of a picture. But the painter's subsistence, tools, and
materials for those years are not stored up before he sets
to work: they are produced from time to time during
the course of his labour. It is probable, however, that
Ad-am Smith's real meaning was, not that the identical
supplies which will be wanted in a course of progressive
industry must be already collected when the process
which they are to assist or remunerate is about to be
begun, but that a fund or source must then exist from
which they may be drawn as they are required. That
fund must comprise in specie some of the things
wanted. The painter must have his canvass, the weaver
his loom, and materials, not enough, perhaps, to complete
his web, but to commence it. As to those commodities,
however, which the workman subsequently requires, it
is enough if the fund on which he relies is a productive
fund, keeping pace with his wants, and virtually set
apart to answer them.
But if the employment of capital is required for the
purpose of allowing a single workman to dedicate him¬
self to one pursuit, it is still more obviously necessary
in order to enable aggregations, or classes of producers,
to concur, each by his separate exertions, in one pro¬
duction. In such cases even the mere matter of distri¬
bution, the mere apportionment of the price of the finished
commodity among the different producers requires the
employment of a considerable capital, and for a con¬
siderable time, or, in other words, a considerable exer¬
tion oí abstinence. The produce of independent labour
belongs by nature to its producer. But wiiere there has
been a considerable division of labour, the product has
no one natural owner. If we were to attempt to reckon
up the number of persons engaged in producing a
single neckcloth, or a single piece of lace, we should
find the number amount to many thousands ; in fact
to many tens of thousands. It is obviously impossible
that all these persons, even if they could ascertain their
z
162
POLITICAL ECONOMY
Political respective rights as producers, should act as owners of
Economy, neckcloth or the lace, and sell it for their common
^ • benefit.
Capital This difficulty is got over by distinguishing those
Division of who assist in production by advancing capital, from
labour. those who contribute only labour—a distinction often
marked by the terms master and workman ; and by arrang¬
ing into separate groups the different capitalists and
workmen engaged in distinct processes, and letting
each capitalist, as he passes on the commodity, receive
from his immediate successor the price both of his own
abstinence and of his workmen's labour.
It may be interesting to trace this process in the
history of a coloured neckcloth or a piece of lace. The
cotton of which it is formed may be supposed to have
been grown by some Tenessee or Louisiana planter.
For this purpose he must have employed labourers in
preparing the soil and planting and attending to the
shrub for more than a year before its pod ripened.
When the pod became ripe, considerable labour, assisted
by ingenious machinery, was necessary to extricate the
seeds from the wool. The fleece thus cleaned was
carried down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and there
sold to a cotton factor. The price at which it was sold
must have been sufficient, in the first place, to repay to
the planter the wages which had been paid by him to
all those employed in its production and carriage ; and,
secondly, to pay him a profit proportioned to the time
wffiich had elapsed between the payment of those wages and
the sale of the cotton ; or, in other words, to remunerate
him for his abstinence in having so long deprived him¬
self of the use of his money, or of the pleasure which he
might have received from the labour of his work-people, if,
instead of cultivating cotton, he had employed them in
contributing to his own immediate enjoyment. The
New Orleans factor, after keeping it perhaps five or six
months, sold it to a Liverpool merchant. Scarcely any
labour could have been expended on it at New Orleans,
and, in the absence of accidental circumstances, its
price was increased only by the profit of the cotton
factor. A profit which was the remuneration of his
abstinence in delaying, for five or six months, the
gratification which he might have obtained by the ex¬
penditure on himself of the price paid by him to the
planter. The Liverpool merchant brought it to Eng¬
land and sold it to a Manchester spinner. He must
have sold it at a price which would repay, in the first
place, the price at which it was bought from the factor
at New Orleans ; in the second place, the freight from
thence to Liverpool ; (which freight includes a portion
of the wages of the seamen, and of the wages of those
who built the vessel, of the profits of those who ad¬
vanced those wages before the vessel was completed, of
the wages and profits of those who imported the materials
of which that vessel was built, and, in fact, of a chain of
wages and profits extending to the earliest dawn of
civilization;) and, thirdly, the merchant's profit for the
time that these payments were made before his sale to
the manufactuier was completed.
The spinner subjected it to the action of his
work-people and machinery, until he reduced part of
it into the thread applicable to weaving muslin, and
part into the still finer thread that can be formed into
lace.
The thread thus produced he sold to the weaver and
to the lacemaker; at a price repaying, in addition to the
piice that was paid to the merchant, first, the wages of
the work-people immediately engaged in the manufac- Political
ture ; secondly, the wages and profits of all those who
supplied, by the labour of previous years, the buildings
and machinery ; and, thirdly, the profit of the master Capital,
spinner. It would be tedious to trace the transmission Division of
of the thread from the weaver to the bleacher, from the labour,
bleacher to the printer, from the printer to the whole¬
sale warehouseman, from him to the retailer, and thence
to the ultimate purchaser; or even its shorter progiess
from the lacemaker to the embroiderer, and thence to
the ultimate purchaser. At every step a fresh capitalist
repays all the previous advances, subjects the article, if
unfinished, to further processes, advances the wages of
those engaged in its further manufacture and transport,
and is ultimately repaid by the capitalist next in order
all his own advances, and a profit proportioned to the
time during which he has abstained from the unproduc¬
tive enjoyment of the capital thus employed.
It will be observed, that we have not mentioned the
taxation that must have been incurred throughout the
whole process which we have described, or the rent that
must have been paid for the use of the various appro¬
priated natural agents whose services were requisite or
beneficial. We have left rent unnoticed, because its
amount depends so much on accident that any further
allusion to it would have much increased the complexity
of the subject. We have not expressly mentioned taxa¬
tion, because it is included under the heads which we
have enumerated. The money raised by taxation is
employed in paying the wages and profits of those who
perform, or cause to be performed, the most important
of all services, the protecting the community from fraud
and violence. Those who are thus employed afford pre¬
cisely the same assistance to the merchant or the manu¬
facturer, as the private watchman who protects the
warehouse, or the smith who fortifies it with bars and
padlocks.
Our limits prohibit our attempting to trace the gra¬
dual increase of the value of a pound of cotton from the
time it was gathered on the banks of the Mississippi, till
it appears in a Bond Street window as a piece of elabo¬
rate lace. We should probably be understating the dif¬
ference if we were to say that the last price was a thou¬
sand times the first. The price of a pound of the finest
cotton wool, as it is gathered, is less than two shillings.
A pound of the finest cotton lace might easily be worth
more than a hundred guineas. No means, except the
separation of the functions of the capitalist from those
of the labourer, and the constant advance of capital
from one capitalist to another, could enable so many
thousand producers to direct their efforts to one object,
to continue them for so long a period, and to adjust the
reward for their respective sacrifices.
Productiveness of Labour in Agriculture and Manufac¬
tures, Fourth Flementary Proposition,
Before we quit the subject of production, it is necessary Productive:
to explain an important difference between the efficiency »ess of la-
of the different productive instruments when employed
in cultivating the earth, and their efficiency when em- and^manL
ployed in preparing for human use the raw produce factures,
obtained by agriculture : or, in other words, between the
efficiency of agricultural and naanufacturing industry.
In the course of this discussion we shall illustrate the last
of the four elementary propositions on which we believe
the Science of Political Economy to rest; namely.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
163
Political
Ecoijoray.
Production.
Productive¬
ness of la¬
bour in agri¬
culture and
manufac¬
tures.
that, agricultural skill remaining the same, additional
labour ejwployed on the land within a given district
produces in general a less proportionate return.
The difference between the efficiency of agricultural and
of manufacturing industry which we have now to consider,
consists in the power which agricultural industry pos¬
sesses, and manufacturing industry does not possess, of
obtaining an additional product from the same materials.
We have seen that the use of implements and the divi¬
sion of labour assist the exertions of man to an extent
quite incalculable at present, and apparently capable of
indefinite increase. But manufacturing improvements,
though they enable one man to do the work of hundreds
or of thousands,—though they enable the same amount
of labour employed on the same materials to produce a
more and more useful commodity, cannot enable the
same amount of labour, or even increased labour, em¬
ployed on the same quantity of materials, to produce a
much larger amount of finished work of the same quality,
than could have been produced before. If the labour
and the skill now employed throughout England on the
manufacture of cotton were doubled, but the quantity of
raw materials remained the same, the quantity of manu¬
factured produce could not be sensibly increased. The
value of that produce might perhaps be much increased,
it might be made much finer, and consequently of greater
length or breadth ; but supposing the quality of the
producé unaltered, its quantity could be increased only
by the saving which might be made of that small por¬
tion of the raw material which now is wasted.
The case of agriculture is different. Those regions,
indeed, which lie within the limits of perennial snow, or
consist of rock or loose sand, or precipitous mountain,
are unsusceptible of improvement. But with these ex¬
ceptions, the produce of every extensive district seems
cajiable of being almost indefinitely increased by con¬
stantly increasing the labour bestowed on it. Nothing
appears more hopelessly barren than an extemsive bog
with its black-looking pools and rushy vegetation. But,
by draining, by burning the limestone on which, in Ire¬
land at least, it generally rests, and by employing the
lime to convert the matted fibres of the turf into a vege¬
table mould, the bog may be made not only productive
but fertile. There are about thirty-seven millions of
acres in England and Wales. Of these it has been
calculated that not eighty-five thousand, less in fact
than one four-hundredth part, are in a state of high cul¬
tivation, as hop grounds, nursery grounds, and fruit
and kitchen gardens ; and that five millions are waste.
All that is not waste is productively employed, but how
small is its produce compared to the amount to which
unlimited labour and abstinence mi« ht raise it Î If the
O
utmost use were made of lime and marl and the other
mineral manures ; if by a perfect system of drainage and
irrigation water were nowhere allowed to be excessive or
deficient; if all our wastes were protected by enclosures
and planting, if all the land in tillage, instead of being
scratched by the plough, were deeply and repeatedly
trenched by manual labour ; if minute care were cm-
ployed in the selecting and planting of every seed or
root, and watchfulness sufficient to prevent the appear¬
ance of a weed ; if all live stock, instead of being pas¬
tured, had their food cut and brought to them ; in short,
if the whole Country were subjected to the labour which
a rich citizen lavishes on his patch of suburban garden ;
if it were possible that all this should be effected, the
agricultural produce of the Country might be raised to
tures.
ten times, or indeed to much more than ten times its Political
present amount. No additional labour or machinery E^^o^omy.
can work up a pound of raw cotton into more than a
pound of manufactured cotton ; but the same bushel of pJodudive
seed-corn, and the same rood of land, according to the ness of la-
labour and skill with which they are treated, may pro bourinagrf
duce four bushels, or eight bushels, or sixteen. culture and
But although the land in England is capable of pro-
ducing ten times, or more than ten times as much as it
now produces, it is probable that its present produce will
never be quadrupled, and almost certain that it will
never be decupled.
On the other hand, unless our manufactures be
checked by war, or by the continuance or introduction
of legislative enactments unfavourable to their progress,
their produce may increase during the next century at
the same rate, or at a still greater rate, than it increased
during the last century. It may be quadrupled, or
much more than quadrupled.
The advantage possessed by land in repaying in¬
creased labour, though employed on the same materials,
with a constantly increasing produce, is overbalanced by
the diminishing proportion which the increase of the
produce generally bears to the increase of the labour.
And the disadvantage of manufactures in requiring for
every increase of produce an equal increase of materials,
is overbalanced by the constantly increasing facility with
which the increased quantity of materials is worked up.
A century ago the average annual import of cotton
wool into Great Britain was about one million two
hundred thousand pounds. The amount now annually
manufactured in Great Britain exceeds two hundred and
forty millions of pounds. But though the materials
now manufactured are increased at least two hundred
times, it is obvious that the labour necessary to manu¬
facture them has not increased two hundred times. It
may be doubted whether it has increased thirty times.
The whole number of families in Great Britain, exclu¬
sively of those employed in agriculture, amounted, at the
enumeration in 1831, to 2,453,041; if we suppose the
transport, manufacture, and sale of cotton to employ about
one-eighth of them, or about 300,000 families, it is a
large allowance. But with the inefficient machinery
in use a century ago, the annual manufacture of one
million two hundred thousand pounds of cotton could
not have required the annual labour of less than ten
thousand families. It probably required many more.
The result has been that, although we now require two
hundred times as much of the raw material as was re^
quired a century ago, and although that additional
quantity of raw material is probably obtained from the
soil by more than two hundred times the labour that
was necessary to obtain the smaller quantity, yet, in
consequence of the diminution of the labour necessary
to manufacture a given amount, the price of the manu¬
factured commodity (a price which exhibits the sum of
the labour necessary for both obtaining the materials
and working them up) has constantly diminished. In
1786, when our annual import was about twenty millions
of pounds of cotton wool, the price of the yarn denomi¬
nated No. 100 was 389. a pound. In 1792, when the im¬
port amounted to thirty-four millions of pounds, the price
of the same yarn was 16«. a pound. In 1806, when the
import amounted to sixty millions, the price of the yarn had
fallen to 7s. 2d. a pound; mid with the increased quantity
manufactured, it has now fallen below 3s. a pound.
Every increase in the quantity manufactured has been
z 2
164
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Political accompanied by improvements in machinery, and an in-
^ ^coDomy, division of labour, and their effects have much
Pi^u(Än balanced any increase which may have taken
Productive- P^ace ill the proportionate labour necessary to produce
ness of la- the raw material.
bouiinagri. The proposition that, in agriculture, additional labour
generally produces a less proportionate result, or, in
tures ' other words, that the labour of twenty men employed on
the land within a given district, though it will certainly
produce more than that of ten men, will seldom produce
twice as much, will be best illustrated by confiijing our
attention to a single example.
We will suppose a farm consisting of one thousand acres,
two hundred very good land, three hundred merely tole¬
rable, and the remainder barren down, affording only a
scanty sheep-walk. We will suppose the farmer to em¬
ploy upon it twenty men, and to obtain an average
annual product, which, to reduce it to a single denomi¬
nation, we will call six hundred quarters of wheat. We
will suppose him now to double the number of his
labourers, and we shall see what probability there is
that the produce will consequently be doubled. If
the twenty additional labourers are employed in culti¬
vating the down land, they must necessarily produce a
less return than that which is produced on the other
land by the previous twenty, as the land is supposed to
be worse. It is equally clear that their labour, if applied
to the land already in cultivation, will be less productive
than the labour previously applied to it; or, in other
words, that the produce of that land, though increased,
will not be doubled, since on no other principle can we
account for any land except the very best having been
ever cultivated. For if the farmer could have gone on
applying additional labour to land already in cultiva¬
tion without any diminution in the proportionate return,
it is clear that he never would have cultivated the three
hundred acres of inferior land. In fact, if this were the
case, if additional labour employed in agriculture gave a
proportionate return, he never need have cultivated
more than a single acre, or even a single rood. It is
probable that in the supposed case he would employ
some of his additional labourers in breaking up a por¬
tion of the down, and some of them in cultivating more
highly the land already in tillage. So employed, they
might produce an additional crop of four hundred, or
five hundred, or five hundred and fifty quarters, but it is
certain that the additional crop would not be equal to the
whole six hundred previously obtained: the produce
would be increased, but would not be doubled.
This imaginary farm is a miniature of the whole King¬
dom. We have in England large tracks of barren waste,
and we have under cultivation soil of every description of
fertility, from that which produces forty bushels of wheat
an acre to that which produces, with the same labour,
and on the same extent of land, only twelve or thirteen.
If additional produce is to be raised, the resource, ge¬
nerally speaking, must be either the cultivation of what
has been as yet imtilled on account of its barrenness, or
the employment of additional labour on what is now in
cultivation. That in either case the additional produce is
not likely to be in the proportion of the additional labour
is as obvious in the case of the whole Kingdom as it
has appeared to be in that of a single farm.
But the proposition which we have been endeavouring
to illustrate, though general, is not universal ; it is sub¬
ject to material exceptions. In the first place, the
negligence or ignorance oi* the occupier, or proprietor,
or obstacles of ownership, often prevent for a long time Political
particular portions of land from being subjected to the Economy,
average degree of labour bestowed on land of equal
capability. Increased labour, when at length bestowed pj^uctive-
on land so circumstanced, may fairly be expected to be ness of la-
as productive, indeed more productive, than the average bourinagri-
of agricultural labour. Advantages of this kind have cahure ami
i—^ ft
sometimes been derived from extensive operations
turcs
drainage and embankment; but the chances of great
profit are so apt to blind men to the amount of phy¬
sical obstacles, that projects of this kind are perhaps
more frequently attempted prematurely than deferred
till after the time when an increased demand for raw
produce first rendered them fair speculations. Under¬
takings which have been postponed in consequence of
obstacles arising from ownership are far more fre¬
quently productive. The enclosure of a common often
subjects to the plough land of which the former unpro¬
ductiveness was not owing to deficient fertility. Effects
similar in kind, though not in degree, often take place
when an estate becomes unfettered after the title has
been long so circumstanced that the farmers could not
rely on the duration or renewal of their leases. In these
cases considerable additional produce may often be
obtained by a comparatively small addition of labour.
But the most important exception to the general rule
takes place when increase of labour is accompanied by
increase of skill. More efficient implements, a better
rotation of crops, a greater division of labour, in short,
improvements in the art of agriculture, generally accom¬
pany the increase of agricultural labour. They always
accompany that increase when it is accompanied by an
increase of the capital as well as of the population of a
Country ; and they always counteract, and often out¬
weigh, the inferiority or diminished proportional powers
of the soil to which they are applied.
The total amount of the annual agricultural produce
of Great Britain has much more than doubled during the
last hundred years ; but it is highly improbable that
the amount of labour annually employed in agriculture
has also doubled. It is not supposed that during that
period the population of Great Britain has more than
doubled ; and the principal increase has till lately been
in the manufacturing districts. The last hundred years,
with all their misfortunes, form the most prosperous
period of our History. We owe to them the enclosure
of millions of acres formerly almost useless common
field ; we owe to them almost all that we possess that
deserves the name of Agricultural Science ; and we owe
to them also all the canals, and almost all the roads,
which, by obviating in a great measure the accidents
of situation, enable the amount of labour to bear through¬
out the Kingdoiii something like an average proportion
to the quality of the soil on which it is employed. It is
possible, though certainly not probable, that our pro¬
gress may be equal during the next hundred years ; but
though indefinite, it certainly cannot be infinite. It is
obviously impossible that the produce of the soil of a
given district can increase geometrically for ever, what¬
ever be the amount of the labour employed on it.
On the other hand, every increase in the number of
manufacturing labourers is accompanied not merely by a
corresponding but by an increased productive power. If
three hundred thousand families are now employed in
Great Britain to manufacture and transport two hundred
and forty millions of pounds of cotton, it is absolutely
certain that six hundred thousand families could manu
POLITICALEÇONOMY. 165
Political
Economy.
Production.
Productive¬
ness of la¬
bour in agri¬
culture and
manufac¬
tures.
facture and transport four hundred and eighty millions of
pounds of cotton. It is, in fact, certain that they could do
much more. It is not improbable that they could manu¬
facture and transport seven hundred and twenty millions.
The only check by which we can predict that the progress
of our manufactures will in time be retarded, is the in¬
creasing difficulty of importing materials and food. If
the importation of raw produce could keep pace with
the power of working it up, there would be no limit to
the increase of wealth and population.
Distribution.
Distribu- three great branches of Political Economy,
tion. the nature, the production, and the distribution of wealth,
we have now considered the two former, and we pro¬
ceed to treat of the last, namely, of the laws according
to which all that is produced is distributed among those
who become its ultimate consumers. In that state of
society which is presupposed by the Political Economist.,
this is principally effected by means of exchange. We
may indeed conceive a state of human existence ad¬
mitting of this distribution without the intervention of
exchanges. But such a situation of society, if it can be
called society, neither deserves nor requires scientific
investigation. Political Economy considers men in
that more advanced state, which may fairly be called
their natural state, since it is the state to which they
are impelled by the provisions of nature, in which each
individual relies on his fellows for the greater part,
in many cases for the whole of what he consumes, and
supplies his own wants principally or wholly by the ex¬
changes in which he contributes to theirs.
But we must admit that we use each of the words pro¬
duction and exchanoe in a sense rather more extensive
O
than is usual. We have already staled that we apply the
word production to much that would commonly be called
appropriation, and that we include under exchanges what
are usually termed public burdens. We consider all
that is received by the officers of Government as given
in exchange for services affording protection, more or
less complete, against foreign or domestic violence or
fraud. It is true, as we have already remarked, that
this exchange is conducted on peculiar principles. In
those Governments which are not democratic or re¬
presentative, the rulers themselves assess the amount
which they are to receive, and generally assess it at
the utmost which, under such circumstances, can be
extorted from their subjects. And even under repre¬
sentative or democratic institutions, no individual in¬
habitant is permitted to refuse his share of the general
contribution, though he should disclaim his share in the
general protection. But the transaction, though oiten
involuntary, and still more often inequitable, is still an
exchange, and on the whole a beneficial exchange. The
worst and most inefficient Government affords to its sub¬
jects a cheaper and a more effectual protection than
they could obtain by their individual and unaided
exertions.
The laws by which exchanges are regulated may be
divided into two great branches. The one comprises
those laws which apply generally to all exchanges ;
the other those which apply specifically to the respec¬
tive kinds of exchanges in which the owners of the dif¬
ferent productive instruments exchange specifically with
one another the produce of those instruments.
In treating of the one we have to consider the general
laws which regulate exchanges ; in treating of the other, I'olitical
the relative proportions in which different classes of the
community benefit by those laws. The things ex-
changed will be the principal subjects of the one dis- ^ion.
cussion, the exchanging parties of the other. Nomencia-
One of the greatest difficulties to which a writer on ture.
Political Economy is exposed, arises from the mutual
dependence of the different propositions constituting the
Science ; a dependence which makes it difficult to ex¬
plain any one without a frequent allusion to many others.
And this is particularly the case with respect to distri¬
bution. The proportions in which different classes of
the community are entitled to the things that are pro-»
duced cannot be explained without a constant reference
to the general laws of exchange ; and, on the other hand,
those laws cannot be discussed without a constant re¬
ference to the exchanging parties. Admitting, as we
are forced to do, that no arrangement can be free from
objection, we have thought that the least objectionable
mode of presenting the subject of distribution will be
to begin by a general classification of the parties among
whom the results of the different instruments of produc¬
tion are divided ; then to proceed to state the general
laws of exchange; and, lastly, to point out the general cir¬
cumstances which decide in what proportions the different
classes of the community share in the general distri¬
bution.
According to the usual language of Political Econo¬
mists, labour, capital, and land are the three instruments
of production ; labourers, capitalists, and landlords are
the three classes of producers ; and the whole produce is
divided into wages, profit, and rent : the first designat¬
ing the labourer's share, the second that of the capitalist,
and the third that of the landlord. We approve, on the
whole, of the principles on which this classification is
founded, but we have been forced, much against our
will, to make considerable alterations in the language
in which it has been usually expressed ; to add some
new terms, and to enlarge and contract the signification
of some others.
It appears to us that, to have a nomenclature which
should fully and precisely indicate the facts of the case,
not less than twelve distinct terms would be necessary.
For each class there ought to be a name for the instru¬
ment employed or exercised, a name for the class of
persons who employ or exercise it, a name for the act of
employing or exercising it, and a name for the share of
the produce by which that act is remunerated. Of
these terms we have not much more than half, as will
appear if we examine each class separately.
For the first class we have the terms " to labour,"
a labourer," and "wages." Neither of these terms
expresses the instruments of production; the substantive
" labour," and the verb " to labour," express merely an
act. A labourer" is an agent, and wages are a result :
but what is the thing employed? what is it that the
labourer exerts? Clearly his mental or bodily facul¬
ties. With the addition of this term the nomenclature
of the first class will be complete. To labour is to em¬
ploy strength of body or mind for the purpose of pro¬
duction ; the person who does so is a labourer, and
wages are his remuneration.
In the second class we have the words capital, capi¬
talist, and profit. These terms express the instrument,
the person who employs or exercises it, and his remu¬
neration ; but there is no familiar term to express the act,
the conduct of which profit is the reward, and which
166 POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Political bears the same relation to profit which labour does to
Economy. conduct we have already g'iven the
Di^r^ name of abstinence. The addition of this term will
tion. complete the nomenclature of the second class. Capital
Nomencla- is an article of wealth, the result of human exertion, em-
ture.
ployed in the production or distribution of wealth. Ab¬
stinence expresses both the act of abstaining from the
uiiprofluctive use of capital, and also the similar con¬
duct of the man who devotes his labour to the produc¬
tion of remote rather than of immediate results. The
person who so acts is a capitalist, the reward of his con¬
duct is profit.
The defectiveness of the established nomenclature is
more striking when we come to the third class. Wages
and profits are the creation of man. They are the re¬
compense for the sacrifice made in the one case, of ease,
in the other, of immediate enjoyment. But a consider¬
able part of the produce of every Country is the recom¬
pense of iiO sacrifice whatever; is received by those who
neither labour nor put by, but merely hold out their
hands to accept the offerings of the rest of the com¬
munity.
The powers of nature, as distinguished from those
of man, are necessary to afford a field for the exer¬
cise of human abstinence and labour. Of these, some
from their abundance and the notoriety of the means
of employing them, are incapable of appropriation.
Being universally accessible, they bear no price notwith¬
standing their utility; and what has been produced with
their assistance has no value beyond that of the labour
and abstinence which it has cost. It sells therefore for
a price equal to, but not exceeding, the sum of the wages
and profits which must be paid if the production is to
be continued. The agency of nature is equally essen¬
tial to the production of timber in the forests of Upper
Canada and in England. But the supply of timber in
the forests of Upper Canada is practically unlimited.
No portion of the price of a Canadian hut is paid for
the agency of nature in producing the logs of which it
is constructed. The pine while standing was valueless.
The purchaser pays only for the labour and abstinence
necessary to fell and to fashion it.
But the assistance of an appropriated natural agent
may render possible the production of a commodity more
vahuible than the result of equal labour and abstinence
without such assistance. Such a commodity sells for
a price exceeding the sum of the wages and profits
which are sufficient to repay the capitalist and the la¬
bourer who have been employed on it. The surplus is
taken by the proprietor of the natural agent, and is his
reward, not for having laboured or abstained, but sim¬
ply for not having withheld what he was able to with¬
hold ; for having permitted the gifts of nature to be ac¬
cepted.
If we subtract from the price of an English oak what
must be paid for the labour of him who planted the
sapling, and for the abstinence of those who allowed it
to grow for a century, still something is to be paid for
the use of the land by which it was nourished. And
that is the price of the agency not of man but of nature.
Of the agents afforded by nature, the principal is the
land with its rivers, ports, and mines. In the rare cases
in which the quantity of useful land is practically un¬
limited, a state of things which occurs only in the early
stages of colonization, land is an agent universally ac¬
cessible, and, as nothing is paid for its use, the whole
produce belongs to the cultivators, and is divided, under
1*1* I
the names of wages and profit, between the capitalists and ^ ^
the labourers, of whose abstinence and industry it is the , J
result. ^ ... Distribu-
But in all old Countries, and even in colonies within tion.
a very few years after their foundation, certain lands, Nomencla'
from peculiar advantages of soil or situation, are found
to make more than the average return to a given expen¬
diture of capital and industry. The proprietor of such
lands, if he cultivate them himself, receives a surplus
after having paid the wages of his labourers and de¬
ducted the profit to which he is entitled on his capital.
He of course receives the same surplus if, instead of
cultivating them himself, he lets them out to some other
capitalist. The tenant receives the same profit, and the
labourers receive the same wages as if they were em¬
ployed on land possessing merely average natural ad¬
vantages ; the surplus forms the rent of the proprietor,
or, as we usually term him, the landlord. The whole
produce, instead of two, is divided into three shares—rent,
profit, and wages. If the owner is also the capitalist or
farmer, he receives two of these shares, both the profit
and the rent. If he allow it to be cultivated by the
capital of another, he receives only rent. But rent,
with or without profit, he necessarily receives. And
when the whole of a Country has been appropriated,
though it be true, as will be shown hereafter, that some
of the produce is raised by the application of additional
capital without payment of additional rent, and may
therefore be said to be raised rent free, yet it is equally
true that a rent is received from every cultivated acre ; a
rent rising or falling according to the accidents of soil
and situation, but the necessary result of limited extent
and jiroductive power.
It is obvious, however, as we have already stated, that
land, though the principal, is not the only natural agent
that can be appropriated. The mere knowledge of the
operations of nature, as long as the use of that know¬
ledge can be confined either by secrecy or by law,
creates a revenue to its possessor analogous to the rent
of land. The knowledge of the effect on the fibres of
cotton of rollers moving with different velocities, enabled
a village barber to found in a very few years a more than
aristocratic fortune. Still greater wealth might pro¬
bably have been acquired by Dr. Jenner, if he could
have borne somewhat to limit the benefits which he has
conferred on mankind.
When the author of a useful discovery puts it himself
in practice, he is like a proprietor farming his own pro¬
perty ; the produce, after paying average wages for
the labour, and average profits for the capital, employed,
affords a still further revenue, the effect not of that capi¬
tal or of that labour, but of the discovery, the creation
not of man but of nature. If, instead of using it himself,
he let out to another the privilege of using it, he ob¬
tains a revenue so precisely resembling the rent of land
that it often receives the same name. The payment
made by a manufacturer to a patentee for the privilege
of using the patent process is usually termed in com¬
mercial language a ; and under the same head must
be ranked all the peculiar advantages of situation or con¬
nection, and all extraordinary qualities of body and mind.
The surplus revenue which they occasion beyond ave¬
rage wages and profits is a revenue for which no addi^
tional sacrifice has been made. The proprietor of these ad¬
vantages differs from a landlord only in the circumstance
that he cannot in general let them out to be used by
another, a d must consequently either allow them tobe
POLITICALECONOMY. 167
ture.
Political useless or turn them to account himself. He is forced,
conoi^.^ therefore, always to employ on them his own industry,
and generally his own capital, and receives not only
tion. wages and profit. If, therefore, the established
Nomencla- division is adhered to, and all that is produced is to be
divided into rent, profit, and wages,—and certainly that
appears to be the most convenient classification ;—and if
wages and profit are to be considered as the rewards of
peculiar sacrifices, the former the remuneration for
labour, and the latter for abstinence from immediate
enjoyment, it is clear that under the term " rent" must
be included all that is obtained without any sacrifice ;
or, which is the same thing, beyond the remuneration
for that sacrifice ; all that nature or fortune bestows either
without any exertion on the part of the recipient, or in
addition to the average remuneration for the exercise
of industry or the employment of capital.
But though we see no objection to this extension of
the word rent, the terms land and landlord are too pre¬
cise to admit of being equally extended. It would be
too great an innovation to include under the term land
every natural agent which is capable of appropriation,
or under the term landlord every proprietor of such an
agent. For these terms we must substitute those of
natural agent, and proprietor of a natural agent. And
the third class will then have a term for the third instru¬
ment of production, a term for the owner of that in¬
strument, and a term for the share which he receives of
the produce: terms corresponding with the terms facul¬
ties of body and mind, labourer, and wages, as applied
to the first class, and with capital, capitalist, and profit,
as applied to the second. We shall still want a term
corresponding with labour and abstinence,—a term in¬
dicating the conduct which enables the proprietor of a
natural agent to receive a rent. But as this conduct
implies no sacrifice,—as it consists merely in not suffering
the instrument of which he is the owner to be useless,
it perhaps does not require a distinct designation. When
a man possesses an estate, we take it for granted that he
does not allow it to lie waste, but either uses it himself,
or lets it to a tenant. In ordinary language the receipt
of rent is included under the term ownership. There
will therefore be little danger of obscuritv if we consider
the word possess," when applied to the [)roprietor of
a natural agent, as implying the receipt of the advantages
afforded by that agent, or, in other words, of rent.
Talents, indeed, often lie idle, but in that case they may
be considered for economical purposes as not possessed.
In fact, unaccompanied by the will to use them, they are
useless.
But though the whole produce may be considered as
divided into three shares, one of which is taken by the
capitalists, another by the labourers, and another by the
proprietors of the natural agents which have concurred
in the production, it is very seldom that any given
commodity, or the produce of any one productive ex¬
ertion, is thus actually divided. The nearest approach
to it takes place in those cases in which producers be¬
longing to different classes become partners and agree
that the produce of their joint exertions shall be sold
and the price divided between them. Such a partner¬
ship is often formed between a capitalist and his labourers
when the success of the enterprise depends much on the
zeal of the labourers, and the capitalist is unable to over¬
look them. Such is the case in the Greenland fishery.
The men seldom receive preasceitained wages, but, on
the termination of the voyage, the blubber is sold, and
the price divided between the owners and the crew* Political
The practice is the same in privateering, and probably Economy,
in many other maritime speculations. Somewhat similar
• T^* 4' * V\
is the mode of letting land called the mëtayer system.
Under that system, which is still common in the Conti- Nomencla-
nent of Europe, and probably is always to be found in ture,
a certain state of society, the landlord supplies the capi¬
tal as well as the land, and receives half the crop, the
remainder forming the wages of the tenant or head-
labourer, and of the inferior work-people in his employ.
But these are exceptions occasioned by the peculiarities
of the adventure, or by the poverty or ignorance of imper¬
fect civilization. The usual practice is to consider one
of the parties as entitled to the whole product, paying
to the others a price for their co-operation. The person
so entitled is uniformly the capitalist : the sums which he
pays for wages and rent are the purchase-money for the
services of the labourer, and for the use of the natural
agent employed.
In most cases a considerable interval elapses between
the period at which the natural agent and the labourer
are first employed, and the completion of the product.
In this climate the harvest is seldom reaped until nearly
a year after it has been sown ; a still longer time is
required for the maturity of oxen ; and a longer still for
that of a horse ; and sixty or seventy years may pass
between the commencement of a plantation, and the
time at which the timber is saleable. It is obvious that
neither the landlord nor the labourer, as such, can wait
during all this interval for their remuneration. The
doing so would, in fact, be an act of abstinence. It
would be the employment of land and labour in order
to obtain remote results. This sacrifice is made by the
capitalist, and he is repaid for it by his appropriate re¬
muneration, profit. He advances to the landlord and
the labourer, and in most cases to some previous capi¬
talist, the price of their respective assistance; or, in other
words, the hire of the land and capital belonging to one,
and of the mental and bodily powers of another, and
becomes solely entitled to the whole ot the product. The
success of his operations depends on the proportion
which the value of that produce, (or, in commercial
language, the value of his returns) bears to the value of
his advances, taking into consideration the time for
which those advances have been made. If the value of
the return is inferior to that of the advance, he is ob¬
viously a loser ; he is a loser if it be merely equal, as he
has incurred abstinence without profit, or, in ordinary
language, has lost the interest on his capital. He is a
loser even if the value of his returns do not exceed that
of his advances by an amount equal to the current rate
of profit for the period during which the advance has
been made. In any of these cases the product is sold,
so far as the capitalist is concerned, for less than the
cost of its production. The employment of capital,
therefore, is necessarily a speculation ; it is the purchase
of so much productive power which may or may not
occasion a remunerative return.
The common language of Economists, therefore, which
describes the landlord, the capitalist, and the labourer
as sharers of the produce, is a fiction. Almost all that
is produced is in the first instance the property of the
capitalist; he has purchased it by having pieviously
paid the rent and wages, and incurred or paid for the
abstinence, which weie necessary to its production. A
portion of it, but generally a small portion, he consumes
himself in the state in which he receives it; the re^
168 P O L I T I C À L E C O N O M Y.
Political mainder he sells. He may, if he think fit, employ the
Economy, pj-i^e of all that he sells in purchases for his own grati-
fication ; but he cannot remain a capitalist unless he
tion^^ consent to empjoy some portion of it in the hire of the
Nomencla- land and labour, by the assistance of which the process
ture. of production is to be continued or recommenced. He
cannot, generally speaking, fully retain his situation as
a capitalist unless he employ enough to hire as much
land and labour as before ; and if he wish to raise
himself in the world, he must, generally speaking, not
merely keep up but increase the sum which he devotes
to the purchase of productive force. If, for instance, he
has hired the use of a farm for a year for ¿£1000, and
has paid <£2000 more as wages to his labourers, and has
expended £1000 in the purchase, from other capitalists,
of agricultural stock, and at the end of the year has sold
the produce for £4400, he may, if he like, spend on his
Own oratification the whole of that £4400; or he may
so spend only £400, and employ the rest in hiring the
farm and the labourers, and purchasing stock for another
year ; or he may spend on himself only £200, and by
employing productively £4200 instead of £4000, hiie
more land, or more labourers, or purchase more stock
and provide for the increase of his capital and his profit.
But in whatever way he employ his £4400, he still
must pay it to landlords, (using that word to comprise all
proprietors of natural agents,) capitalists, and labourers.
It has been objected, however, that this nomenclature
is incomplete. Rent, profit, and wages, it has been said,
designate only those portions of the annual produce
which the producers consume for their own gratification.
They form the revenue of a nation. A further portion,
and a very large one, must be employed not as revenue,
but as capital ; not in directly supplying the wants or
directlv ministerinn: to the enjoyments of either land-
O ti
lords, labourers, or capitalists, but merely in keeping* up
the instruments of production. Thus of the farmer's
whole return, which we have supposed tobe of the value
of £4400, we may suppose a portion, amounting in
value to £200, to have consisted of corn which he re¬
turned to the earth as seed, and another portion, amount¬
ing to the same value, to have consisted of the forage
which he gave to his working cattle. It has been said
that neither this seed nor this forage was rent, profit, or
wages.
I'he answer to this objection is, that the seed-corn and
forage in question were th.e result of land, labour, and
abstinence ; they were entitled, therefore, when produced,
t<) be denominated rent, wages, or profit, and the cir¬
cumstance that they were employed to produce future
instead of immediate gratification does not varv their
character. When produced, they were revenue: their
conversión into capital was a subsequent accident. No
one would except against the expression that such and
such a labourer has saved part of his wages and em¬
ployed them in stocking his garden. If the words re¬
venue and income were co-extensive with expenditure,
the common statement, that a man is living within his
income, would be a contradiction in terms.
Perhaps this may be made clearer if we retrace the
history of capital.
The primary instruments of production were labour,
and those prodintive agents which are spontaneously
afforded by nature. The first dwellers on the earth had
only rent and wages. The savage who, instead of de¬
vouring the ani-mals which he had entrapped, reserved
them to become the origin of a domesticated flock, and
he who reserved, to be employed as seed, some of the Political
grains which he had gathered, laid the foundation of I^conoiny.
capital. The produce of that flock and of that seed
was partly rent, partly wages, and partly profit. And
it did not cease to be so, although he refused to employ
the whole of it on his immediate gratification.
It must be admitted, however, that the portion of the
annual produce which is employed in the production or
the support of brute or inanimate capital is not usually
termed rent, wages, or profit. It has not, in fact, any
specific name. But it appears to us to be the most
philosophical arrangement to consider it as rent, wages,
or profit, according to the character of its proprietor,
without regard to its subsequent destination.
Having made this general classification of the parties Exchange,
among whom the results of the different productive in¬
struments are divided, we now proceed to consider the
general laws which regulate the proportions in which
those results are exchanged for one another. To a
certain degree this question was considered when we
treated of value ; but not having at that time explained
the words production, wages, profit, or rent, we were
unable to do more than to state and illustrate the fol¬
lowing propositions:—
First, that all those things, and those things only, ai e
susceptible of exchange, which, being transferable, are
limited in supply, and are capable, directly or indirectly,
of affording pleasure or preventing pain ; a capacity to
which we have affixed the name of utility. Secondly, that
the reciprocal values of any two things, or, in other
words, the quantity of the one which will exchange for
a given quantity of the other, depend on two sets of
causes; those which occasion the utility and limit the
supply of the one, and those which limit the supply and
occasion the utility of the other. The causes which oc¬
casion the utility and limit the supply of any given
commodity or service, we denominated the mtrinsic
causes of its value. Those which limit the supply and
occasion the utility of the commodities or services for
which it is capable of being exchanged, we denomi¬
nated the extrinsic causes of its value. And, thirdly, that
comparative limitation of supply, or, to speak more
familiarly, though less philosophically, comparative
scarcity, though not sufficient to constitute value, is
by far its most important element ; utility, or, in other
words, demand, being mainly dependent on it. We
had not then shown the means by which supply is
effected. Having done this, having shown that human
Labour and Abstinence, and the spontaneous agency of
Nature, are the three instruments of production, we
are at liberty to explain what are the obstacles which
limit the supply of all that is produced, and the mode
in which those obstacles affect the reciprocal values of
the different subjects of exchange.
In the following discussion, however, we shall in
general substitute price or value in money for general
value.
The general value of any commodity, that is, the Price,
quantity of all the other subjects of exchange which
might be obtained in return for a given quantity of it, is
incapable of being ascertained. Its specific value in
any other commodity may be ascertained by the experi¬
ment of an exchange ; the anxiety of each party in the
exchange to give as little, and obtain as much as pos¬
sible, leading him to investigate, as accurately as he can,
the intrinsic causes giving value to each of the articles
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
169
Distribu¬
tion.
Price.
Political to be exchang-ed. This is, however, a troublesome
operation, and many expedients are used to diminish its
frequency. The most obvious one is to consider a
single exchange, or the mean of a few exchanges, as a
model for subsequent exchanges of a similar nature.
By an extension of this expedient it may become a
model for exchanges not of a similar nature. If given
quantities of two different articles are each found by ex¬
perience to exchange for a given quantity of a third
article, the proportionate value of the two first-mentioned
articles may, of course, be inferred. It is mmanred by
the third. Hence arise the advantages of selecting, as
one of the subjects of every exchange, a single commo¬
dity, or, more correctly, a species of commodities con¬
stituted of individuals of precisely similar qualities. In
the first place, all persons can ascertain, with tolerable
accuracy, the intrinsic causes which give value to the
selected commodity, so that one half the trouble of an
exchange is ready performed. And, secondly, if an ex¬
change is to be effected between any other two commo¬
dities, the quantity of each that is usually exchanged for
a given quantity of the third commodity is ascertained,
and their relative value is inferred. The commodity thus
^elected as the general instrument of exchange, whatever
be its substance, whether salt, as in Abyssinia, cowries, on
the Coast of Guinea, or the precious metals, as in Europe,
is money. When the use of such a commodity, or, in
other words, of money, has become established, value in
money, or price^ is the only value familiarly contem-
]3lated. The scarcity and durability of gold and silver
(the substances used as money by all civilized nations)
make them peculiarly unsusceptible of alteration in
value from intrinsic causes. On these accounts we think
it better, in the following discussion, to refer rather to
Drice than to general value, and to consider the value of
Aioiiey, so far as it depends on intrinsic causes, to be
unvarying.
We must preface our explanation of the effect on
price of the causes limiting supply, by a remark which
may appear self-evident, but which must always be kept
in recollection, namely, that where the only natural
agents employed are those which are universally acces¬
sible, and therefore are practically unlimited in supply.,
the utility of the produce., or, in other words, its power,
ddrecily or indirectly, of producing gratification, or pre-
vni'lng pain, must he in proportion to the sacrifices
made to produce it, unless the producer has misapplied
his exertions ; since no man would willingly emfioy a
given amount of labour or abstinence m producing one
couimodity, if he could obtain more gratification by de¬
voting them to the production of another.
We now revert to the causes which limit supply.
There are some commodities the results of agents no
longer in existence, or acting at remote and uncertain
periods, the supply of which cannot be increased, or
cannot be reckoned upon. Antiques and relics belong to
the first class, and all the very rare productions of Nature
or Art, such as diamonds of extraordinary size, or pictures,
or statues of extraordinary beauty, to the second. The
values of such commodities are subject to no definite
rules, and depend altogether on the wealth and taste of
the community. In common language, they are said to
bear a fancy price, that is, a price depending principally
on the caprice or fashion of the day. The Boccaccio,
which a few years ago sold for ¿^2000, and after a year
or two's interval for ¿^700, may perhaps, fifty years
hence, be purchased for a shilling. Relics which, in
VOL. VI.
the IXth Century, were thought too valuable to admit Poiitica
of a definite price, would now be thought equally in- Economy,
capable of price in consequence of their utter worthless-
ness. In the following discussion we shall altogether
omit such commodities, and confine our attention to
those of which the supply is capable of increase, either
regular, or sufficiently approaching to regularity, to ad¬
mit of calculation.
The obstacle to the supply of those commodities
which are produced by labour and abstinence, with that
assistance only from nature which every one can com¬
mand, consists solely in the difficulty of finding persons
ready to submit to the labour and abstinence necessary
to their production. In other words, their supply is
limited by the cost of their production.
The term cost of production" must be familiar to Cost of pro
those who are acquainted with the writings of modern duction.
Economists; but, like most terms in Political Economy,
though currently used, it has never been accurately de¬
fined ; and it appears to us impossible that it should
have been defined without the assistance of the term
abstinence," or of some equivalent expression.
Mr. Ricardo, who originally introduced the term
" cost of production," uses as an equivalent expression,
the quantity of labour which has been bestowed on
the production of a commodity." Mr. Mill, ch. Iii. sec.
2. appears to consider cost of production as equivalent
to quantity of labour." Mr. Malthus more elaborately
defines it as " the advance of the quantity of accumulated
and immediate labour necessary to production, with such
a per centage upon the whole of the advances for the
time they have been employed as is equivalent to ordinary
profits." Definitions, p. 242.
In a note to the third edition, page 46, Mr. Ricardo
admits that profit also forms a part of the cost of pro¬
duction. Mr. Mill, by a stretch of language, in the
convenience of which we cannot concur, includes profit
under the term labour. The definitions of Mr. Ricardo
and Mr. Mill appear, therefore, to coincide. And
that adopted by Mr. Malthus only differs from them in
referring, not to the labour that has been employed, but
to that which must be employed if the production must
be continued. In this respect the language of Mr.
Malthus is undoubtedly the most correct. The sacri¬
fices that have been made to produce a given commo¬
dity have no effect on its value. All that the purchaser
considers is the amount of sacrifice that its production
would require at the time of the exchange. If the etx-
pense of producing a pair of stockings were suddenly to
fall or to rise by one half, a rise or fall in the value of the
existing stockings would be the consequence, although
the labour that has been employed on them is of course
unalterable. And when Mr. Ricardo and Mr. Mill speak
of the labour which has been employed on a com¬
modity as affecting its value, they must be understood
as implying that the circumstances of production remain
unchanged.
Colonel Torrens considers cost of production as equi¬
valent to ** the amount of capital expended on produc¬
tion," and refuses to consider profit as forming one of
its elements. His remarks throw so much light on the
whole subject, that we will venture to extract them at
some length.
" Those writers who contend for the general equality
of market and natural price, include the customary rate
of profit under the term natural price, or cost of pro¬
duction. But this classification is highly un philosophic
2 A
170
POLITICAL
ECONOMY.
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Price.
Cost of pro¬
duction.
cal aiîd incorrect. The profits of stock never make any
part of the expense of production ; they are, on the con¬
trary, a new creation brought into existence in conse¬
quence of this expense. The farmer, we will suppose,
expends one hundred quarters of corn in cultivating
his fields, and obtains in return one hundred and
twenty quarters. In this case twenty quarters, being
the excess of produce above expenditure, constitute the
farmer's profit, but it would be absurd to call this
excess or profit a part of the expenditure. The expen¬
diture or cost of production was one hundred quarters.
It has been now repaid with a surplus of twenty quar¬
ters ; and, unless the surplus which remains after the
expenditure is replaced be a part of the expenditure,
unless, in fact, one hundred and twenty quarters be
equal to a hundred, it is impossible that market price
should be equivalent to natural. Supposing that corn
is £3 per quarter, then, in the case we have stated, the
natural price of the farmer's produce, or the one
hundred quarters expended upon production, will be
equivalent to ¿^300 ; while the produce of one hun¬
dred and twenty quarters obtained in return will be
equivalent to £360. The excess of market above
natural price, or cost of production, is profit; and to
contend that this profit is included in the cost of pro¬
duction, is the same thing as contending that the hun¬
dred quarters, or £300 laid out in cultivation, are equal
to the one hundred and twenty quarters, or ¿^360 there¬
by obtained.
" In manufacturing, as well as in agricultural industry,
the profit of stock is distinct from the cost of production.
The master manufacturer expends a certain quantity of
raw material, of tools and implements of trade, and of sub¬
sistence for labourers, and obtains in return a given
quantity of finished work. This finished work must
possess a higher exchangeable value than the materials,
tools, and subsistence, by the advance of which it was
obtained; otherwise the master could have no induce¬
ment to continue his business. Manufacturing industry
would cease, if the value produced did not exceed the
value expended. But it is the excess of value which the
finished work possesses above the value of the materials,
implements, and subsistence expended, that constitutes
the master's profit; and therefore we cannot assert that
the profit of his stock is included in the cost of produc¬
tion without affirming the gross absurdity, that the ex¬
cess of value above expenditure constitutes a part of ex¬
penditure. Supposing that the materials, tools, and
subsistence cost ¿^300, and that the finished work is
worth ^360, then the difference will be the master's
profit; and we cannot maintain that the annual profit is
included in the amount of expenditure, or cost of pro¬
duction, without urging the contradiction that ¿^300
are equal to ¿£360.
" The profit of stocK, so far from forming any part of
the cost of production, is a surplus remaining after this
cost has been completely replaced. In carrying on
their business, the farmer and manufacturer do not ex¬
pend their profit, they create it. It forms no part of
their first advances ; on the contrary, it forms a part
of their subsequent returns. It could not have been
employed in carrying on the work of production, be¬
cause, until this work was completed, it had no exist¬
ence. It is essentially a surplus, a new creation, over
and above all that is necessary to replace the cost of
production, or, in other words, the capital advanced,
it is hoped that enough has been said to convince the
reader of the nature of the error into which those Political
Economists fall who maintain that the profit of stock Economy,
is included in the expense of production, and that
natural and market price tend to an equality. Market
price is that which we give in order to obtain a comr PiiJe.
modity by exchange in the market; natural price is that Cost of pro
which we give to effect a purchase at the great store- duction.
house of nature ; it consists of the several articles of
capital employed in production, and cannot by possi¬
bility include the surplus or profit created during the
progress of production."^
Colonel Torrens's remarks are just, so far as they
apply to the mere expressions which he is criticising.
Profit is certainly not a means, but a result. It is true
that unless that result were expected, production would
not be continued. Neither the farmer nor the manufac¬
turer could be induced by any other motive to abstain
from the unproductive enjoyment of his capital; so
food would not be produced unless its consumption were
necessary or agreeable. But the obtaining a profit is
no more a part of the cost of producing a harvest than
the gratification of appetite is a part of the cost of pro¬
ducing a dinner, or protection from cold part of the cost
of producing a coat.
Want of the term abstinence, or of some equivalent
expression, has led Mr. Malthus into inaccuracy of lan¬
guage. He seems to have felt that something besides
mere labour is essential to production. He felt that
simple industry would not convert a naked heath into a
valuable wood ; that the planter, in addition to the
labour of inserting and protecting the saplings, incurred
the additional sacrifice of directing his labour to the
production of remote results; and that the successive
generations of proprietors, in suffering the young plan¬
tation to become mature, sacrificed their own emolu¬
ment to that of their successors. He seems to have felt
that these sacrifices were part of the cost of producing
the wood, and, having no term to express them, he de¬
nominated them by the name of their reward. When
he termed profit a part of the cost of production, he
appears to us to have meant not profit, but that conduct
which is repaid by profit : an inaccuracy precisely
similar to that committed by those who term wages a
part of the cost of production ; meaning not wages,
which are a result, but the labour for which wages are
the remuneration.
Colonel Torrens's error is an error of omission. He
refuses to consider profit as part of the cost of production,
but he does not substitute for it abstinence or any equiva¬
lent expression. Although he admits that where equal
capitals are employed the value of the products may differ
if the one be brought to market sooner than the other, he
has not stated the principle on which this difference de¬
pends. That principle is that, though in both cases the
labour employed is the same, more abstinence is ne¬
cessary in the one case than in the other.
By cost of production^ then, we mean the sum of the
labour and abstinence necessary to production. But
cost of production, thus defined, must be divided into
the cost of production on the part of the producer or
seller, and the cost of production on the part of the con
sumer or purchaser. The first is of course the amount
of the labour and abstinence which must be undergone
by him who offers for sale a given class of commodities
" TorrenS; On the Production of Wealth 51—&5.
P o L I T I C A L E C o N o M y. 171
Political, or services in order to enable him to continue to produce
^Economy second is, the amount of the labour and
üTstribu^ ' abstinence which must be undergone by those to whom a
tion. given commodity or service is offered for sale, if, instead
Price. of purchasing, they themselves, or some of them on the
Jost of pro' behalf of themselves and the others, were to produce it.
luciion. Xhe first is equal to the minimum, the second to the maxi¬
mum of price. For, on the one hand, no man would
continue to produce, for the purpose of sale, what should
sell for less than it cost him to produce it. And, on the
other hand, no men would continue to buy what they
themselves, or some of them on the behalf of themselves
and the others, could produce at less expense. With re¬
spect to those commodities, or, to speak more accurately,
with respect to the value of those parts or attributes of
commodities, which are the subjects of equal competition,
which may be produced by all persons with equal advan¬
tages, the cost of production to the producer and the cost
of production to the consumer are the same. Their price,
therefore, represents the aggregate amount of the labour
and abstinence necessary to continue their production. If
their price should fall lower, the wages or the profits of
those employed in their production must fall below the
average remuneration of the labour and abstinence that
must be undergone if their jjroduction is to be con¬
tinued. In time, therefore, it is discontinued or di¬
minished, until the value of the product has been raised
by the diminution of the supply. If the price should
rise beyond the cost of their production, the producers
must receive more than an average remuneration for
their sacrifices. As soon as this has been discovered,
capital and industry flow towards the employment which,
by this supposition, offers extraordinary advantages.
Those who formerly were purchasers, or persons on their
behalf, turn producers themselves, until the increased sup¬
ply has equalized the price with the cost of production.
Some years ago London depended for water on the
New River Company. As the quantity which they can
supply is limited, the price rose with the extension of
buildings, until it so far exceeded the cost of produc¬
tion as to induce some of the consumers to become pro¬
ducers. Three new Water Companies were established,
and the price fell as the supply increased, until the
shares in the New River Company fell to nearly one-
fourth of their former value ; from ¿£15,000 to £4000.
If the metropolis should continue to increase these trans¬
actions will recur. The price of water will increase
and exceed the cost at which it could be afforded.
New Companies will arise, and, unless the additional
supply is checked by greater natural obstacles than
those which the existing Companies have to surmount,
the price will again fall to its present level.
But though, under free competition, cost of production
is the regulator of price, its influence is subject to much
occasional interruption. Its operation can be sup¬
posed to be perfect only if we suppose that there are no
disturbing causes, that capital and labour can be at
once transferred, and without loss, from one employ¬
ment to another, and that every producer has full infor¬
mation of the profit to be derived from every mode of
production. But it is obvious that these suppositions
have no resemblance to the truth. A large portion of the
capital essential to production consists of buildings, ma¬
chinery, and other implements, the results of much time
and labour, and of little service for any except their exist¬
ing purposes. A still larger portion consists ofknowledge
and of intellectual and bodily dexterity, applicable only to
the processes in which those qualities were originally ac- Political
quired. Again, the advantage derived from any gi\en Economy,
business depends so much upon the dexterity and the good
fortune with which it is managed, that few capitalists can
estimate, except upon an average of some years, the amount Price,
of their own profits, and still fewer can estimate those of Cost of pm
their neighbours. Established businesses, therefore, may diction,
survive the causes in which they originated, and become
gradually extinguished as their comparative unprofitable¬
ness is discovered, and the labourers and capital engaged
in them wear away without being replaced ; and, on the
other hand, other employments are inadequately supplied
with the capital and industry which they could profitably
absorb. During the interval, the products of the one
sell for more, and those of the others for less, than their
cost of production. Political Economy does not deal with
particular facts but with general tendencies, and when we
assign to cost of production the power of regulating price
in cases of equal competition, we mean to describe it not as
a point to which price is attached, but as a centre of
oscillation which it is always endeavouring to approach.
We have seen that, under circumstances of equal com¬
petition, or, in other words, where all persons can
become producers, and that with equal advantages, the
cost of production on the part of the pioducer or seller,
and the cost of production on the part of the consumer
or purchaser, are the same, and that the commodity
thus produced sells for its cost of production; or, in other
words, at a price equal to the sum of the labour and ab¬
stinence which its production requires ; or, to use a more
familiar expression, at a price equal to the amount of
the wages and profits which must be paid to induce the
producers to continue their exertions. It has lately
been a general opinion that the bulk of commodities is
produced under circumstances of equal competition.
By far the greater part of those goods,'' says Mr.
Ricardo, {Principles, Sfc. p. 3.) "which are the objects
of desire are produced by labour, and may be multiplied
almost without any assignable limit if we are disposed
to bestow the labour necessary to obtain them. In
speaking then of commodities, of their exchangeable
value, and of the laws which regulate their relative prices,
we always mean such commodities only as can be in¬
creased in quantity by the exertion of human industry,
and in the production of which competition operates
without restraint."
Now it is clear that the production in which no appro¬
priated natural agent has concurred, is the only produc¬
tion which has been made under circumstances of per¬
fectly equal competition. And how few are the com¬
modities of which the production has in no stage been
assisted by peculiar advantages of soil, or situation, or
by extraordinary talent of body or mind, or by processes
generally unknown, or protected by law from imitation.
Where the assistance of these agents, to which we have
given the general name of natural agents, has been
obtained, the result is more valuable than the result of
equal labour and abstinence unassisted by similar aids.
A commodity thus produced is called the subject of a
monopoly ; and the person who has appropriated such a
natural agent, a monopolist.
Monopolies may be divided into four kinds. Moiupi>
1. Where the monopolist has not the exclusive power lies,
of producing, but only certain exclusive facilities as a
producer, and can increase, with undiminished, or even
increased facility, the amount of his produce.
The value of a commodity produced under sucn cir-
2 A 2
172 POLITICALECONOMY
Political
Kconomy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Price.
Monopoly-
cumstances approaches more nearly to the cost of pro¬
duction on the part of the seller, than that of any other
monopolized commodity. It is obvious that its price can
never permanently fall below the value of the sacrifices
which must be made by the producer, and, on the other
hand, that it never can permanently rise above the value of
the sacrifices which must be made by the consumers, if,
instead of purchasing, they, or some persons in their
behalf, were to turn producers. Sir R. Arkwrig-ht's yarn
could not sell for more than yarn of an equal quality pro¬
duced without the aid of his patent machinery ; nor would
Arkwrii^ht have sold it for less than the value of the labour
and abstinence employed in its production. The first was
the cost of production to the consumer, the second the cost
of production to the producer. But the difference between
the two was enormous ; the cost to Arkwri^ht was not
one-fifth of what it would have been to his customers.
His inventions enabled him to produce a greater
quantity, but not a better quality. The finger and
thumb constitute an instrument more delicate than any
system of rollers, and the muslin formed by the com¬
paratively unassisted labour of the Hindoo is finer and
more durable than the produce of our elaborate manu¬
factories. The price which Arkwright could exact was
therefore limited, as we have seen, by the competition
of other productive instruments, more expensive but
quite as efficient. The price which he did exact was
still further limited by a regard to his own interest.
He had discovered an instrument of which the powers,
instead of being exhausted, increased with every increase
in its application. To erect a mill for the purpose of
spinning annually a hundred or a thousand pounds of
cotton would be madness. The expense of spinning
ten thousand pounds very little exceeds the expense of
spinning one thousand, and forty thousand might pro¬
bably be spun at less than double the expense of ten
thousand. As the quantity produced is increased, the
relative cost of production is diminished. If, therefore,
on the sale of ten thousand pounds weight of yarn at a
given price, which we will call <£10,000, his profit
amounted to £5000, the profit of selling one hundred
thousand weight at the same price might have amounted
to £90,000, and his profit on selling one million pounds
weight to £900,000. But to effect this was obviously
impossible. As value depends mainly on limitation
of supply, he could not have at once offered a large
quantity for sale without diminishing the price, if he
left that price to be fixed by the competition of the
purchasers, or without having a large portion unsold,
if he refused to submit to that diminution. His only
mode of stimulating a constant increase of consumption
was to submit to such a constant lowering of price as
should constantly widen the circle of those able and
willing to purchase. As is usually the case, his own
interest and that of the public coincided, and led him
to accept a price far exceeding indeed the cost of pro¬
duction to himself, but falling short by a still wider in¬
terval of what would have been the cost of production
to them.
Sir R. Arkwright's monopoly, therefore, was of the
most limited kind. His remuneration was bounded, and
it was not his interest even to approach that boundary.
2. A second kind of monopoly is in the opposite ex¬
treme. It exists where price is checked neither by the
hopes nor by the fears of the producer, where no competi¬
tion is dreaded, and no increased supply can be effected.
The owners of some vineyards have such a monopoly.
(bnstamia owes its peculiar flavour to the agency of a Political
few acres of ground, and that flavour would be destroyed ^ couoni>.
if high cultivation were employed to force from that
ground a larger quantity of wine. As no person but
the proprietor of the Constantia farm can be a pro- Price,
ducer, the price is not checked by any cost of produe- Monopoly,
tion to the consumer. It is not checked by any wish
of the proprietor to increase the consumption, since the
quantity produced, and consequently the quantity con¬
sumed, is incapable of increase. The price cannot of
course fall below the cost of production, but may inde¬
finitely exceed it. It is limited solely by the will and
the ability of the consumers. And if fashion were to
make it an object of intense desire among the opulent,
a pipe of Constantia, produced perhaps at the expense
of £20, might sell for £*20,000,
3 A third and more frequent kind of monopoly lies be¬
tween these two extremes, and is neither so strict as the
last, nor so comparatively open as the first. This com¬
prises those cases in which the monopolist is the only
producer, but, by the application of additional labour
and abstinence, can indefinitely increase his production.
The book trade affords an illustration. While a work
is protected by copyright, no person but the proprietor
of that copyright can produce copies; and he may
multiply them indefinitely by the application of addi¬
tional labour and abstinence. There is here no cost of
production on the part of the purchaser, and, as far as
he is concerned, the price is limited only by his will and
ability. The efficient check arises from the interest of
the publisher. As is the case with manufactures gene¬
rally, the relative expense of publication diminishes as
the number of copies published increases. It is his
interest, therefore, to encourage a large sale by affixing
a price but slightly exceeding the cost of production,
diminished as that cost is by the magnitude of the pro¬
duce. A hundred copies of Waverely might, perhaps,
have been sold at ten guineas a copy ; but there can be
no doubt that a larger aggregate profit was obtained by
selling ten thousand at a guinea and a half.
4. The fourth and last class of monopolies exists where
production must be assisted by natural agents, limited
in number, and varying in power, and repaying with
less and less relative assistance every increase in the
amount of the labour and abstinence bestowed on them.
It is under these circumstances that the greater part of
the raw produce, whatever it be, which is the staple food
of the inhabitants in every Country, potatoes in Ireland,
wheat in England, or rice in India, is produced. It is,
in fact, the great monopoly of land ; and as there are
scarcely any commodities of which the supply is not in
some measure limited bv the limited extent of the land
essential or serviceable to some process in their produc¬
tion, all general theories as to value must be subject
to error until the general laws regulating the value of
the assistance to be derived from land have been ascer¬
tained. It will be necessary, therefore, to examine them
at some length.
The soil of every extensive district is of different Land,
degrees of fertility and convenience of situation, and
the soils of each degree constitute a distinct class of
natural agents, affording each a distinct amount of assist¬
ance to the cultivator. And we have seen that each
portion of soil, whatever be its fertility, agricultural
skill remaining the same, generally gives a less and less
proportionate return to each additional quantity of labour
and abstinence bestowed on its cultivation, and may be
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
173
Political said, therefore, to comprise within itself a system of
Economy, natural agents of different powers. The different classes
of natural agents will be successively employed, in pro-
tion ' portion to their efficiency ; an inferior class being never
Price. resorted to while a superior one is equally accessible :
Monopoly, and each class, until it has been completely appropriated,
Land. may be considered as practically unlimited in supply,
since it is universally accessible. What shall be the
worst natural agent employed, or, in other words, to
what extent inferior soils shall be cultivated, or addi¬
tional labour and abstinence employed at a comparative
disadvantage on the cultivation of those which are more
fertile or better situated, must always be determined by
the wealth and wants of the community ; by the quan¬
tity of agricultural produce which they have the power
and the desire to purchase. While those wants can be
satisfied by slightly cultivating only a portion of the
most fertile and best situated land, that land, though
highly productive, indeed more productive in propor¬
tion to the labour and abstinence bestowed on it than
at any subsequent stage, cannot be a separate and in¬
dependent source of value. It is then a natural agent
universally accessible, and its produce, however large,
will exchange only for the value of the labour and ab¬
stinence employed on its production. In short, the
cost of production to the producer, and the cost of pro¬
duction to the consumer, are, under such circumstances,
the same. This is the state of some of the fertile and
thinly-peopled districts of the tropics. The inhabitants
of the greater part of the Tierra Caliente of Mexico ap¬
propriate at will from the fertile wilderness over which
they are scattered the small patches which afford them
the materials of lodging, food, and raiment. We are
told that in these districts the labour of a week will
provide subsistence for a year, but even this vast pro¬
ductive power, or even any conceivable increase in it, is
incapable of giving value to the assistance afforded as
long as the supply of that assistance remains unlimited.
It becomes limited, however, in the very earliest stages
of improvement. Both the causes and the conse¬
quences of this event may be illustrated by tracing the
progress of a colony.
When a body of emigrants arrives on the coast of an
unoccupied district, their first operation must be to fix
the situation of their future metropolis ; the seat of go¬
vernment, of law, of foreign trade, and of those manu¬
factures which require the congregation of numerous
workmen. We may suppose their numbers and the
local advantages to be such as to enable them to occupy,
within such a distance from their infant town as to
render the expense of carriage immaterial, as much land
of the highest fertility as each agricultural family may
wish to cultivate. The agricultural produce thus ob¬
tained must sell for its cost of production to the pro¬
ducer ; every consumer being able at will to turn a pro¬
ducer, with advantages equal to those enjoyed by the
existing producers, and being unwilling to give for the
result of a given amount of labour and abstinence on
their part more than the result of an equal amount of
labour and abstinence on his own part. Such a com¬
munity rapidly increases in numbers and in wealth, and
that increase is accompanied by an increased desire and
ability to purchase agricultural produce. Until the supply
of raw produce has been increased, the price must now
rise above the cost of production. But when the most
fertile lands within a given distance of the town have
been occupied, there remain only three modes of in¬
creasing the supply: either 1. by cultivating the iertile I*oIiticaI
lands at a greater distance from the town ; or, 2. by ^
cultivating the inferior land in its neighbourhood; or^ Dis^nbu
3. by employing additional labour and abstinence in the tion.
cultivation of the lands already occupied. Whichever of Price,
these plans be adopted, and probably they will all be Monopoly,
adopted, the additional quantity must be supplied at an
increased expense. The first is loaded with the expenses
of carriage ; and we know that a given amount of labour
and abstinence is employed to comparative disadvantage,
when applied either to the cultivation of inferior land, or
to the further improvement of the best land.
The immediate consequence of the increase of supply
must be a fall of price, but a fall not equal to the previous
rise. The additional supply is produced under circum¬
stances of equal competition, every consumer having it
in his power to turn producer by occupying the more
distant or less fertile territory ; it sells, therefore, for
the cost of production to the producer. But commodi¬
ties of precisely the same qualities cannot sell in the
same market for different prices. The purchaser of a
bushel of wheat does not inquire whether it was grown
within a furlong or at ten miles from the place of sale.
The produce, therefore, of the fertile lands in the imme¬
diate vicinity of the market sells at the same price as
that of the distant or inferior land.
That price, as it is equal to the cost of production of
what is produced at the greatest expense, must exceed
the cost of production of what is produced at the least
expense. The proprietor of the most fertile and best
situated land has no motive to take less, as he cannot,
like the owner of a patent, increase the amount of what
he produces and continue to produce at equal advan¬
tage ; and the purchaser cannot support an offer of
less, as he cannot turn producer but by submitting to
disadvantages which equalize the current price and the
cost of production.
As the colony grows into a people and an empire
the same processes are repeated. Every increase of
wealth and population raises the price of raw produce.
Increase of price occasions an increase of supply, raised
at a comparatively greater expense. The price falls in
consequence of the increased supply, but is prevented
from falling to its former level by the increase which has
taken place in the cost of producing that part of the
whole supply which is brought to market at the greatest
expense.
The effect will be the same whether we select for the
scene a continent or an island ; a district containing
soils of every degree of fertility, or of precisely uniform
quality. The Anglo-Americans have supplied their
constantly increasing wants chiefly by spreading them¬
selves backwards over their unbounded Western territory,
and have made little use of inferior soils, or of high
cultivation, except in the immediate vicinity of their
cities. In Malta, a single acre receives more labour than
would be devoted to a square mile in the Illinois ; but
precisely the same motives impel the Maltese to terrace
his mountains into gardens, and the American to reclaim
the prairies of the Missouri.
It may be inferred, from the picture which we have
given of the progress of society, that we believe an in¬
creased difficulty of obtaining raw produce to be the
natural incident to an increase of population. In the
absence of counteracting causes it certainly would be so ;
but those causes are so powerful, that, unless checked by
legislation, they in many respects balance the causes
174
POLITICAL
ECONOMY
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Price.
which we have been considering;. In a colony, the
counteracting causes appear likely to preponderate for
a period, the duration of which must of course depend
in part on the quantity of fertile and unoccupied land in
its vicinity. As the circle of appropriated land expands,
Monopoly, and the expense of bringing food to the consumers be-
Laiid. comes more oppressive, there is a tendency in the con¬
sumers to follow the food. The colonial capital, now
turned into a metropolis, may continue to send out por¬
tion after portion of her increased inhabitants until the
whole territory acquires something approaching to an
average amount of cultivation. Again, in every Country
increased wealth and numbers are accompanied by in¬
creased agricultural skill and improved means of trans¬
port. The use of implements, the division of labour,
and physical knowledge are powerful aids to the agricul¬
turist, though they do not afford to him the almost
magical increase of power which they give to the manu-
faclurer. The improvements in carriage are still more
important: a given amount of labour applied for twenty
years to a given piece of land would probably now
produce a return four or five times as great as would
have been obtained at the Conquest. But the labour
necessary to transport that produce one hundred miles
is probably now not one one-hundredth of what it was
then. No improvements in husbandry instruments, or
in breeding, or in the rotation of crops, have been so
efficient as the substitution of the waggon, the Mac¬
adamized road, the canal, the navigable river, and the
railway, for the pack-horse of our ancestors and the dan¬
gerous tracks through which they beat out and picked
their way. The intervention of a hill or a morass was
then an obstacle sufficient to allow the price of corn on
one side to be double that on the other ; and London
was so dependent on the immediately adjacent Counties
that the landlords of those Counties petitioned against
the opening of roads, as interfering with their vested
right to a monopoly of the metropolitan supply ; a peti¬
tion which failed because the immediate interest of other
landlords opposed it.
But the principal means by which a Country, when
increasing in wealth and population, may avoid the ne¬
cessity of raising its raw produce at a constantly increas-
ing disadvantage is by importation.
We have seen that additional labour employed in
manufactures produces an increasing proportionate effect ;
that if one thousand men can in a given time work up
one million of pounds of cotton, two thousand men
would be able to work up in the same time more than
two millions of pounds, and four thousand men, much
more than twice as much as two thousand. As a nation
increases in opulence and population, it becomes the in¬
terest, therefore, of the community to devote their addi¬
tional population rather to manufactures, in which they
have a constantly increasing advantage, than to agricul¬
ture, at a constantly increasing disadvantage. As their
industry becomes more and more efficient, they are in
general able to purchase with the produce of a given
amount of labour and abstinence larger and a larger
amount of the produce of the industry of their less ad¬
vanced contemporaries. The produce of the labour of a
single Englishman employed for a given time in fabricat¬
ing cotton will purchase the cotton grown by the labour
of five, or perhaps ten, Hindoos, or the wheat grown
by three, or perhaps five, Lithuanians or Poles.
It must be recollected, indeed, that a nation while ex-
fending its manufactureKS must increase its importation of
raw produce; and we have already stated that the in- Political
creased labour at which the additional produce must be
obtained would retard the progress of such a community.
But though this is unquestionable, though it is even cer-
tain that, if sufficient time be allowed, this obstacle is Price,
able, not merely to retard, but almost to arrest, the ad- Monopoly,
vanee of manufactures, there seems to be little to fear
from it within any of those periods within which calcula¬
tions for practical purposes are generally confined. In
the first place, the stimulus of an advantageous trade
must tend to increase the agricultural skill of the ex-
])orling nations, and increase the facilities of transport ;
causes which, especially in the earlier stages of a nation's
improvement, oi'ten enable it, and for considerable pe¬
riods, to bring to maiket an increased quantity of raw
produce with the same or even less proportionate labour.
And, secondly, even if we suppose the manufacturing
nation to be supplied by its agricultural customers at an
increased proporlionate expense to them, it does not
follow that the proportionate expense to her need be
increased. The increased difficulty on the one side
may be balanced by the increased facility on the other.
We will suppose that at present one hundred thousand
yards of muslin, fabricated by twelve Englishmen, can
be exchanged for one hundred and fifty quarters oí
wheat, raised by thirty-six Poles ; that an increase in
population of one-third makes it necessary to import
two hundred instead of one hundred and fifty quarters,
and that the two hundred quarters are raised, not by
forty-eight, the former proportion, but by sixty Poles.
If the increase in our skill has kept pace with our in¬
crease of numbers, it is probable that eighteen English¬
men, instead of one hundred and fifty thousand, the
former proportion, would be able to fabricate at least
two hundred thousand yards of muslin. The exchange
under such circumstances, instead of being less, would
be more beneficial than before. England would pur¬
chase more corn, and Poland more muslin, at a less pro¬
portionate amount of labour.
It must be carefully remembered that the preceding
remarks apply not to the higher or lower of raw
produce, but to the greater or less difficulty in obtaining
it ; things which have no necessary connection ; (me of
them depending on the causes which affect the general
value of raw produce, the other on the causes which
affect the general value of money. At the same time,
and in the same place, the prices of articles exactly
measure the difficulty of obtaining them. It is exactly
half as difficult to get a commodity that costs one sove¬
reign as to get a commodity that costs two. But this is
only true at the same time and in the same place.
Though in England a quarter of corn now costs about
fifty shillings, and in the reign of Henry VIII. cost
about Twenty, it is probable that it was then more diffi¬
cult to obtain one than it is now. This must have been
the case if it was then more difficult to obtain twenty
shillings than it is now to obtain fifty. It is equally
clear that, although a quarter of wheat now costs in Eng¬
land about ten ounces of silver, and about six ounces in
Poland, yet, if it is easier in England to obtain ten
ounces of silver than in Poland to obtain six ounces, it
is easier in England to obtain a quarter of wheat than it
is in Poland. Experience shows that wealth and popu¬
lation almost always increase together, though not in
equal ratios, the increase of wealth being, as we have
already stated, generally greater than the increase of
population. The increased capital and labour of an in-
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
175
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Price.
creasing population are naturally directed to manufac¬
tures, in which, as we have already seen, every increased
production is more easily effected. As their labour be¬
comes more productive, the value of the products of a
given quantity of that labour rises in the general market
of the world ; or, in other words, they obtain in return
for it a greater amount of the precious metals ; or, in
other words, a higher price. Therefore, although they
may have to pay a higher price for a given quantity of
raw produce, whether of home growth or imported, it
does not follow that the difficulty of obtaining that given
quantity has increased ; it is possible, and not impro¬
bable, that it may have diminished. A nation so situated
may be compared to an individual whose income hap¬
pens to be rising at the same time when the price of
corn is rising. If the rise of his income more than
counterbalances the rise of corn, he finds it every year
more easy to purchase a given quantity, though he may
have to give a higher and higher price for it.
We have seen that production may take place under
five different circumstances.
1. Absence of monopoly; all persons being capable
of producing with equal advantage.
2. A monopoly under which the monopolist has not
the exclusive power of producing, but exclusive facilities
as a producer, which may be employed indefinitely with
equal or increasing advantage.
3. A monopoly under which the monopolist is the
only producer, and cannot increase the amount of his
produce.
4. A monopoly under which the monopolist is the
only producer, and can increase indefinitely, with equal
or increasing advantage, the amount of his produce.
.5. A monopoly under which the monopolist is not
the only producer, but has peculiar facilities which di¬
minish and ultimately disappear as he increases the
amount of his produce.
The price of those commodities which are compre¬
hended in the first class appears to be subject to laws
capable of accurate investigation. Where labour alone
has been employed, the price must be equal to the wages
of that labour. Where that labour has been assisted by
abstinence, or, in other words, where a period has elapsed
between the employment of the labour and the sale of
its produce, the price must be equal to the amount of
the wages of that labour and the remuneration to be
paid either to the labourer for having suffered the pay¬
ment of his wages to be deferred, or to the capitalist who
has paid those wages in advance.
There are, however, very few commodities of which
the whole price can be resolved into the remuneration for
the labour, or the abstinence, or both, which must be
bestowed on their production.
Mere abstinence can produce nothing. Labour, or
the agency of nature, must afford the subject with re¬
spect to which it is to be exercised. It is possible, in¬
deed, that a natural agent universally accessible may
sometimes afford a product of no value at first, but capa¬
ble of becoming valuable by mere keeping ; but no in¬
stance of the kind occurs to us, and some little trouble is
generally requisite for the mere safe custody of any
article.
Mere labour does produce a very few articles. The
laver collected and sold on the coast of Devonshire is an
example. It grows naturally on the unappropriated
rocks within the influence of the tide, and in abundance
praclicaUy unlimited. No instruments are necessary to
gather or prepare it, and, as it will not keep, it is sold as political
soon as it has been collected and washed. The price of
a given quantity consists, therefore, merely of the wages
of those who gather, wash, and bring it to market.
A class of commodities, perhaps rather larger, but Price,
still inconsiderable when compared with the general
mass, is produced by labour and abstinence, assisted
only by those natural agents which are universally ac¬
cessible. It is difficult, however, to point out an article,
however simple, that can be exposed to sale without the
concurrence, direct or indirect, of many hundred, or, more
frequently, of many thousand different producers; almost
every one of whom will be found to have been aided by
some monopolized agent.
There are few things of which the price seems to con¬
sist inore exclusively of wages and profits than a watch
but if we trace it from the mine to the pocket of the
purchaser, we shall be struck by the payment of rent
(the invariable sign of the agency of some instrument
not universally accessible) at every stage of its progress.
Rent was paid for the privilege of extracting from the
mines the metals of which it is composed ; for the land
which afforded the materials of the ships in which
those metals were transported to an English port ; for
the wharfs at which they were landed, and the ware¬
houses where they were exposed to sale ; the watch¬
maker pays a rent for the land covered by his manufac¬
tories, and the retailer for that on which his shop is
situated. The miner, the shipwright, the house-builder,
and the watchmaker all use implements formed of
materials produced by the same processes as the mate¬
rials of the watch, and subject also in their different
stages to similar payments of rent. The whole amount
of all these different payments forms probably a very
small portion of the value of the watch, but if we were
to attempt to enumerate them they would be found sub¬
divided into ramifications too minute for calculation.
What remains consists of the wages of the workmen,
and the profits of the capitalists who paid those wages
in advance. The attempt to trace back these wages
and profits to their earliest beginnings would be as vain
as the attempt to enumerate all the payments of rent.
In estimating, therefore, the value of a manufactured
commodity, we seldom go further back than t^o the price
paid by the manufacturer tor his materials and imple
ments, a price which must have included all previous
payments of rent, wages, and profits.
We will now trace the causes which increase the value
of those materials after they have been the property of
the manufacturer. We will suppose a watchmäker's
capital to consist of materials worth ¿^500, that he has
bought the land covered by his buildings for ¿^500, and
has expended ¿^900 in erecting them, that his tools
have cost him ¿^100, and that an annual expense of
¿^100 is necessary to keep his buildings and tools in
repair. We will suppose him to employ ten workmen,
each receiving at an average ¿^100 a year, and that one
year is the average period from the commencement to
the sale of a watch. We will suppose that his ten
workmen can annually convert his £500 worth of ma¬
terials into five hundred watches, and that the average
rate of profit in his business amounts to ten per centum
per annum. To give him this profit it is clear that his
watches must sell for
* It has been used by M. Canard, M. Flores Estrada, and Mr.
M Culloch, as an examp le of the value derived fiorn labí-ur alone.
176 POLITICALECONOMY.
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Price.
Value of materials ilöOO
Wages for a year 1000
Repairs for a year 100
Profit on the advance of these sums'
nd on the value of the land, and
buildings, and tools, for half a year,
at ten per cent, per annum .......
1600
155
¿^1755
It will be observed that, although a year is supposed
to elapse between the commencement and the sale of a
watch, we suppose the cost of its production to have
been advanced for only half a year. The fact is that
some part of the advances must have been made for
more, and some for less than half a year. Supposing a
workman to have been employed on the watch for a
year, and paid daily, he received his first day's wages
one year before the watch was sold, but his last day's
wages on the very day of the sale; six months, therefore,
is the average period for which the whole were ad¬
vanced before the sale; just as large a proportion
having been advanced for a shorter as for a longer
period.
It will be observed, too, that we suppose the whole
value of the materials, repairs, and wages to be repaid,
but only a profit on the value of the land, buildings,
and tools. The first are annually expended by the
capitalist, the second remain to be used as instruments
of further production. The land is indestructible, and
the damage done to the buildings and tools is paid for
by the ¿^100 supposed to be expended in repairs.
But the whole cost of production has not yet been
enumerated.
In the first place, some wages must be allowed to the
master watchmaker himself for his labour in superin¬
tending his business ; and, secondly, some profit on
the expense of his education. And as his knowledge
and habits, which form his mental capital, will not sur¬
vive him, something more than the average rate of pro¬
fit is necessary to replace their value.
If we suppose the expense of his education to have
amounted to ¿£1000, and that it will be replaced with
average profit by an annual return of ¿^15 per cent.,
and the average wages of labour to be .^30 a year, we
have ^180 to add to the price of the watches, and ji9
more for the advance of this sum for half a year, making
J1944.
The last source of expense is taxation, or, in other
words, the wages and profits of those who have pro¬
tected all the different producers of the watches from
foreign and domestic violence and fraud. A considerable
portion of the price paid by the watchmaker for his ma¬
terials, tools, and buildings, probably consisted of the
taxation to which those commodities had been previously
subjected ; but the taxation which we are now consider¬
ing is that which he incurs during the year supposed
to be employed in manufacturing the watch.
This is an expense little capable of previous estima¬
tion ; partly because the expenses of government are
subject to constant variation, and partly because no
general principle regulates the proportions in which those
expenses are divided among the contributors. In Eng-
iaîid they are in general imposed upon the persons using
or producing certain commodities ; upon the use, for in¬
stance, of a carriage or window, and tiponthe production
of candles or giass. We will suppose the annual taxa¬
tion imposed on the shop and other instruments of pro- Political
duction used by the watchmaker to amount to ¿£53 7s.,
the profit on the advance of this sum for half a year
would exceed by a slight fraction ¿£2 13s., together
¿£56, making with the <¿1944, the amount of our pre- Price,
vious calculation, the sum of ¿£2000, the whole cost of
production of the five hundred watches, or ¿£4 a piece.
The different sums in this example have of course
been taken at random ; but we have thought it worth
while to go through it partly as an instance of the cal¬
culations on which every manufacturer must found his
estimate of the profit or loss likely to follow any given
undertaking ; and partly to show in how many shapes,
labour, abstinence, and the agency of nature, or, in
other words, rent, profits, and wages, are constantly re¬
appearing in every productive process.
When we speak, therefore, of a class of commodities
as produced under circumstances of equal competition,
or as the result of labour and abstinence unassisted by
any other appropriated agent, and consider their price as
equal to the sum of the wages and profits that must be
paid for their production, we do not mean to state that
any such commodities exist, but that, if they did exist,
such would be the laws by which their price would be
regulated ; and that so far as labour or abstinence, or
both, are conducive to the production of any given
commodity, it is to be considered as produced under
circumstances of equal competition, and as worth the
wages or profits, or both, with which that labour or
abstinence, or both, must be remunerated.
The prices of the commodities comprised in the
second, third, and fourth classes are but little governed
by any general rules. The prices of those comprised
in the second class cannot rise above the cost of pro¬
duction when unassisted by the monopolized agent, but
have a tendency to approach the cost of production to
the monopolist. The prices of those comprised in the
third and fourth classes have no necessary limits, but
approach much more nearly to the cost of production in
the fourth class, where the monopolist can increase his
produce, than in the third class, where nature strictly
limits the amount that can be produced.
The price of the commodities comprised in the fifth
and last class, those which are produced under what
may be called unequal competition or qualified mono¬
poly, where all persons may become producers, but
every additional quantity is obtained at a greater pro¬
portionate expense, has a constant tendency to coincide
with the cost of production of that portion which is con¬
tinued to be produced at the greatest expense. The
annual supply of London requires about one million
five hundred thousand quarters of wheat. Of this
quantity, perhaps fifty thousand can be obtained only
by means of high cultivation, or very distant carriage,
at an expense of about 505. a quarter. While the
wants and the wealth of the inhabitants of London are
such as to make them require, and enable them to pur¬
chase, one million five hundred thousand quarters, and
the expenses of carriage and cultivation remain unaltered,
it is clear that the whole quantity, supposing it to be of
uniform quality, must sell at the rate of 505. a quarter.
If it were to sell for less, the last fifty thousand quarters
would cease to be produced, and the price would again
rise in consequence of the deficiency of the supply.
But of the whole one million five hundred thousand
quarters, a portion, perhaps fifty thousand, might be
produced by slightly cultivating the most fertile and
POLITICAL ECONOMY 177
Political best situateil land, at the expense of 10s. a quarter.
Economy. ^ hundred thousand may cost the producer 20s. a
quarter, two hundred thousand 25s., two hundred thou-
sand more 30s. a quarter, and the cost of production of
Rent. all» except the last fifty thousand, must have been less
than the 50s. for which they are sold. The difference
between the price and the cost of production is rent.
It is an advantage derived from the use of a natural agent
nut universally accessible. It is taken, therefore, by the
owner of the agent by whose assistance it was obtained.
A portion of the whole supply, however, that portion
which is produced at the greatest expense, is produced
without any payment of rent. If the cost of producing
and sending to market from a given farm be in the fol¬
lowing proportions: for one hundred quarters ¿üiOO,
for ninety more £100, for eighty more £I00, for
seventy more £lOO, for sixty more £lOO, for fifty more
£100, for forty more £100, and for thirty-three and one-
third of a quarter more £100, and the price per
quarter is 60^., it is clear that the landlord's rent will be
in the following proportions :
On the first £l00 expended ^200
On the second 100 170
On the third 100 140
On the fourth 100 110
On the fifth 100 80
On the sixth 100 50
On the seventh 100 20
In all £770
And it is equally clear that no rent can be paid by
the farmer for the privilege of producing the last thirty-
three one-third quarters, as the whole £100 for which it
sells is absorbed by the cost of production. The last
thirty-three one-third quarters will continue to be pro¬
duced as long as the wants and the wealth of the pur¬
chasers render them willing and able to purchase a
quantity of corn, the whole of which cannot be supplied
unless this last and most expensive portion is pro¬
duced. If those wants and wealth should increase, it
might become necessary to raise an additional supply at
a still further additional expense, at the cost, we will
say, of £100 for only twenty quarters. But it is clear
that this could not be done unless the price should be
£5 a quarter, since that is the lowest price at which the
cost of producing the last supply would be repaid. The
price, indeed, would probably have previously risen to
above £5 a quarter, since an interval must have elapsed
between the increased demand occasioned by the in¬
creased wants and wealth of the purchasers and the
increase of the supply. During that interval the price
must have risen somewhat above the price at which it
would settle when the additional supply had been ob¬
tained. The appearance of that additional supply would
sink it to £5 a quarter, the cost at which that supply is
produced, but it could not permanently fall below that
price unless a diminution should take place either in
the wants or wealth of the purchasers, or in the ex¬
penses of cultivation or conveyance.
All this appears almost too plain for formal statement.
It is however one of the most recent discoveries in
Political Science : so recent that it can scarcely be said
to be universally admitted even in this Country, and
that abroad it does not seem to be even comprehended.
If any writer could be expected to be fully master of it
it would be Say, the most distinguished of the Continental
Economists, and the annotator on Ricardo. In his
VOL. VI.
notes to the French translation of the Principles of Political
Political Economy and Taxation, he constantly objects Economy,
to Mr. Ricardo's reasonings, the fact that all cultivated
land pays rent; as if such a fact were inconsistent with
the existence of corn raised without the payment of Rent,
rent. He repeats this objection in a note to a passage
in which Ricardo has demonstrated its falsity. In the
twenty-fourth chapter of the Principles, Mr. Ricardo
examines Adam Smith's opinions on rent.
Adam Smith," observes Mr. Ricardo, " had adopted
the notion that there were some parts of the produce of
land for which the demand must always be such as to
afford a greater price than what is sufficient to bring
them to market; and he considered food as one of
those parts.
" He says that ^ land in almost every situation pro¬
duces a greater quantity of food than what is sufficient
to maintain all the labour necessary for bringing it to
market, in the most liberal way in which labour is ever
maintained. The surplus, too, is always more than
sufficient to replace the stock which employed that
labour, together with its profits. Something, therefore,
always remains for a rent to the landlord.'
" But what proof does he give of this? No other
than the assertion that ' the most desert moors in Norway
and Scotland produce some sort of pasture for cattle, of
which the milk and the increase are always more than
sufficient not only to maintain all the labour necessary
for tending them, and to pay the ordinary profit to the
farmer or owner of the herd or flock, but to afford some
small rent to the landlord.' Now of this I may be
permitted to entertain a doubt. I believe that as yet in
every Country, from the rudest to the most refined,
there is land of such a quality that it cannot yield a
produce more than sufficiently valuable to replace the
stock employed on it, together with the profits ordinary
and usual in that Country. In America we all know
that this is the case, and yet no one maintains that the
principles which regulate rent are different in that
Country and in Europe. But if it were true that Eng¬
land had so far advanced in cultivation, that at this
time there were no lands remaining which did not afford
a rent, it would be equally true, that there formerly
must have been such lands ; and that whether there he
or not, is of no importance to this question, for it is the
same thing if there he any capital employed in Great
Britain on land which yields only the return of stock
with its ordinary proßts, whether it he employed on
new or old land. If a farmer agrees for land on a lease
for seven or fourteen years, he may propose to employ
on it a capital of £l0,000, knowing that at the ex¬
isting price of grain and raw produce he can replace
that part of his stock which he is obliged to expend,
pay his rent, and obtain the general rate of profit. He
will not employ £ll,000 unless the last £1000 can be
employed so productively as to afford him the usual
profits of stock. In his calculation whether he shall
employ it or not, he considers only whether the price of
raw produce is sufficient to replace his expenses and
profits, for he knows that he shall have no additional
rent to pay. Even at the expiration of his lease his rent
will not be raised ; for if his landlord should require
rent, because this additional £lOOO was employed, he
would withdraw it, since by employing it he gets by the
supposition, only the ordinary and usual profits which
he may obtain by any other employment of stock«"
Principles, êfc., 389—391.
2 B
178 POLITICALECONOMl.
Political
Economy,
Distribu¬
tion.
Rent,
To this passage, M. Say affixes ihe following note:
'*This is precisely what Adam Smith dtK3s not admit,
since he says that the worst land in Scotland gives to its
proprietor a rent.'' We answer to M. Say : This is
precisely what Mr. Ricardo declares to be immaterial,
since a portion of what is produced on a farm giving a
rent of ten guineas an acre, may be produced without
any rent being paid for the privilege of producing it."
it must be admitted, however, that the doctrine in
question has often been stated in a form likely to con¬
fuse the dull or inattentive, and liable to the cavils of
the uncandid. Mr. Ricardo, who, though not its dis¬
coverer, is its best known expositor, was led, both by
his merits and his déficiences, into frequent inaccuracy
of language. He was not enough master of logic to
obtain precision, or even to estimate its importance. His
sagacity prevented his making sufficient allowance for the
stupidity or carelessness of his readers ; and he was too
earnest a lover of truth to anticipate wilful misconstruction.
Under the influence of these causes he is, perhaps, the
most incorrect writer who ever attained philosophical
eminence ; and there are few subjects on which he has
been guilty of more faults of expression than on rent.
He perceived that an increased will and power on
the part of the community to purchase raw produce,
and the impossibility of increasing the supply but at au
increased expense, must necessarily raise rents, and
must also occasion an extension of cultivation. Asso¬
ciating, therefore, in his own mind the ideas of the rise
of rents and of the extension of cultivation, he has often
spoken of them as if they stood in the relation of cause
and effect : as if the extension of cultivation were a
cause of the rise of rent, instead of being, as it obviously
is, a means by which that rise is couiiteracted. The
inaccuracy is so obvious that we can scarcely suppose it
to have misled any reader of tolerable care and acuteness.
He has also too frequently used the expression the
corn raised on land paying no rent,'' as an equivalent
for " the coru raised without the payment of rent."
And when his opponents reply, as is true, that in old
Countries all land pays a rent," he has sometimes denied
the truth of the reply, instead of showing, as he has done
in the passage which we have quoted, that the doctrine
is just as true when applied to a small district in which
all the land is highly rented, as when applied to a
colony where rent is the exception and freedom from it
the rule.
Again, he has often spoken of the existence of rent
as dependent on the cultivation of land of different
degrees of fertility, or on the fact that the same land
repays, with a proportionably smaller return, the applica¬
tion of additional capital. And yet it is clear that if we
suppose the existence of a populous and opulent dis¬
trict of great but uniform fertility, giving a large return
to a given expenditure of capital, but incapable of giving
any return whatever on a less expenditure, or any
greater return on a larger expenditure, such a district
would afford a high rent though every rood of land
and every portion of the capital applied to it would be
equally productive.
We now proceed to consider some remarkable con¬
sequences of the proposition that additional labour when
employed in manufactures is more, and when employed
in agriculture less efficient in proportion ; or, in other
words, that the efficj^ricy of labour increases in manu¬
factures in an increasing ratio, and in agriculture in a
decreasing ratio. And, consequently, that every addi- Politicdi
tional quantity of manufactured produce is obtained, so
far as the manufacturing it is alone concerned, at a less ^
pîoporlionate cost, and every additional quantity of^iou,'^^ ^
agricultural produce is obtained, generally speaking, at
a greater proportionate cost.
So far as the price of any commodity is affected by Different
the value of the new material of which it is formed, it effects of in-
has a tendency to rise, so far as the price consists of the
remuneration to be paid for the labour and abstinence of j^anufac-
those employed in manufacturing it, it has a tendency to tured and
fall, with the increase of population. raw pro-
It is obvious that commodities of rude or simple
w( rkmanship are subject to the first rule, and the finer
rnanuiactures to the second. Bread may afford an
instance of the first kind, and lace of the second. The
average price in England of a half-peck loaf is now about
Is. 3(¿. Of this sum lOc?., at least, may be assumed to be
the price of the wheat ; the wages and profit of the miller,
baker, and retailer absorbing the remainder. If cir¬
cumstances should arise, requiring the present supply
of bread to be immediately doubled from our home-
produce, it is obvious that the increased supply of
wheat could not be obtained by merely doubling the
amount of labour now employed in its production. It
is impossible to say to what amount the increased diffi¬
culty of production would raise the price of wheat ; we
will, however, suppose it to be doubled, and the price of
the wheat necessary to make a half-peck loai to be Is. Sd.
instead of lOcZ. : at the same time the increased labour
employed in its manufacture and sale would become
more efficient. The miller and the baker would em¬
ploy better instruments anda greater division of labour,
and the retailer would be able to double his sales at
little additional expense. The price of bread, so far only
as its manufacture and retail is concerned, would be
reduced perhaps one-fourth, or from bd. to 3fc?. In
which case, the whole result of the increased produc¬
tion would be that the half-peck loaf would sell for
1ä. ll|d. instead of H. 3d.
We will now see what would be the effect of an
increased use of lace.
At the present price of lace and cotton, a pound of
cotton w^orth, in the Liverpool-market, 2s., may be
converted into a piece of lace worth 100 guineas.
Suppose the consumption of lace to double, and the
increased difficulty of producing the additional quantity
of the cotton fit for lacemaking to raise its price from
2s. to 4s. a pound ; the price of the lace, supposing it
still to be manufactured at the same expense, would
be raised one thousand and fiftieth part, or from £105
to £l05 2s. But it is impossible to doubt that the
stimulus thus applied to the production of lace would
improve every process of the manufacture. We should
probably much underrate the amount of that improve¬
ment if we were to estimate the consequent saving of
expense at one-fourth; in which case the whole result of
the increased production would be that the lace would
sell for £78 17s. instead of £105 ; the same circum¬
stances which would nearly double the price of bread
would reduce by one-fourth the price of lace.
Another inference from the proposition in question is
the difference between the effects of taxation when im¬
posed on raw produce and when imposed on manufac¬
tured produce.
P o L I T I C A L E C o N o M Y. 179
manufac¬
tured and
raw pro¬
duce.
Effect of
Political Taxes on manufactured commodities ultimately raise
Economy, price, and that by an amount exceeding the amount
of the tax. Taxes on agricultural produce in its un-
tion " manufactured state do not necessarily occasion any ulti-
DifFerent mate rise of price, and raise t, if at all, by an amount less
effects of than that of the tax.
taxation on proposition may be easily illustrated.
We will suppose a tax on watches of twenty-five per
cent, on their value to have existed from the com¬
mencement of that trade. As there is no reason to
suppose that the profits or the wages of master watch-
manutkc^^ makers or their workmen are, under present circum-
tured pro- stances, above the average wages and profits of persons
duce. similarly employed, it is clear that, if such a tax had
always existed, the price for the time being of watches
must always have been one-fourth higher than it has
been, or the trade of watchmaking would have been
followed neither by labourers nor capitalists. It is clear
also that such an increase of price must always have
diminished or retarded in its increase the sale, and,
consequently, the production of watches. .But if fewer
watches had been made, the smaller number would have
been made at a greater proportionate expense. And the
»price of watches must have been higher than it actually
has been, first by the amount of the tax, and
secondly by the greater expensiveness of the more
limited manufacture, it is equally clear that, after the
removal of such a tax, the price of watches would sink,
first by the amount of the tax removed, and secondly by
the improvement in the manufacture consequent on an
increased production. It is equally clear that, if such a
tax were now for the first time to be imposed, the price
of watches must rise, first by the amount of the tax, and
secondly by the amount of the increased proportionate
expense of making and selling the diminished quantity
sold, or watchmaking would cease to be as profitable as
the average of trades. It is clear, too, that the more
the use of watches diminished the higher the price
must eventually rise. If only ten new watches were
made every year, they would probably cost <£500
a-piece. If only one were made, it would probably
cost little less than the whole price of the ten. It is
true that these effects would not immediately follow
either the imposition or the removal of the tax: an
interval must in either case elapse, during which, the
existing capital in the watchmaking trade continuing the
same, the supply of watches would be neither increased
nor diminished, and, consequently, the price but little
affected. During this interval, both the wages and the
profits of those engaged in that business would be
unnaturally high, or unnaturally low, and they would
not acquire their natural level until, in the case of the
removal of the tax, a sufficient number of persons were
educated to the business, or, in the case of the imposition
of the tax, the number of persons educated to the
business had been sufficiently diminished, to enable the
supply of watches to be proportioned to the demand, at a
price giving average profits and wages to the capitalists
and labourers employed in their manufacture and sale.
Effect of But if agricultural produce were subjected to such a
taxation on tax, relief would be afforded by precisely the same
agiicultural which in manufactures aggravates the pressure,
iirouiicô 11 c 1 L*
^ namely, by a diminution oi production.
It may be assumed that capital is fairly distributed
among the various channels for its employment, and
that, in the absence of peculiar disturbing causes, agri¬
culture, the most agreeable of all occupations, has not
less than an average share of it. It may therefore be Politicai
assumed, generally speaking, that capital is employed on Economy.^
land until its produce repays, but does not more than
repay, the expense of cultivation; or, in other words,
that the occupier of land pushes its cultivation until the Effect of
additional produce obtained by means of the last labour- taxation on
ers employed is just sufficient, at the existing price, to agricultural
pay their wages, and average profits to himself, for the
time during which those wages must be paid in advance.
On the imposition of a tax, either the price of what he
produces must rise by the amount of the tax, or the
farmer must discontinue the production of that portion
of his crop which is raised at the greatest expense.
We will suppose a farmer to occupy a farm contain¬
ing six hundred acres of arable land of different degrees
of fertility ; one hundred acres of which, with the labour
of ten men directly and indirectly employed on them,
would give a return which, in order to reduce it to one
denomination, we will call six quarters of wheat an acre ;
one hundred others capable of giving with an equal
number of men only five quarters per acre; one hun¬
dred others, four quarters per acre ; one hundred others,
three quarters per acre ; one hundred others, two quar¬
ters per acre ; and the last and worst one hundred acres,
only one quarter per acre. We will suppose, also, that
the wages of ten men for a year amount a«t an average
to £400, or £40 a man ; that the farmer has to ad¬
vance these wages for a year before the produce is sold ;
and that the average rate of profit in similar occupations,
is ten per cent, per annum. Under such circumstances,
when wheat was £2 4«. a quarter it would be worth his
while to employ every man whose labour produced twenty
quarters, the pr'ice of which would amount to £44, being
£40 for the labourer's wages, and £4 for the farmer's
profit. The forty men supposed to be employed on
the four best qualities of soil produce each this amomit
and more ; the ten men employed on the fifth quality of
soil produce each precisely this amount, namely, a return
of two hundred quarters, worth £440. The sixth and
last quality of soil, on vvhich^ one man could produce
only ten quarters, would not repay the cultivation of
wheat. Now, if a tax were laid on raw produce, which,
to make the illustrations less complex, we will call a
tax of 14s 8(i. on every quarter of wheat, and no rise
of price should take place, it is obvious that it would no
longer be worth his while to cultivate any land of worse
quality than that in which the labour of ten men could
produce three hundred quarters of corn ; a return which,
at the existing price of £2 4s. a quarter, would procure
£660, being £220 for the tax, and £440 as before for
wages and profits. But it would obviously be worth
his while to cultivate land of that quality, and also to
employ labour in the cultivation of his superior land up
to the point of which the labour of an additional man
would no longer produce an additional produce of thirty
quarters. Nothing but a tax so great as absolutely to
prohibit agriculture, such a tax as never has existe'd,
and which would, in fact, be rather a penalty than a tax,
could induce him to discharge all his labourers, and
leave his best land uncultivated. We do not deny that
he would be a loser, even by the conduct which we
have supposed him to adopt. We do not deny that he
would much have preferred a rise in the price of corn
equal to the tax,—a rise which would have enabled him
to continue m its existing investment all his agricultural
capital. But we deny that any imposition to which the
name of a tax can fairly be applied, though unaccoin-
2 B 2
180 POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Effect of
taxation on
agricultural
produce.
paiïied by a rise of price, would induce him altogether to
discontinue production. And we wish to draw the atten¬
tion of our readers to the contrast between his situation
and that of the manufacturer, whom any tax, however
slight, if unaccompanied by a rise of price, must
in time force to discontinue manufacturing. What is
a remedy to the agriculturist is an aggravation of evil
to the manufacturer ; a diminution of capital makes
what remains in agriculture more productive, and makes
what remains in manufactures less so.
It has been supposed, however, that the price of agri¬
cultural produce would rise to the full amount of the
J
tax^ and that the whole amount of that tax would con¬
sequently fall on the consumer. This is the opinion of
Mr. Ricardo and of Mr. Mill. And it is on this ground
that they both maintain that the effect of tithes is to pro¬
duce a rise in the price of raw produce equal to the whole
value of the tithe, and affecting equally all classes so far
as they are consumers of raw produce. We believe that
the immediate effect of a general tax on raw produce is
to raise its price, but to an amount not equal to that of
the tax ; but that its ultimate effect is to diminish the
consumption and production of raw produce, but to
leave its price unaffected
To prove our first proposition we need only
show that the rise of price, which we admit to be
the immediate consequence of the imposition or the
tax, would diminish the consumption, and consequently
the production of the taxed commodity. It has been
shown already that, as production is diminished, the
expense of producing the quantity still produced is di¬
minished; and that the price of agricultural produce
depends on the expense of producing that portion of it
which is produced at the greatest expense, or, in other
words, under circumstances of equal competition. That
no person would diminish his consumption of corn in con¬
sequence of the rise of its price, is therefore a premise
necessary to the conclusion which we are combating.
This is true as respects that portion of the population of
England which is dependent on parochial relief. In those
districts in which the amount of that relief is calculated
with reference to the price of bread, their means of pur¬
chasing are unconnected with price, and neither rise with
its fall nor sink with its rise. It is true, also, as respects
the families of those opulent individuals (a prominent, but
in fact a small portion of society) whose direct expen¬
diture in bread and flour bears a small proportion to
their general expenses. But the bulk of the community,
consisting of the labourers who receive no parish assist¬
ance, and happily they are now the majority, and we
trust will soon be the great majority ; and the smaller
shopkeepers and farmers, unquestionably regulate, in a
great measure, their purchases of wheat by its price.
Much of their consumption, when it is comparatively
cheap, consists of puddings and pies, articles of mere
luxury, which, on the slightest rise, are immediately dis¬
continued. If the rise continue, they turn from wheaten
bread to cheaper subsistence: in the North to oatmeal,
in the South to potatoes. And, indeed, without recurring
to details, it may be laid down as a principle of universal
application, that, in the absence of disturbing causes,
every increase in the price of a commodity must diminish
both the ability and the will to purchase it.
We now proceed to prove our second proposition,
namely, that the ultimate effect of a tax on raw produce is
not to raise its price, but to diminish the quantity pro¬
duced. It will be at once admitted that the price of raw
produce, in any Country, does not depend on the positive Bolitica/
extent, or on the positive fertility of that Country, but, all
the other things remaining the same, on the proportion
which that extent, or that fertility bears to the number and ^ion.
wealth of the existing inhabitants. It mav be low in a Effect of
barren territory, if that territory be thinly peopled, just as taxation ou
it may be high in a fertile and populous one. It is high
in the rich Lowlands of Scotland, and low in the sandv
plains of Poland. And it will also be admitted that, all
other things remaining the same, the population of a
Country is in proportion to its extent and its fertility.
Now, the ultimate effect of tithes, or of any other tax, on
the cultivation of land is precisely the same as if the
Country in which they have long prevailed were thereby
rendered rather less extensive, or rather less fertile,
and consequently, rather less populous, and probably
also rather poorer than it otherwise would have been.
If England, from time immemorial, had been rather
more extensive, or rather more fertile than it now is, no
one will suppose that the price of provisions would have
been lower than it now is. We should have had rather
more corn, and a rather greater population to eat that
corn, than we now have. The increase would have been
positive, not relative. So if Devonshire or Lincolnshire
had never existed, the agricultural produce and the popu¬
lation of England would each have been positively dimi¬
nished ; but, as they would have borne the same propor¬
tion to one another as they do now, the price of the
existing quantity of corn could not have been higher
than it is now. So if tithes had never existed, we
should have had rather more corn, and a rather larger
and probably a rather richer population ; every thing
else would have been as it is. It is true that, if a
new Devonshire, or a new Lincolnshire, fit for im¬
mediate cultivation, were now suddenly added to our
shores,, the immediate consequences would be, an in¬
creased supply of provisions, and a fall in their price. But
it is also true that, if this accession to our territorv were
followed by no change in our habits and institutions, the
comparative cheapness, which would be its immediate
consequence, would gradually disappear as our population
rose with the increased supply of subsistence, and, ulti¬
mately, we should be just where we are now, excepting
that we should be rather more numerous. So, if tithes
were suddenly commuted, and their interference, such as
it is, with agricultural improvement, got rid of, the same
consequences would follow as if the extent of our ter¬
ritory, or its fertility were suddenly augmented. And,
supposing no improvement to take place in our institu¬
tions and habits, the consequent increase of our popu¬
lation would bring us back, as far as the price of pro¬
visions is concerned, to the point at which we are now.
It is probable, indeed, that the ultimate effect of the
abolition of tithes would be not a lowering but an
increase of the price of raw produce. A denser popula¬
tion cultivating a territory, the productiveness of which
had increased in proportion to the increased number of
its inhabitants, would probably advance in opulence.
The productiveness of the soil of a Country in propor¬
tion to its population being given, or, in other words,
the amount of raw produce and the number of people
being ascertained, the smaller the extent of the land
from which that amount is obtained the better. The
expenses of transport, and the trouble and loss of time
in journeys, are material elements of the cost of produc¬
tion both in agriculture and in manufactures, and the
amount of these expenses depends principally on the
POLITICAL
ECONOMY
181
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Effect of
taxation on
agricultural
produce.
extent of Country affording a given return. As our
industry became more efficient the value of our labour
would rise in the general market of the world, and the
consequence would be a general rise of prices, in which
agricultural produce would participate. But these
statements form no part of our argument. We believe,
indeed, that the ultimate effect of tithes is to lower the
price of raw produce : but all that we have undertaken
to show is, that they do not raise it.
From these premises follow very important practical
inferences. If we lay a tax on the production at home
of any manufactured commodity which is produced with
the same, or nearly the same, facility abroad, it is abso¬
lutely necessary that a duty of the same, or a rather
greater amount, should be imposed on the importation
of that commodity. On the imposition of the tax the
cost of production at home is increased, first by the tax,
and secondly by the increased expense of producing the
smaller quantity which, when the price becomes higher,
continues to be demanded. But if importation were
untaxed, the cost of production abroad would be dimi¬
nished in consequence of the diminished proportionate
expense of producing the larger quantity demanded.
The domestic production, and with the domestic pro¬
duction the tax, would not be merely diminished, but
absolutely destroyed, and the whole result would be
gratuitous evil. But when a tax, unbalanced by any
countervailing duty on importation, is iinposed on any
agricultural produce for which a foreign substitute can
be obtained, the only result is to stop that portion which
is most expensive of the domestic production. The
least productive part of the existing agricultural capital
is withdrawn, or worn out without being replaced. The
deficiency is attempted to be supplied by importation ;
but the increased demand instead of lowering, as would
be the case with manufactures, raises the cost of produc¬
tion abroad, just as the diminished demand, instead of
raising, lowers the cost of production at home. The
price of agricultural produce rises until the state of the
population has accommodated itself to the change, and
then falls to its former level. If our present heavy tax
ou the domestic production of glass were unbalanced by
any duty on importation, all the English glass-works
would in time be abandoned. Or, ii some of our glass¬
works were free from the tax, and others subject to it,
all those which were taxed would be ruined. But the
lands in England which are subject to the payment of
tithes are not thrown out of cultivation by the competi¬
tion of those which are free from that burden, or by the
importation of the tithe-free corn and cattle of Scotland,
or of the comparatively tithe-free produce of Ireland.
The estates which are subject to tithes continue to be
productive, they continue even to afford a rent, though
the burden diminishes the productiveness, and dimi¬
nishes in a still greater degree the rent.
Before we quit the subject of tithes, it may be worth
while to expose another error connected with them,
namely, the popular opinion that their tendency to in¬
crease in amount is greater than that of rent. We be¬
lieve the fact to be just the reverse.
Tithes are a definite, rent is an indefinite, share of the
produce. Tithes can never exceed a tenth ; rent need
not be a tenth, or even a hundredth, but may amount to
a fourth, a third, a half, or even more than a half. Tithes,
therefore, can be exacted, where rent cannot be ; but
when once any spot of land can afford to pay both rent
and tithes, there is no comparison between their respective
powers of increase. This will immediately appear on a Political
reference to the familiar illustration of the progress of ^-^onomy.
rent.
If we suppose a Country to be divided into ten dis-
tricts designated by the numbers from I to 10, each of Effect of
equal extent, but each of a different degree of fertility, taxation on
No. 1 producing, at a given expense, two hundred agricultural
quarters of corn, and the amount of the produce, at the
same expense, of each quality of land, diminishing by
ten quarters until we come to No. 10, which produces
only one hundred quarters, we shall find that when No. 1
only will pay for cultivation, it affords twenty quarters
for tithes, and no rent. When the price of corn has
risen sufficiently to enable No. 2 to be cultivated, there
will be on Nos. 1 and 2 thirty-nine quarters for tithes,
and on No. 1 ten for rent. When No. 3 has become
worth cultivation, there will be on Nos. 1, 2, and 3, fifty-
seven for tithes, and on Nos. I and 2 thirty for rent.
When No. 4 has become worth cultivating, there will be
on Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, seventy-four for tithes, and on
Nos. 1, 2, and 3, sixty for rent. When No. 5 has become
worth cultivating, there will be on Nos. I, 2, 3, 4, and 5,
ninety for tithes, and on Nos. 1,2, 3 and 4, one hundred
for rent. Rent has now passed tithes, and its subse¬
quent superiority is very striking. When No. 6 has be¬
come worth cultivating, there will be one hundred and
five for tithes, and one hundred and fifty for rent. When
No. 7 has become worth cultivating, there will be one
hundred and nineteen for tithes, and two hundred and
ten for rent. When No. 8 has become worth cultivating,
tithes will be one hundred and thirty-two, and rent two
hundred and eighty. When No. 9 has become worth
cultivating, tithes will be one hundred and forty-four,
and rent three hundred and sixty. And when No. 10
has become worth cultivating-, tithes will be one hundred
and fifty-five, and rent four hundred and fifty. And the
same results will follow if, instead of supposing fresh
land of a regularly decreasing fertility to be taken into
cultivation, we suppose further capital to be applied to
the same land, with '4 regularly decreasing proportionate
return. Of course vvc do not mean that either of these
suppositions represeiits what actually takes place, but
they each represent the course of events to which there is
a natural tendency. They represent the relative ratio at
which rent and tithes would increase in the absence of
disturbing causes. It must be recollected, however,
that these events would not take place in the regular
order in which we have placed them, except on the
supposition of each different district which we have
supposed to be successively cultivated being of the same
extent, and of each successive application of capital being
of the same value. If, for instance. No. 10 were ten
times as large as any one of the other districts, and
received ten times as much capital, it would increase the
whole amount of titheable produce by one thousand quar¬
ters instead of by one hundred quarters, and tithes would
be raised from one hundred and forty-four quarters to two
hundred and forty-four quarters, while rent would have
risen only from three hundred and sixty quarters to four
hundred and fifty. In such an event, therefore, tithes
would rise more than rent. And it must also be recol¬
lected that tithes and rent do not rise at precisely the
same period. The highest amount of rent must be just
before the land producing the additional supply has been
cultivated. The increased demand is then in full ope¬
ration, and has not been counteracted by the iiicieased
supply. But the amouiit of tithes is not increased until
182 POLITICALECONOMY.
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Effect of
taxation on
agricultural
produce.
after the additional supply has been produced. Their
increase, therefore, is generally contemporaneous with a
temporary fall of rent : which is probably one of the
causes of the popular opinion that their general tendency
to increase is greater than that of rent. Another source
of that opinion is, that in England the land has been for
centuries subject to a constant process of subdivision,
while tithes, except the comparatively small part which
belongs to laymen, have not. The incumbent of a given
benefice receives the tithes of the same quantity of land
which was tithed by his predecessor three hundred years
ago. But that land three hundred years ago may have
belonged to one or two persons, and may now be
divided between ten or twenty. The present incumbent's
income may bear a higher proportion than his prede¬
cessor's did to the average income of a single landlord,
though it bears a lower proportion to the aggregate
income of all the landlords of the parish. And as a
general proposition, we have no doubt that, in a pro¬
gressive Country, the value of tithes will seldom increase
in proportion to the increasing value of the land out of
which they issue.
It appears, therefore, that in a new or ill-peopled
Country where the abundance of land and the want of
agricultural capital almost prevent the existence of
rent, in the economical sense of the word, tithes are the
only endowment which a Clergy can receive from the
soil. We see, therefore, why they were adopted for the
Israelites, who, in fact, were colonists, and by our Danish
and Saxon ancestors. We see too why the attempt to
endow with lands the Canadian Church has so signally
failed. Tithes would not, perhaps, have been a politic,
but they would have been an actual endowment. The
reserves stand so many desert spots in the midst of im¬
provements retarding the settlement, interrupting the
communications, and injuring the wealth aud civiliza¬
tion of all that is round them Five centuries hence
they might affoid an ample provision.
Relative Proportions of Rent, Profit, and Wages.
Proportions Having given a general outline of the three great
of rent, classes among whom all that is produced is distributed,
profit, and Qf general laws which regulate the comparative
Nomencla- different products, we now proceed to con¬
ture. sider the general laws which regulate the proportions in
which landlords, capitalists, and labourers share in the
general distribution, or, in other words, which regulate
the proportions which rent, profit, and wages bear to
one another.
We have followed the established nomenclature which
divides society into landlords, capitalists, and labourers ;
and revenue into rent, wages, and profit. And we
have defined rent to be the revenue spontaneously
offered by nature or accident; wages the reward of
labour ; and profit that of abstinence. At a distance
these divisions appear clearly marked, but when we
look into the details, we find them so intermingled that
it is scarcely possible to subject them to a classifica¬
tion which shall not sometimes appear to be incon¬
sistent, and still more frequently to be arbitrary. But
it must be remembered that questions of classification
relate rather to language than to facts ; and that our
object will have been effected if we can assist the
memory by supplying a precise and consistent nomen¬
clature.
We will begin by recurring to a subject to which we
have already alluded, the frequent difficulty of deciding Political
whether a given revenue ought or ought not to be
called rent. When an estate has been for some time
leased to a careful tenant, it generally receives perma- ^on.
nent ameliorations, which enable the owner, at the ex- Proportions
piration of the lease, to obtain a higher rent, A bog of rent,
worth 2s. annually an acre may be converted into arable and
or pasture worth annually £>2. Is the increase of re-
venue rent or profit ? It arises from an additional fer-ture,
tility, now inseparably attached to the land. It is re¬
ceived by the owner without sacrifice on his part. It is,
in fact, undistinguishable from the previous rent. On
the other hand, its existence is owing to the abstinence
of the farmer, who devoted to a distant object, the ame¬
lioration of the land, labour which he might have em-
plojed in producing immediate enjoyment for himself.
If the owner of the estate had farmed it himself, and
had directed labour to be employed on its permanent
improvement, the additional produce occasioned by
those improvements would clearly have been termed
profit. It appears, therefore, most convenient to term
it piofit when occasioned by the improvements made
by a tenant.
In fact, these improvements are as consistently to be
termed capital as a dock or a cotton-mill. Whose capital
are they then ? During the lease the capital of the
tenant ; when it has fallen in, the capital of the landlord,
who has purchased them by engaging not to raise the
rent during the currency of the lease.
We may be asked, then, whether the improvements
which form the greater part of the value of the soil of
every well-cultivated district are all, and for ever, to be
termed capital? Whether the payments received from
his tenants by the present owner of a Lincolnshire estate,
reclaimed by the Romans from the sea, are to be termed,
not rent but profit on the capital which was expended
fifteen centuries ago ? The answer is that, for all use¬
ful purposes, the distinction of profit from rent ceases as
soon as the capital, from which a given revenue arises,
has become, whether by gift or by inheritance, the pro¬
perty of a person to whose abstinence and exertions it
did not owe its creation. The revenue arising from a
dock, or a wharf, or a canal is profit in the hands of the
original constructor. It is the reward of his abstinence
in having employed capital for the purposes of produc¬
tion instead of for those of enjoyment. But in the hands
of his heir it has all the attributes of rent. It is to him
the gift of fortune, not the result of a sacrifice. It may
be said, indeed, that such a revenue is the reward for
the owner's abstinence in not selling the dock or the
canal and spending its price in enjoyment. But the
same remark applies to every species of transferable
property. Every estate may be sold, and the purchase-
money wasted. If the last basis of classification were
adopted, the greater part of what every Political
Economist has termed rent must be called profit.
Again, there are few employments in which extraor¬
dinary powers of body or mind do not receive an extra¬
ordinary remuneration. It is the privilege of talent to
work not only better but more easily. It will gene¬
rally be found, therefore, that the commodity or service
produced by a first-rate workman, while it sells for
more than an average price, has cost less than an
average amount of labour. Sir Walter Scott could write
a volume with the labour of about three hours a day
for a month, and for so doing received £500 or £1000.
An ordinary writer, with equal application, would find
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
183
Political it difficult to produce a volume in three months, and still
Economy. difficult to sell it for £50.
' Is then the extraordinary remuneration of the labourer,
lion. which is assisted by extraordinary talents, to be termed
Proportions ï'ent or wages? It originates in the bounty of nature ;
of rent, so far it seems to be rent. It is to be obtained only on
profit, and condition of undergoing labour ; so far it seems to
Semencia- wages. It might be termed, with equal correctness,
ture. rent, which can be received only by a labourer, or
wages, which can be received only by the proprietor of
a natural agent. But as it is clearly a surplus, the
labour having been previously paid for by average
wages, and that surplus the spontaneous gift of nature,
we have thought it most convenient to term it rent.
And for the same reason we term rent what might, with
equal correctness, be termed fortuitous profit. We
mean the surplus advantages which are sometimes
derived from the employment of capital after making
full compensation for all the risk that has been encoun¬
tered, and all the sacrifices which have been made, by
the capitalist. Such are the fortuitous profits of the
holders of warlike stores on the breaking out of unex¬
pected hostilities ; or of the holders of black cloth on the
sudden death of one of the Royal family. Such would
be the additional revenue of an Anglesea miner, if,
instead of copper, he should come on an equally
fertile vein of silver. The silver would, without doubt,
be obtained by means of labour and abstinence; but
they would have neen repaid by an equal amount of
copper. The extra value of the silver would be the
gift of nature, and therefore rent.
Secondly. It is still more difficult to draw the line
between profit and wages. There are, perhaps, a tew
cases in which capital may improve in value, without
superintendence or change, simply by being preserved
from consamption. Wine and timber, perhaps, afford
instances. But even a wine-cellar or a plantation, if
totally neglected, would probably deteriorate. And, as
a general rule, it may be laid down that capital is an
instrument which, to be productive of profit, must be
employed, and that the person who directs its employ¬
ment must labour^ that is, must to a certain degree
conquer his indolence, sacrifice his favourite pursuits,
and often incur other inconveniences from his residence,
from the persons to whose contact he is exposed, from
confinement or from exposure to the weather, and must
also often submit to some inferiority of rank. If labour
be in general necessary to the use of material capital, it
is universally necessary to the use of that immaterial
capital which consists of appropriate knowledge, and of
moral and intellectual habits and reputation.—A capital
created and kept up at more expense, and productive of a
greater return than that which is material, but which,
from the impossibility of actually transferring it, or im¬
planting in one man the ability of another, can never be
productive but through the labour of its possessor.
Is then the remuneration of this labour to be termed
wages or profit? A certain portion of it, that portion
which would be sufficient to repay equal exertions and
hardships endured by an ordinary labourer, unprovided
with capital, must, without doubt, be termed wages. And
where extraordinary natural talents or favourable acci¬
dents have occasioned the exertions of the capitalist to
obtain more than an average remuneration, that excess
is, as we have already seen, rent. But the revenue to
which our present question applies is the revenue
obtained from the employment of capital, after deducting
ordinary interest on the capital, as the remuneration Political
for the abstinence of the capitalist, ordinary wages, as Economy,
the remuneration for his labour, and any extraordinary
advantages which may have been the result of accident, tion^ "
The subject may be made clearer by a few examples ; Proportion»
and we have endeavoured to find some in which the of rent,
remuneration for the capitalist's trouble, instead of Profit, and
being, as is usually the case, mixed up with the gross doméñela
amount of his returns, appears as a separate item. The ture
trade of bill-broking affords an instance. The business
of a bill-broker is to advance, before it becomes due, the
money for which bills of exchange are drawn, deducting,
under the name of discount, interest at the rate of not
more than five per cent, per annum on the sum secured
by the bill. In time of peace, and in the ordinary state
of the money-market, the rate of discount varies from four
to three per cent, per annum. It has been sometimes as
low as two and a half. It appears at first strange that such
a trade should exist, since the money capital employed in
it does not return even so high a profit as may often be
obtained from the public funds, leaving the additional risk
and labour uncompensated. It is, in fact, a trade which no
one would carry on if he employed in it his own money.
The commercial inhabitants of a great trading city
have from time to time under their control considerable
sums of money for short periods. Scarcely a single
estate in this Country is mortgaged or sold without the
price or the mortgage-money being placed for some days
at a banker's or agent's until the " more last words" of
the lawyers have been said, ffhese sums cannot in the
mean time be employed in any permanent investment ;
but they can be lent from day to day, or, in some cases,
froa*. week to week, and it is better to lend them at the
lowest rate interest than to suffer them to lie per¬
fectly idle. The bill-broker's trade is to borrow these
sums from week to week, or even from day to day, at
one rate of interest, and to lend them from month to
month, or for two or three months, at a higher. To
borrow, for instance, at two per cent, and to lend at three.
It is obvious that these operations require much
knowledge, industry, and skill. The broker must be
well acquainted with the circumstances of almost every
eminent commercial man in order to estimate the value
of his acceptance or indorsement. He must keep up
his knowledge by unremitting observation, and by in¬
ferences drawn from very slight hints and appearances.
He must also have the skill so to manage his concerns
as to have his receipts always failing in to correspond
with his engagements. This knowledge, and the moral
and intellectual habits which enable him to apply it,
form his personal or immaterial capital. But he must
also have a material capital, not for the purpose of being
employed in his business, for no one would so employ
money of his own, but as the means of obtaining con¬
fidence. The interest paid by a broker is so trifling
that no one would lend to him if it implied the slightest
risk ; and the best pledge which he can give is the
notoriety of his possessing a large capital, which could
at any time make good an unforeseen interruption in his
regular receipts. This capital he must not Waste, but he
may employ it productively, and may consume on him¬
self the annual profit derived from it. The confidence
which it enables him to enjoy is a distinct advantage.
We will suppose a bill-broker to possess ¿^i0U,000 in
the Four per Cents ; and to have sufficient knowledge,
skill, and chai acter as a man of business and of wealth,
to be able, at an average throughout the year, to borrow
184
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
profit, and
wages.
Kent.
Political £400,000 at two per cent., and to lend the same sum at
three per cent. Is the £4000 a year which his business
would give him wages or profit?
tion^^ Again, a capital which in this Country would enable
Proportions ils employer to obtain ten per cent., would often, if he
of rent, were to employ it in Jamaica or Calcutta, produce fifteen
or twenty. If the capitalist with £50,000 encounter the
climate and the society of Jamaica, and is rewarded by
his annual returns being raised from £5000 to £7500, is
his additional income of £2500 a year wages or profit ?
There is no doubt that a sufficient portion of it to pur¬
chase the same services from a person unprovided with
capital, must be considered as wages ; £500 a year,
however, would considerably exceed this sum. The
remaining ¿02000 a year may be considered, with equal
correctness, either wages which can be received only by
the possessor of ¿050,000, or profit which can be received
only by a person willing to labour in Jamaica.
Adam Smith considers it as profit. The profits of
stock,he observes,* " it may, perhaps, be thought, are
only a different name for the wages of a particular sort
of labour, the labour of inspection or direction. They
are, however, altogether different, are regulated by quite
different principles, and bear no proportion to the quan¬
tity, the hardship, or the ingenuity of this supposed
labour of inspection and direction. They are regulated
altogether by the value of the stock employed, and are
greater or smaller in proportion to this stock. If we
suppose two manufacturers, the one employing a capital
of £1000 and the other one of £7300, in a place where
the common profits of manufacturing stock are ten per
cent., the one will expect a profit of about ¿0100 a year,
while the other will expect about ¿0730. Yet their la¬
bour of inspection may be very nearly or altogether the
same. In many great works, almost the whole labour
of this kind is committed to some principal clerk. His
wages properly express the value of this labour of inspec-
settling them
some
tion and direction. Though in
regard is commonly had, not only to his labour and skill,
but to the trust which is reposed in him, yet they never
bear any regular proportion to the capital of which he
oversees the management. And the owner of this
capital, though he is thus discharged of almost all labour,
still expects that his profits should bear a regular pro¬
portion to his capital."
After much hesitation, we have resolved to adopt this
as the most convenient classification, and to confine the
term wages to the remuneration for simple labour ; in¬
cluding under the word labour the endurance of all its
attendant hardships, but excluding from the word wages
the additional revenue which the labourer often receives
because he happens to be also a capitalist. We have
done so on the grounds which are so ably stated in the
passage which we lastly quoted.
To revert to our supposition of a capitalist with
£50,000 repaid by ah extra revenue of £2500 a year
for living in Jamaica : it is clear that another capitalist
taking there £ 100,000 would, cœteris paribus^ obtain
an extra revenue of £5000 a year, and that notwith¬
standing his labour would not necessarily be greater than
that of the first-mentioned capitalist, or notwithstanding
it might in fact be much less. Perhaps the best plan
might appear to be, to apply the term wages to the re¬
muneration of mere labour, the term interest to the re¬
muneration of mere abstinence, and the i&cm proßt to the
Book i. ch. y i.
combination of wages and interest, to the remuneration
of abstinence and labour combined. This would make it
necessary to subdivide capitalists into two classes, the
inactive and the active : the first receiving mere interest,
the second obtaining profit.
In this, however, as in many other cases, the inconve¬
niences occasioned by departure from an established no¬
menclature and an established classification are so great,
that we do not think that they will be compensated by
the nearer approach to precision. We shall continue,
therefore, to include under the term profit the whole
revenue that is obtained from the possession or employ¬
ment of capital, after deducting those accidental advan¬
tages which we have termed rent, and also deducting a
sufficient sum to pay to the capitalist, if actively employed,
the wages which would purchase an equal amount of
labour from a person unpossessed of capital In one
respect, however, we are forced to differ from Adam
Smith. Although he considers the useful, acquired
knowledge and abilities of all the inhabitants of a Country
as part of the national fortune, as a capital fixed and
realized in the persons of their possessors, yet he ge¬
nerally terms the revenue derived from tliis capital
wages. The average and ordinary rates of profit in
the different employments of stock are/^ he observes,
" more nearly on a level than the wages of the different
sorts of labour. The difference between the earnings of
a common labourer and those of a well-employed lawyer
or physician, is evidently much greater than that between
the ordinary profits in any two different branches of
trade." Book i. eh. x.
According to our nomenclature (and indeed according
to that of Smith, if the produce of capital is to be termed
profit) a very small portion of the earnings of the lawyer
or of the physician can be called wages. Forty pounds
a year would probably pay all the labour that either of
them undergoes, in order to make, we will say, £4000 a
year. Of the remaining £3960, probably £3000 may
in each case be considered as rent, as the result of extra¬
ordinary talent or good fortune. The rest is profit on
their respective capitals; capitals partly consisting of
knowledge, and of moral and intellectual habits acquired
by much previous expense and labour, and partly of
connection and reputation acquired during years of pro¬
bation while their fees were inadequate to their support.
Under this view of the case the revenue which con¬
sists of profit will in the progress of improvement bear
a constantly increasing proportion to that which consists
of wages. There appears no reason to doubt that, as
civilization advances, every person will receive an edu¬
cation which will materially increase his power of pro¬
duction. Brutes and machinery can effect almost every
thing that is to be effected by mere bodily exertion.
Whatever requires mind, will be done better in propor¬
tion as the mind has received earlier or more judicious
cultivation. We have heard it made a subject of com¬
plaint, that the uneducated Irish have dispossessed the
English of the lowest employments in London and its
neighbourhood. We rather rejoice that the English are
sufficiently educated to be fit for better things. If they
had remained as ignorant as their rivals, many who are
now earning 40ä. a week as mechanics, might have been
breaking stones and carrying hods at 2s. a day. Even
in our present state of civilization, which, high
as it appears by comparison, is far short of what
may easily be conceived, or even of what may
confidently be expected, the intellectual and moral capital
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Proportions
of rent,
profit, and
wages.
Rent.
POLITICAL ECONO MY. 185
Political
Bconomy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Proportions
of 1 ent,
})rofit, and
wages.
Rent.
Rent.
of Great Britain far exceeds all her material capital, not
only in importance, but even in productiveness. The
families that receive mere wages probably do not form a
fourth of the community; and the comparatively large
amount of the wages even of these is principally owing to
the capital and skill with which their efforts are assisted and
directed by the more educated members of the society.
Those who receive mere rent, even using that word in its
largest sense, are still fewer : and the amount of rent, like
that of wages, principally depends on the knowledge by
which the gifts of nature are directed and employed. The
bulk of the national revenue is profit; and of that profit
the portion which is mere interest on material capital pro¬
bably does not amount to one-third. The rest is the result
of personal capital, or, in other words, of education.
It is not on the accidents of soil or climate, or on the
existing accumulation of the material instruments of
production, but on the quantity and the diffusion of this
immaterial capital, that the wealth of a Country depends.
The climate, the soil, and the situation of Ireland have
been described as superior, and certainly are not much
inferior, to our own. Her poverty has been attributed to
the want of material capital ; but were Ireland now to
exchange her native population for seven millions of our
English North Countrymen, they would quickly create
the capital that is wanted. And were England, North of
Trent, to be peopled exclusively by a million of families
from the West of Ireland, Lancashire and Yorkshire
would still more rapidly resemble Connaught, Ireland
is physically poor because she is morally and intellec¬
tually poor, because she is morally and intellectually
uneducated. And while she continues uneducated,
while the ignorance and violence of her population
render persons and property insecure, and prevent the
accumulation and prohibit the introduction of capital,
legislative measures, intended solely and directly to re¬
lieve her poverty, may not indeed be ineffectual, for they
may aggravate the disease, the symptoms of which they
are meant to palliate, but undoubtedly will be productive
of no permanent benefit. Knowledge has been called
power; it is far more certainly wealth. Asia Minor,
Syria, Egypt, and the Northern coast of Africa, vvere
once among the richest, and are now among the most
miserable Countries in the world, simply because they
have fallen into the hands of a people without a suffi¬
ciency of the immaterial sources of wealth to keep up
the material ones. " In what way,'' asks Adam Smith,
has Europe contributed to the grandeur of the colo¬
nies of America.^ In one way, and in one way only,
she has contributed a great deal. Magna virvm mater.
She bred and formed the men who were capable of
achieving such great actions, and of laying the founda¬
tion of so great an empire ; and there is no other quar¬
ter of the world of which the policy is capable of form¬
ing, or has ever actually and in fact formed such men.
The colonies owe to Europe the education and great
views of their active and enterprising founders, and
some of the greatest and most important of them owe
to her scarce any thing else."
Proportionate Amount of Rent,
We have already defined rent to be the revenue
spontaneously offered by nature or accident, or, in other
words, to be the price paid for the assistance of an ap¬
propriated natural agent. It might with equal propriety
be defined the surplus produce arising from the use of
VOL, VI.
an appropriated natural agent, or the amount by which
the price of the produce of an appropriated natural
agent exceeds the costs of its production.
The nature and the progress of the rent of land have
usually been illustrated by supposing lands of different
fertility to be successively taken into cultivation. Thus
the land No. 1 is supposed to afford, in return for the
application of a given amount of labour and capital,
one hundred quarters; No 2, ninety quarters ; No. 3,
eighty quarters ; No. 4, seventy quarters ; No. 5, sixty
quarters ; and so on. While any portion of the most
fertile lands is unappropriated. No. 1 only is cultivated,
and no rent is paid. Before it has become necessary to
cultivate No. 2, No. 1 must have become an appropriated
agent, affording a larger return than can be obtained
without its assistance. Its owner, or, as he is termed,
the landlord, obtains, therefore, the value of that assist¬
ance, being ten quarters, or the difference between
one hundred quarters and ninety quarters ; and re¬
ceives it himself, in kind, if he himself is the cultivator,
or is paid for it the remuneration termed " rent," if he
allows another person to be the cultivator. Before it
has become necessary to cultivate No. 3, the rent of
No. I must have risen from ten quarters to twenty, and
No. 2, from giving no rent, must have given a rent of ten
quarters ; and so on until the point is reached at which
the labour and capital employed will produce a return
only sufficient to give a bare subsistence to the la¬
bourer and average profits to the capitalist : the highest
extreme to which cultivation can be intentionally
pushed, and one, indeed, beyond which it is seldom
carried.
It is obvious, therefore, that the amount of rent
depends on two causes : 1. the positive productiveness
of the natural agent by which it is afforded ; 2. the com¬
parative productiveness of that agent, or the degree in
which it exceeds those agents which are universally
accessible. If the supply of natural agents were un¬
limited, or if their power of "affording assistance were to
cease, in either case rent would be at an end. Rent
is the value of their assistance, and that value, like all
others, depends partly on their utility, and partly on
their limitation of supply. Much error has arisen from
attending to only one of these causes.
The French Economists^ perceived that the produce
* Le laboureur est le seul dont le travail produisse au delà du
salaire du travail. Il est donc l'unique source de toute richesse,
La terre, indépendamment de tout autre homme et de toute con¬
vention, lui paie immédiatement le prix de son travail. La nature ne
marchande point avec lui pour Vohliger à se contenter du nécessaire
absolu,— Ce qu'elle donne riest proportionnée ni à ses besoins ni à une
évaluation conventionnelle du prix de ses journées. Cest le résultat
physique de la fertilité du sol, et de la justesse, bien plus que de la
difficidté des moyens, qidil a employés pour le rendre fécond. Dès
que le travail du laboureur produit au delà de ses besoins, il peut,
avec ce superflu que la nature lui accorde en pur don, au delà du
salaire de ses peines, acheter le travail des autres membres de la
société. Ceux-ci en le lui vendant ne gagnent que leur vie, mais le
laboureur recueille outre sa subsistence une richesse disponible ; qiHl
rda point achetée, et qu il vend. Il est donc fuñique source des
richesses, qui, par leur circulation, animent tous les travaux de la
société; parceqifil est le seul dont le travail produisse au delà du
salaire du travail.
Il reste donc constant quiil nly a de revenu que le produit net des
terres, et que tout autre profit annuel, ou est payé par le revenu, ou
fait vaitiedes fraix qui servent à produire le revenu,—Turbot
vol. V. p. 8—9—126.
Vous ne pouvez trouver le meilleur état possible d''une nation, que
dans la plus grande richesse possible. Ventends ici par la terme
de richesse, une masse de valeurs disponibles, de valeurs qu'on puisse
2 c
Polifical
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Pioportions
of rent,
profit, and
wages.
Rent,
185
POLITICAL ECONOMY
Political of fertile land, the most important of all appropriated
Economy, jj^tural agents, sells for a price exceeding the expense of
its cultivation. This excess of price, or produit net, as
tion. * l^rmed it, they conceived to be the only source of
Proportions wealth. All other commodities appeared to them
of rent, merely to represent the toil employed in their acquisi-
profit, and They believed, therefore, a community to be rich
Rent^ proportion to the amount of rent received by the
proprietors of its land ; and consequently that produc¬
tion enriches only so far as it is subservient to the
creation of rent.
It is impossible that they could have maintained this
doctrine, if they had perceived that abundance is an ele¬
ment in wealth, and that high rents and the greatest abun¬
dance are incompatible ; or if they had recollected that, ac¬
cording to their views, a community possessing the
highest skill and exerting the utmost diligence, but scat¬
tered over a territory of unbounded extent and fertility,
as they might be even unacquainted with the existence of
such a thing as rent, must be totally without riches,
must be poor from the mere prodigality of their re¬
sources.
In the following passage Mr. Ricardo seems to have
fallen into an opposite error.
''Nothing is more common than to hear of the ad¬
vantages which the land possesses over every other
source of useful produce, on account of the surplus
which it yields in the form of rent. Yet, when land is
most abundant, when most productive, and most fertile,
it yields no rent ; and it is only when its powers decay,
and less is yielded in return for labour, that a share of
the original produce of the more fertile portions is set
apart for rent. It is singular that this quality in the
land, which should have been noticed as an imperfection,
compared with the natural agents by which manufac¬
tures are assisted, should have been pointed out as con¬
stituting its peculiar pre-eminence. If air, water, the
elasticity of steam, and the pressure of the atmosphere,
were of various qualities, if they could have been appro¬
priated, and each quality existed only in moderate abun¬
dance, they, as well as the land, would afford a rent, as
the successive qualities were brought into use. With
every worse quality employed, the value of the commo¬
dities in the manufacture of which they were used would
rise, because equal quantities of labour would be less
productive. Man would do more with the sweat of his
brow, and nature would perform less ; and the land
would be no longer pre-eminent for its limited powers.
" If the surplus produce which the land affords in the
form of rent be an advantage, it is desirable that every
year the machinery newly constructed should be less
efficient than the old, as that would undoubtedly give
consommer au gré de ses désirs, sans s'appauvrir, sans altérer le
principe qui les reproduit sans cesse.
Le meilleur état fossihle est évidemment celui auquel est attachée la
plus grande séreté ; il consiste donc dans la plus grande masse pos¬
sible de valeurs disponibles ; car ce sont les seules dont nous puissions
toujours jouir, et sur lesquelles la sûreté puisse s'établir.
Je voudrais bien que mes lecteurs donnassent à cette vérité toute
Pattention qu'elle mérite ^ je voudrais bien qu'ils saisissent que la
richesse ne consiste que dans les valeurs disponibles, qu'on peut con¬
sommer sans aucun inconvénient par conséquent, qu'il n'y a que le
produit net des cultures qui soit richesse, parcequ'il est dans la
masse des reproductions, la seule partie dont nous puissions disposer
pour nos jouissances ; le surplus de cette masse n'est pas disponible
pour nous, il appartient à la culture, c'est elle qui tous les ans doit le
consommer ; nous ne pouvons le lui dérober, que nous n'en soyons
punis par l'extinction de nos richesses.— Ordre J^aturel, 8çc., p.
379—381.
a greater exchangeable value to the goods manufac¬
tured, not only by that machinery, but by all other ma¬
chinery in the Kingdom ; and a rent would be paid to
all those who possessed the most productive machinery;
"The labour of nature is paid not because she does
much, but because she does little. In proportion as
she becomes niggardly in her gifts, she exacts a greater
price for her work. Where she is munificently bene¬
ficent she always works gratis.'* Principles, p. 63.
Mr. Ricardo seems to have forgotten that the quality
which enables land to afford rent, namely, the power of
producing the subsistence of more persons than are re¬
quired for its cultivation, is an advantage without which
rent could not have existed. As the population of any
given district becomes more dense, the surplus produce
of its soil, or, in other Words, the amount of its produce
which remains after provision has been made for the
subsistence of those by whom it is cultivated, has a con¬
stant tendency to increase ; either because the increase
of agricultural skill and capital increases its positive
fertility, or because a diminution of its relative fertility,
a diminution of its produce relatively to the num¬
bers of its cultivators, forces the poorer classes to be
satisfied with a less amount of raw produce ; or from
both these causes combined. Of these two causes of
rent, one is a benefit, the other an evil. That we have
in this Country perhaps a million of acres capable of
producing, with average labour, forty bushels of corn an
acre, is a benefit ; that we have not more than a million
such acres is an evil. That the average amount of what
an agricultural labourer produces much exceeds what is
absolutely necessary for the subsistence of an agricul¬
tural family is a benefit. That the extent of our fertile
land, and the amount of our capital, in proportion to our
population, are not sufficient to enable him to consume,
directly or indirectly, for his own advantage and that of
his family, all that he produces, is an evil. To produce
rent, both the benefit and the evil must coexist. The one
occasions rent to be demanded; but it is the other which
enables it to be paid.
Mr. Ricardo's attention seems to have been confined
to the evil. But rent might be enormously increased
without the increase of that evil, or even though that
evil should be diminished. If the proprietor of a single
estate could by a wish triple its produce, he would aug¬
ment, in a much greater ratio, its rent. Would this
increase be owing to the parsimony of nature ? It may
be said that it would be owing to the comparative unpro¬
ductiveness of the rest of the Country. It must be
admitted that, if we could suddenly triple the produc¬
tive powers of all the land in this Country, the population
remaining the same, the whole amount of rent would
fall, and the condition of all classes, except of that
comparatively small class which subsists on the rent
of land, would be much improved. But if our popu¬
lation were also tripled, rents would be prodigiously
increased, the situation of the landlords would be im¬
proved, and that of no other class deteriorated. In
tact, the condition of all other classes would be im¬
proved, as the increased division of labour and ease of
communication occasioned by a greater density of popu¬
lation would cheapen and improve our manufactures.
If the population, instead of being tripled, were only
doubled, the situation of the Country would be still
better. The rise in rent, though not equal to what it
would have been if the population had been tripled,
would still be very great, and both raw produce and
Political
Economy,
Distribu¬
tion,
Proportion
of rent,
profit, and
wages.
Rent.
POLITICAL
ECONOMY
187
Political manufactures would be more abundant than they were
Economy, previously. Now this is, in fact, what has occurred in
England during the last hundred and thirty years. Since
Distribu- beginning of the XVIIIth Century the popuîation
Proportions England has about doubled. The produce of" the knd
of rent, has certainly tripled, probably quadrupled. Rent has
profit, and risen in a still greater proportion ; but that rise has been
wages. accompanied by a rise of wages, estimated in every com-
modify consumed by the labourers, excepting a few, such
as spirituous and fermented liquors, which have been
made the subject of special taxation. With the same
labour the labourer can obtain more corn, and perhaps
five times as much of the most useful manufactures,
Can it be fairly said that rents have risen because nature
has done little? that the price paid for her assistance
has been increased because she has become more nig¬
gardly in her gifts? It is true that, if" the productive¬
ness of the land, instead of being tripled, had been cen¬
tupled, rents might not have risen ; but it is equally
true that they would not have risen if, instead of" being
tripled it had remained stationary. The condition essen¬
tial to the payment of the labour of nature is not, as
Mr. Ricardo states it, that her assistance shall be little,
but that it shall not be infinite.
As rent arises from the agency not of man, but of
nature, its amount does not depend on the will or the
exertions of its recipient. The owner of the land. Or of
the natural agent, whatever it be, for the use of which
persons are willing to pay rent, receives the sum which
their mutual competition forces them to give. As it is
all pure gain, he accepts the largest sum that is offered,
however trifling its amount. Nor, on the other hand,
does the amount of rent depend on the will or the exer¬
tions of those who pay it. Whatever be the value of the
services of an appropriated natural agent, that value
must be paid by the person who wishes to use them, as
both parties to the bargain are aware, that if it is
not hired by one applicant it will be by another. The
amount, therefore, is subject to no general rule; it has
neither a minimum nor a maximum. It depends on the
degree in which nature has endowed certain instruments
with peculiar productive powers, and the number of those,
instruments compared with the number and wealth of
the persons able and willing to hire them. There is,
probably, now land near New York selling for <£1000 an
acre, which a century ago could have been obtained for
a dollar.
Proportionate Amounts of Profit and Wages.
Proportions Profits and wages differ in almost all respects from
oí profit rent. They are each subject to a minimum and a
dr. wages, jy^^ximiim. They are subject to a minimum, because
each of them is the result of" a sacrifice. It may be
difficult to say what is the minimum with respect to
profit, but it is clear that every capitalist, as a motive
to abstain from the immediate and unproductive enjoy¬
ment of his capital, must require some remuneration
exceeding the lowest that is conceivable. The minimum
at which wages can be permanently fixed is of course
the sum necessary to enable the existing labouring popu¬
lation to subsist. On the other hand, as the rate of
wages depends in a great measure on the number
of labourers, and the rate of profit on the amount of
capital, both high wages and high profits have a tend¬
ency to produce their own diminution. High wages,
by stimulating an inerease of population, and there¬
fore an increase of the number of labourers, and high Political
profits, by occasioning an increase of capital. It will Economy,
be seen in a future portion of this Treatise that, if the
amount of capital employed in the payment of wages
increases, the number of labourers remaining the same. Proportions
profits will fall; and that if the number of labourers of profit
increases, the amount of capital and the productiveness wages,
of labour remaining the same, wages will fall ; and that,
if they both increase in equal proportions, both will have
a tendency to fall, in consequence of the larger propor¬
tion which they will each bear to the power of the natural
agents whose services they each require. And although
it may not be easy to fix the maximum of either wages
or profits, yet it may be laid down generally, that in no
Country have profits continued for any considerable period
at the average rate of fifty per cent, per annum, or wages
at such a rate as to afford the labourer ten times the
amount necessary for the subsistence of a family.
Adam Smith has laid down, that the whole of the
advantages and disadvantages of the different employ¬
ments of labour and capital must, in the same neigh¬
bourhood, be either perfectly equal or continually tend¬
ing to equality. If in the same neighbourhood there
was any employment evidently either more or less ad¬
vantageous than the rest, so many people would crowd
into it in the one case, and so many would desert it in
the other, that its advantages would soon return to the
level of other employments. This at least would be the
case in a society where things were left to take their
natural course, where there was perfect liberty, and
every man was perfectly free both to choose what occu¬
pation he thought proper, and to change it as often as
he thought proper. Every man's interest would prompt
him to seek the advantageous and to shun the disadvan¬
tageous employment.'' Wealth of Nations, book i.
ch. X.
The truth of these remarks of Adam Smith is ob¬
vious. It is obvious also that, in the absence of dis¬
turbing causes, the desire of obtaining a more advan¬
tageous field for the employment of his mental and
bodily faculties, which leads a man to move from one
part of the same neighbourhood to another, would lead
him from village to village and from Country to
Country. For commercial purposes, the whole civilized
world is one extended neighbourhood ; and the same
causes which tend to equalize profits in Liverpool and
London tend to equalize them in London and Calcutta.
15ut when we look into the details, we are struck by the
difference in the lemuneration of persons apparently un¬
dergoing equal toils, and exercising equal abstinence.
We find a general exempt from more than half the hard¬
ships of a private, and receiving more than a hundred
times his pay. We find barristers making £10,000 or
£ 15,000 a year, while a copying clerk is paid i"or labour
as assiduous and more irksome by only £lOO. We
find the purchaser of an Exchequer-bill willing to pay
a large premium for the privilege of advancing capital
at a profit of three per cent, per annum, while a shop¬
keeper thinks himself ill paid by less than twenty per
cent. We find a London banker satisfied with a profit
of seven per cent., while his partner in Calcutta requires
fifteen.
These differences are partly real and partly apparent.
So far as they are real, they are occasioned partly by the
influence of the different instruments of production, or,
in other words, the different sources of revenue, on one
another ; the infl uence, for instance, of the rate of profit s on
2 c 2
188
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Distribu
íion.
Political the amount of wages, and of the amount of wages on the
Economy, rate of profits ; partly by the greater or less severity of the
sacrifices which the labourer and the capitalist must
make in addition to the undergoing mere toil or absti¬
nence ; and partly by the difficulty with which capital and
labour are transferred from one employment to another.
A difficulty caused partly by physical obstacles and
partly by human habits and institutions. The influence
of these causes on the average rates of wages and
of profits in the same Country, in different employ¬
ments of labour and capital, we shall consider here¬
after ; and having assumed for the purposes of the
following discussion that a certain average rate of wages
and a certain average rate of profit exists, we shall now
endeavour to explain the causes by which these average
rates are determined, or, in other words, to explain the
circumstances which decide what^ at a given time and in
a given place, shall he the average rate of wages and the
average rate of profit. We have already stated as one
of the principal sources of difficulty in Political Economy
the mutual dependence of its different propositions. A
dependence which, as it respects the theory of wages and
profits, is so great that it is impossible to give a com¬
plete view of the causes which affect the one without ad¬
verting to all those which affect the other. We shall
endeavour to keep them as distinct as we can, and we
shall begin by wages, as that subject is capable of being
separately considered to the greatest extent.
Rate of
wages.
Meanings
of the ad¬
jectives
high and
low, as ap¬
plied to
wages
Average Rate of Wages.
We have already defined wages to be the remunera¬
tion received by the labourer in recompense for having
exerted his faculties of mind and body. They are said
to be high or low, in proportion to the extent of that
remuneration. That extent has been estimated by three
different measures; and the words high and low wages
have, consequently, been used in three different senses.
First. Wages have been termed high or low, accord¬
ing to the amount of money earned by the labourer
within a given period, without any reference to the
commodities which that money would purchase ; as
when we say that wages have risen in England since
the reign of Henry VII, because the labourer now
receives Is. 6d. or 2s. a day, and then received only 4jcZ.
Secondly. They have been termed high or low, ac¬
cording to the quantity and quality of the commodities
obtained by the labourer, without any reference to his
receipts in money ; as when we say that wages have
fallen in England since the reign of Henry VII., because
the labourer then earned two pecks of wheat a day, and
now earns only one. ^
Thirdly. They have been termed high or low, ac¬
cording to the share or proportion which the labourer
receives of the produce of his own labour, without any
reference to the total amount of that produce.
The first nomenclature, that which measures wages
simply by their amount in money, is the popular one.
The second, that which considers wages simply with
reference to the quantity and quality of the commodities
received by the labourer, or, to speak more correctly,
purchasable with his money wages, was that generally
adopted by Adam Smith. The third, that which con¬
siders wages as high or low, simply with reference to the
labourer's share or proportion of what he produces, was
introduced by Mr. Ricardo, and has been continued by
man}" of his followers.
This last use of the words high and low wages has
always appeared to us one of the most unfortunate of
Mr. Ricardo's many innovations in the language of
Political Economy. In the first place, it has a tendency
to withdraw our attention, even when we are considering
the subject of wages, from the facts which most in¬
fluence the labourer's condition. To ascertain whether
his wages are high or low, we are desired to inquire, not
whether he is ill or well paid,—not whether he is well
or ill fed, or clothed, or lodged, or warmed, but simply
what proportion of what he produces comes to his
share. During the last four or five years many a
hand-weaver has received only Ss. 3d. for producing,
by a fortnight's exertion, a web that the capitalist has
sold for 85. Ad. A coal-merchant often pays his men
£2 a week, and charges his employers for their services
£2 105. But, according to Mr. Ricardo's nomencla¬
ture, the wages of the weaver, at 4s. lid. a weekj are
much higher than those of the coalheaver at £2, since
the weaver receives 99 per cent, of the value of his
labour, while the coalheaver has only 80 per cent.
And, even if the nomenclature in question were free
from this objection, even if the point on which it endeavours
to fix the attention were the most important, instead of
being the least important, incident to wages, it still would
be inconvenient from its tendency to render the writer
who employs it both inconsistent and obscure. It is al¬
most impossible to affix to terms of familiar use a per¬
fectly new meaning, and not from time to time to slide
into the old one. When Mr. Ricardo says that no¬
thing can affect profits but a rise of wages," p. 118 ; that
" whatever raises the wages of labour lowers the profits
of stock," p. 231 ; that high wages invariably affect
the employers of labour by depriving them of a portion
of their real profits," p. 129 ; that " as the wages of
labour fall the profits of stock rise," p. 499; he means
by high wages, not a large amount, but a large propor¬
tion. But when he speaks of the encouragement
which high wages give to the increase of population,"
p. 88—361, he means by high wages a large amount.
And many of his followers and opponents have supposed
the words high and low to be used by him as indicative
of quantity, not proportion. The consequence has been
that, since the publication of his great Work, an opinion
has prevailed that high wages and high profits are in¬
compatible, and that whatever is taken from the one is
added to the other. The slightest attempt to try this
theory by an actual example will show its absurdity.
The usual supposition is, that the capitalist, at an ave¬
rage, advances the wages of his labourers for one year,
and receives, after deducting rent, one-tenth of the value
of what they produce. We are inclined to think that
in England the average rate of profit is rather greater,
and the average period of advance rather less. After
making many inquiries on these subjects in Manchester,
we found the general opinion to be, that the manufac¬
turing capitalist turns his capital, at an average, twice in
the year, and receives on each operation a profit of 5 per
cent. ; and that the shopkeeper, at an average, turns his
capital four times in a year, and receives on each opera¬
tion a profit of about per cent. On these data the
labourer's share would, of course, be much greater
than according to the ordinary estimate. We will
suppose, however, that estimate to be correct, and
that, after rent has been deducted, the labourer receives,
on an average, nine-tenths of the value of what he pro¬
duces. Under these circumstances a rise in the amount
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Rate of
wages.
Meanings
of the words
high and
low.
P o L I T I C A L E C o N o M Y. 189
Political Qf wages ainouiitiiig to one-tenth, or from 10s. to lis.
. ^ week, if that rise is to be deducted from the capitalist's
Distribu- share, would utterly destroy all profit whatever. A rise
lion. one-fifth, or from 10s. to 12s. a week, would occasion
Meanings to the capitalist a loss equal to the whole amount of his
oí the words former profit. A fall in wages of one-tenth would double
profits ; a fall of one-fifth would treble them. Now we
know that general variations in the amount of wages to
the amount of one-tenth or one-fifth, or to a greater ex¬
tent, are not of unfrequent occurrence. Yet who ever
heard of their producing such an effect on profits ?
And yet this doctrine has received the sanction both
of theoretic and practical men. Mr. Francis Place is
asked by the Committee on Artisans and Machinery
(First Report, p. 4.6,*) Do not the masters in conse¬
quence of a rise of wages raise their prices?''—No," he
answers ; I believe there is no principle of Political Eco¬
nomy better established than this of wages ; increase of
wages must come from profits."
Did Mr. Place ever apply this doctrine when his men
asked for higher wages on a general mourning? Even
the Committee appear to have taken this view of the
question. The subject is so important, that we will
venture to extract the following passage from the Report
made in the following Session :—
" Those eminent persons who, during the last fifty
years, have reduced the rules that govern the operations
of trade and industry to a Science, undertake to show,
by arguments and facts, that the effect of low wages rs
not a low price of the commodity to which they are ap¬
plied, but the raising of the average rate of profits in
the Country in whicli they exist. The explanation of
this proposition occupies a large portion of the j-ustl}-
celebrated work of the late Mr. Ricardo, on the Principles
of Political Economy; and is also ably set forth in the
following evidence of Mr. M'Culloch, to which your
Committee particularly desire to draw the attention of
the House :
' Have yoti turned your attention to the effect of
fluctuations in the rate of wages on the price of commo¬
dities ?*—' I have.'
** ' Do you consider that when wages rise the price
of commodities will proportionally increase ?'—' 1 do not
think that a real rise of wages has any effect whatever, or
but a very imperceptible one, on the price of commodities.'
' Then, supposing wages to be really lower in France
than in this Country, do you think that that circumstance
would give the French any advantage over us in the
foreign market ?'—' No, I do not ; I do not think it would
give them any advantage whatever. 1 think it would
occasion a different distribution of the produce of industry
in France from what would obtain in England, but that
would be all. In France the labourers would get a less
proportion of the produce of industry, and the capitalists
a larger proportion.'
" ' Could not the French manufacturer, if he gets his
labour for less than the English manufacturer, afford to
sell his goods for less?'—* As the value of goods is made
up wholly of labour and profit, the whole and only effect
of a French manufacturer getting his labour for less than
an English manufacturer is to enable him to make more
profit than the English manufacturer can make, but not
to lower the price of his goods. The low rate of wages
in France goes to establish a high rate of profits in all
branches of industry in France.'
* Session of 1824.
' What conclusion do you come to in making a com-
pari son between wages in England and wages in ,
France ?'—' I come to this conclusion, that, if it be true j)igtribu-
that wages are really higher in England than in France, tion.
the only effect of that would be to lower the profits of Meanings
capital in England below their level in France, but that the words
will have no effect whatever on the price of the com mo-
¿Otü
dities produced in either Country.'
' When you say that wages do not affect prices,
what is it that does affect prices ?'—' An increase or dimi¬
nution of the quantity of labour necessary to fhe produc¬
tion of the commodity.'
" ' Supposing that there was a free export of ma
chinery, so that France could get that machinery, do
you think that under those circumstances we should
retain those advantages which we possess at the present
moment ?'—' Yes, we should ; for the export of the ma¬
chinery would not lower our wages, or increase the
wages in France, so that we should preserve that ad¬
vantage to the full extent that we have it at this moment.'
" ' Will you explain to the Committee why you are of
opinion that the French manufacturer would not under¬
sell the English, seeing that his profits are larger than
the English manufacturer?'—' Because, if he were to offer
to undersell the English, he can only do it by consent¬
ing to accept a less rate of profit on his capital than the
other French capitalists are making on theirs, and I
cannot suppose a man of common sense would act upon
such a principle.'
" ' Are the Committee to understand, that although a
French manufacturer pays half the wages to his men in
France which our manufacturers do in England, yet
that his wages being on a par, or a level, in general,
with the other wages in France, will render his profits
on a par with them, and consequently he would not
undersell the English merchant by lowering his profits
below the average rate of profits in France?'—* Precisely
so. I believe, in point of fact, there is no such dif¬
ference ; but he could not undersell the English manu¬
facturer imless he took lower profits than all other pro¬
ducers in Fiance were making. I might illustrate this
by what takes place every day in England, where you
never find the proprietor of rich land, in order to get
rid of his produce, offering it in Mark-lane at a lower
rate than that which is got by a farmer or proprietor of
the very worst land in the Kingdom.'
" ' Would it not produce a larger sale if the French
manufacturer were to sell at a less price?'—' Supposing
that to be so, the greater the sale the greater would be
the loss of profit.'
We have extracted this passage as indicating the views
of the Committee, not those of Mr. M'Culloch. Mr.
M'Culloch, as will appear on turning to his evidence,
meant by wages really high and really low^ not a larger
or a smaller amount, but a larger or a smaller proportion.
But the Committee appear to have understood him to
mean a larger or a smaller amount.
Mr. Bradbury had previously stated the common day
wages in France to be about half the wages paid in
England.
He was asked, " In what way do you consider that
lower waofes in France irive the French manufacturers
O O
an advantage over English manufacturers?"—" I con¬
ceive that if they pay 3c?. a pound for spinning to the
* Report from Select Committee on Export of Tools and Ma¬
chinery. Session of 1825, p. 13, 14,
190 POLITICALECONOMY.
¡ow.
Political operative spinner, and we pay 6c?., that would give them
Economy advantage of 3d. a pound in the cost."
" You mean \o say that the French would be able to
sell the article they make, in consequence of paying
Meaiiino;s lower wages, cheaper than the English could sell it?"
of the words " They could afford it 3d. a pound cheaper. '
hrgh and « You mean to say that, according to the rate of wages
paid, the price of the article for which they are paid is
high or low?"—" It may be afforded higher or lower,
I should imagine, as the cost be more or less."
" Therefore the whole reason and ground on which
you think that low wages give them an advantage is,
that low wages contribute to enable them to sell the
article cheaper than if they paid higher wages ?"—
" Yes, labour constituting a material feature in the
cost."
You conceive that increased cost would be a loss to
the party, if the-price was not increased in proportion ?"
—" I should imagine so."
" Might not the profits of the proprietor be lessened ?"—
** They might he lessened, which is in effect a /oss."
" Might not that enable him to hear the loss which the
difference of wages produces. ?" *—" If he chose to make
that sacrificed*
Might not the profits be lessened until there
were no profits at all I "t—"Very easily, I should
think."—(Fifth Eeport of the Select Committee on
Artisans and Machinery, p. 547, 549, 550.)
It was with reference to this evidence that Mr. M'Cul-
loch was examined. His examination commences thus :
Have you read the evidence which has been given
before this Committee?"-—" I have read portions of it
only."
" Have you read the evidence given by Mr. Brad¬
bury ?"—" A part of it."
That part in which he conceives that foreigners
have an advantage over the English manufacturers in
consequence of wages being lower in France?"—" Yes,
I have read that."
And then follows the question :
Have you turned your attention to the effect of fluc¬
tuations in the rate of wages on the price of commo¬
dities ?"
Now if the Committee understood Mr. M'Culloch to
mean, by high or low wages, not a great or small
amount, but a great or small proportion, his evidence
and that of Mr. Bradbury had nothing in common.
The whole of the confusion has been occasioned by
the verbal ambiguity which we have pointed out, and
would not have arisen if Mr. Ricardo had used any
other adjectives than high and low to express a larger or
smaller proportion.
The two other meanings of the words high and low
gator,
* In other words, " Might not the loss enable him to bear the
loss F"
f This question appears to have come from a different interro-
In justice to the clear and intelligent evidence of Mr. Brad¬
bury, we should observe that he was far from falling into the com¬
mon error, that a generally high rate of wages can be unfavourable
to a Country. He set out by supposing that, with the assistance
of English machinery and English superintendents, the labour of
the French spinners might be as productive as that of the English
spinners. Under such eircumstances, if their wages could remain
at one-half of English wages, he believed that the French manu¬
facturer couîd undersell the English manufacturer. Of the accu¬
racy of this opinion under the possible, though highly improbable
hypothesis in question, we entertain no doubt, though, from the
teneur of the questions, it appears not to have met with the appro¬
bation of the Committee.
wages, that which refers to the money, and that which
refers to the comrnod-ities, received by the labourer, are
both equally convenient, if we consider the rate of wages
at the same time and place ; for then they both mean
the same thing. At the same time and place the la¬
bourer who receives the highest wages necessarily
obtains the most commodities. But when we refer to
different places, or different times, the words high or
lovir wages direct the attention to very different subjects,
as we understand them to mean more or less in money,
or more or less in commodities. The differences which
have taken place in the amount of money wages at dif-
feient times inform us of scarcely any thing but the
abundance or scarcity of the precious metals at those
times: facts which are seldom of much importance.
The differences in the amount of money wages in dif¬
ferent places at the same time are of much more im¬
portance, since they indicate the different values of the
labour of different Countries in the general market of the
world. But even these differences afford no premises
from which the positive condition of the labouring
classes, in any Country, can be inferred, and but imper¬
fect grounds for estimating their relative condition. The
only data which enable us to ascertain the actual situa¬
tion of the labourers at any given time and place, or
their comparative situation at different times and places,
are the quantity and quality of the commodities which
form their wages, if paid in kind, or are purchasable
with their wages, if paid in money. And as the actual
or comparative situation of the labourer is the principal
object of the following inquiry, we shall use the word
wages to express, not the money, but the commodities,
which the labourer receives; and we shall consider
wages to rise as the quantity or quality of those com¬
modities is increased or improved, and to fall as that
quantity or quality is diminished or deteriorated.
It is obvious, too, that the labourer's situation does
not depend on the amount which he receives at any one
time, but on his average receipts during a given period—
during a week, a month, or a year ; and that the longer
the period taken, the more accurate will be the estimate.
Weekly wages have, of course, more tendency to equality
than daily ones, and annual than monthly; and, if we
could ascertain the amount earned by a man during five,
or ten, or twenty years, we should know his situation
better than if we confined our attention to a single year.
There is, however, so much difficulty in ascertaining the
amount of wages during very long periods, that a
single year will probably be the best that we can take.
It comprehends what, in most climates, are very different,
summer and winter wages ; it comprehends also the
period during w^hich the most important vegetable pro¬
ductions come to maturity in temperate climates, and on
that account has generally been adopted by Political
Economists as the average period for which capital is
supposed to be advanced.
We should observe that we include, as part of the
wages of the married labourer, those of his wife and un-
emancipated children. To omit them would lead to in¬
accurate estimates of the comparative situation of the
labourers in different Countries, or in different occupa¬
tions. In those employments which are carried on
under shelter, and with the assistance of that machinery
which affords power, and requires human aid only for
its direction, the industry of a woman, or a child,
approaches in efficiency that of a full-grown man. A
girl of fourteen can manage a power-loom nearly as
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Rate of
wages.
Meanings
of the words
high and
low.
POLITICAL
ECONOMY.
191
Political well as her father; but where strength, or exposure to
Economy, seasons, is required, little can be done by the wife,
or the girls, or even by the boys, until they approach the
tion" which they usually quit their father's house.
Rate of The earnings of the wife and children of many a Man-
wages. ehester weaver or spinner exceed, or equal, those of
Meanings himself. Those of the wife and children of an agricul-
and^^^ tural labourer, or of a carpenter, or a coalheaver, are
low. generally unimportant—while the husbands, in each
case, receives 15«. a week, the weekly income of the one
family may be 40.i., and that of the other only 17s.
or 18s.
It must be admitted, however, that the workman
does not retain the whole of this apparent pecuniary
advantage. The wife is taken from her household la¬
bours, and a part of the increased wages is employed
in purchasing what might, otherwise, be produced at
home. The evils to the children are still greater. The
infants suffer from the want of maternal attention, and
those who are older from fatigue and confinement, from
the want of childish relaxation and amusement, and,
what is far more important, from the deficiency of reli¬
gious, moral, and intellectual education. The establish¬
ment of infant and Sunday schools, and laws regulating
the number of hours during which children may labour,
are palliatives of these evils, but they must exist, to a
certain degree, whenever the labour of the wife and
children is the subject of sale; and, though not, all of
them, perhaps, strictly within the province of Political
Economy, must never be omitted in any estimate of
the causes affecting the welfare of the labouring classes.
The last preliminary point to which we have to call
the reader's attention is, the difference between the
amount of wages and the price of labour, or, in other
words, between the earnings of a labourer during a
given time and the price paid for the performance of a
given quantity of work.
If men were the only labourers, and if every man
worked equally hard, and for the same number of hours,
during the year, these two expressions would be syno¬
nymous. If each man, for instance, worked three
hundred days during each year, and ten hours during
each day, one three-thousandth part of each man's
yearly wages would be the price of an hour's labour.
But neither of these propositions is true. The yearly
wages of a family often include, as we have seen, the
results of the labour of the wife and children. And few
things are less uniform than the number of working
days during the year, or of working hours during the
day, or the degree of exertion undergone during those
hours.
The established annual holidays in Protestant Coun¬
tries are between fifty and sixty. In many Catholic
Countries they exceed one hundred. Among the Hin¬
doos they are said to occupy nearly half the year. But
these holidays are confined to a certain portion of the
population; the labour of a sailor, or a soldier, ora
menial servant, admits of scarcely any distinction of days.
Again, in Northern and Southern latitudes, the hours
of out-door labour are limited by the duration of light ;
and in all climates by the weather. When the labourer
works under shelter, the daily hours of labour may be uni¬
form throughout the year. And, independently of natural
causes, the daily hours of labour vary in different Coun¬
tries, and in different employments in the same Country.
The daily hours of labour are, perhaps, longer in
France than in England, and certainly are longer in
England than in Hindostán. In Manchester the manu Political
facturer generally works twelve hours a day; in Bir-. °
mingham, ten : a London shopman is seldom employed
more than eight or nine. tion.
There is still more discrepancy between the exertions Rate of
made by different labourers in a given period. They wages,
are often, indeed, unsusceptible of comparison. There the
is no common measure of the toils undergone by a amount of
miner and a tailor, or of those of a shopman and an iron- wages and
founder. And labour which is the same in kind may the price of
vary indefinitely both in intensity and in productiveness, labour;
Many of the witnesses examined by the Committee on
Artisans and Machinery (Session of 1824) were English
manufacturers, who had worked in France. They agree
as to the comparative indolence and inefficiency of the
French labourer, even during his hours of employment.
One of the witnesses, Adam Young, had been two
years in one of the best manufactories in Alsace. He is
asked, Did you find the spinners there as industrious
as the spinners in England?" and replies, "No; a
spinner in England will do twice as much as a French¬
man. They get up at four in the morning, and work
till ten at night ; but our spinners will do as much in six
hours as they will in ten."
" Had you any Frenchmen employed under you ? "—
" Yes; eight, at two francs a day."
" What had you a day ? "—" Twelve francs "
" Supposing you had had eight English carders under
you how much more work could you have done ? "—
" With one Englishman I could have done more than I
did with those eight Frenchmen. It cannot be called work
they do : it is only looking at it, and wishing it done.''
" Do the French make their yarn at a greater
expense? Yes ; though they have their hands for
much less wages than in England."—pp. 580, 582.
The following evidence of Edwin Rose, given on the
Factory Inquiry of 1833, relates to a rather later period,
and is valuable from the extensive experience of the
witness.
" Are wages lower in France, as far as you have seen,
than in England?"—"If I have a shop of men in
England for any thing, then I have to see how much
I have to pay them for the work they turn out of any
kind ; but if I have the same shop in France, then I
must have twice the number of hands to do the same
amount of work. It is true I pay them less apiece
there ; but I have seen that you must have twice as
large a building to contain the hands, twice as many
clerks and book-keepers, and overlookers to look after
them, and twice as many tools to do the same quantity
of work as is done here in England; and the master
there must have twice as much interest of money on all
this ; and their minds seem to me to get more bewildered
with stress of work there than here. It seems to me
that you have double the number of people there to do
the same amount of work, whatever it be ; but their
wages are lower in money."
" But do you consider their wages higher in reality ?"
—" I really do ; they are better paid in proportion to the
work they turn out than what the English are."
" What do you think of French workmen, as work¬
men ?"—" I don't think they have that perseverance that
English have. I often have noticed them trying a thing,
and then, if it don't answer at first, they seem terrified
and shrug up their shoulders, and throw it aside ; but an
English workman keeps trying and trying, and won't
give up near so soon as the Frenchman. A house-
19-2
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
tion.
Rate of
v/ages.
Difference
between the
amount of
wages and
Political joiner or carpenter's wages are from thirty-five to forty
Economy. ^ compared with English work is
very rough, and but littlo of it in comparison. A stone¬
mason's wages are from three francs to four francs.
They are inferior to our masons in laying foundations.
Then, as to time of work, I think two English masons
in the same time do more work on an average than
three of theirs."
In short, do you know any single species of labour
the price of that stands a master cheaper in France than in Eng-
laboui. land, quality and quantity of work being considered ?"—
" I don't know any, unless it be tailors and shoemakers'
waives ; and I am not sure about them. Clothes are
dearer in France than in England ; but shoes are
cheaper, the duty being oíF leather." First Report of
the Factory Commission^ D. i. p. 121.
Even in the same Country, and in the same employ¬
ments, similar inequalities are constantly observed.
Every one is aware that much more exertion is under¬
gone by the labourer by task-work than by the day-la¬
bourer; by the independent day-labourer than by the
pauper; and even by the pauper than by the convict.
It is obvious that the rate of wages is less likely to be
uniform than the price of labour, as the amount of
wages will be affected, in the first place, by any varia¬
tions in the price, and, in the second place, by any vari¬
ations in the amount, of the labour exerted.
In England the average annual wages of labour
are three times as high as they are in Ireland ; but as
the labourer in Ireland is said not to do more than one-
third of what is done by the labourer in England, the
price of labour may, in both Countries, be about equal.
In England the labourer by task-work earns much more
than the day-labourer ; but, as it is certainly as profitable
to employ him, the price of his labour cannot be higher.
It may be supposed, indeed, that the price of labour is
every where, and at all times, the same ; and, if there
were no disturbing causes,—if all persons knew per¬
fectly well their own interest, and strictly followed it,
and there were no difficulties in moving capital and la¬
bour from place to place, and from employment to em¬
ployment,-—the price of labour, at the same time, would
be every where the same. But these difficulties occa¬
sion the price of labour to vary materially, even at the
same time and place ; and variations both in the amount
of wages and in the price of labour, at different times
and in different, places, are occasioned not only by these
causes, but by others which will be considered in a sub¬
sequent part of this Treatise.
These variations affect very differently the labourer
and his employer. The employer is interested in keep¬
ing down the price of labour ; but while that price re¬
mains the same, while at a given expense he gets a given
amount of work done, his situation remains unaltered.
If a farmer can get a field trenched for £l2, it is indif¬
ferent to him whether he pays the whole of that sum to
three capital workmen, or to four ordinary ones. The
three would receive higher wages than the four, but, as
they would do proportionably more work, their labour
would come just as cheap. If the three could be hired
at £3 lOs. apiece, while the four required £3 apiece,
though the wages of the three would be higher, the
price of the work done by them would be lower.
It is true that the causes which raise the amount of
the labourer's wages often raise the rate of the capitalist's
profits. If, by increased industry, one man performs
the work of two, both the amount of wages and the rate
of profits will generally be raised. But the rate of profit Political
will be raised, not by the rise of wages, but in conse- Beonomy,
quence of the additional supply of labour having dimi-
nished its price, or having diminished the period for which ^ion."
it had previously been necessary to advance that price, Rate of
or having rendered, as in the instances mentioned by wages.
Edwin Rose, the labour previously employed more pro- Biffoionce
ductive. am^unTof^
The labourer, on the other hand, is principally inte- wages and
rested in the amount of wages. The amount of his wages the price of
being fixed, it is certainly his interest that the price of labour,
his labour should be high, for on that depends the de¬
gree of exertion imposed on him. But, if the amount
of his wages be low, he must be comparatively poor—if
that amount be high he must be comparatively rich—
whatever be his remuneration for each specific act of ex¬
ertion. In the one case he will have leisure and want ;
in the other toil and abundance. We are far from
thinking that the evils of severe and incessant labour, or
the benefits of a certain degree of leisure, ought to be
left out in any estimate of happiness. But, as we obf-
served in the beginning of this Treatise, it is not with
happiness, but with wealth, that we are concerned as Poli¬
tical Economists ; we profess to state facts for the infor¬
mation and instruction of the student, not to lay down
rules to guide the conduct of the legislator. In explain
ing the general laws according to which wealth is pro
duced and distributed we do not assume that all the
means by which it can be augmented ought to be
encouraged, or even to be permitted. We do not assume
even that wealth is a benefit. In fact, however, wealth
and happiness are very seldom opposed. Nature, when
she imposed on man the necessity of labour, tempered
his repugnance to it by making long-continued inac¬
tivity painful, and by strongly associating with exertion
the idea of its reward The poor and half-employed
Irish labourer, or the still poorer and less industrious
savage, is as inferior in happiness as he is in income to
the hard-worked English artisan. The Englishman's
industry may sometimes be excessive ; his desire to
better his condition may sometimes drive him on toils
productive of disease ill recompensed by the increase of
his wages ; but that such is not generally the case may
be proved by comparing the present duration of life in
England with its former duration, or with its duration
in other Countries. It is generally admitted that,
during the last fifty years, a marked increase has taken
place in the industry of our population, and that they
are now the hardest-working labourers in the world.
But during the whole of that period the average dura¬
tion of their lives has been constantly increasing, and
appears still to increase; and, notwithstanding the ap¬
parent unhealthiness of many of their occupations, notn
withstanding the atmosphere of smoke and steam, and,
what appears to be still more injurious, of dust, in which
many of them labour for sixty-nine hours a week, they
enjoy, as a community, longer life than the lightly-toiled
inhabitants of the most favoured soils and climates.
The average annual mortality in England and Wales
is computed by Mr. Rickman at one in forty-nine. In the
extensive inquiry instituted by the Poor-Law Commis¬
sioners in 1834 into the state of the labouring classes
in America and the Continent of Europe, the only
Countries in which the mortality appeared to be so
small as in England were Norway, in which it appeared
to be one in fifty-four, and the Basses Pyrenees, in which
it appeared to be one in fifty. In all the other Countries
P o L I T I C A L E C o N o M Y. 193
Distribu¬
tion.
Wages
Political which gave returns it exceeded the English proportion
Economy, sometimes by doubling it, and in the majority of
instances by more than one-fourth.*
Having marked the distinction which really exists
between the price of labour and the amount of wages,
we shall for the future consider every labouring family
as consisting of the same number of persons, and ex¬
erting the same degree of industry. On that supposi¬
tion, the distinction between the price of labour and the
amount of wages will be at an end ; or rather, the only
distinction will be, that the former expression designates
the remuneration for each specific exertion ; the latter,
the aggregate of all those separate remunerations, as
summed up at the end of each year. And the question
to be answered will be, what are the causes which de¬
cide what in any given Country, and at any given period,
shall be the quantity and quality of the commodities ob¬
tained by a labouring family during a year?
Proximate Cause deciding the Rale of IViges.
The proximate cause appears to be clear. The quantity
and quality of the commodities obtained by each labouring
family during a year must depend on the quantity and
quality of the commodities directly or indirectly appro¬
priated during the year to the use of the labouring
population, compared with the number of labouring
families, (including under that term all those who depend
on their own labour for subsistence ;) or, to speak more
concisely, on the extent of the fund for the maintenance
of labourers, compared with the number of labourers to
be maintained.
Erroneous This proposition is so nearly self-evident, that if Pol i-
opiiiions. tical Economy were a new Science we should assume it
without further remark. But we must warn our readers
that this proposition is inconsistent with opinions which
are entitled to consideration, some from the number, and
others from the authority, of those who maintain them.
First. It is inconsistent with the doctrine that the rate
of wages depends solely on the proportion which the
number of labourers bears to the amount of Capital in a
Country. The word capital has been used in so many
senses that it is difficult to state this doctrine precisely ;
but we know of no definition of that term which will
not include many things that are not used by the la¬
bouring classes ; and, if our proposition be correct, no
increase or diminution of these things can directly affect
wages. If half the plate glass in the Country were to
be destroyed to-morrow the capital of the Country would
he diminished ; but the only sufferers would be those
vvho possess or wish to possess plate glass ; among
whom the labouring classes are not included. But if
half the existing stock of coarse tobacco were destroyed,
the immediate consequence would be a fall of wages ;
not as estimated in money, but as estimated in the com¬
modities consumed by the labourer. Though receiving
the same money wages, the labourer would have less
tobacco, or, if he chose to continue undiminished his
consumption of tobacco, then less of other things, than
he had before. So if a foreign merchant were to come
to settle in this Country, and bring with him a cargo of
raw and manufactured silk, lace, and diamonds, that
cargo would increase the capital of the Country ; silk,
lace, and diamonds would become more abundant, and
^ Seuiur, Prpface to Fori-xgn Ckimmunicalions. p. 238.
VOL. VI.
the enjoyments of those who use them would be in- Political
creased : the enjoyments of the labourers, supposing them I^conomy,
not to be consumers of silk, lace, or diamonds, wfiuld
not be directly increased : indirectly and consequentially,
they might be increased. The silk might be re-exported Wages,
in a manufactured state, and commodities for the use of Erroneous
labourers imported in return ; and then, and not till opinions,
then, wages would rise ; but that rise would be occa¬
sioned, not by the first addition to the capital of the
Country, which was made in the form of silk, but by the
substituted addition made in the form of commodities
used by the labourer.
Secondly. It is inconsistent with the doctrine^ that
wages depend on the proportion borne by the number
of labourers to the whole revenue of the society of which
they are members. In the example last suggested, of
the introduction of a new supply of lace or diamonds,
the revenues of those who use lace or diamonds would
be increased ; but as wages are not spent on those ar¬
ticles, they would remain unaltered. It is possible, in¬
deed, to state cases in which the revenue of a large por¬
tion of a community might be increased, and yet the
wages of the labourers might fall without an increase of
their numbers. We will suppose the principal trade of
Ireland to be the raising produce for the English market ;
and that for every two hundred acres ten families were
employed in raising, on half the land, their own sub¬
sistence, and on the remainder corn and other export¬
able crops requiring equal labour. Under such circum¬
stances, if a demand should arise in the English market
for cattle, butchers'-meat, and wool, instead of corn, it
would be the interest of the Irish landlords and farmers
to convert their estates from arable into pasture. In¬
stead of ten families for every two hundred acres, two
miirht be sufficient : one to raise the subsistence of the
two, and the other to (end the cattle and sheep. The
revenue of the landlords and the farmers would be in¬
creased : and, if they employed the whole of that in¬
crease in the purchase of Irish labour, all parties would
be benefited. But if they devoted the greater part
of it to the purchase of English manufactures,the services
of a large portion of the Irish labourers would cease to
be required ; a large portion of the land formerly em¬
ployed in producing commodities for their use would
be devoted to the production of commodities for the
use of England ; and the fund for the maintenance of
Irish labour would fall, notwithstanding the increase
of the revenue of the landlords and farmers.
Thirdly. It is inconsistent with the prevalent opinion, Abseiitee-
that the non-residence of landlords, funded proprietor'^,
mortgagees, and other unproductive consumers, can be
detrimental to the labouring inhabitants of a Country
which does 7wt export raw produce.
Ina Country which exports raw produce, wages may
be lowered by such non-residence. If an Irish landlord
resides on his estate, he requires the services of certain
persons, who must also be resident there, to minister to
his daily wants. He must have servants, gardeners, and
perhaps gamekeepers. If he build a house, he must
employ resident masons and carpenters ; part of his fur¬
niture he may import, but the greater part of it must be
made in his neighbourhood ; a portion of his land, or,
what comes to the same thing, a portion of his rent,
must be employed in producing food, clothing, and
shelter for all these persons, and for those who produce
that food, clothing, and shelter. If he were to remove
to England, all these wants would be supplied bv Eiiir-
2D
194 POLITICALECONOMY.
Political lishmeti. The land and capital which was formerly em-
Economy. ployed in providing the maintenance of Irish labourers
would be employed in producing corn and cattle to be
Distribu- exported to England to provide the subsistence of
English labourers. The whole quantity of commodities
Erroneous appropriated to the use of Irish labourers would be di-
opinbns. rninished, and that appropriated to the use of English
Absentee- labourers increased, and wages would, consequently, rise
ism. England, and fall in Ireland.
It is true that these effects would not be co-extensive
with the landlord's income. While, in Ireland, he must
have consumed many foreign commodities, he must
have purchased tea, wine, and sugar, and other things
which the climate and the manufactures of Ireland do
not afford, and he must have paid for them by sending
Corn and cattle to England. It is true, also, that while
in Ireland he probably employed a portion of his land
and of his rents for other purposes, from which the la¬
bouring population received no benefit, as a deer park,
or a pleasure garden, or in the maintenance of horses or
hounds. On his removal, that portion of his land which
was a park would be employed, partly in producing ex--
portable commodities, and partly in producing sub¬
sistence for its cultivators ; and that portion which fed
horses for his use might be employed in feeding horses
for exportation. The first of these alterations would do
good ; the second could do no harm. Nor must we
forget that, through the cheapness of conveyance between
England and Ireland, a portion, or perhaps all, of those
whom he employed in Ireland might follow him to
England, and, in that case, wages in neither Country
would be affected. The fund for the maintenance of la¬
bourers in Ireland, and the number of labourers to be
maintained, would both be equally diminished, and the
fund for the maintenance of labourers in England, and
the number of labourers to be maintained, would both
be equally increased.
But after making all these deductions, and they are
very great, from the supposed effect of the absenteeism
of the Irish proprietors on the labouring classes in Ire¬
land, we cannot agree with Mr. M'Culloch that it is
immaterial. We cannot but join in the general opinion
that their return, though it would not affect the prosperity
of the British Empire, considered as a whole, would be
immediately beneficial to Ireland, though perhaps too
much imj)ortance is attached to it.
In Mr. M'Culloch's celebrated examination before the
Committee on the state of Ireland,(4th Report, 814, Sess.
1825 ) he was asked, " Supposing the largest export of
Ireland were in live cattle, and that a considerable por¬
tion of rent had been remitted in that manner, does not
such a mode of producing the means of paying rent con¬
tribute less to the improvement of the poor than any ex¬
tensive employment of them in labour would produce?—
He replies, " Unless the means of paying rent are
changed when the landlord goes home, his residence
can have no effect whatever."
Would not," he is asked, " the population of the
country be benefited by the expenditure among them of
a certain portion of the rent which (if he had been ab¬
sent) has (would have) been remitted (to England) ?"
No," he replies, I do not see how it could be bene¬
fited in the least. If you have a certain value laid out
against Irish commodities in the one ease, you will have
a certain value laid out against them in the other. The
cattle are either exported to England, or they stay at
home. If they are exported, the landlord will obtain an
equivalent for them in English commodities; if they are Political
not, he will obtain an equivalent for them in Irish com-
modities ; so that in both cases the landlord lives on '
the cattle, or on the value of the cattle: and whether tion/
he lives in Ireland or in England, there is obviously Wages,
just the very same amount of commodities for the people Erroneous
of Ireland to subsist upon." opinions.
This reasoning assumes that the landlord, while resi-
dent in Ireland, himself personally devours all the cattle
produced on his estates ; for on no other supposition
can there be the very same amount of commodities for
the people of Ireland to subsist upon, whether their cattle
are retained in Ireland or exported.
But when a Country does not export raw produce,
the consequences of absenteeism are very different.
Those who derive their incomes from such a Country
cannot possibly spend them abroad until they have pre¬
viously spent them at home.
When a Leicestershire landlord is resident on his es¬
tate, he employs a certain portion of his land, or, what
is the same, of his rent, in maintaining the persons who
provide for him those commodities and services, which
must be produced on the spot where they are consumed.
If he should remove to London, he would want the ser¬
vices of Londoners, and the produce of land and capital
which previously maintained labourers resident in Lei¬
cester would be sent away to maintain labourers resi¬
dent in London. The labourers would probably follow,
and wages in Leicestershire and London would then be
unaltered ; but until they did so, wages would rise in
the one district and fall in the other. At the same time,
as the rise and fall would compensate one another, as
the fund for the maintenance of labour, and the number
of labourers to be maintained, would each remain the
same, the same amount of wages would be distributed
among the same number of persons, though not pre¬
cisely in the same proportion as before.
If he were now to remove to Paris, a new distribution
must take place. As the price of raw produce is lower
in France than in England, and the difference in habits
and langnage between the two Countries prevents the
transfer of labourers from the one to the other, neither the
labourers nor the produce of his estates could follow
him. He must employ French labourers, and he must
convert his share of the produce of his estate, or, what
is the same thing, his rent, into some exportable form in
order to receive it abroad. It may be supposed that he
would receive his rent in money. Even if he were to
do so, the English labourers would not be injured, for
as they do not eat or drink money, provided the same
amount of commodities remained for their use, they
would be unaffected by the export of money. But it is
impossible that he could receive his rent in money
unless he chose to suffer a giatuitous loss. The rate of
exchange between London and Paris is generally rather
in favour of London, and scarcely ever so deviates from
par between any two Countries, as to cover the expense
of transferring the precious metals from the one to the
other, excepting between the Countries which do, and
those which do not, possess mines. The remittances
from England to France must be sent, therefore, in the
form of manufactures, either directly to France, or to some
Country with which France has commercial relations.
And how would these manufactures be obtained? Oí
course in exchange for the landlord's rent. His share
of the produce of his estates would now go to Hirming •
ham or Sheffield, or Manchester or London, to main-
POLITICAL ECONOMY
195
Political
Economy,
Distribu¬
tion,
Wages.
Erroneous
opinions.
Absente
ism.
tain the labourers employed in producing manufactures,
to be sent and sold abroad for his profit. An English
absentee employs his income precisely as if he were to
remain at home and consume nothing but hardware and
cottons. Instead of the services of gardeners and ser¬
vants, upholsterers and tailors, he purchases those of
spinners, and weavers, and cutlers. In either case his in¬
come is employed in maintaining labourers, though the
class of labourers is different ; and in either case, the
whole fund for the maintenance of labourers, and the
number of labourers to be maintained, remaining unal¬
tered, the wages of labour cannot be affected.
But, in fact, that fund would be rather increased in
quantity and rather improved in quality. It would be
increased, because land previously employed as a park,
or in feeding dogs and horses, or hares and pheasants,
would now be emplojed in producing food or clothing
for men. It would be improved, because the increased
production of manufactured commodities would occasion
an increased division of labour, the use of more and
better machinery, and the other improvements which we
have ascertained to be its necessary accompaniments.
One disadvantage, and one only, it appears to us would
be the result. The absentee in a great measure escapes
domestic taxation. We say in a great measure^
because he still remains liable, if a proprietor of houses
or of land, to those taxes which fall upon rent: he pays,
too, a part of the taxes on the materials of manufac¬
tures ; and if it were our policy to tax income or
exported commodities, he might be forced to pay to the
public revenue even more than his former proportion.
But, under our present system, which throws the bulk
of taxation on commodities produced for internal con¬
sumption, he receives the greater part of his revenue
without deduction, and, instead of contributing to the
support of the British Government, contributes to sup¬
port th'dt of France or Italy. This inconvenience,
peihaps, about balances the advantages which we have
just mentioned, and leaves a community which exports
only manufactures neither impoverished nor enriched
by the residence abroad of its unproductive members.
We ought, perhaps, on this occasion again to remind
our readers that it is to wealth and poverty that our
attention, when writing on Political Economy, is con¬
fined. The moral effects of absenteeism must never be
neglected by a writer who inquires into the causes
which promote the happiness of nations, but are without
the province of a Political Economist. Nor do w^e
regret that they are so, for they form a subject on which
it is far more difficult to obtain satisfactory results. In
one respect, indeed, the moral question is the more
simple, as it is not complicated by the consideration
whether raw produce or manufactures are exported, or
whether the non-resident landlord is abroad, or in some
town witliin his own Country. If his presence is to be
morally beneficial, it must be his presence on his own
estate. To the inhabitants of that estate the place to
which he absents himself is indifferent. Adam Smith
believed his residence to be morally injurious. " The
residence of a Court, ' he observes, (book ii. ch. iii.)
in general makes the inferior sort of people dissolute
and poor. The inhabitants of a large village, after
having made considerable progress in manufactures,
have beome idle in consequence of a great Lord having
taken up his residence in their neighbourhood." And
Mr, M'Culloch; whose fidelity and intelligence as an ob¬
server may be relied on, states, as the result of his own
experience, that in Scotland the estates of absentees are
almost always the best managed. Much, of course,
depends on individual character; but we are inclined to
believe that, in general, the presence of men of large
fortune is morally detrimental, and that of men of
moderate fortune morally beneficial, to their immediate
neighbourhood. The habits of expense and indulgence
which, in different gradations, prevail among all the
members of a great establishment, are mischievous as
examples, and perhaps still more so as sources of
repining and discontent. The drawing-room and
stable do harm to the neighbouring gentry, and the
housekeeper's room and servants' hall to their inferiors.
But families of moderate income, including under that
term incomes between £500 and ¿^2000 a year, appear
to be placed in the station most favourable to the ac¬
quisition of moral and intellectual excellence, and to its
diffusion among their associates and dependents. We
have no doubt that a well-regulated gentleman's family,
removing the prejudices, soothing the quarrels, directing
and stimulating the exertions, and awarding praise
or blame to the conduct of the villagers round them, is
among the most efficient means by which the character
of a neighbourhood can be improved. It is the happi¬
ness of this Country that almost every parish has a resi¬
dent fitted by fortune and education for these services;
and bound, not merely by feelings of propriety, but as a
matter of express and professional duty, to their perform¬
ance. The dispersion throughout the Country of so
many thousand clerical families, each acting in its own
district as a small centre of civilization, is an advantage
to which, perhaps, we have been too long accustomed
to be able lo appreciate its extent.
Still, however, we think that even the moral effects of
absenteeism have been exaggerated. Those who declaim
against the twelve thousand English families supposed
to be resident abroad, seem to forget that not one-half,
probably not one-quarter, of them, if they were to re¬
turn, would dwell any where but in towns, where their
influence would be wasted, or probably not even
exerted. What does it signify to the Northumbrian
or Devonshire peasant whether his landlord lives
in London, or Cheltenham, or Rome? And even of
those who would reside in the country, how many
would exercise that influence beneficially? How
many would be fox-hunters or game-preservers, or sur¬
round thetUvSelves with dependents whose example
would more than compensate for the virtues of their
masters? Nothing can be more rash than to predict
that good would be the result of causes which are quite
as capable of producing evil.
The economical effecis have been still more generally
misunderstood ; and we have often been tempted to
wonder that doctrines so clear as those which we have
just been submitting to our readers should be admitted
with reluctance even by those who feel the proofs to be
unanswerable, and should be rejected at once by others,
as in\oiving a paradox too monstrous to be worth
examination.
Much of this, probably, arises from a confusion of
the economical with the moral part of the question.
Many writers and readers of Political Economy forget
that the clearest proof that absenteeism diminishes the
virtue or the happiness of the remaining members of a
community is no answer to arguments which aim only
at proving that it does not diminish their wealth.
Another and perhaps the chief source of error is the
2 D 2
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Wages,
Erroneous
opinions.
Absentee¬
ism,
196
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Political circumstance that, when the landlord is present, the ^ain
Economy. concentrated, and the loss ditTused, when he is absent
^ the gain is diffused, and the loss concentrated. When
tion. quits his estate, we can put our finger on the
Wages. village tradesman and labourer who lose his custom and
Erroneous employment. We cannot trace the increase of custom
Absentee employment that is consequently scattered among
ism millions of manufacturers. When he returns, we see
that the expenditure of £2000 or £3000 a year in a
small circle gives wealth and spirit to its inhabitants.
We do not see, however clearly we may infer it, that so
much the less is expended in Manchester, Birmingham,
or Leeds. The inhabitants of his village attribute their
gain and their loss to its causes; and their complaints
and acknowledgments are loud in proportion to the
degree in which they feel their interests to be affected.
No simïle manufacturer is conscious that the average
O O
annual export of more than forty millions sterling has
been increased or diminished to the amount of
£2000 or £3000. And even if aware of that increase or
diminution, he would not attribute it to the residence
in Yorkshire or Paris of a given individual, of whose
existence he probably is not aware. When to obvious
and palpable effects nothing is to be opposed but infer¬
ences deduced by a long, though perfectly demonstrative,
reasoning process, no one can doubt which will prevail,
both with the uneducated, and the educated, vulgar.
Many persons, also, are perplexed by the consideration,
that all the commodities which are exported as re¬
mittances of the absentee's income are exports for which
no return is obtained; that they are as much lost to this
Country as if they were a tribute paid to a foreign
State, or even as if they were thrown periodically into
the sea. This is unquestionably true ; but it must be
recollected, that whatever is unproductively consumed
is, by the very terms of the proposition, destroyed, with¬
out producing any return. The only difference tetween
the two cases is, that the resident landlord performs that
destruction here ; the absentee performs it abroad. In
either case, he first purchases the services of those who
produce the things which he, for his benefit, not for
theirs, is to consume. If he stays here, he pays a man
to brush a coat, or clean a pair of boots, or arrange a
table ; all which in an hour after are in their former
condition. When abroad, he pays an equal sum for
the production of needles, or calicoes, which are sent
abroad, and equally consumed without further benefit
to those who produced them. They are, in fact, sold
for money to be employed in paying the wages of those
foreign servants who now brush the shoes and draw the
corks, which, if the landlord had not been an absentee,
would have been brushed and drawn in England. The
income of unproductive consumers, however paid, is a
tribute ; and whether they enjoy it here or elsewhere, is
their own concern. We know that a man cannot eat his
cake and have it ; and it is equally true that he cannot
sell a cake to another and keep it for himself.
A gain, some acute reasoners appear to us to have been led
i ito error on this subject, by perceiving that the income of
an absentee is generally remitted to him by means of a trade
in which the returns are comparatively slow,^and that the
expenditure of his income is profitable to those among
whom he resides.t Nowassumingthatthesecircumstances
Piofessor Longfield, Lectures on Commerce and Absenteeism^ p. 6.
-f- Carey on fVtiges, p. 46. A Work which we reglet not to have
received until part of this Treatise had been stereotyped, and the
remainder was in print.
occasion a loss to any body, it is clear that the loss falls Political
solely on the absentee. His rents are, in the first in- Econo^ny.
stance, expended as quickly as they are received in the ^¡¡^tribii
purchase of manufactured commodities, to be exported tion.
for his benefit as a means of remittance. They are ex- Wages,
pended, therefore, in the support of the trade of the Erroneous
English manufacturer, a trade giving quick returns, high
wages, and, if we may judge from the additional capital
which it is attracting every day, high profits. The ab¬
sentee, in thus spending his income, gives to England
all that an unproductive consumer can give, the wages
and the profits arising from the expenditure in England
of his income as fast as he receives it. Neither the gain
nor the loss attending on the remittance or on the subse¬
quent expenditure of its amount are any concern of ours.
They affect only the absentee. If he selects ill the place
of his residence, he may have to lose by remittances at
long dates, or at an unfavourable exchange, or have to
pay dearly for bad commodities or unskilful services.
If he selects it well, he may be a gainer by the interme¬
diate operations to which his income has been subjected,
and receive a larger revenue than he would have ob¬
tained at home, or may spend that revenue more agree¬
ably. But with all this England has nothing to do.
The last cause to which we attribute the slow progress
of correct opinions on this subject is their distastefulness
to the most influential members of the community.
Nothing can be more flattering to landlords, annuitants,
mortgagees, and fnndholders, than to be told that their
residence is of vital iinporiance to the Country.
Nothing can be more humiliating than to be assured
that it is utterly immaterial to the rest of the community
whether they live in Brighton, or London, or Paris.
Those who are aware how much our judgment, even in
matters of Science, is influenced by our wishes, will not
be surprised at the prejudices against a doctrine which
forbids the bulk of the educated class to believe that
they are benefactors to their Country by the mere act of
residing within its shores.
We may appear, perhaps, to have dwelt too much on
a single subject ; but no prevalent error can be effectually
exposed until its prevalence has been accounted for.
And these are errors which are to be heard in every
society, and often from those whose general views in
Political Economy are correct. They may be called
harmless errors, but no error is, in fact, harmless ; and
when there is so much in our habits that really requires
alteration, we may lose sight of the real and the remedi¬
able causes of evil, while our attention is misdirected to
absenteeism.
Fourthly. Our proposition that the rate of wages Alacliinea
depends on the extent of the fund for the maintenance
of labourers, compared with the number of labourers to
be maintained, is inconsistent with the doctrine that the
general rate of wages can, except in two cases, be
diminished by the introduction of machinery.
The two cases in which the introduction of machinery
can produce such an effect are, first, when labour is
employed in the construction of machinery, which labour
would otherwise have been employed in the production
of commodities for the use of labourers ; and, secondly,
when the machine itself consumes commodities which
would otherwise have been consumed by labourers, and
that to a greater extent than it produces them.
The first case is put by Mr. Ricardo, in his chapter
on machinery; but in so detailed a form, that, instead
of quoting it, we will extract its substance, with a slight
POLITICAL ECONOMY
197
Política.
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Wages.^
Erroneous
opinions.
Machinery
variation of the terms. He supposes a capitalist to
carry on the business of a manufacturer of commodities
for the use of labourers ; or, to use a more concise
expression, the business of a manufacturer of wages.
He supposes him to have been in the habit of commenc¬
ing every year with a capital consisting of wages for a
certain number of labourers, which we call twenty-six,
and of employing that capital in hiring twenty men, to
reproduce, during the year, wages for the whole twenty-
six, and six to produce commodities for himself. He
now supposes him to employ ten of his men during a
year in producing, not wages, but a machine, which,
with the aid of seven men to keep it in repair and work
it, will produce every year wages for thirteen men ; that
is, wages for six men besides the seven that work it. At
the end of the year the capitalist's situation would be
unaltered : he would have wages for thirteen men, the
produce of the labour of his other ten men during the
year ; and his machine, also the produce of the labour
of ten men during the year, and therefore of equal
value. And his situation would continue unaltered.
Every year his machine would produce wages for
thirteen men, of whom seven must be employed in
repairing and working it, and six might, as before, be
employed for the benefit of the capitalist. But we have
seen that, during the year in which the machine was
constructed^ only ten men were employed in producing
wages instead of twenty, and, consequently, that wages
were produced for only thirteen men instead of tor
twenty-six. At the end of that year, therefore, the fund
for the maintenance of labour was diminished, and
wages must, consequently, have fallen. It is of great
importance to recollect, that the only reason for this fall
was the diminution of the annual production. The
twenty men produced wages for twenty-six men. the
machine produces wages for only thirteen. The vulgar
error on this subject supposes the evil to arise, not from
its true cause, the expense of constructing the machine,
but from the productive powers of that machine. So
far is this from being true, that these productive powers
are the specific benefit which is to be set against the evil
of its expensiveness. If, instead of wages for thirteen
men, the machine could produce wages for thirty, its
use, as soon as it came into operation, would have
increased instead of diminishing the fund for the main¬
tenance of labour. The same effect would have been
produced, if the machine could have been obtained with¬
out expense ; or if the capitalist, instead of building it
out of his capital, had built it out of his profits ; if,
instead of withdrawing ten men for a year from the
production of wages, he had employed in its construction,
during two years, five of the men whom he is supposed
to have employed in producing commodities for his own
use. In either case, the additional produce obtained
from the machine would have been an additional fund
for the maintenance of labour ; and wages must, ac¬
cording to our elementary proposition, have risen.
We have thought it necessary to state this possible
evil as a part of the theory of machinery, but we are far
from attaching any practical importance to it. We do
not believe that there exists upon record a single
instance in which the whole annual produce has been
diminished by the use of inanimate machinery. Partly
in consequence of the expense of constructing the
greater part of machinery being defrayed out of profits
or rent, and partly in consequence of the great propor¬
tion which the productive powers of machinery bear to
the expense of its construction, its use is uniformly
accompanied by an enormous increase of production.
The annual consumption of cotton wool in this Country,
before the introduction of the spinning-jenny, did not
exceed twelve hundred thousand pounds ; it now
amounts to two hundred and forty millions. The num¬
ber of copies of books extant at any one period before
the invention of the printing-press was probably smaller
than that which is now produced in a single day.
Mr. Ricardo's proposition, therefore, (Princ. 474.) that
the use of frequently diminishes the quantity
of the gross produce of a Country, is erroneous, so far
as it depends on the case which he has supposed, and of
which we have stated the substance.
The other exception, that where the machine itself
consumes commodities which would otherwise have
been consumed by labourers, and that to a greater
extent than it produces them, applies only to the case of
horses and working-cattle, which may be termed ani¬
mated machines. We will suppose a farmer to employ on
his farm twenty men, who produce annually their own
subsistence, and that of six other men producing com¬
modities for the use of their master. If five horses,
consuming, we will say, as much as eight men, could do
the work of ten men, it would be worth the farmer's while
to substitute them for eight of his men, as he would be
able to increase the number of persons who work for
his own benefit from six to ei^ht. But after déductin«:
CT O
the subsistence of the horses, the fund for the mainte¬
nance of labourers would be reduced from wages for
twenty-six men to wages for eighteen. We cannot
refuse to admit that such cases may exist, or to deplore
the misery that must accompany them. They are, in
fact, now occurring in Ireland, and are occasioning much
of the distress ofthat Country. They seem, indeed, to
be the natural accompaniments of a certain period in the
progress of national improvement. In the early stages
of society, the rank and even the safety of the landed
proprietor is principally determined by the number of
his dependents. The best mode of increasing that
number is to allow the land, which he does not occupy
as his own demesne, to be subdivided into small
tenements, each cultivated by one family, and just
sufficient for their support. Such tenants can of course
pay little rent, but they are enabled by their abundant
leisure, and forced by their absolute dependence, to
swell the retinue, and aid the political influence, of their
landlord in peace, and to follow his banner in public and
private war. Cameron of Lochiel, whose rental did
not exceed ¿^500 a year, carried with him into the Re¬
bellion of 1745 eight hundred men raised from his own
tenantry. But in the progress of civilization, as wealth
becomes the principal means of distinction and influence,
landowners prefer rent to dependents. To obtain rent,
that process of cultivation must be employed which will
give, not absolutely the greatest amount of produce, but
the greatest after deducting the expenses. For this pur¬
pose a tract of five hundred acres, from which fifty
families produced their own subsistence, and produced
scarcely any thing more, may be converted into one
farm, and with the labour of ten families, and as many
horses, may produce the subsistence of only thirty fami¬
lies. Fortunately, however, the period at which these
alterations take place is generally one of great social
improvement ; so that, after a short interval, the in¬
creased diligence and skill with which labour is applied
occasion an increaseofthe produce, after deductingthe new
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion-
Wages.
Erroneous
opinions.
Machinery
198
POLITICAL
ECONOMY
Political expenditure. The fund Tor the maintenance of labourers
Economy. becomes increased from two ditferent sources—partly
Distribu" íi'om the increased efficiency of human labourwhen aided
tion. by that of horses and cattle, and partly from the results of
Wages. a part of the human labour set free by the substitution
Erroneous of brutes. The ultimate consequences of such a change
opinions, always beneficial ; the change itself must, in general,
Machinery. ^.cotnpa.iied by distress.
But with the exception of these two cases, one of
winch produces only temporary effects, and the other,
though apparently possible, seems never actually to
occur, it appears clear that the use of machinery must
either raise the general rate of wages, or leave it un¬
altered.
When machinery is applied to the production of com¬
modities which are not intended, directly or indirectly,
for the use of laboureiTv, it occasions ao alteration in tlie
general rate of wages ; we say the general rate of
wages, because it may diminish the rate of wages in
some employments,—a diminution always compensated
by a correspoiifliiig increase in some others. A small
screw was shown to us at Birmingham which, in the ma¬
nufacture of corkscrews, performed the work of fifty-
nine men ; with its assistance one man could cut a spiral
groove in as many corkscrew shanks as sixty men could
have cut in the same time with the tools previously in
use. As the use of corkscrews is limiied, it is not pro¬
bable that the demand for them has sufficiently increased
to enable the whole number of labourers previously em¬
ployed in their manufacture to remain so employed
after such an increase in their productive power. Some
of the corkscrew-makers, therefore, must have been
thrown out of work, and the rate of wages in that trade
probably fell. But as the whole fund for the mainte¬
nance of labourers, and the whole number of labourers
to be maintained, remained unaltered, that fall must
have been balanced by a rise somewhere else—a rise
which we may trace to its proximate cause, by recollect¬
ing that the fall in the price of corkscrews must have left
every purchaser of a corkscrew a fund for the purchase
of labour, rather larger than he would have possessed if
he had paid the former price.
if, however, machinery be applied to the production
of any commodity used by the labouring population, the
general rate of wages will rise. That it cannot fall is
L O
clear, on the grounds which we have just stated. If
the improvement be great, and the commodity not sub¬
ject to a corresponding increase of demand, some of
the labourers formerly employed in its production will
be thrown out of employment, and wages, in that trade,
will fall-—a fall which, as the whole fund tor the mainte¬
nance of labour is not diminished, must be met by a
corresponding rise in some other trade. But the fund
will he increased by the additional quantity pniduced of
the commodity to which the improvement has been ap¬
plied ; estimated in that commodity, therefore, the general
rate of wages, or, in other words, the quantity of com¬
modities obtained by the labouring population, will be
increased by the introduction of machinery; estimated
in all others, it will be stationary.
The example taken from the rnanufacture of cork¬
screws is as unfavourable to the effects of machinery as
can be proposed ; for the use of the commodity is sup¬
posed to be unable to keep up with the increased power
of production, and the whole number of labourers em¬
ployed on it is, consequently, diminished. This, how¬
ever, is a very rare occurrence. The iisuai effect of an
increase in the facility of producing a commodity is so to Political
increase its consumption as to occasion the emplovment Bconomy.
of more, not less, labour than before.
We have already called the reader's attention to tion
effects of machinery in the manufacture of cotton and in Wages,
printing. Each of these trades probably employs ten Erroneous
times as many labourers as it would have employed jf opinions,
spinning-jennies and types had not been invented, ^^a-cbineiy
Under such circumstances, (and they are the usual ones,)
the benefits of machinery are not alloyed by even par¬
tial inconvenience.
Those who are little affected by inferences from general
propositions may be influenced by a witness who states
the results of his own observations. We will support
our argument, therefore, by the following extract from
Mr. Co well's valuable preface to the tables of wages
constructed by him in the performance of his duties as a
Commissioner on the Factory inquiry:—
" As long as the cotton-working continues to extend,
the apprehensions entertained by the operatives of a fall
in wages, either for adults or children, consequent upon
improvements in machinery, are groundless. Their
assertion is, (and it was repeated to me innumerable
times,) that they have to turn out more work now for
less v\ ages than formerly. The Manchester and Salford
Advertiser, which is the journal of the operatives, scarcely
publishes a number which does not ring the changes on
this assertion; and in that for the 11th of January, 1834,
it asserts, * that a spinner now turns oiit double the
work for a tenth less wages than in 1804.'
The matter stands thus: in 1804 a spinner was paiil
8s. Qd, for every pound of yarn of the fineness of two
hundred hanks to the pound, spinning on a mule of the
average productive power of that time. What that pro¬
ductive power was I do not know. But in 1829 he
was paid at the rate of 4s. \d. for spinning the same
quality on a mule of the productive power of three hun¬
dred and twelve ; in 1831, and at present, at the rate of
2s. 5rf, and 2s. 8^c?. for spinning the same quality on a
mule of the productive power of six hundred and forty-
eight. These quotations are from the Manchester prices.
** Thus, in 1829, the spinner turned off three hundred
and twelve pounds of 3arn in the same time that he now
takes to turn off six hundred and forty-eight. He was
paid at the rate of 4s. \d. per pound in 1829, he is now
paid at the rate of 2s. hd. But three hundred and twelve
pounds at 4s. \d. amount to one thousand two hundred
and seventy-four shillings, and six hundred and forty-
eight pounds at 2s. 5if. to one thousand five hundred and
sixty-six shillings. He receives, therefore, two hundred
and ninety-two shillings more than he did in 1829 for equal
times of work. It is perfectly ^rue that he does ' more
work for less wages than in 1829;' but this is nothing
to the purpose, when the proposition to be proved is,
that ' wages are lower than formerly.' I mean to say,
that a spinner earns a shilling, or a pound, or a hun¬
dred pounds, in less time at present than he would have
consumed in earning a shilling, or a pound, or a hun¬
dred pounds, ten years ago, and with the same or less
labour ; that this enhancement of his earnings has been
owing to improvements in machinery ; that the progress
of improvements will progressively advance his earnings
still higher, and at the same time enable a greater num¬
ber of individuals to profit by the enhanced rate than
actually profits by the actual rate ; (provided that no¬
thing occurs to prevent the cotton business from deve¬
loping itself for the next thirty years as it has done for
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
199
Pülitií:al the last;) and that any improvement in the machinery
Economy.^ in any one of the numerous departments of cotton-work-
ing will operate to enhance the rate of wages in all other
tion. branches, (as well as in that department in which it takes
Wages. place,) by increasing the actual previous demand for
Erroneous labour in those other branches. I assert that every im-
^inions. provement of cotton machinery» in any department of
ac inerj. QQtton-working, has hitherto had the effect of enabling
' an operative' (speaking in general of every one, in
every department whatever) to earn a greater net amount
of money, in any given time, than he would have done if
the improvements had never taken place.
" The misconceptions as to the real effect of machinery
on the wages of labour which the operatives entertain
are the causes of turn-outs and strikes; they produce
rankling discontent towards their masters, and Í regret
that I have not had the opportunity of giving them a
fuller exposure.
I certainly consider it of great consequence that the
operatives themselves should be satisfied that improve¬
ments in machinery tend to raise the amount of money
that they gain individually and generally, for the same
number of hours' work. Those who dispute the fact
must, I think, admit that I have established it in the
cases which T have selected, as far as spinners are con¬
cerned ; and as they must likewise admit that the im¬
provement specified creates a fresh and additional demand
for young hands, they must also admit that the wages of
young hands are augmented in consequence. They
must equally admit, that as the price of the article will
be lowered in the market from the effects of the im¬
provement, more of it will be consumed ; and hence
that, in all the correlate processes connected with spin¬
ning of cotton, more hands will be required, and conse¬
quently that wages throughout the whole range of
cotton-working will be better than they were before. If
these considerations should induce operatives to hesitate
before they combine and turn out against new machinery,
before they again cabal for shortening the hours of work,
in order to counteract the (fancied) injurious effect upon
wages of improvements in machinery, and should lead
them to neglect the advice of those who urge them ' to
strike for eight hours' work and twelve hours' earnings,'
(and this is the advice they have lately received,) my pur¬
pose will be answered.
" The generality of the operatives in cotton-working
are well meaning, respectable, shrewd, and sensible ; and
I believe that if the real effect of machinery in augmenting
the actual rate of their earnings, and in enabling a greater
number of persons to benefit by the augmented rate,
could be fairlv set before them and rendered familiar to
•/
their minds, it would have a most beneficial effect upon
their actions as members of society." Factory Inquiry
Commission, 2d Report. D. i. 119. n. m.
Population. Fifthly. Closely connected with this mistake, and
occasioned by the same habit of attending only to what
is temporary and partial, and neglecting what is perma¬
nent and general ; of dwellirig on the evil that is con¬
centrated, and being insensible to the benefit that is dif¬
fused, is the common error of supposing that the general
rate of wages can he reduced by the importation of
foreign commodities. In fact, the opening of a new
market is precisely analogous to the introduction of a
new machine, except that it is a machine which it costs
nothing to construct or to keep up. If the foreign
commodity be not consumed by the labouring popula¬
tion, its introduction leaves the general rate of wages
unaffected ; if it be used by them, their wages are Political
raised as estimated in that commodity. If the laws
which favour the wines of the Cape to the exclusion of those
ofFrance were repealed, more labourers would be employed
in producing commodities for the French market, and Wages,
fewer for that of the Cape. Wages might temporarily Erroiieous
fall in the one trade, and rise in the other. The clear opinions,
benefit would be derived by the drinkers of wine, who,
at the same expense, would obtain more or better wine.
So if what are called the protecting duties on French
silks were removed, fewer labourers would be employed
in the direct production of silk, and more in its indirect
production, by the production of the cottons or hard¬
ware with which it would be purchased. The wearers
of silk would be the only class ultimately benefited ;
and as the labouring population neither wear silk nor
drink wine, the general rate of wages would, in both
cases, remain unaltered. But if the laws which prohibit
our obtaining on the most advantageous terms sugar and
corn were altered, that portion of the fund for the
maintenance of labour, which consists of corn and
sugar, would be increased. And the general rate of
wages, as estimated in two of the most important articles
of food, would be raised.
Sixthly. The views which we have been endeavouring Employ-
to explain are inconsistent with the common opinion, ment.
that the unproductive consumption of landlords and capi¬
talists is beneficial to the labouring classes, because it
furnishes them with employment. Tillage,'' says Paley,
(and this is another form of the same fallacy,) " is pre¬
ferable to pasturage, not only because the provision
which it yields goes much further in the sustentation of
life, but because it affords employment to a more nume¬
rous peasantry." The production of more subsistence is
certainly an advantage, but what is the advantage of its
requiring more labour? If this be an advantage the
fertility of land is an evil. If the thing required be em¬
ployment, we should abandon ploughs and even spades.
To scratch up a rood with the fingers would give more
employment than to dig an acre. Those who maintain
that unproductive consumption does good by affording
employment, must forget that it is not employment, but
food, clothing, shelter, and fuel, in short, the materials
of subsistence and comfort, that the labouring classes
require. The word employment" is merely a concise
form of designating toil, trouble, exposure, and fatigue.
It is indeed sometimes elliptically used as implying the
subsistence which is purchased by enduring it. A poor
man complains that he wants work. He might work to
his heart's content, and with no man's leave, if he chose
to carry stones from the bottom to the top of a hill.
But what he wants is work as a means of obtaining pay¬
ment. He would be happy to get the payment without
the work. Toil, exposure, and fatigue, per se, are evils,
and the less of them that is required for obtaining a given
amount of subsistence and comfort, or, in other words, the
greater the facility of obtaining that given amount, the
better, cœteris paribus, will be the condition of the labour¬
ing classes; indeed, of all classes in the community.
What occasions the prosperity of a colony? Not the
dearness of subsistence, but its cheapness; not the diffi¬
culty of obtaining food, clothing, shelter, and fuel, but the
facility. Now how can unproductive consumption increase
this facility ? How can the fund from which all are to be
maintained be augmented by the destruction of a poroon
of it? If the hio'her orders were to return to the cus-
O , ^
to ms of a century ago, and cover their coats with go.^d
200
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Political
Economy
Distribu-
tiun.
Wages.
Erroneous
opinions.
Employ¬
ment.
Preference
of services
to commo¬
dities.
lace, they might enjoy their own finery ; but how would
that benefit their inferiors ? The theory which we are
considering replies that they would be benefited by being
employed in making the lace. It is true that a coat,
instead of costing £b, would cost á¿bb. But what be¬
comes now of the extra £50? for it cannot be said that,
because it is not spent on a laced coat, it does not exist.
If a landlord with £10,000 a year spends it unproduc-
iively, he pays it away to those who furnish the embel¬
lishments of his house and grounds, and supply his
stable, his equipage, and his clothes. Suppose him now
to abandon all unproductive expenditure, to confine
himself to bare necessaries, and to earn them by his own
labour, the first consequence would be, that those among
whom he previously spent his £10,000 a year would
lose him as an employer ; and beyond this the theory in
question sees nothing. But what would he do with the
¿10,000 which he would still annually receive ? No
one supposes that he would lock it up in a box, or bury
it in his garden. Whether productively or unproduc-
tively, it still must be spent. If spent by himself, as by
the supposition it would be spent productively, it must
increase, and every year still further increase, the whole
fund applicable to the use of the rest of the community,
if not spent by himself, it must be lent, as is done by
a miser of the present day, to some other person, and
by that person it must be spent productively or unpro-
ductively. He might, perhaps, buy with it property
in the English funds ; but what becomes of it in the
hands of the person who sells to him that funded pro¬
perty ? He might buy with it French rentes; but
in what form would the price of those rentes go to
Paris?—In the form, as we have seen, of manufactured
commodities. Quacunque via datâ^ every man must
spend his income ; and the less he spends on himself,
the more remains for the rest of the world.
The seventh and last theory inconsistent with our own
views, to which we shall call the reader's attention, is
that proposed by Mr. Ricardo in the following passage :—
The labouring class have no small interest in the
manner in which the net income of the Country is ex¬
pended, although it should, in all cases, be expended
for the gratification and enjoyment of those who are
fairly entitled to it.
If a landlord, or a capitalist, expends his revenue in
the manner of an ancient Baron, in the support of a
great number of retainers or menial servants, he will
give employment to much more labour than if he ex¬
pended it on fine clothes or costly furniture.
In both cases the net revenue would be the same,
and so would be the gross revenue, but the former
would be realized in different commodities. If my re¬
venue were £10,000, the same quantity nearly of pro¬
ductive labour would be employed, whether I realized it
in fine clothes and costly furniture, &c. &c., or in a
quantity of food and clothing of the same value If,
however, I realized my revenue in the first set of com¬
modities, no more labour would be consequently em¬
ployed : I should enjoy my furniture and my clothes, and
there would be an end of them ; but if I realized my
revenue in food and clothing, and mv desire was to em-
ploy menial servants, all those whom I could so employ
with my revenue of ¿tTOjOOO, or with the food and
clothing which it would purchase, would be to be added
to the former demand for labourers, and this addition
would take place only because i chose this mode of ex¬
pending my revenue. As the labourers, then, are inte¬
rested in the demand for labour, they must naturally de¬
sire that as much as possible should be diverted from
expenditure on luxuries, to be expended in the support
of menial servants.
"In the same manner a Country engaged in war, and
which is under the necessity of maintaining large fleets
and armies, employs a great many more men than will
be employed when the war terminates, and the annual
expenses which it brings with it cease.
" If I were not called upon for a tax of £500 during
the war, which is expended on men in the situations of
soldiers and sailors, I might probably spend that portion
of my income on furniture, clothes, books. &c, &c., and
v/hether it was expended in the one way or the other,
there would be the same quantity of labour employed in
production ; for the food and clothing of the soldier and
sailor would require the same amount of industry to pro¬
duce them as the more luxurious commodities : but, in
the case of war, there would be the additional demand
for men as soldiers and sailors ; and, consequently, a
war which is supported out of the revenue, and not from
the capital of a Country, is favourable to an increase of
population.
" At the termination of the war, when part of my re¬
venue reverts to me, and is employed as before in the
purchase of wine, furniture, or other luxuries, the popu¬
lation which it before supported, and which the war called
into existence, will become redundant, and by its
effect on the rest of the population, and its competition
with it for employment, will sink the value of wages,
and very materially deteriorate the condition of the
labouring classes." *
Mr. Ricardo's theory is, that it is more beneficial to
the labouring classes to be employed in the production
of services than in the production of commodities; that
it is better for them to be employed in standing behind
chairs than in making chairs ; as soldiers or sailors than
as manufacturers. Now, as it is clear that the whole
quantity of commodities provided for the use of labour¬
ers is not increased by the conversion of an artisan into
a footman or a soldier, either Mr. Ricardo must be wrong,
• • • ^
or our elementary proposition is false.
Mr. Ricardo seems to have been led to his conclusions
by observing that the wages of servants, sailors, and
soldiers are principally paid in kind—those of artisans
in money. He correctly states, that if a man with
£10,000 a year spends his income in the purchase of
commodities for his own use, he retains, after having
made those purchases, no further fund for the mainte¬
nance of labour; but that if he spends it in the purchase
of commodities to be employed in maintaining menial
servants, he has, in those purchased commodities, a
new fund with which he can maintain a certain number
of menial servants. It appeared to him, therefore,
that the landlord would, in the latter case, be able to
spend his income twice over ; to subsist twice as many
persons as before. It did not occur to him that the
landlord, by purchasing himself the subsistence of his
servants, merely does for them what they would be able
to do better for themselves ; that, instead of spending
his own income twice over, he merely takes on himself
the business of spending theirs for them. He did not
perceive that all that the landlord spends in purchasing
the subsistence and clothing of his servants, is so much
deducted fiom what he would otherwise have to pay to
Political
E
conorav
Distribu¬
tion.
Wages.
Piefeience
of services
to comirio-
dities.
* Principles, p. 475.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
201
Political them in money, to be by them employed in the purchase
Economy of subsistence and clothing ; and that if he were to give
jolstribu^""^^ to his servants the value of their whole subsistence in
tion. money, the whole body of labourers would be just as well
Wages. maintained as in the supposed case of his purchasing their
Erroneous subsistence, and then giving it to them in exchange for
opinions. one would maintain that, if it were the
I'reterment , . . •..••tj'j.
of services general practice, m this Country, as it is m India, to give
to commo- to servants board wages, the demand for labour would
dities. be lessened ; or that if it were the practice, as it is in semi-
barbarous Countries, to maintain servants to produce
within their masters' walls the commodities which we
are accustomed to purchase from shops, such as the
fine clothes and furniture to which Mr. Ricardo alludes,
the demand for labour would be increased. Still less
could it be maintained, that if those servants, instead of
producing commodities, were employed in following their
master's person, or mounting guard before his door, such
a change would create an additional demand for men,
and be favourable to an increase of population.
So far are we from concurring in Mr. Ricardo's opi¬
nion, that it is the interest of the labourers that revenue
should be spent rather on services than on commodities,
that we believe their interest to be precisely opposite. In
the first place, the labourer can generally manage better
his own income than it can be managed for him by his
master. If a domestic servant could earn as wages the
whole sum which he costs his master, even if he were to
spend it as he received it, he would probably spend it with
more enjoyment. Secondly, the income spent on services
is generally spent in the purchase of what perishes at the
instant of its creation ; that spent on commodities often
leaves results which, when their first purchaser has done
with them, are serviceable to others. In this Country
the poor are, to a great extent, clothed with garments
originally provided for their superiors. In all the better
class of cottages may be found articles of furniture which
never could have been made for their present possess¬
ors. A large portion of the commodities which now
contribute to the comfort of the labouring classes would
never have existed if it had been the fashion in this
Country, during the last fifty years, to prefer retinue and
attendance to durable commodities. And, thirdly, the
income employed on commodities is favourable to the
creation of both material and immaterial capital; that
employed on services is not. The duties of a servant are
so easily learned, that he can scarcely be termed a skilled
labourer; his accumulations are small in amount, and
seldom turned to much advantage. The artisan learns
a trade, in which every year adds to his skill, and is
taught mechanical and chemical processes, often suscep¬
tible of indefinite improvement, and in which a single
invention may raise the author to wealth, and diffuse
prosperity over a whole district, or even a whole nation.
An industrious artisan can often save a large portion of
his income, and invest it with great and immediate pro¬
fit. He purchases with his savings a small stock of tools
and materials, and, by the vigilance and activity which
can be applied only to a small capital, renders every
portion of it efficient. The ancestors, and not the remote
ancestors, of some of our richest and our proudest fami¬
lies, the authors of some of our most valuable discoveries,
were common mechanics. What menial servant has in
this Country, and in modern times, been a public bene¬
factor, or even raised himself to affluence? Both his¬
tory and observation show that those Countries in which
expenditure is chiefly employed in the purchase of ser-
VOL. VI,
vices are poor, and those in which it is chiefly employed Politicai
on commodities are rich. Economy.
Mr. Ricardo's theory as to the effects of war is still
more strikingly erroneous. It is, in the first place, open
to all the objections which we have already opposed to Wages,
his views respecting menial servants. The revenue
which is employed in maintaining soldiers and sailors
would, even if unp rod actively consumed, maintain at
least an equal number of servants and artisans ; and that
portion of it which would have been employed in the
maintenance of artisans would (as we have seen) have
been far more beneficially employed. The demand for
soldiers and sailors is not, as he terms it, an additional, it
is merely a substituted, demand. But a great part Oi
that revenue would have been productively consumed.
Instead of employing some labourers in converting sub¬
urbs into fortifications, and forests into navies, to perish
by dry rot in harbour, or by exposure at sea, and others
in walking the deck and parading on the rampart, it
would have employed them in adding more and more
every year to the fund from which their subsistence is
derived. War is mischievous to every class in the com¬
munity ; but to none is it such a curse as to the
labourers.
We have now explained the principal errors which
are inconsistent with our elementary proposition, namely,
that the quantity and quality of the commodities ob-
tabled by each iahouring family during the year must
depend on the quantity and quality of the commodities
directly or indirectly appropriated during the year to the
use of the labouring population^ compared with the
number of labouring families^ or, to speak more concisely^
on the extent of the fund for the maintenance of labour¬
ers, compared with the number of labourers to be main¬
tained.
On what, then, does the extent of that fund depend ?
In the first place, on the productiveness of labour in the
direct or indirect production of the commodities used by
the labourer ; and, in the second place, on the number
of persons directly or indirectly employed in the produc¬
tion of things for the use of labourers, compared with the
whole number of labouring families. If we wished to
ascertain the comparative wages of the labouring popu¬
lation in two parishes, containing each, we will say,
tvveuty-four labouring families, these are the only two
points to which we need direct our inquiries. If we
found that in the one parish eighteen families, and in the
other only twelve, were employed in producing commo¬
dities for the whole twenty-four, we should infer that,
supposing the labour of each to be equally productive,
wages must be higher by one-fourth in the first than in
the second. But if we found that in the second parish
labour was more productive by one-half than in the first,
we should infer an equality of wages in the two.
We will begin by considering the causes which Productive-
affect the productiveness of labour in the direct or
noiiT*
indirect production of the commodities used by the
labourer. We add the word indirect, not with refer¬
ence to the whole fund which supplies the mainte¬
nance of all the labourers throughout the world, but
with reference to the fund which supplies the wants of
the labourers in a particular Country. If we consider
the whole world as forming one community, it is obvious
that the fund for the subsistence of the labouring por-
2 E
202 POLITICALECONOMY.
Political tion of that community cannot be increased by the in-
Economy. creased production of those commodities which they do
not use ; by the increased production, for instance, of
üol or statues.
Wages. But the fund for the maintenance of the labourers in
Productive* any given Country may be, and often is, materially de-
ness of la- pendent on the facility with which they can produce
commodities useless to themselves except as the instru¬
ments of exchange. The tea, the tobacco, and the sugar
used by our labouring population are principally ob¬
tained in return for exported commodities unfitted for
our climate and our habits, But the superior facility
with which we produce those exported commodities en¬
ables, or, if legislative interference did not prevent it,
would enable, our labouring population to obtain tea,
sugar, and tobacco with less labour than they cost in
the Countries of which they are the natural growth. It
is unimportant to the labourer whether his corn is the
produce of the soil of England or of Poland ; whether
it is obtained directly by means of the plough, or indi¬
rectly by means of the loom.
On what then does the first of these two causes,
namely, the productiveness of labour, depend ?
First. It depends partly on the corporeal, intellectual,
and moral cpialities of the labourer ; on his diligence,
his skill, and his strength of body and mind. And these
depend on causes, many of which are imperfectly un¬
derstood, and others are too complicated to admit of
concise explanation, or to be fully considered without en¬
tering into investigations connected indeed with Political
Economy, but not within its peculiar province. Much
may depend on race and on climate ; much more de¬
pends on religion, education, and government. One
cause only we shall slightly dwell on, because it is sim¬
ple, and has not been sufficiently considered by any
writers except M. Quetelet,^ and Sir F. DTvernois,t
and that is, the mean age of the labouring popula¬
tion. This depends partly on the average duration of
life in a Country, and partly on the rate at which its
population is increasing. In England, the average du¬
ration of life is supposed to amount to about forty-four
years. In many Countries it does not reach thirty-five ; in
some it does not attain twenty-five. Again, in some
Countries the population doubles every twenty-five years.
At the present rate of increase in England it would
double in about fifty. The average period of its doubling
throughout Europe is supposed to be about a century.
Now it is obvious that, the number of persons and the
rate of increase in any two Countries being given, that
Country would have the greater number of adults in
which the average duration of life was the longer; and,
the longevity being given, that Country would have the
greater proportion of adults in which the rate of increase
was the slower. Longevity, and a population stationary
or slowly increasing, are therefore favourable to the
productiveness of labour.
Secondly. The corporeal, intellectual, and moral
qualities of the labourer being given, the productiveness
of labour in any Country will partly depend on the na¬
tural agents by which it is assisted, or, in other words, on
the climate, soil, situation, and extent in proportion to
its population, of that Country.
To some Countries nature has refused the means of
supporting human life ; to others she has refused the
^ Sur PHommes tome i. p. 324.
f Sur la Mortalité Proportionelley Sçc,
means of wealth. No exertions would enable a com- Political
munity to exist long on Melville Island, or in the Deserts B^nomy.
of Africa, or to exist comfortably in Greenland or Nova
Zembla. But, though she can deny riches, she cannot
give them. The finest districts in the world are among \/v^ages.
the poorest. With all the brute and inanimate sources Productive-
of affluence profusely scattered before them, the inhabit- of la-
ants of the greater part of Africa, America, and Asia
want the moral and intellectual qualities by which the
raw materials of wealth are to be worked up. Even
the Icelandres seem to be richer than the Guachos. But,
although local advantages are far from being the most
efficient causes of the productiveness of labour, their in¬
fluence must not be disregarded. They have enabled the
colonies of highly civilized nations to advance to opu¬
lence with a rapidity of which we have no other ex¬
ample.
Thirdly. The productiveness of labour partly depends
on the degree in which it is assisted by abstinence, or, to
use a more familiar expression, by the use of capital.
We have already explained the advantages afforded
by capital, and traced them to the use of implements
and the division of labour, and need only remind our
readers that, of all means by which labour can be ren¬
dered productive, the use of capital is far the most effi¬
cient. Without tools, and without the division of em¬
ployments, man would be an animal less capable of ob¬
taining enjoyment, or even subsistence, than the brutes
of the field.
Fourthly. The last of the causes which influence the
productiveness of labour is the existence or the absence
of government interference.
The essential business of government is to afford de¬
fence ; to protect the community against foreign and
domestic violence and fraud. Unfortunately, however,
governments have generally supposed it to be their duty,
not merely to give security but wealth ; not merely to
enable their subjects to produce and enjoy in safety, but
to teach them what to produce and how to enjoy ; to give
them instruction how to manage their own concerns,
and to force them to obey that instruction.
Unfortunately, too, the ignorance and folly with which
they have attempted to execute this office have been
equal to the ignorance and folly which led them to
undertake it. Partly under the influence of what has
been called the mercantile theory, the theory which
teaches that wealth consists of gold and silver, and may
be indefinitely increased by exporting commodities, and
receiving only money in return ; and partly misled by the
circumstance, that when an individual, ora class, obtains
a monopoly against the public, the loss, however great,
becomes imperceptible from its diffusion, and the gain,
however trifling, is obvious, because it is concentrated, it
has long been the ruling principle of commercial states¬
men to favour direct at the expense of indirect production ;
to refuse participation in the benefits bestowed by nature
on foreign Countries, though at the expense of surren¬
dering a portion of what she has conferred on their own ;
and to force the industry of their subjects from those chan¬
nels in which they have peculiar advantages, into those
for which their climate, their habits, and their soil are
inappropriate.
It is under the influence of these causes that the
civilized world has lately exhibited the strange spectacle
of general peace accompanied by general distress.
During the War, the greater part of Southern Europe
had coalesced into one vast Empire; a single Sovereign
POLITICAL E C O N O M Y. 2(r¿
Political
Economy
Di«tribu-
tica.
Wages.
Productive,
ness of la¬
bour.
ruled from Hamburgh to Rome ; and hundreds of
lines of custom-houses and revenue-officers, that had
previously interposed against commerce barriers more
impassable than seas or mountains, were swept away.
Napoleon was deeply steeped in the mercantile theory^
. and his conduct shows how completely his views were
founded on unreflecting prejudice. In obedience to that
theory, he believed free trade between independent States
to be like gambling between individuals, and therefore
mischievous to the one or to the other: mischievous in
fact to the one which, in the ultimate settling of accounts,
had to pay a balance in money. While France and
Italy were under different rulers, he therefore must have
believed that the inhabitants of one of the two Countries
would be injured by being allowed to purchase the
commodities of the other. But the framers of the
mercantile theory, blind as they were, had never ven¬
tured to object to the freest intercourse between the
inhabitants of contiguous districts in the same Em-
pire. When he had forced under his yoke Belgium
and France, he allowed them therefore a freedom of
intercourse which he still prohibited between France
and Austria ; totally forgetting that the benefit of an
exchange does not depend on the accident, whether the
parties to it are, or are not, fellow-subjects. His theories
were servile copies of errors unhappily too prevalent,
and faded away before his strong common sense on the
slightest variation of appearances, though the facts on
which the question turns were unaltered.
On the termination of the War, Napoleon's Empire
was broken up into independent Kingdoms, and each
State set to work to reimpose on itself the fetters which
his powerful hand had broken. Douaniers and pre¬
ventive-service men were found instruments as efficient
in wasting the resources of their own Country, and in
arresting the improvement of their neighbours, as armies
and fleets. The produce of France became contraband
in Belgium and Italy, and the produce of Belgium and
Italy in France. America solemnized the Peace by a
tariflT, and England by a corn law. To prohibit what¬
ever is wanted became again the rule in commercial
policy, Russia is an agricultural Country ; she there¬
fore forbad the import of foreign manufactures. Eng¬
land is abundantly supplied with manufactures, she
therefore prohibited corn.
We are inclined to think that the conduct of Russia was
practically more mischievous than that of England. She
has adhered to the anti-commercial system with far
more pertinacity than we have ; indeed, every change
which she has made, has been to add to duties, and to
extend prohibitions. But the objections in principle
against the exclusion of raw produce seem to us still
more forcible than those against the exclusion of manu¬
factures. In the first place, the consumption of the
labourer consists principally of raw produce, or slightly
worked commodities. No restrictions on the importa¬
tion of the finer manufactures can affect him. But laws
against the importation of raw produce are specifically
directed against the labouring population. Their pro¬
fessed object is to diminish, in fact, the principal fund for
the maintenance of labour. And, secondly, when an
agricultural Country prohibits foreign manufactures, the
labourer is, to a certain extent, indemnified by a conse¬
quent fall in the price of raw produce. On the other
hand, when a manufacturing Country prohibits the im¬
portation of raw produce, the price of all commodities,
excepting labour, has a tendency to increase, and the
labourer finds it more difficult to obtain every article of Political
his consumption. Economy.
This may require some explanation. We have already
shown, that every additional quantity of raw produce is, Bistribu-
generally speaking, obtained at a greater proportional
expense. To prohibit the importation of manufactures Producfive-
is, of course, to prohibit the exportation of the raw pro- ness of In¬
duce, which otherwise would have been employed in pur-
chasing them. As a «maller quantity of raw produce is
wanted, a smaller quantity is produced, and that quantity
is produced at a less proportionate expense ; labour,
though less productive in clothes and furniture, becomes
more productive in raw produce ; the price of raw produce,
therefore, falls, and the labourer, in having less to pay for
food, obtains some compensation for having more to pay
for other commodities. The greater part of the evil falls on
the proprietors of the land. On the contrary, every addi
tional quantity of manufactured produce is obtained, so
far as the manufacturing of it is concerned, at a less pro¬
portionate expense. Every increase of the supply is
accompanied by the introduction of more and better
machinery, and by a further division of labour. As in
the former case, restrictions on the importation of raw
produce are, in fact, restrictions on the exportation of
manufactures. Fewer manufactured commodities being;
wanted, and consequently fewer produced, what are
produced are produced at the expense of proportionately
more labour than would otherwise be necessary. More
raw produce must be raised at home, and that also must
be raised at a greater proportionate expense of labour.
The price of the one kind of commodities rises, because
it has become necessary to produce more, and that of
the other, because it has become necessary to produce
less. The productiveness of labour is diminished each
way, and the only person uninjured is the landlord.
To a certain extent, howe\er, the misdirection ofindus-
try by government interference is a necessary evil. The
duties of government cannot be performed without a public
revenue ; nor can a considerable public revenue be raised
without taxation; and the struggle to escape taxation
always tends to divert industry from its natural channels.
The tax which is least open to this objection, a tax on rent,
must tend to prevent the application of capital to land ;
a tax on profits to occasion the exportation of capital ;
a tax on income derived from property to prevent accu¬
mulation ; a tax on wages to occasion their payment
rather in kind than in money, and to prevent the labourer
from acquiring durable and visible property in the hope
of pleading his poverty as an excuse. Taxes on specific
articles are evaded by the substitution of some less bur¬
dened or cheaper commodity. The beer and malt
duties are avoided by the substitution of spirits. The
duties on tea and coffee by the use of roasted corn.
V
Now, every tax, so far as it is evaded, is simply mis¬
chievous. A window blocked up to avoid window tax
may diminish the light and air enjoyed by a whole
family, but adds nothing to the public revenue. A dis¬
tinct and a still greater injury arises from taxation im¬
posed on the instruments and processes of industry.
The salt tax, while it existed, prevented in a great
measure the use of salt in agriculture. The duty on
advertisements prevents vendors and purchasers from
knowing each other's wants and supplies. The duties
on leather, on spirits, and on glass, have not only pre¬
vented England from attaining, in the manufacture of
those commodities, her usual superiority, but have kept
her positively behind the improved part of Europe. To
2 E 2
204 POLITICALECONOMY.
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Wag^es.
Produc¬
tiveness of
labour.
prevent fraud on the Excise, the manufacturer is subject
to innumerable regulations and prohibitions incompati¬
ble with a proper economy of materials and division of
labour, and which bend very reluctantly to improve¬
ments. To improve is necessarily to alter, and any
alteration in the process prescribed by law may entangle
the manufacturer within the meshes of a regulating Act
of Parliament.
It is commonly supposed that men are sufficiently
ready to grumble at taxation ; but the fact that they are
very imperfectly aware of the degree and kind of evil
indirectly inflicted might be proved from many instances.
To select only one. Most persons are aware of the far
higher price borne by good malting barley above the
ordinary barley used only for feeding stock ; nor can
any one doubt that the price of beer is materially en¬
hanced by this circumstance. But, probably, not one
consumer in ten thousand has any idea that this is
connected with taxation. Yet, in fact, a large propor¬
tion of the barley set aside as unfit for malting would
make, as far as nature is concerned, very good malt, but
requires a process somewhat different from that which
the Excise regulations prescribe, and is consequently ren¬
dered by law useless for that purpose. It may easily be
conceived that, if the times and mode of ploughing,
harrowing, and sowing were prescribed by law, a large
portion of land now productive would lie waste.
A Country which has been forced by the folly or the
rapacity of its own government, or by the folly or ra¬
pacity of other States, to raise a large public revenue,
suffers in general far more from the indirect than from
the direct effects of taxation ; suffers more by being pre¬
vented from producing, than by being obliged to pay.
The causes which determine the productiveness of
labour in the direct or indirect production of the com¬
modities used by the labourer appear, therefore, to be
four. First, the personal character of the labourer,
his corporeal, intellectual, and moral qualities ; secondly,
the degree in which he is assisted by natural agents ;
thirdly, the degree in which he is assisted by capital ;
fourthly, the degree of freedom with which he is allowed
to direct his industry.
Proportion of Persons employed in the Production of
Commodities for the Use of Labourers to the whole
Number of Labouring Families.
If all labourers were employed in the production,
direct or indirect, of commodities for their own use, the
rate of wages would depend solely on the productiveness
of labour. But it is obvious that this could never be
the case, unless the labourers themselves were the
owners of all the capital and all the natural agents of
the country ; a state of existence so utterly bar¬
barous as to be without distinction of ranks or division
of labour ; a state in which a few scattered savage fami¬
lies have sometimes been found, but which exhibits
rvone of the phenomena which it is the business of Poli¬
tical Economy to trace to their causes. A great portion
of the labour employed in a civilized community is em¬
ployed in the production of things in the use of which
the labourer is not to participate. In a civilized com¬
munity, therefore, the extent of the fund for the mainte¬
nance of labour depends not only on the productiveness
of labour, but also on the number of persons employed
in the production of things for the use of labourers, com¬
pared with the whole number of labouring families.
It appears to us that there are three purposes to Political
which labour, which might otherwise be employed in Pcmit-my.
supplying the fund for the use of labourers, may be di-
verted ; namely, the production of things, first, to be
used by the proprietors of natural agents ; secondly, to Wages,
be used by the government; and thirdly, to be used Direction of
by capitalists ; or, to speak more concisely, though less
correctly, labour, instead of being employed in the pro- "
duction of wages, may be employed in the production of
rent, taxation, or profit.
First, with respect to rent. Direction of
We have already seen that rent depends in part on labour,
the productiveness of the natural agent for the assistance P
of which it is paid. Now any increase in the produc¬
tif e powers of that agent has a tendency to increase
rent, and can have none to diminish wages.
The improvements in agricultural skill which have
taken place during the last one hundred years have
greatly increased the productiveness of the Lowlands of
Scotland, and grcatly increased the amount of rent;
but that increase has been accompanied by an increase,
though not in an equal ratio, of the amount of wages.
Adam Smith states, that at the time when he wrote
(the period of the American War) the usual price of
common labour there was 8d. a day, or 4s. a week. 11
is now more than 8s. a week ; a sum capable of pur¬
chasing one-third more of raw produce, and three or
four times as much of manufactured produce, as the
former wages. Though the rental of the Lowlands has
more than tripled, though a much larger portion of what
the labourer produces is produced for the benefit of the
landlord, yet the positive increase of the whole produce
more than compensates this apparent inconvenience.
Instead of producing, we will say, twenty bushels, of
which the landlord received ten, the capitalist two, and
the labourer eight, he produces perhaps thirty-five, of
which the landlord receives twenty, the capitalist three,
and the labourer twelve.
It appears, therefore, that the whole fund for the
maintenance of labour is not necessarily diminished in
consequence of a considerable portion of the labourers in
a Country being employed in producing commodities
for the use of the proprietors of the natural agents in
that Country. Such labourers may, in fact, be consi¬
dered as existing only in consequence of the existence
of natural agents of extraordinary productiveness. They
draw their subsistence not from the common fund, such
as it otherwise would be, but from the addition made to
that fund by that extraordinary productiveness.
Of course, when we speak of the amount of rent as
unimportant to the labourer, we must be understood to
mean only that rent which arises from the peculiar or
increased productiveness of the natural agent in question,
not of that which arises merely from an increase of popu¬
lation. We have already stated that, in the absence of
disturbing causes, subsistence maybe expected to in¬
crease in a greater ratio than population. But, as we
then remarked, it certainly is possible, and perhaps,
under the influence of superstition and misgovernment,
it is probable, that the number of inhabitants in a Country
might increase without a commensurate increase of the
means, direct or indirect, of obtaining raw produce.
Under such circumstances, rents would rise, and labour,
which, if the population had remained stationary, wouli
have been employed in the production of commodities
for the use of labourers, would now be employed in
producing commodities for the use of landlords. A
POLITICAL
ECONOMY.
205
Political rise of rent so occasioned would of course be detri-
Economy. mental to the mass of the community. It must be recol-
lected, also, that the government of every Country has
" in some measure the power of deciding in what pro-
Wages. portions the different classes of its subjects shall contri-
Directionof bute to the public burdens. Some governments have
labour to attempted to exempt, as far as they could, the labourers
supply the these burdens, and to throw them as far as they
ticm 0?"^)- could upon the landlords. Others again have charged,
vernment. or have allowed individuals to charge, the revenue arising
from land with an expenditure for purposes in which the
landlords were not solely or principally interested ; such
as the establishment and maintenance of roads and
bridges, the supply of religious, moral, and intellectual
instruction, the affording gratuitous medical relief to the
sick, and even support to the able-bodied poor or their
families. Others, on the other hand, have endeavoured
to favour the landlords by imposing public expenditure
on the more defenceless portion of the community, the
labourers ; and many have adopted each of these dif¬
ferent lines of conduct on different occasions, or with
respect to different portions of their expenditure. The
tendency of every such institution must be to augment
or diminish the proportion of the labourers employed for
the benefit of landlords, compared with that of those who
are employed for the benefit of labourers.
Anothercause disturbing these proportions is theattempt
by a government to create rent, if it can be called rent,
by forcibly limiting the bounty of nature. It is possible
that, if we had continued to prohibit the corn of Ireland,
the incomes of English landlords might have been in¬
creased. So, if no coal were allowed to be burned except
the produce of a single colliery, the possessor of that
colliery would enjoy a princely revenue. But the gain
from such a monopoly is not strictly rent ; it is oppression
and robbery.
2. Direction The second purpose to which labour may be diverted
of labour to supply of commodities for the use of labourers
SUDDIV tllG A 1 •/
consurap- supply of the consumption of government. It
tion of go- is cleui that all the labour that is employed in the sup-
vernment. port of unnecessary establishments, and all the surplus
labour which is employed in supporting on an unne¬
cessary scale of expense those establishments which are
strictly wanted, is so much taken from the revenue of the
whole people. Still more injurious is the employment
of labour for the purposes not merely useless, but posi¬
tively mischievous ; in the support of pagodas or bonzes,
to keep up or disseminate a demoralizing superstition ;
in the support of armies and navies to plunder the com¬
merce and ravage the territories of States, which nature
enabled to confer mutual benefits, but the folly or wicked¬
ness of their rulers force to inflict mutual evil ; or in the
support of barriers and blockades to maintain the com¬
mercial war in which nations are accustomed to spend
the breathing time of actual hostility. Unnecessary
taxation, even when innocently applied, is fraud or rob¬
bery. It is difficult to find a designation for that which
is applied to ends still more mischievous than the means;
for that which makes plunder and extortion the instru¬
ments of still further injury.
It appears at first sight that only this mischievous or
useless expenditure ought to be considered as a deduction
from wages, since the labour which is employed in effect¬
ing the legitimate purposes of government is as much
employed for the benefit of the labouring classes as that
which is employed in the direct production of commodities Political
for their use. The great object of government is to afford Economy.
security, and security is of all blessings the most im-
portant, and the one least capable of being obtained by "
uncombined exertions. Those writers who have main- Wages.
tained that whatever is raised by taxation is deducted Direction ot
from the revenue of the Country, seem to have been labour to
led to this conclusion, by observing that the object
, . , . i. Ii. i- consump-
government is to occasion not positive but negative
effects, not to produce good, but to prevent evil. And vernment.
they have thought it right to deduct what is so spent
from the net revenue of the people. But it must be
recollected that the mere prevention of evil is one of the
principal objects even of individual expenditure. We
do not build houses because it is pleasant to breathe the
confined atmosphere of a room, but because roofs and
walls are the only means by which the inclemency of
the seasons can be avoided. We do not buy drugs for
our pleasure, but to avert or remove disease. Yet no
one ever thought what he spends on medicines and on
house rent a deduction from his income. When the
members of a Friendly Society raise among themselves
a fund for their relief in sickness, they do not consider
their contributions a deduction from their wages, but a
mode of expenditure. And it may be asked, in what
respect does each man's contribution towards the means
by which the community is to be protected against
internal and external violence and fraud differ from his
contribution to a Friendly Society, excepting that those
evils are more severe and more constantly imminent
than sickness, and less capable of being warded off by
individual efforts? It is true that, if the protection could
be less expensively obtained, the fund for the mainte¬
nance of labour would be increased. But this is merely
an exemplification of what we have already stated, that
the extent of the fund for the maintenance of labour
depends mainly on the productiveness of labour. If fewer
fleets, and armies, and magistrates, could preserve the
peace, that is, if labour were more productive in affording
security, the labouring clases would, cœieris paribus, be
better off', just as they would be better off if fewer hus¬
bandmen or artisans could produce, directly or indirectly,
the same quantity of cornthat is, if labour were more
productive in supplying food.
But admitting all this to be true, it is also true, as we
have already remarked, that the labourer is interestea
not only in the amount and application of the public
revenue, and in the degree in which its payment affects
the productiveness of labour, but also in the manner in
which the burthen of supplying it is distributed. If the
duty on wine were abolished, and an equal revenue
raised by substituting an additional duty on coarse to¬
bacco, the labourers, who are the only consumers of
coarse tobacco, would purchase, with the same propor¬
tion of their wages, less tobacco than before, and the
landlords and capitalists, who are the only consumers of
wine, would purchase, with the same proportions of their
rents and profits, more wine. The productiveness of
our labour and the export of our manufactures would
be undiminished ; even the nature of our exports need
not be altered ; the only change would be in the returns.
More wine and less tobacco would be imported. More
labourers, therefore, than before would be employed in
obtaining wine for landlords and capitalists, and fewer
in obtaining tobacco for labourers.
Nor must it be forgotten that a part of the taxes
206
POLITICAL
ECONOMY.
Political received by the government of one Country is often paid
Economy, i^y inhabitants of another. We now purchase an-
nually in China about thirty millions of pounds of tea, at
^bout Is. a pound. On the tea so purchased we impose
Wages and different ways taxes to the amount of about two hun-
Profits. dred per cent. Were we to repeal that taxation, and
the price in China were to remain unaltered, our Con¬
sumption would probably quadruple ; but it is highly
improbable that we could purchase one hundred and
twenty millions of pounds of tea at Is. a pound. The
price in China might possibly double ; it probably would
rise one-half. That rise would have a tendency to raise
the rent of land and the wages of labour in the tea-
fifrowino: districts of China. It must be admitted, there-
o O
fore, that they are both hept down by the existence
of the tax ; and that a portion of our duty on tea is, in
fact, paid by the inhabitants of the tea-growing districts
of China. The same reasoning proves that a part of
the English duty on claret is paid by France, and that
a part of the duties imposed by foreign nations on some
of the commodities which we export, is paid by Eng¬
land. As a portion of the taxes raised by every State
is, in fact, paid by the inhabitants of those Countries
with which it has commercial relations, and as war and
misgovernment are the great causes of taxation, an
additional proof is afforded of the degree in which each
Country is interested in the freedom and tianquillity of
its neighbours.
We have lastly to consider the influence of profits on
waires : or, in other words, the extent to which waires
may be affected by the employment of labour to produce,
instead of wages, things for the use of capitalists. In
civilized and well-governed communities, this is the prin¬
cipal purpose to which labour, that otherwise might be
employed for the benefit of the labourers, is diverted.
The labourers who are employed for the benefit of the
owners of natural agents may, as we have seen, be in
general considered as a separate class, not withdrawn
from the general body, but added to it by the existence
of those natural agents. Those who are necessarily em¬
ployed in effecting the legitimate purposes of govern¬
ment are, in fact, employed for the benefit of the labour¬
ing population, and the taxation which supplies their
maintenance is not necessarily a deduction from wages,
but a mode of expenditure. That few governments have
confined themselves to their legitimate office, or em¬
ployed in effecting that office only the necessary amount
of labour, is a melancholy truth ; and it is true that the
fund for the maintenance of labour may be, and in most
Countries has been, and is, more diminished in its amount,
and more retarded in its increase, by misgovernment
than by all other causes put together. But both mis¬
government and that interference of the ruling power
between the different classes of its subjects which we
have already described as affecting the proportions of
rent, profit, and wages to one another, are rather disturb¬
ing causes than necessary elements in the calculations of
Political Economy ; and with these allusions to their in¬
fluence we shall dismiss them.
Influence Rent then being considered as something extrinsic,
of profit on and taxation a mode of expenditure, the only remaining
wages. deduction from wages is profit. And the productive¬
ness of labour being given, the extent of the fund for
the maintenance of labour will depend on the pro¬
portion which the number of labourers employed in
producing things for the use of capitalists bears to that
of those employed in producing things for the use of Political
labourers ; or, to use a more common expression, on the Economy,
proportions in which the produce of labour is shared
between the capitalist and the labourer.
In a previous portion of this Treatise we defined the Wages and
word " abstinence" to mean the conduct of him who ab- profits,
stains from the unproductive consumption of any commo¬
dity, or who employs labour to produce distant results. In
fact, the act of deferring enjoyment. And we explained that
labour cannot be efficient unless assisted by, what is the re¬
sult of abstinence, capital ; nor abstinence in itself efficient
unless assisted by labour ; that each is disagreeable, and
must therefore be called into exertion by the prospect of
its specific remuneration ; abstinence by the hope of
profit, and labour by the hope of wages : and we stated,
that although in fact the same individual often under¬
goes both abstinence and labour, yet that we thought
it more convenient to consider the capitalist and the
labourer as different persons. In the absence of rent,
and of unnecessary or unequally distributed taxation, it
is between these two classes that all that is produced
is divided ; and the question now to be considered is,
what decides the proportion of the shares?
The facts which decide in what proportions the capi¬
talist and labourer share the common fund appear to be
two : first, the general rate of profit in the Country on the
advance of capital for a given period ; and, secondly, the
period which in each particular case has elapsed between
the advance of the capital and the receipt of the profit.
First, as to the general rate of profit. We have seen General
that profit is the remuneration of abstinence, and that rate of pro-
abstinence is the deferring of enjoyment. The commo-
dity which owes its existence or its preservation to ab¬
stinence is capital. Its owner is termed a capitalist, and
he is said to advance the means by which it is created or
preserved. These means are partly materials and im¬
plements, (including, under the last term, not merely
the ordinary tools of manual labour, but machinery,
ships, and even roads, wharfs, and canals,) and partly
labour. The materials and implements are supplied by
the capitalist directly, the labour is supplied by him
indirectly, by advancing the wages of the labourers.
The labourers, aided by their implements, convert the
materials into a new and vendible commodity, which is
m '
termed the return of the capitalist. And the capitalist's
profit depends on the difference between the value of
the advance and the value of the return. In producing
the return, the wages and materials are necessarily con¬
sumed ; they are parted with by the capitalist, and there¬
fore termed circulating capital. The implements are
not necessarily consumed ; so far as they are uncon-
sumed they remain the property of the capitalist, and
are therefore termed fixed capital. The value of that
portion of them which remains unconsumed must be
added to that of the other returns before the profit can
be estimated. The capital of a builder is almost entirely
circulating. It consists principally of the bricks, lime,
timber, stone, and slate which are the materials with
which the house is to be constructed, and of the money
necessary to pay the wages of the workmen. His fixed
capital (exclusively of his knowledge) consists merely of
scaffolding and ladders. All these he advances, and the
result, after a certain interval, is a house, together with
the former ladders and scaffolding somewhat the worse
for wear. The cotton-spinner's advances consist of raw
cotton and wages, which are his circulating capital, and
buildings and machinery, which are his fixed capital.
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 207
Political His returns are a certain quantity of manufactured cotton,
Economy, and the old buildings and machinery. So a ship-owner's
advances consist of his ship, which is his fixed capital, and
t?on"^"" of its stores, and the wages of his sailors, which are his
Wages and ciï'culating capital ; his returns are his freight, or, in
profits. other words, the hire which he receives for the use of
General his ship, the ship itself, such as it may be, after the voy-
rate of pio- stores, if any of them remain unconsumed.
The profit in every case consists, as we have already
stated, of the difference between the value of the ad¬
vances and the value of the returns.
How to be But in what is this v«alue to be estimated ? Of course
estimated, something as unsusceptible as possible of variations
in its general value. If the value of the advances and
returns of the capitalist were estimated in corn or in
hops, an abundant season might so reduce the va^ue of
either as to make him appear a gainer when in fact a
loser. His returns might be worth twenty per cent,
more of corn or hops than his advances, and yet be in¬
ferior in general value. The commodity least susceptible
of variation in its general value, during short periods, is
money ; and partly from this circumstance, and partly
rom its general use as a measure of value, it is the
medium in which calculations of profit are usually
expressed. But, if considerable periods are to be taken,
even money is subject to great variations, and any sudden
change in the facility of obtaining it, arising from an in¬
creased fertility of the mines, or an increased productive¬
ness of labour, or an abuse of banking or paper cur¬
rency, or from similar causes operating in an opposite
direction, may materially raise or depress the general
value of money in any one Country, even during short
periods.
The best standard of value for philosophical purposes
appears to be the command of labour. In the first
place, labour, next to money, is the principal subject of
exchange. And, in the second place, labour, as the
principal instrument of production, as the only instru¬
ment that can be employed at will in the creation of
whatever is most wanted, varies less in its general value
than any other article of exchange. Money, and the
necessaries of life which approach nearest to it, derive in
part their steadiness of value from their constant power of
commanding labour, a power belonging to no other
commodity. Estimated indeed in one class of objects,
and it is the class most coveted by man, we mean power
and pre-eminence, the value of the command of labour
is almost invariable. Two persons who, at different times
or in different places, can each command the labour of one
thousand average labourers, may indeed enjoy in very dif¬
ferent degrees the comforts and conveniences of life ; but
in power and pre-eminence in their respective Countries
they must be nearly on a par. Each must be one
man in a thousand. Each must be a thousand times
richer than the mass of his countrymen. If two shil¬
lings in Hindostán will command as many labourers as
twenty in England, a Hindoo with ¿£3000 a year is,
generally speaking, as great a man in Hindostán as an
Englishman with ¿30,000 a year in England.
Philosophically, therefore, we think that the value of
the capitalist's advances and returns ought to be esti¬
mated in their command of labour; popularly, their
value is estimated in money; and, as the reciprocal
values of money and labour seldom vary much between
the times of those advances and returns, the popular
mode of estimation is seldom incorrect ; and we shall
therefore use both indifferently.
The great difficulty of the subject arises from the cir- Political
cumstance, that the rate of profit is not the subject of ^Çonomy,
contract, but of experiment, and cannot be ascertained
u -j-'j i i. .1» Histribu-
even by an individual, except as to ms past operations.
While a transaction is going on, the capitalist may hope Wages and
that the value of the returns will exceed the value of the profits,
advances ; he may hope that the excess will be consi- re-
derable ; but he cannot be certain that there will be any
excess at all ; that there will not be a positive loss. He profit,
may say what his profit has been, but not what it is.
Frequently, indeed, he cannot say what it has been. A
whole series of mercantile or manufacturing transactions
may be so linked together that, after having been appa¬
rently profitable for years, they may terminate in ruin.
If, however, we could ascertain the value of the re¬
turns in all the transactions in this Country which were
concluded in the year ending yesterday ; and also could
ascertain what was the value of the advances, and the
average time for which those advances were made before
the returns were received, we should know what was the
average rate of profit in this Country during the last
year. Suppose this point ascertained, and the result to
be, that the average rate of profit on an advance of ca¬
pital for a year was in this Country during the last year
ten per cent., the question recurs, what were the causes
which determined it to be ten per cent, rather than five
per cent, or tv/enty per cent. ?
It appears to us that it must have depended princi¬
pally on the previous conduct of the capitalists and of the
labourers of this Country ; on the value of the capital
which at some previous period was appropriated by the
capitalists to produce commodities for the use of labourers,
or, to use a more concise expression, to produce wages ;
and the number of labourers whom the previous con¬
duct of the labouring population had caused to exist.
It will be admitted that, in the absence of disturb¬
ing causes, the rate of profit in all employments of
capital is equal. If we can ascertain, therefore, what are
the causes which regulate the rate of profit in any one of
the main employments ofcapital, we may infer that, in the
absence of peculiar disturbance, either the same causes,
or, causes of equal force, occasion it to be the same in
all others We will inquire, therefore, into the causes Causes re-
which regulate the rate of profit in one of the main em- gulatingthe
ployments of capital,—the advance of wages to the rate of pru
labourers who are themselves employed in producing
wages, using the word wages to signify commodities for
the use of the labouring population.
To simplify the question, we will suppose a small
colony settled in a district where there is abundance of
fertile land, and protected by situation and character
from external and internal violence, so that neither rent
nor taxation need be supposed to exist : we will sup¬
pose it to be inhabited by ten capitalists and one thou¬
sand two hundred labouring families ; that the use
of money is unknown; that all the buildings, the
clothes, the furniture, and the food, in fact, the whole
consumption of the people, is consumed in one year
and reproduced in the next ; that each family receives
its wages for the year on the first day of the year, and
completes its production on the last day, so that all the
advances are made on the first day of the year, and all
the returns received on the last day; and that, at the
time when the situation of the colony was first noticed,
each capitalist had in his possession wages for one hun¬
dred and twenty families during a year, the produce of
the labour of one hundred families during the previous
208
POLITICAL E C O N O M Y.
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Wages and
profits.
Causes re¬
gulating
the rate of
profit.
year, (being his capital, and which, to reduce it to one
denomination, we will call one thousand quarters of
corn;) and commodities for his own use, which we will
call twenty casks of wine, the produce of the labour of
twenty families during the previous year; (being the
stock reserved for his own consumption.)
Under such circumstances, if each capitalist should
employ his capital in setting one hundred families to
work to reproduce wages, and twenty more to reproduce
commodities for his own use, and the labouring popula¬
tion should neither increase nor diminish, the raie of
profit would remain stationary at twenty per cent, per
annum. The advances every year would be one thou¬
sand quarters of corn, being wages produced by the
labour of one hundred families, and commanding the
labour of one hundred and twenty ; the returns would
be a stock of wages commanding the labour of one hun¬
dred and twenty families during the next year, which
would be, in fact, a reproduction of the previous capital
of one thousand quarters, and also a stock of commo¬
dities for the capitalist's own use, produced by one-sixth
of the labour employed in reproducing the capital, and
therefore one-sixth of the value of the capital. The
value of the returns on an advance of capital for a year
would exceed the value of the advances by one-sixth.
The rate of profit therefore would, as we said before, re¬
main stationary at twenty per cent, per annum. And
five-sixths of the labourers would be employed in pro¬
ducing commodities for their own use, and one-sixth in
producing commodities for the use of the capitalists.
We will now consider the effects of any alteration in
the proportion of capital to labour. Suppose that emi¬
gration or an unhealthy season should diminish by fifty
the number of labouring families : each capitalist would
have the same capital ; consisting of wages produced by
the labour of one hundred families during the year, and
which we have called one thousand quarters of corn ; but
the number of labourers being diminished by one-twenty-
fourth, instead of commanding the labour of one hun¬
dred and twenty families, they would command the
labour of only one hundred and fifteen. The one thousand
quarters of corn would be divided among one hundred and
fifteen families instead of among one hundred and
twenty, and the capitalist would get only fifteen casks of
wine during the subsequent year instead of twenty. To
take the converse : if immigration or an increase of
population should have increased the number of labourers
by fifty, each capitalist, instead of one hundred and twenty
families, would be able to command the labour of one
hundred and twenty-five. The one thousand quarters
would be divided among one hundred and twenty-five
families, instead of among one hundred and twenty, and
the capitalist might employ twenty-five families to pro¬
duce wine for himself instead of twenty. In the one case,
profits rise from twenty to about twenty-five per cent. ;
in the other, they fall to about fifteen. On the other
hand, if we suppose the labouring population to remain
stationary at one thousand two hundred families, but
the capitalists, instead of employing each one hundred
families in the production of wages, and twenty in the
production of profits, to employ each one hundred and five
in the production of wages, each capitalist would at the
end of the year have a capital of one thousand and fifty
quarters produced by the labour of one hundred and five
families, and commanding the labour of one hundred
and twenty ; or if they each employed in the production
of wages only ninety-five families, and in the production
of profits twenty-five, each would have at the end of the Political
year a capital of nine hundred and fifty quarters, pro- Economy,
duced by the labour of ninety-five families, and com-
manding the labour of one hundred and twenty. Profits
would fall in the first instance from twenty per cent, to Wages and
less than fifteen ; in the second, they would rise to more profits,
than twenty-five. If, however, the increase of the num- Causes re-
ber of labourers employed in the production of wages
' ^ tiiB ráttí Ol
should be accompanied by a proportionate increase in profit,
the whole number of labourers ; or if, when the number
of labourers employed in the production of wages was
diminished, the whole number of labourers should be
diminished in proportion ; or, in other words, if the
proportion of capital to labour remained unaltered, the
rate of profit would be also unaltered. If each were in¬
creased, or each diminished, but in different proportions,
profits would rise or fall according to the relative vari¬
ations in the supply of wages and labour.
It appears, therefore, that, under the most simple
state of circumstances, the rate of profits depends, as
we said before, on the previous conduct of the capi¬
talists and the labourers in a Country.
In this hypothesis we have supposed all the capitalists
to act together. And as every permanent increase of
capital while the number of labourers remained the
same would, under the supposed circumstances, occasion
a proportionate diminution of the rate of profit, it never
could be the interest of the capitalists, as a body, to
increase their capital, except with a view to increase
the number of labourers ; or even to keep up their
capital, except so far as it should be necessary to keep
up the existing number of labourers. It would be their
interest, if the population were incapable of increase, to
devote to the production of wages labour just sufficient
to produce the necessaries of life for that stationary po¬
pulation, if the population were advancing just sufficient
to enable it to advance ; to treat the labourers, in short,
as a farmer treats his horses, or a slave-owner his slaves.
Under such circumstances, supposing the capitalists to
be governed solely by their interest, the rate of
profit would depend partly on the productiveness of
labour, and partly on the period that must elapse
between the time of the advances and of the re¬
turns. Given the period of advance, it would depend
on the productiveness of labour. If a labourer by
a year's labour could produce a return which, to re¬
duce it to one denomination, we will call ten quarters of
corn, and five quarters were enough for his support, the
rate of profit would be one hundred per cent, per annum.
By an advance of five quarters the capitalist would obtain
a return of ten. If the labourer could produce fifteen,
the rate of profit would be two hundred per cent. ; by
an advance of five the capitalist would obtain fifteen.
If the labourer could produce only seven and a half,
profits would be fifty per cent. On the other hand, the
productiveness of labour being given, the rate of profit
would depend on the period for which the capital must
be advanced. When the labourer receiving five quar¬
ters as wages could, by a year's labour, produce ten, a
capitalist with a capital consisting of ten quarters could
employ two labourers, each of whom would return to
him ten quarters every year. But if, instead of returning
ten quarters at the end of one year, a labourer returned
twenty quarters at the end of two years, a capitalist with
a capital of ten quarters would be able to employ only
one labourer instead of two; for if he were to employ
two his capital would be exhausted before it was repro-
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
209
filiating
the rate of
profit.
Political duced. Only one-half of the number of labourers could
Economy, be employed by the same amount of capital, and instead
of getting- a net revenue of ten quarters every year, the
would get a net revenue of only ten quarters
Wages and ^very two years.
profit. Happily, however, the capitalists of a Country do
Causes re- not act as a body. Each pursues his own scheme
of aggrandizement, indifferent to its effect on his
neighbours, and it is chiefly to their mutual competi¬
tion that we owe the increase both of capital and of po¬
pulation. To revert to our original hypothesis ; suppose
one of the capitalists, instead of employing, like each of
the others, twenty labourers to produce commodities for
his own use and one hundred to produce wages, to em¬
ploy one hundred and ten labourers in the production
of wages. At the end of the year he would have a
capital consisting of one thousand one hundred quarters
of corn produced by the labour of one hundred and ten
families, and commanding, at the existing rate of wages,
the labour of one hundred and thirty-two families; and
the nine others would have each a capital consisting of
one thousand quarters, produced by the labour of one
hundred families, and commanding, at the existing rate
of wages, one hundred and twenty families. The whole
capital of the Country, instead of its former amount,
namely, ten thousand quarters, being wages for one
thousand two hundred families, would amount to ten
thousand one hundred quarters, being wages for one
thousand two hundred and twelve families. But as
there would be only one thousand two hundred fami¬
lies to receive them, profits would fall about one per
cent., or from twenty per cent, to a fraction less than
nineteen per cent, per annum. This fall of profits would
prevent the capitalist to whose conduct it was owing
from reaping the full benefit of his accumulation. He
would find himself possessed of a capital consisting of
one thousand one hundred quarters, being wages pro¬
duced by the labour of one hundred and ten families,
and commanding the labour of one hundred and thirty
and a fraction; but every other capitalist would find his
capital of one thousand quarters, produced by the labour
of one hundred families, commanding the labour of a
small fraction less than one hundred and nineteen fami¬
lies. The first, or accumulating capitalist, would find
the value of his capital and the amount of his profits
increased, though the rate of profits had fallen one per
cent. But all the other capitalists would find both the
value of their capital and the amount of their profits
diminished.
Now there is nothing to which a capitalist submits
so reluctantly as the diminution of the value of his
capital. He is dissatisfied if it even remain stationary.
Capitals are generally formed from small beginnings by
acts of accumulation, which become in time habitual. The
capitalist soon regards the increase of his capital as the
great business of his life ; and considers the greater part
of his profit more as a means to that end than as a
subject of enjoyment. It is probable, therefore, that the
other capitalists in the Country would endeavour to
keep the value of their capitals unimpaired, though at
the expense of a diminution of the general rate of profit.
One after another would follow the example of the first-
mentioned capitalist, and devote to the increase of their
respective capitals a portion of the labour previously em¬
ployed in furnishing commodities for their own use. In
time each capitalist, instead of employing one hundred
families in the reproduction of capital, and twenty in sup-
VOL. VI.
plying his own enjoyments, would employ one hundred
and ten in the reproduction of capital, and only ten for
his own purposes. The rate of profit would fell from
twenty to ten per cent., and, of the one thousand two
hundred labouring families, one thousand one hundred
would be employed in producing wages, and only one
hundred in producing profits. The annual produce of
the Country, instead of ten thousand quarters of corn
and two hundred casks of wine, would consist of ten
thousand one hundred quarters of corn and one hundred
casks of wine. Instead of five-sixths of the labourers in
the Country being employed in producing commodities
for the use of the labourers, and one-sixth for the use of
capitalists, eleven-twelfths would be employed for the
benefit of the labourers, and only one-twelfth for the be¬
nefit of the capitalists.
This fall of profit, however, could take place only on
the supposition of the number of labouring families re¬
maining unaltered. But it is highly improbable that it
could remain unincreased. The increase of wages would
enable the labourers to marry earlier, or to raise more
numerous families. If labour should remain equally
porductive, their numbers might increase until the former
proportion of labourers to capital had been restored. All
the results would be beneficial. The labourers would
not be worse off than before the additional accumulation
took place, and the capitalists would be better off. The
value of their capitals and the amount of their profits
would be increased, and the rate of profit would be again
twenty per cent, per annum.
We set out with supposing a Country possessing an
abundance of fertile land. Under such circumstances
the productiveness of labour might for a long period
continue, or even increase, with every addition to the
number of its inhabitants. But in a densely-peopled
Country the powers of labour seldom remain the same
during an increase of population. In manufactures
labour becomes proportionably more productive. In
agriculture, unless aided by increased industry or
skill, or by permanent improvements of the soil,
it becomes proportionably less so. And, as the labourer
consumes chiefly raw or slightly-manufactured pro¬
duce, the increased facility of obtaining manufac¬
tures may not make up for an increased difficulty in
obtaining raw produce. In an old Country, therefore,
when the rate of profit has been reduced by an increase
of capital, it seldom can be fully restored by a propor¬
tionate increase of population, unless either the labourer
receives a smaller quantity of raw produce than before,
or the necessity of cultivating lands of inferior produc¬
tiveness is obviated either by permanent improvements,
such as draining marshes or fertilizing bogs, or by addi¬
tional industry or skill, or by the importation of raw
produce. In such Countries the natural progress seems
to be an increase of capital, occasioning a fall of the rate
of profit ; a check to that fall, occasioned by an increase
of the labouring population ; a check to that increase,
occasioned by an increased difficulty in obtaining raw
produce ; and a diminution, rarely amounting to a re¬
moval, of that difficulty, occasioned by permanent agri¬
cultural improvements, increased industry or, skill, or
foreign importation ; leaving, as the general result, a
constant tendency towards an increase of capital and
population, and towards a fall in the rate of profits.
In our hypothesis we have supposed the whole capital
of the Country to be consumed and reproduced every
2 p
Political
Economy,
Distribu¬
tion.
Wages and
profit.
Causes re¬
gulating
the rate of
profit.
210
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Fulitieal year. Under such circumstances it has appeared that,
Economy. numberof labourers remaiuingthe same, no permanent
Di^ribT**^ addition could be made to capital without occasioning im-
tion mediately a proportionate diminution of the rate of profit.
Wages and since that addition would disappear in a year unless
profit. reproduced by a repetition of the sacrifice on the part of
the capitalist by whom it was originally created. But
the result would be different if that addition were made
in a form requiring no further labour for its reproduc¬
tion. Suppose the capitalist, instead of adding five to
the hundred families employed in producing wages,
were to employ the additional five in the construction of
a durable machine enabling one man to do some piece
of work that previously required two. At the end of
the first year each capitalist would possess wages for
one hundred and twenty families, produced by the labour
of one hundred families ; commodities for his own use,
produced by the labour of fifteen families ; and his ma¬
chine, produced by the labour of five families. But in
every subsequent year he might obtain wages for one
hundred and twenty families by employing only ninety-
nine families and his machine, and might employ twenty-
one families in producing commodities for himself. Both
the rate and the amount of profit would be increased
without any diminution of wages. Such a machine
is a new labourer added to the existing number of
labourers, but a new labourer whom it costs nothing
to maintain. It adds to the amount of the profit of
the capitalist who has constructed it, without either
taking from the profits of other capitalists, as must be
the case when additional capital is created, which
must be kept up and worked by additional labour ; or
taking from the wages of the other labourers, as must
be the case when an additional labourer is added, whose
subsistence must be taken from the common fund. A
machine or implement is, in fact, merely a means by
which the productiveness of labour is increased. The
»nillions which have been expended in this Country in
making roads, bridges, and ports, have had no tendency
to reduce either the rate of profit or the amount of
wages. They have, in fact, had a tendency to keep up
both, by enabling labour to be more productive, and con¬
sequently enabling the circulating capital and the popu¬
lation of the Country to increase in corresponding ratios.
It appears, therefore, that in one of the main employ¬
ments of capital, namely, the employment of labourers
to produce commodities for the use of labourers, or, in
other words, to produce wages, the difference between
the value of the returns and the value of the advances
depends on the amount of labour which at a previous
period was devoted to the production of wages, com¬
pared with the amount of labour which those wages
when produced can command. And as the rate of pro¬
fits in every different employment of capital has a tend¬
ency to equality, we may infer that all capitals, how¬
ever employed, yield about the same rate of profit
as those which are employed in the production of wages.
Average
period of
advance of
capita.
The first of the two principles which regulate the division
of the produce between the capitalist and the labourer,
namely, the rate of profit in the advance of capital for a
given time, having been, in some measure, ascertained,
we proceed to inquire into the causes which regulate
the second principle, namely, the average time for which
the capital must be advanced.
It must be recollected, however, that the expression
the capitalist's share,'' though familiarly used by Eco¬
nomists, is not strictly correct. When the product is
completed, it is the sole property of the capitalist, who
has purchased it by paying in advance the labourer's
wages. What is meant, therefore, by " the capitalist's
share," is that portion of the product, or of the price lor
which it sells, which the capitalist can retain and apply
for his own purposes, keeping the value of his capital
unimpaired. What is meant by the labourer's share"
is that portion of the produce, or of the price for which
it sells, which the capitalist, if he keep his capital unim¬
paired, cannot employ for his own purposes, but must
employ in advancing the price of the labour by which
the work of reproduction is to be performed. We have
already shown that, the period of advance being given,
these proportions are determined by the rate of profit.
It is equally clear that, the rate of profit being given,
they must be determined by the period of advance. If
a capitalist has a return which we will call twelve quar¬
ters of corn, and we wish to know how much of it he
must retain as capital, and how much he may use as
profit, the first inquiry is, for what period must he ad¬
vance his capital before he can again obtain a similar
return? The next inquiry is, what is the current rate
of profit? If the answer to the first inquiry be, one
year, and to the second, twenty per cent, per annum, it
follows that, by constantly employing ten quarters as
wages, he will receive two as profit. If the period of
advance be only six months, the rate of profit continuing
at twenty per cent, per annum, he must employ eleven
and a fraction as capital, and will not receive quite one
as profit. If the period of advance be two years, the
rate of profit continuing at twenty per cent, per annum,
rather less than eight quarters will form a sufficient
capital, and rather more than four will be profit. With
every prolongation of the period of advance, the rate of
profit continuing the same, the capitalist's share must
increase. With every abridgement of that period it must
diminish. And it is equally obvious that, the period of
advance being given, the capitalist's share must aug¬
ment with every increase of the rate of profit, and
diminish as that rate decreases.
On what then does the period for which capital is to
be advanced depend? To this question no general
answer can be given. The period differs according to
the accidents of soil and climate ; it varies indefinitely
in every different business, and even in employments
which, in other respects, are perfectly similar.
In Europe the harvest is annual ; in Hindostán it
recurs every six months. The average period for
which agricultural wages are advanced must be at
least twice as long in Europe as in Hindostán. A
great part of the capital employed in breeding horses
must be advanced four or five years ; that employed in
planting must be advanced forty or fifty. A very small
part of the capital of a butcher or a baker is advanced
for more than a week. The stock of a fishmonger spoils
in a day ; that of a Rhenish wine-merchant is improved
by being kept a century. As a general rule, the average
period is longer or shorter in one Country than in an¬
other in an inverse proportion to the general rate of profit.
In the general market of the world, a Country in which
the rate of profit is low has over one where it is high an
advantage which increases at compound interest, as the
period of advance is prolonged. The rate of profit in
Russia is supposed to be above twice as high as in Eng¬
land. We will suppose that rate to be five per cent,
per annum in England, and ten in Russia. A commo-
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Wages and
profit.
Time of ad¬
vance of
capital.
POLITICAL ECONOMY
211
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Wages and
profit.
Time of ad¬
vance of
capital.
dity produced in Russia by an advance of £lO for
twenty years would sell for nearly £70. A commodity
produced in England by the advance of £20 for the
same time would sell for less than £60. The difference
in the rate of profit would far outbalance a doubling of
the first expenditure. Profits are supposed to be lower
in Holland and in England than in any other part of
the globe. The Plnglish and the Dutch, therefore, have
almost a monopoly in those trades in which the returns
are distant. Abstinence with them is a cheap instru¬
ment of production, and they use it to the utmost. In
their commerce with other nations they generally pay
in ready money, but give a very long credit. They
purchase raw produce, and sell manufactures. In many
instances they even advance to the foreign Countries
the first expenses of production. The indigo of Bengal,
the wines of the Cape, the wool of Australia, and the
silver of Mexico, are in a great measure produced by the
advance of English capital. The accumulated interest
On such advances would be an intolerable addition to
the value of the returns if the rate of profit were high.
This circumstance occasions a tendency to uniformity in
the proportion, in different Countries, in which the pro¬
duce is shared between the capitalist and the labourer.
Where profits are high the capitalist's share is kept
down by the shortness of the period for which his capital
is advanced. Where they are low it is kept up by the
prolongation of that period.
The labourer is far more interested in the comparative
rate of profit than in the comparative period for which
capital is advanced. The productiveness of labour and
the period of advance being given, we have seen that
the amount of his share of the product depends on the
rate of profit. It is his interest, therefore, in the first
place, that when capital is employed in the production
of the commodities which he consumes, all other things
remaining the same, the rate of profit should be low.
And if it were possible that the rate of profit in other
employments could be higher, capital would be diverted
from the only production in which the labourer is
directly interested—the production of commodities for
his own use—and the general fund for the maintenance
of labour would be diminished. All other things,
therefore, remaining the same, it is the labourer's in¬
terest that the rate of profit should be universally low.
But it must be recollected, first, that the average period
for which capital is advanced, especially in the produc¬
tion of the commodities used by labourers, is so short
that the capitalist's share is small even when profits are
high : if the advance has been for six months, the capi¬
talist's share, at the high rate of twenty per cent, per
annum, would be less than one-eleventh : and, secondly,
that a high rate of profit is generally found to accom¬
pany a great productivenes of labour. And therefore
that, in general, the labourer is better paid, or, in other
words, receives a larger amount of commodities, when
profits are high, that is when he receives a small share,
than when profits are low, that is when he receives a
large share, of the value of what he produces. The
increase of the labourer's share from ten-elevenths to
twenty-one-twenty-seconds, which would be the conse¬
quence in the case which we have supposed of a fall of
profits by one-half, would add very little to the amount
of his wages.
On the other hand it is his interest that, when capital
is employed in the production of what he himself con¬
sumes, the period of advance should be short. We will
suppose a labourer employed on the least productive soil
to produce by a year's labour employed in hoeing and Political
weeding an additional produce of twenty-two quarters of Economy,
corn ; the wages of labour to be £20 a year ; the rate
of profit to be ten per cent, per annum, and a year to Distribu-
elapse between the advance of the wages and the corn
being fit for use ; the price of the corn would be £22 ; *
the labourer would receive twenty quarters, or, what is
the same, £20, with which he could purchase twenty
quarters. But if corn were not fit for use until it had
been kept for ten years, on the same data, the corn,
instead of selling for £22, would sell for above £50 ; the
labourer would receive less than ten quarters instead
of twenty, or, what comes to the same, his wages, instead
of twenty, would purchase less than ten quarters. To pro¬
duce the corn would require the same degree of labour as
before, but ten times as much abstinence.
Another consequence of the prolongation of the
period of advance would be, that with the same
amount of capital the capitalist would be able to main¬
tain much fewer labourers than before. If ten quarters
were necessary to maintain a labouring family during a
year, and they could reproduce eleven in a state fit for
consumption at the end of the year, a capital of one
hundred quarters would enable a capitalist to keep in
constant employ ten labouring families during the first
year, and eleven during every subsequent year. But, if
the corn were not fit for consumption till the end of ten
years, a capitalist starting with a capital of one hundred
quarters could not maintain more than a single family,
for, if he were to maintain more, the capital would be
exhausted before it was reproduced. The prolongation
of the period of advance would have precisely the same
effect as a diminished productiveness of labour.
But the prolongation of the period of advance of the
capital employed in the production of the commodities
which the labourer does not consume is utterly indif¬
ferent to him. If a labourer by a year's labour can
produce twenty-two ounces of lace, his wages being
£20 a year, and advanced for a year, and the rate of
profit being ten per cent., he will receive ten-elevenths
of the value of the lace, or, in other words, he might
purchase with his wages twenty ounces of lace. If the
lace required keeping for ten years, his wages would
purchase less than ten ounces of the lace in its complete
state. But as he never wishes to purchase lace, and as
the prolongation of the period for which capital must be
advanced in the production of lace would not affect
either the productiveness of labour, or the rate of profit,
or the period of advance in any other employment, it
would be utterly indifferent to him ; it would affect only
the consumers of lace.
/we have seen that, although practically high wages
and high profits generally go together, yet, all other
things remaining the same, fit is the interest of the la¬
bourers that profits shoultf'be universally low. It is
equally clear that it is the interest^ of the capitalists
that they should be universally high.| A fall in the rate
of profit in any one employment has^^ a tendency to force
capital into the others. This diminishes the compe¬
tition among the first-mentioned capitalists, but in¬
creases it among the others. The first are relieved, but
it is only by the loss being spread over the whole body.
But a prolongation of the period of advance affects
the capitalist only so far as he uses the specific com¬
modity with respect to which that prolongation has
taken place. The rate of profit on the advance of
capital for a given period being given, the length of
2 F 2
212 POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Inequa¬
lities of
wages and
profit in
different
employ¬
ments.
the period between the bottling of a pipe of port and its
being fit for use affects a wine merchant only so far as
he drinks port. Asa consumer, it is his interest that the
period should be short ; as a capitalist it is immaterial
to him.
We have now given an outline of the causes which
affect the general rate of wages, the most important and
the most difficult of all the subjects embraced by Political
Economy. It has appeared, first, that the general rate
of wages depends on the amount of the fund for the
maintenance of labourers, compared with the number of
labourers to be maintained.
Secondly, that the amount of that fund depends partly
on the productiveness of labour in the production of the
commodities used by the labourer, or, to speak more
concisely, in the production of wages, and partly on the
number of labourers employed in the production of wages
compared with the whole number of labourers.
Thirdly, that the productiveness of labour depends on
the character of the labourer, or the assistance which he
derives from natural agents, and from capital, and on his
freedom from interference.
Fourthly, that, in the absence of rent and improper
or unequally-distributed taxation, the proportion of the
labourers employed in producing wages to the whole
number of labourers depends partly on the rate of
profit, and partly on the time for which the capital em¬
ployed in the production of wages must be advanced.
Fifthly, that the rate of profit, at any given time,
depends on the previous conduct of capitalists and la¬
bourers.
And, sixthly, that the period for which capital must
be advanced is subject to no general rule, but has a
tendency to be prolonged when profits are low, and
shortened when they are high.
The inquiry into the causes which regulate wages
has, in a great measure, ascertained those which affect
profits. We have to add only that profits may be con¬
sidered in three points of view : first, as to their rate ;
secondly, as to their amount ; and, thirdly, as to the
amount of desirable objects which a given amount of
profit will command. The causes which decide the rate
of profit have been already considered. It has been
shown that they depend on the proportion which the
supply of capital employed in providing wages bears
to the supply of labour. The rate being given, the
amount of the profit received by any given capi¬
talist must depend, of course, on the amount of his
capital. It follows that, when the rate of profit falls in
consequence of an increase of capital without a propor¬
tionate increase of labourers, the situation of the existing
capitalists, as a body, cannot be deteriorated, unless the
fall in the rate has been so great as to overbalance the
increase of the amount. Two millions, at five per cent.,
would give as large an amount of profit as one million
at ten. At seven and a half per cent, they would give a
much larger. And such is the tendency of an increase
of capital to produce, not indeed a corresponding, but
still a positive increase of population, that we believe
there is no instance on record of the whole amount of
profits having diminished with an increase of the whole
amount of capital.
Totally distinct from the amount of profit is the
amount of desirable objects which a given amount of
profit will purchase. A Chinese and an English capi¬
talist, each of whose annual profit will command the
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Inequali¬
ties of
wages and
profit in
different
employ¬
ments.
labour of ten families for a year, will enjoy in different
degrees the comforts and conveniences of life. The
Englishman will have more woollen goods and hardware,
the Chinese more tea and silk. The difference de¬
pends on the different productiveness of labour in China
and in England in the production of those commodities
which are used by the capitalists in each Country. In
the command of labour, and in the rank in society which
that command gives, they are on a par. We have seen
that, as population advances, labour has a tendency to
become less efficient in the production of raw produce,
and more productive in manufactures. The same
amount of profit, therefore, will enable the capitalist in a
thinly-peopled Country to enjoy coarse profusion, or
among a dense population moderate refinement. A
South American, with an annual income commanding
the labour of one hundred families, would live in a log-
' CT
house on the skirts of a forest, and keep, perhaps, one
hundred horses. An Englishman with the same com¬
mand of labour would live in a well-furnished villa, and
keep a chariot and pair. Each would possess sources
of enjoyment totally beyond the reach of the other.
Variations of ihp. Amount of Wages and the Rate of
Profits in différent Employments of Labour and
Capital,
In the previous discussion we have assumed the
existence ol' a certain average rate of wages and average
rate of profits. We now propose to consider the
influence of some specific causes on the amount of
wages and the rate of profits in different employments
of labour and capital.
The justly^celebrated chapter on this subject in the
Wealth of Nations begins with the following words :
The five following are the principal circumstances
which, so far as I have been able to observe, make up
for a small pecuniary gain in some employments, and
counterbalance a great one in others. 1. The agreeable-
ness or disagreeableness of the employments themselves.
2. The easiness and cheapness, or the difficulty and
expense, of learning them. 3. The constancy or incon¬
stancy of employment in them. 4. The small or great
trust which must be reposed in those who exercise them.
5. The probability or improbability of success in them.*'
Book i. ch. x.
As our remarks will be chiefly a commentary on
those of Adam Smith, we shall, as far as we can, follow
his arrangement. We shall begin, therefore, by the
influence of agreeableness or disagreeableness.
The act of labouring implies a sacrifice of ease, and it
is chiefly to this sacrifice that our attention is directed
when we speak of wages as the remuneration for labour.
But, as we have already observed, the indolence which
generally indisposes to severe or long-continued bodily
exertion is not in all cases the only feeling which the
labourer has to conquer. His employment may be
dangerous, or physically disagreeable, or degrading. In
any one of these cases his wages are the reward not only
of the fatigue, but of the hazard, the discomfort, or the
discredit which he has encountered. Adam Smith, i. Agree-
however, has remarked, that the prospect of hazards ableness,
from which we can hope to extricate ourselves by
courage and address is not disagreeable, and does not
raise the wages of labour in any employment. " The
dangers and hair-breadth escapes of a life of adventure,
instead of disheartening young people, seem frequently
to recommend a trade to them. But it is otherwise,"
POLITICAL ECONOMY
213
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Inequali¬
ties of
wages and
profit in
different
employ¬
ments.
he observes, with those in which courage and address
can be of no avail. In trades which are known to be
very unwholesome the wages of labour are always
remarkably high." *
Unwholesomeness, indeed, is generally united to other
disagreeable circumstances. Dirt, dust, deleterious atmo¬
sphere, exposure to continued heat or cold, or to sudden
transitions from the one to the other, which are the prin¬
cipal causes of unhealthiness in any business, are also the
principal causes of its being generally disagreeable. When
toil, disease, and discomfort, are all to be encountered, the
temptation must indeed be high. But this union is not
universal. The trade of a house-painter is one of the
most agreeable, and one of the most unwholesome, among
ordinary occupations. On the other hand, that of a
butcher, though brutal and disgusting, is eminently
healthy. The wages of each are, we believe, about
equal, and considerably exceed the remuneration for the
mere labour undergone, which, in fact, is in both cases
very trifling. But the fear of popular odium, and, what
is always strongest amongst the least educated, the fear
of popular ridicule, as they are amongst the most
powerful feelings of our nature, are the most effectual
means by which the wages of an employment can be
increased. To Adam Smith's instance of a public
executioner maybe added that of a common informer;
both of whom are remunerated at a rate quite dispro-
portioned to the quantity of work which they do. They
are paid not so much for encountering toil as tor being
pelted and hissed. The most degrading of all common
trades, perhaps, is that of a beggar; but, when pursued
as a trade, it is believed to be a very gainful one.
Such appears to be the influence upon wages of
danger, discomfort, and disgrace. And it may be sup¬
posed that any peculiarly agreeable employment is
generally as comparatively underpaid as peculiarly
disagreeable ones are overpaid. Adam Smith has
accordingly remarked that in a civilized society hunters
and fishers, who follow as a trade what other people
pursue as a pastime, are generally very poor people.
" Fishermen," he observes, have been poor from the
times of Theocritus. The natural taste for these
employments makes more people follow them than can
live comfortably by them; and the produce of their
labour, in proportion to its quantity, comes always too
cheap to market to afford any thing but the most scanty
subsistence to the labourers." Hunting, however, can
scarcely be said to exist as a trade in any well-civilized
Country. And we doubt the accuracy of Adam Smith\s
statement as to fishermen ; unless, as perhaps was the
case, he intended to confine them to the small number
of anglers and poachers on rivers, who do, in fact, follow
as a trade what other men enjoy as a pastime. Marine
fishery is a business of too much toil and hardship to
be very attractive ; and if any proof, besides the well-
fed persons and ample clothing of the men and their
families were required, of its being well paid, it would
be found in the fact that the capital employed in it,
which is far from inconsiderable, generally belongs to the
fishermen themselves.
As a general rule, we fear it must be admitted that
the occupations open to those who are not possessed of
capital differ only in the degree in which they are
disagreeable. The least disagreeable are man's primeval
* Book i, ch. X»
occupations, those of a shepherd and a tiller of the
ground. And, accordingly, we believe that in every
state of society the lowest wages are those which are
paid to agricultural labourers. The current wages of
common agricultural labourers may, therefore, in general
be considered as representing the value, at the time and
place where they are paid, of mere bodily labour. If, at
the same time and place, we find the services of any
other labourer more highly paid, we may infer either
that his employment is subject to some peculiar dis¬
advantage, or that, in fact, rent or profit enter into his
remuneration.
Adam Smith states that, in point of agreeableness or
disagreeableness, there is little or no difference in the
greater part of the different employments of stock,
though a great deal in those of labour; and he infers,
as we have seen, that average profits are more nearly on
a level than average wages. That portion of profit
which is simply the remuneration for abstinence is cer¬
tainly, at the same time and place, nearly on a level; for
abstinence, being a negative idea, does not admit of
degrees, excepting in the amount of capital from the
unproductive use of which the capitalist abstains, and
the length of time during which he abstains.
But w^e cannot admit that the agreeableness or dis¬
agreeableness of the greater part of the different em¬
ployments of capital is about the same. Nor would
Adam Smith have stated them to be so unless he
had used wages in a wider, and profit in a narrower
sense than that which has been adopted in this Treatise.
Wages, in the sense in which we have used the word,
are paid almost exclusively for undergoing bodily
labour or bodily inconvenience, and bodily labour is
almost always disagreeable. But the labour of employ¬
ing capital is principally mental, and mental exertion is
often delightful. We frequently hear of men who are
devoted to their profession or their business, however
generally unattractive. A surgeon once told us that,
whatever were his income, his utmost happiness would
be to superintend a great military hospital. Half the
miseries of mankind have arisen from the delight of
statesmen in governing, and of generals in war. Again,
the mere labourer receives mere pecuniary wages, or food,
shelter, and clothing, of equal value. The capitalist is
often paid by power or reputation, and sometimes re¬
ceives the highest of human rewards, the consciousness
that he has been widely and permanently useful. And,
on the other hand, there are employments, as for instance
the slave-trade, which imply fatigue, hardship, and danger,
public execration, and, if a slave-trader can be supposed
to reflect on the nature of his occupation, self-reproach.
It is unnecessary to prove by a formal induction that,
when almost all that renders life agreeable, or even en¬
durable, is sacrificed to profit, the profit must be great,
or that competition must reduce very low the pecuniary
reward or valuable remuneration of occupations which
seem to carry with them their own reward.
It may not appear obvious why the extra profit of a
disagreeable employment should bear any proportion
to the value of the capital employed in it. It must be
remembered that, since the number of persons possessed
of a given capital becomes rapidly smaller as the amount of
the supposed capital is larger, the possessors of any given
amount of capital enjoy a sort of monopoly, which be¬
comes stricter and stricter as the given amount is larger;
and, secondly, that the larger a man's capital, and conse¬
quently his income, the greater must be the temptation
Political
Economy.
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Inequali¬
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profit in
different
employ¬
ments.
214
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
inequali¬
ties of
wages and
profit in
different
employ¬
ments.
2. Facility
of learning
the busi¬
ness.
necessary to induce him to encounter moral or physical
evil in the hope of increasing it. On the other hand, both
the trouble and the inferiority of rank that accompany any
trade are generally in inverse proportion to the capital em¬
ployed. Where, indeed, the objection to a trade arises
from its moral turpitude, as in the case of the keeper of a
gambling-house, or of any place of still more shameful
resort, its extent will only increase its infamy. Butin the
absence of this peculiar objection, the same trade which
on a small scale is mean, is respectable in a large way, and
almost dignified when carried to its greatest extent. The
trouble cannot be so completely got rid of, but when the
capital is large enough to enable the employment of
clerks and junior partners of great knowledge and high
character, it may often be so far reduced as to occupy a
small portion of the principal's daily time. There are
at this instant many persons busily engaged, and even
distinguished in politics and literature, who are also at
the head of great banking, brewing, or mercantile esta¬
blishments. It is not probable that their occupations in
business can employ much of their time.
The result that might be anticipated from these oppos¬
ing circumstances is, that that part of profit which is the
remuneration for the trouble and other sacrifices, inde¬
pendent of abstinence made by the capitalist, though it
must positively increase in amount, yet generally bears
a smaller proportion to the capital employed as that
capital increases in value. And this anticipation is, we
think,confirmed by observation. There are, we apprehend,
few persons employing in England a capital of ¿100,000,
who would not be satisfied with a profit of less than ten per
cent, per annum. A manufacturer of considerable emi¬
nence, with a capital of £40,000, complained to us of the
smallness of his profits, which he estimated at twelve and
a half per cent. About fifteen per cent, we believe to be the
average that is expected by men with mercantile capitals
between ¿10,000 and £20,000. Scarcely any whole¬
sale trade can be carried on with a capital of less than
£10,000. The capitals of less value, therefore, gene¬
rally belong to farmers, shopkeepers, and small manu¬
facturers, who, even when their capital amounts to £5000
or £6000, expect twenty per cent., and when it is lower
a much larger per centage. We have heard that stall
fruit-sellers calculate their gains at 2d. in the shilling,
or twenty per cent, per day, or something more than 7000
per cent, per annum. This seems, however, almost too low.
The capital employed at any one time seldom exceeds
in value 5s., twenty per cent, on which would only be Is.
a day ; a sum which would scarcely pay the wages of
the mere labour employed. It is, however, possible that
the capital may sometimes be turned more than once in
a day ; and the capitalists in question, if they can be called
so, are generally the old and infirm, whose labour is of
little value. The calculation, therefore, may probably be
correct, and we have mentioned it as the highest appa¬
rent rate of profit that we know.
" Secondly,'' says Adam Smith, the wages of labour
vary with the easiness and cheapness, or the difficulty
and expense, of learning the business,
" When any expensive machine is erected, the extra¬
ordinary work tobe performed by it before it is worn out,
it must be expected, will replace the capital laid out on
it with at least the ordinary profits. A man educated at
the expense of much labour and time may be compared
to one of these expensive machines. The work which
he learns to perform, it must be expected, over and above
the usual wages of common labour^ will replace to him
the whole expense of his education with at least the or¬
dinary profits of an equally valuable capital. It must
do this in a reasonable time, regard being had to the
very uncertain duration of human life, in the same
manner as to the more certain duration of the machine.
'I'he difference between the wages of skilled labour and
those of common labour is founded on this principle."
Book i. ch. X.
We agree with the whole of this admirable passage,
except that we think it shows the propriety of rather
terming the surplus remuneration of skilled over com¬
mon labour profit than wages, it is an advantage de¬
rived by the skilled labourer in consequence partly of his
own previous conduct, and partly of that of his parents
or friends ;—of the labour and of the expense which
they respectively contributed to his education. It is
profit on a capital, though on that sort of capital which
cannot be made available without the labour of its
possessor.
Adam Smith has remarked that, in the liberal pro
fessions, this labour and expense are very inadequately
remunerated; and he attributes the slightness of their
remuneration first to the desire of the reputation which
attends upon superior excellence in any of them ; se
condly, to the natural confidence which every man has,
more or less, not only in his own abilities, but in his
own good fortune ; and thirdly, as far as literature and
the church are concerned, to the number of persons who
are educated for those occupations at the public expense.
The two first causes operate very forcibly. The in¬
fluence of the third he has, we think, exaggerated, or,
perhaps, its force may have much diminished since he
wrote. In the first place, though our population has
nearly doubled in the interval, the number of provisions
for affording gratuitously the means of a liberal educa¬
tion has not materially increased. And, secondly, from
the change which has taken place in the style of living
at the places of education, and in many cases from the
nominal value of the provisions having remained unaltered,
while money has lost more than half its value, these
provisions now afford much less real assistance to the
persons who obtain them. Adam Smith seems to have
supposed that the greater part of the clergy were
educated at the expense of the public, and he expressly
states that few were educated altogether at their
own. But at present there are scarcely any under¬
graduates at either of our Universities wholly main¬
tained by a foundation: probably there are not twenty
who receive from such a source one-half of their expen¬
diture, and by far the greater number receive no pecuni¬
ary assistance except from the relative cheapness of in¬
struction. We say relative cheapness, because the sum
of money positively paid for instruction is perhaps as great
at Oxford and Cambridge as at most other Universities ;
but the attention bestowed by the teacher on each indi¬
vidual student is considerably greater. In the foreign
Universities a lecture is a discourse delivered by the pro¬
fessor ; in ours, the College lectures, which are the prin¬
cipal means of instruction, are, in a great degree, exami¬
nations undergone by the pupils. There can be no
comparison between the labour imposed on the teacher
in these two modes of education. But that which is
the laborious one necessarily confines each tutor to a
small number of pupils. If our foundations did not
afford them an income, our tutors must either require a
much larger remuneration from each pupil, or adopt the
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Inequali¬
ties of
wa^es an
profit in
different
employ¬
ments.
POLITICAL E C O N O M Y
215
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tion.
Inequali¬
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profit in
different
employ¬
ments.
foreign mode of teaching by discourses delivered to large
assemblies.
The principal cause which fills the avenues to some
of the liberal professions with candidates so numerous
as materially to diminish one another's reward is one
which Adam Smith has omitted.
The average expense of providing in the cheapest
manner for the maintenance of a child until it can main¬
tain itself by ordinary labour may perhaps amount to
about £40. This is double the sum for which a parish
will indemnify the father of a bastard. The parish,
however, speculates on the chances of the child's death.
The average expense of giving to a gentleman's son the
education which is essential to his holding his father s rank
cannot be estimated at less than £2040. But neither the
labour which the boy undergoes, nor the expense borne
by his father, is incurred principally in order to obtain
future profit. The boy works under the stimulus of im¬
mediate praise or immediate punishment. It never
occurs to the father that it would be cheaper to have his
child nursed in the country at 2s. a week till he is eight
years old, and then removed to a farm-yard or a cotton-
mill; and that in giving him a more expensive education
he is engagingin a speculation which is likely tobe un¬
profitable. To witness a son's daily improvement is,
with all well-disposed men, or rather with all men, ex¬
cept a few outcasts, one of the greatest sources of im¬
mediate gratification. The expense incurred for that
purpose is as much repaid by immediate enjoyment as
that which is incurred to obtain the most transitory
pleasures. It is true that a further object may also be
obtained, but the immediate motive is ample.
But the extra expense and labour thus incurred in
some cases constitute the whole expense and labour of
preparation for a liberal profession, and in all cases con¬
stitute the bulk of that expense and labour. In the
church they constitute the whole of the expense, and
almost all the labour. A graduate of Oxford or Cam¬
bridge may have a very little more to read before he
takes orders, but has absolutely nothing more to pay.
What he obtains, therefore, as a clergyman, after deduct¬
ing the mere wages of his additional labour, is pure
gain. And when we consider how many are the motives
for undergoing that labour, besides the merely pecuniary
ones, we might be tempted to wonder that the pecuniary
rewards should remain so high. Three circumstances
keep them up ; two by diminishing the number of can
didates, and the third by raising the fund applicable to
their use. The two former ones are the indelibility of
the cleritial character, and the interdiction of clergymen
from almost all secular employments, especially from
those which offer the most glittering rewards. Many
men would enter the church if they could combine it
with other occupations, or if they might quit it at
pleasure, who refuse to enter into a path in which it is
not permitted to turn back or to diverge. These are
probably the principal causes which tend in this Country
to keep down the number of clergymen. The revenue
of the existing members is kept up by means of the
fund set apart bylaw for their use, and somewhat equal¬
ized by the repeated intervention of the Legislature to
raise the remuneration of curates by prohibiting the in¬
cumbent from offering, and the curate from accepting,
a stipend as low as would have been fixed on mere prin¬
ciples of competition. The expense of entering the
army is probably about equal to that of the church ;
for though about £600 is to be added for the price of
Political
Eeonoiny.
Distribu¬
tion.
Inequali¬
ties of
watjes and
profit in
different
employ¬
ments.
the first commission and for outfit, the difference is about
made up by the early age at which the profession can be
begun. The expense of the navy is much less, and
either profession may he entered upon without further
preparatory study. The Legislature has fixed the pay
and other advantages of the army and navy (moderate
as they appear to be) much higher than would have been
necessary to keep up the supply of qualified candidates.
The difficulty of obtaining permission to enter either of
them is so notorious, that few persons without considera¬
ble interest ever think of them. Yet, notwithstanding
the influence of this feeling in diminishing the number
of competitors, the Admiralty and the Horse Guards
are besieged by candidates for first commissions ten times
more numerous than the vacancies.
The same may be said of what are the subjects of
almost a distinct profession, public offices. Small as the
emoluments are, if they are to be considered as repaying
the expenses of education, they are objects of eager
competition.
It further proof were wanted that the number of the
candidates for the liberal professions is principally kept up
by the feeling which forces every parent to endeavour to
give to his children at least the education of his own rank
rather than by calculation, it may be found in the abun¬
dance of governesses. The expense of giving to a giil
the education which will fit her to be a governess, though
not quite equal to that of educating a boy as a gentleman,
is yet very considerable : no part of it is ever supplied
by the public ; and yet that profession is so overstocked
with candidates that the pay scarcely equals that of a
servant.
An expense of nearly £lOOO beyond the common
expense of a regular education may be necessary to start
a young man as a physician, and perhaps nearly £1500
as a barrister. The lower branches of the legal and
medical professions are about as expensive as the chuich
or the army. But no branch of either law or physic
admits of practice till after an apprenticeship of from
three to five years, or of success, without three or four
years of diligent study. The effect of all these causes
has been so much to diminish the number of competitors
in the medical and legal professions, that we much doubt
whether they are now, as Adam Smith states them to have
been in his time, under-recompensed in point of pecu¬
niary gain. We speak more doubtfully as to medicine ;
but we can say, from the observation of many years, that
his statement that, "if yon send your son to study the
law, it is at least twenty to one if he ever makes such
proficiency as will enable him to live by the business,"
has no resemblance to the existing state of things. We
have watched the progress of perhaps a hundred legal
students, and, where fair diligence has been employed,
success has been the rule, and failure the excep'tion.
Many, indeed, have not applied fair diligence ; but we
have seen much more success among the idle than failure
among the laborious. So far from the chances being
twenty to one against a young lawyer, we should be in¬
clined to rate them at two to one in his favour.
A third cause of variableness both in wages and in 3. Constan-
profits is constancy or inconstancy of employment. The
variations which it occasions are, however, rather appa- ^
rent than real. A London porter, employed for an hour,
would think himself ill paid by less than a shilling. A
pavior or a hodman, whose labour is much more severe,
seldom receives more than 3g?. an hour. But the pa-
216
POLITICAL
ECONOMY
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Inequali¬
ties of
wages and
profit in
¿iíFerent
employ¬
ments.
vier can always find a market for his services. At 3d.
an hour, he can at an average earn three shillings a day,
or about £46 a year. The porter may be sometimes a
day without a job. If his employment be less regular by
three-fourths than that of the pavior, to make his annual
wages equal, his hourly wages must of course be three
times as high. Adam Smith, indeed, thinks that his annual
wages ought to be higher than the average, to make him
some compensation for those anxious and desponding
moments which the thought of so precarious a situation
must sometimes occasion. But this evil is compensated,
and, in most dispositions, more than compensated, by the
diminution of his toil. We believe, after all, that nothing
is so much disliked as steady, regular labour; and that
the opportunities of idleness afforded by an occupation
of irregular employment are so much more than an
equivalent for its anxiety as to reduce the annual wages
of such occupations to below the common average.
In the employment of capital, however, this compen¬
sation does not often exist. The occasional unproduc¬
tiveness of his capital, generally speaking, affords no
relief to the capitalist. It must, therefore, be compen¬
sated by a surplus profit, when productive, at least
enough to balance its periods of unproductiveness. A
house-builder's capital often lies unproductive ; there are
some places in which the majority of the houses are un¬
occupied for nine months in the year. The builder's
profit during their occupation must be at least four times
as great as if they were regularly inhabited. One of the
consequences of the effect of irregularity of employment
on wages and profits is to occasion many services and
commodities to cheapen as the demand for them in¬
creases. A man who can count on employment for four
hours a day would be forced by competition to sell his
services for nearly half of what he might have asked if
he could have reckoned on only two hours. Prices in a
watering-place always fall as the season becomes longer.
The fourth cause assigned by Adam Smith for the varia¬
tion in wages, the small or great trust which must be re¬
posed in the workman, appears to be in a great measure
included in the second of his causes, the expense of edu¬
cation. Occasionally, indeed, we see persons receiving
and deserving confidence though brought up under dis¬
advantageous circumstances. The integrity of such per¬
sons must arise from a peculiarly happy natural disposi¬
tion, and its reward may then be considered a species of
rent ; but, as a general rule, trustworthiness is the result
of early moral cultivation, and in that case is as much to
be considered a part of a man's immaterial capital as his
prudence or his knowledge.
5. Probabi- The last of the causes mentioned by Adam Smith,
bty of sue- ag affecting the remuneration of different employments,
is the probability or improbability of success.
Uncertainty of success, in some respects, resembles
inconstancy of employment. A few examples will show
them to be different. The legal and medical professions
are generally thought to be remarkably uncertain, but
the employment of a successful physician or barrister is
painfully incessant. On the other hand, a man may be
morally sure that in a given occupation he will have a
day's work forty or fifty times during a year, and that
his earnings on those occasions will supply well his
annual subsistence. Such an occupation would be
certain, notwithstanding its inconstancy.
Uncertainty of success cannot well affect the wages
4. Trust
Ctíá8.
of common labour, since no man, unless he be to a cer- Political
tain extent a capitalist, unless he have a fund for his ^conoi^
intermediate support, can devote himself to an employ-
ment in which the success is uncertain. But its
apparent, and indeed its real effect on proJiiSj is very inequali-
considerable. ties of
Perfect knowledge, of course, excludes the idea
chance; but if all men had sufficient information to
enable them to calculate fairly the chances of success, employ-
and were subject neither to rashness nor to timidity, it ments,
appears clear that even then the average profits of any
employment would be raised by uncertainty of success.
When the sums are equal, to lose is obviously a
greater evil than to gain is a good. If two men, with
each a capital of ¿^2000, toss up for 1000, the gainer
augments his fortune by only one-third, and the loser
sacrifices one-half. Laplace calculates the disadvantage
at twenty-six per cent. At an equal game, he observes,
the loss is relatively greater than the gain. Suppose a
player with a fortune of 100 francs to risk 50 of them at
heads and tails, his fortune, after he has deposited his
stake, will be reduced to 87 francs; that is to say, 87
francs unhazarded would procure him as much happi¬
ness as 50 unhazarded, with 50 more subjected to the
chance of being doubled or lost. Admitting this calcu¬
lation to be correct, and admitting the existence of the
degree of information and prudence which we have sup¬
posed, no one possessed of ¿^10,000 would venture
£5000 with an even chance of losing it, unless he had
an even chance of gaining not merely £l0,000, and an
adequate profit on his capital of £5000, but could
reckon on a further profit of £1300, as the price for
undergoing the risk.
It is needless to say that men are far from possessing
this degree either of information or of prudence. It is
to be observed, however, that there are two sorts of
uncertainty. In some cases the hazard is essentially
connected with the employment itself, and recurs, in
about an equal degree, at every operation. Smuggling,
and the manufacture of gunpowder, are instances.
Experience and skill may somewhat diminish the risk;
but the best smuggler, and the best maker of gun¬
powder, probably each, suffers an average amount of
loss. But there are employments in which success, if
once obtained, is permanent. Such is often the case in
mining. That mining is generally the road to ruin is
notorious in all mining countries ; but there are miners
who have never suffered a loss. The same may be
said of the liberal professions. Granting them to be as
uncertain as Adam Smiih believed them to be, the evil
to which that uncertainty refers is experienced only by
those who fail. To those who succeed they afford a
revenue eminently safe and regular. Their uncertainty
is personal. It arises from the error to which every
man is subject when he compares his own qualificationg
with those of his rivals. If he be found on the actua
trial inferior, his failure is irretrievable. In the othe
alternative his success is as permanent. Where an;
business is necessarily and permanently hazardous, th
fortunes of any one individual engaged in it afford •
sample from which we may estimate the fortunes of al
If only one old farmer could give to us all his persona
experience, we should probably have a tolerably corree
conception of the hazards to which farming is expose'.
But, if we were to estimate the chances of legal c
medical success from the average of ten or twent
selected instances, we should be likely to be grossi
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
217
Political
Ectinomy,
Distribu¬
tion.
Inequali¬
ties of
wages and
profit in
difïèrent
employ¬
ments.
misled. The first sort of uncertainty, therefore, is likely
to be estimated with a much greater approach to correct¬
ness than the second.
Adam Smith believed both to be under-estimated,
and, consequently, that he average profits of all hazard¬
ous employments are below the average profits of safe
ones. His views are stated with so much force and
ingenuity, that we will extract them at considerable
length.
" The overweening conceit which the greater part of
men have of their own abilities is an ancient evil
remarked by the philosophers and moralists of all ages.
Their absurd presumption in their own good fortune
has been less taken notice of. It is, however, if possible,
still more universal. There is no man living who,
when in tolerable health and spirits, has not some share
of it. The chance of gain is by every man, more or less,
overvalued ; and the chance of loss is by most men under¬
valued; and by scarce any man, who is in tolerable
health and spirits, valued at more than it is worth.
" That the chance of gain is naturally overvalued we
may learn from the universal success of lotteries. The
m
world neither ever saw, nor ever will see, a perfectly
fair lottery, or one in which the whole gain compensated
the whole loss, because the undertaker could make
nothing by it. In the state lotteries the tickets are
really not worth the price which is paid by the original
subscribers, and yet commonly sell in the market for
twenty, thirty, and sometimes forty per cent, advance.
The vain hope of gaining some of the great prizes is the
sole cause of this demand. The soberest people scarce
look upon it as a folly to paya small sum for the chance
of gaining £10,000 or £20,000, though they know
that even that small sum is perhaps twenty or thirty per
cent, more than the chance is worth. In a lottery in
which no prize exceeded £20, though, in other respects,
it approached much nearer to a perfectly fair one than
the common state lotteries, there would not be the same
demand for tickets. In order to have a better chance
for some of the great prizes, some people purchase
several tickets, and others small shares in a still greater
number. There is not, however, a more certain propo¬
sition in Mathematics, than that the more tickets you
adventure upon, the more likely you are to be a loser.
Adventure upon all the tickets in the lottery, and you
lose for certain; and the greater the number of your
tickets, the nearer you approach to this certainty.
" That the chance of loss is frequently undervalued,
and scarce ever valued more than it is worth, we may
learn from the very moderate profit of insurers. In
order to make insurance éither from fire or sea risk a
trade at all, the common premium must be sufficient to
compensate the common losses, to pay the expenses of
management, and to afford such a profit as might have
been drawn from an equal capital employed in any
common trade. The person who pays no more than
this evidently pays no more than the real value of the
risk, or the lowest price at which he can reasonably
expect to insure it. But, though many people have
made a little money by insurance, very few have
made a great fortune : and from this consideration alone
it seems evident enough that the ordinary balance of
profit and loss is not more advantageous in this than in
other common trades, by which so many people make
fortunes. Moderate, however, as the premium of
insurance commonly is, many people despise the risk too
much to care to pay it. Taking the whole kingdom at
VOL VI.
an average, nineteen houses in twenty, or rather perhaps
ninety-nine in a hundred, are not insured from fire.
Sea risk is more alarming to the greater part of people,
and the proportion of ships insured to those not insured
is miich greater. Many sail, however, at all seasons,
and even in time of war, without any insurance. This
may sometimes, perhaps, be done without any impru¬
dence. When a great company, or even a great
merchant, has twenty or thirty ships at sea, they may,
as it were, insure one another The premium saved
upon them all may more than compensate such losses
as they are likely to meet with in the common course of
chances. The neglect of insurance upon shipping,
however, in the same manner as upon houses, is, in
most cases, the effect of no such nice calculation, but of
mere thoughtless rashness and presumptuous contempt
of the risk. The ordinary rate of profit' always rises,
more or less, with the risk. It does not, however, seem
to rise in proportion to it, or so as to compensate it
completely. Bankruptcies are most frequent in the most
hazardous trades. The most hazardous of all trades,
that of a smuggler, though, when the adventure
succeeds, it is likewise the most profitable, is the
infallible road to bankruptcy. The presumptuous hope
of success seems to act here as upon all other occasions,
and to entice so many adventurers into those hazardous
trades, that their competition reduces their profit below
what is sufficient to compensate the risk. To compen¬
sate it completely, the common returns ought, over and
above the ordinary profits of stock, not only to make up
for all occasional losses, but to afford a surplus profit to
the adventurers of the same nature with the profits of
insurers. But if the common returns were sufficient for
all this, bankruptcies would not be more frequent in
these than in other trades." Book i. ch. x.
Whether Adam Smith's conclusions be true or false,
they certainly do not follow from his premises. Bank¬
ruptcies might be frequent in a trade of extra¬
ordinary profit. We will suppose ten merchants each
to employ for a year a capital of £10,000 in a remark¬
ably safe trade, and ten others to employ equal capitals
for the same period in a hazardous trade; and ten per
cent, per annum to be the average rate of profit in
undertakings involving similar trouble. The capital oí
£100,000 engaged in the safe trade would, at the end
of the year, be raised to £110,000, but be distributed
in the same proportions as before. If the capital
enecaeced in the hazardous trade were also, at the end of
the year, to amount to £110,000, it is clear that each
trade would have been equally profitable, although a
different distribution of the capital might have ruined
some, and made the fortunes of others, among the
merchants engaged in it. Two might have lost, and
two others might have doubled, their whole property.
If the capital in the hazardous trade were found, at the
end of the year, to have been raised from £100,000 to
£120,000, it is clear that the hazardous trade must
have been twice as profitable as the safe one, though the
whole of the advantage might have fallen to two or
three or even to one of the supposed ten merchants,
leaving all the others to bankruptcy.
Insurance was a still more unfortunate source of argu¬
ment ; for all the premises that it affords lead to a con¬
clusion directly opposed to Adam Smith's. Insurance
is one of the safest of employments. If its profits be re¬
markably moderate, their moderation can be accounted
for only by the extra competition which its safety invites.
2 G H
Political
Economy
Distribu¬
tion.
Inequali¬
ties of
wages and
profit in
different
employ¬
ments.
218 POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Political
Economy.
Distribu-
tion.
Inequali¬
ties of
wages ami
profit in
tiifferent
employ¬
ments.
It affords, therefore, at least one example in favour of
the superior profits of hazardous employments. Nor
can it be said that the majority of persons despise the
risk too much to secure themselves against it by paying
a moderate premium. So much do they fear the risk
that they are willing to guard against it by paying a
most immoderate premium. The sum received by the
insurance office must, as Adam Smith has remarked,
exceed the value of the risk by an amount sufficient to
pay the expenses of management, and afford ordinary
profit. The sum received by the office on common
insurances against fire is Js. 6c?. per £lOO; of which at
least 6c?. must go to pay expenses and profit, leaving Is.
as the value of the risk. But a duty is also paid to
Government by the insured of 3s. per £lOO ; so that the
whole expense of insurance is 4s. 6d. per £100, or nearly
five times the value of the risk. And, even at this ex¬
travagant rate, we believe that of good houses not one in
a hundred is uninsured. So little do people despise
the risk that, with their eyes open, they purchase a
security against it at nearly five times its real value.
We suspect the fact to be that the imagination is
unduly affected by the prospect either of enormous gain
or of enormous loss ; and, consequently, that men aie
ready to purchase the chance of obtaining a very great
advantage, or the certainty of not suffering a very great
disadvantage, at a price far beyond the value of either
contingency. And this appears to be sufficiently proved
by the facts which have been stated respecting insurance
and lotteries. The English state lotteries of late times,
indeed, afforded much more striking proofs of men's
tendency to over-estimate the chances of extravagant
gain than those which Adam Smith had seen. The
tickets were always worth exactly £lO apiece—£lO for
each ticket formingalways a sum equal to the aggregate
ámount of all the prizes ; the average price of a ticket was
from £21 to £24 apiece. Instead of twenty or thirty per
cent, the purchasers paid more than one hundred per cent,
more than the value of their hope, just as, in the case of
insurance, they pay nearly five hundred per cent, more than
the value of their fear. The purchasers of tickets seem to
have considered the relation between £24 and £20,000,
not that between £24 and the one two-thousandth chance
of getting £20,000. Just as those who insure their houses
compare £2. 5s. with £1000 instead of comparing it with
the one two-thousandth chance of losing £ 1000. Adam
Smith has well remarked, that if the disproportion between
the sum paid and the sum attainable were altered, even
though the bargain were rendered more favourable, the
competition for it would diminish. No one would buy
half the tickets in a lottery, even at £12 a ticket; he would
at once see the absurdity of paying £120,000 for an even
chance of getting £200,000, though, if a state lottery
were now opened, a folly just twice as great in kind would
be committed by thousands. So if, instead of one in
two thousand, which we believe to be about the present
average, one house in ten were annually burned down,
and the annual expense of insurance were £22 10«. per
cent., insurance would diminish, though the terms would
be twice as favourable as they now are.
Those employments which offer the possibility of a
great return for a small outlay are of the nature of lot¬
teries ; and it may be supposed that they attract compe¬
tition in proportion not so much to the real value of the
contingency as to the excess of the possible return over
the certain outlay. If that excess be very great, it may
be supposed that the number of competitors in propor^
tion to that of prizes will reduce so low the value of Political
each man's contingency as to render such employments Economy,
on the whole unprofitable. In this Country the church,
the army, and the bar, are such employments. They Bistribu-
offer prizes that may satisfy to its utmost almost every
• J.n6QUcilf*
human desire ; and they require, as we have seen, ties of
from those who have already received a gentleman's wages and
education, a very moderate further outlay : the church Profit in
and the army scarcely any; the bar perhaps £1500.
Under these circumstances, if the number of barristers
were not kept down by the necessity of years of irksome
study, and the emoluments of the church and of the
army and navy kept up by the funds appropriated to
their respective use, we have no doubt that the compe¬
tition in these professions would reduce their average
profit far below even its present moderate amount. We
often hear proposals for equalizing, or rather for
diminishing, the inequality in ecclesiastical preferments.
At first sight it appears a waste to pay £20,000 a year
to an Archbishop for doing less than is required from
the curate of a populous par,ish with only £lOO a year.
But if our object were to obtain an expensively edu¬
cated clergy on the cheapest terms, that object would
probably be best effected, not by diminishing, but by
increasing, the value of the highest prizes. The
revenues of all the English Bishoprics put together
fall short of £150,000 a year. This sum, divided
among the ten thousand livings, would raise the value of
each by ¿£15. Can any one believe that such a change
would not diminish the worldly attractions of the church?
Nothing sells so dearly as what is disposed of by a well-
constructed lottery, and if we wish to sell salaries dearly,
that is, to obtain as much work and knowledge as pos¬
sible for as little pay as possible, the best means is to
dazzle the imagination with a few splendid prizes, and,
by magnificently overpaying one or two, to induce thou¬
sands to sell their services at half price.
We have been told that it was once proposed at Rome,
as the easiest mode of constructing a vast dome, to raise
a mound of earth of the required shape, and build over
it. But the expense of then removing the earth ap¬
peared enormous. On the principle which we have en¬
deavoured to illustrate it was proposed that in raising the
mound the earth should be irregularly mixed with coins
of gold, silver, and copper, amounting in the aggregate
to a sum equal to about half the aggregate amount of
the wages which it would have cost to remove it by
paid labourers, and then to allow the populace to remove
it in barrows, without payment. It was supposed that
a sufficient number of persons would offer their services,
though, in fact, working, in the aggregate, at half price.
We have already expressed an opinion that the bar
is better paid than the church, and we attribute this to
its being less of a lottery. The expenditure, as we have
seen, is far greater, and the prizes, on the whole, are
smaller. The learned profession which offers the
fewest prizes and requires the largest outlay, that of a
schoolmaster, as it ceases to be a lottery, is by far the
best paid. There are probably few capitals which in the
aggregate yield so certain and at the same time so large
a profit.
In some few cases commercial adventures are of the
nature of a lottery. Such were the shares which ex¬
cited the strange fevers of cupidity and speculation which
marked the years of 1720 and 1825. Of the thousands
who crowded to buy Chili and Peruvian, and Rio la
Plata, and Columbian, and Mexican shares, how many
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
219
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
inequali¬
ties of
wa^es and
profit in
différent
employ¬
ments.
can be supposed not to have ascertained, but to have
endeavoured to ascertain, or even to have thought of-
ascertaining, the probability of their Company's success?
All they knew was that Real del Monte shares, for
which £70 had been given, were selling for £1200 :
and they bought a few shares in other Companies,
because, if the speculation succeeded, they might get one
thousand per cent., and if it failed they had only lost
one or two hundred pounds.
Generally speaking, however, those commercial ad¬
ventures which offer a large immediate advantage are
more in the nature of ordinary gambling than of a
lottery. The possible loss often equals or exceeds, and
generally bears a large proportion to, the possible gain.
The undue hopes and the undue fears, which we have
described as excited by the prospect of enormous gain
and enormous loss, may now be supposed to balance
one another, and to leave room for the action of Adam
Smith's principle, an absurd presumption in o.ur own
good fortune. If his theory be correct, if every man in
tolerable health and spirits have a tendency to miscal¬
culate the chances in his own favour, it must follow
that those speculations, which offer a great gain at the
hazard of a great loss, invite so much competition as to
be, if not positively unprofitable, at least less advan¬
tageous than ordinary employments. And we believe
such to be the case. Mining and stock-jobbing are
employments of capital which offer splendid success at
the hazard of ruinous failure. The former employment
is notorious not merely as affording less than average
profits, but as affording no aggregate balance of profit at
all as productive in the aggregate of loss. Knowledge,
diligence, capital, all the materials of success, are
applied in Cornwall to one of the richest mineral dis¬
tricts in the world, and yet it is supposed that the aggre¬
gate price of the whole of the copper and tin annually
raised in Cornwall is not equal to the whole of the ex¬
pense of raising it. A few capitalists, however, make
large fortunes, and their success draws on the rest,
generally to loss, often to ruin.
Even if speculation in the funds were attended by no
expense, it is mathematically certain that it could in the
aggregate afford no profit, as what is gained by one
must be lost by another. But it is carried on at a very
great expense. Every transfer costs a commission of
2s. 6d. for every £100 stock. A man who annually
buys and sells stock to the amount of £800,000, and
that is far from a large amount for an habitual specu¬
lator, must at an average pay for commission £1000
a year; and that £1000 exactly represents the amount
of his annual loss, supposing him to speculate with
average success.
On the whole, however, though we attribute some¬
thing to men's confidence in their superior good for¬
tune, we attribute much more to their confidence in
their superior ability. A confidence which, if universal,
would, on the whole, produce as much miscalculation
as the former, but which is not obviously irrational
in each particular instance, and on that very account
is stronger and more general.
The third and last class of the employments of
capital which are subject to uncertainty comprises those
which are just the reverse of a lottery; those in which
the gain is in each instance small, but nearly certain ;
and the loss great, but highly improbable.
If our theory be correct, this remote contingency of
great loss must in general be overvalued, and the capi¬
talist who submits to it must, in addition to the profit
which would content him if his business were perfectly
safe, receive at an average in the first place an extra
profit equal to the risk, and in the second place, a further
profit to compensate his anxiety, to compensate the
excess of evil occasioned by loss over the benefit that
attends on gain, and a still further profit to compensate
the undue importance which he is likely to attribute to
the chances against him.
Now this class comprises almost all those employ¬
ments of capital which, to distinguish them from those
attended by extraordinary risk, are generally termed
safe. A merchant or a manufacturer who wishes to be
safe must in general give up the hope of obtaining great
})ri)fit by any single transaction. But no productive
employment of capital can be perfectly safe. A capi¬
talist may, indeed, lend his capital to one who wishes to
employ it, on receiving a pledge, and the pledge may so
much exceed in value the sum lent as to make the loan
secure ; but the capital itself, if employed, must be
risked. Credit must be given, confidence must be
reposed in agents, and when every precaution has been
taken, an extraordinary season, an unexpected source of
supply, a sudden change in foreign or domestic politics,
or a commercial panic, may produce ruin out of the best-
ananged operations. No man in business can be per¬
fectly sure that in ten years' time he shall not be a
bankrupt. If we are right, this risk of enormous loss,
when unbalanced by the hope of enormous gain, must
be compensated by an extra profit of something more
than its value, just as the chance of enormous gain,
when not balanced bv the fear of enormous loss, is
purchased at more than its value ; and as the latter class
of employments gives a smaller, so the former must give
a greater average return than would be afforded by an
employment perfectly safe, if any such there be.
Inequalities in wages and profits occasioned hy the
dijficulty of transferring capital and labour from one
employment to another.
The inequalities in wages and profits which we have
as yet considered arise from causes inherent in the em¬
ployments themselves which have been the subjects of
discussion, and would, generally speaking, exist even if
one occupation could at will be exchanged for another.
But great inequalities are found which cannot be ac¬
counted for by any circumstances leading men to
prefer one employment to another, and which therefore
continue only in consequence of the difficulties expe¬
rienced by the labourers and the capitalists in changing
their employments.
The difficulty with which labour is transferred from
one occupation to another is the principal evil of a high
state of civilization. It exists in proportion to the
division of labour. In a savage state almost every man
is equally fit to exercise, and in fact does exercise, almost
every employment. But in the progress of improve¬
ment two circumstances combine to render narrower and
narrower the field within which a given individual can
be profitably employed. In the first place the opera¬
tions in which he is engaged become fewer and fewer.
" In a pin-manufactory," says Adam Smith, " one man
draws out the wire, another straightens it, a third cuts
it, a fourth points it, a fifth grinds it at the top for re¬
ceiving the head ; to make the head requires two or
three distinct operations ; to put it on is a peculiar
business ; to whiten the pins is another ; it is even a
2 6—H 2
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Inequali¬
ties of
wapfes
profit in
different
employ¬
ments.
220
POLITICAL ECONOMY
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Inequali¬
ties of
wages and
profit in
difterent
Countries.
trade by itself to put thern into the paper; and the im¬
portant business of making a pin is in this manner
divided into about eighteen distinct operations." In a
large manufactory the man who is engaged in one of
these operations has little experience in any of the others.
And, in the second place, the skill which the division
of labour gives to each distinct class of artificers gene¬
rally prevents whatever peculiar dexterity an individual
may have from being of any value in a business to which
he has not been brought up. A workman whose spe¬
cific labour has ceased to be in demand finds every
other long-established employment filled by persons
whose time has been devoted to it from the age at which
their organs were still pliable and their attention fresh.
Mr. Ewart, one of the many intelligent witnesses ex¬
amined by the Committee on Artisans and Machinery,
is asked :
Can you state any facts to prove the inefficiency of
even the best workmen when they are taken out of the
immediate line of their daily business, though in the same
trade ?"
He replies, ''Yes, I can: I should state particularly
the case of the clock and watch tool and movement
makers in Lancashire; they are considered the best
workmen ; they use the same sort of tools that the
cotton-machine makers u^e ; but they are brought up
to no employment but making those clock and watch
tools and movements. When those men come to be em¬
ployed in making cotton machines we find that they
have almost as much to learn as if they had never
learnt any working in metal at all. We have found
them quite insufficient to do any ordinary filing and
turning."^
Gamier, in the amusing notes to his translation of
Adam Smith, contrasts the comfort of the lower orders
in France with the pauperism of England, and ascribes
the difference which he discovers to artificial restraints
on the circulation of labour in England, and the absence
of such restraints in France. "Under a government,"
he observes, " which does not interfere with the direction
of industry, it is impossible that a man in health and
strength can be without employment, unless his vices
make employment intolerable to him. Let the workman
be allowed to choose the market for his labour, and you
may be sure that he will find one, and more and more
certainly in proportion to the wealth of the Country. The
complaint of want of work is the threadbare excuse of
the idler who prefers relief to wages. If he were to
search for it, he would find it as well as his companions.
In France, though our population is one-third more nu¬
merous than that of England, and the fund for the sup¬
port of labour much smaller, the labouring classes are
free from want, or even discomfort.''-}*
There can be no doubt that we have among our insti¬
tutions and our habits much that fetters and misdirects
the industry of our labourers ; and that these causes
frequently occasion, and always prolong, the want of
employment to which large portions of our labourers
are frequently exposed. We believe, too, that from many
of these causes- France is comparatively free. The mo¬
nopolies possessed by towns and by incorporated bodies
of artificers, with their oppressive bye-laws and duties,
were swept away by the Revolution. Much, however,
that is productive of evils similar in kind, still remains.
* Report on Artuans and Machinery^ 1824, p. 251.
-j- Note 25.
Not long ago the number of butchers in Paris was, by an Political
ordonnance of police, restricted to four hundred. The most
important of all employments, that of affording education,
is a government monopoly ; and the commercial code of ^ion.
France is even worse than our own. If, therefore, the Inequali-
labouring classes of France never suffer from want of ties of
employment, they do not owe their immunity to a com- wages and
plete, or even a very considerable, freedom from interfe-
rence. If their employment be actually more constant than Countries,
that of our labouring classes, we believe that they owe that
constancy principally to the inferior extent of their ma¬
nufactures, and, what is both the cause and the effect of
that inferiority, to a much less subdivision of labour.
Less than one-third of the population of England, and
more than two-thirds of the population of F"ranee, are
employed in the cultivation of the soil. We are inclined
to think that, notwithstanding this disproportion, the
English labouring classes are better fed than the French.
But there is no comparison between their respective en¬
joyment of clothing and other manufactures. The
greater part of the coarser manufactures are both cheaper
and better in England; while the wages in France, both
of manufacturing and agricultural labourers, are about
half what they are with us. " A peasant suffering
severely from rheumatism," saysM. Say, {Cours Complet^
lome i. p. 46,) " asked my advice. I recommended to
him a flannel waistcoat next the skin. He did not know
that there was such a thing as flannel. I told him then
to wear under his shirt a cloth waistcoat turned inside-out.
How, he asked, am I to get cloth to wear under my shirt,
when I have never been able to afford to wear it above ?
And yet he was no worse off than his neighbours."
The French la bomber, being employed in more cajra-
cities than the Englishman, has more trades to turn to,
and tor that very reason is less efficient at any one. The
Russian is probably more seldom out of employ than
the Frenchman, and the Tartar less frequently than
either. But few principles are more clearly established
ihdiW cœteris paribus^ the productiveness of labour
is in proportion toits subdivision, and that, cœteris pari¬
bus^ in proportion to that subdivision must be the occa¬
sional suffering from want of employment. A savage
may be compared to one of his own instruments, to his
club, or his adze, clumsy and inefficient, but yet com¬
plete in itself. A civilized artificer is like a single wheel
or roller, which, when combined with many thousand
others in an elaborate piece of machinery, contributes to
effects which seem beyond human foi ce and ingenuity,
but, alone, is almost utterly useless.
The difficulty in transferring material capital from one
employment to another depends principally on the de¬
gree in which it has been manufactured, and on the
change to be made in the disposition of its parts. The
destination of raw material can, in general, be changed
with little inconvenience. The stones that have been col¬
lected for a bridge may easily be employed for a house.
But if they have been formed into a house, or a bridge, the
value of the materials would s<;arcely pay the expense of
removing them. Those costly instruments which form
the principal part of fixed capital can scarcely ever
be applied in their original state to any but their original
purposes. They are employed, therefore, in the same
way, long after they have ceased to afford average profit
on the expense of their construction, because a still greater
loss would be incurred by attempting to use them in a
different manner. It would be a bad speculation to
eiect a steam-engine at the cost of ¿^20,000 which should
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
221
Political return an annual profit of only £100, but it would be
Economy, gj-jp ^orse une to sell it as old iron for £500.
There is a considerable resemblanae in this respect
between mental and inanimate oapital. Probity., in-
Iiiequali- dustry, judgment, elementary knowledge, and the other
ties of moral and intellectual habits and acquirements to which
wapres and we give the general name of a " good education," are
firíítreEd ^ mental raw material, of which the destination
Countries altered at pleasure. The peculiar knowledge and
habits of a given profession are like a steam-engine or a
water-mill, of comparatively small value for any but their
appropriate purposes. In general, however, mental capi¬
tal is the more transferable of the two, and becomes more
and more so the more exclusively it exclusively mental.
The professional knowledge and dexterity of a weaver
would be of little use to him in any other employment.
A lawyer or a physician, prevented by circumstances
from continuing to practise, would find the information
and the intellectual habits which he had acquired in his
former profession of considerable advantage in any new
one. Bodily labour, especially when the labourer is con¬
fined to a very few operations, so that a few muscles have
too much and the rest too little to do, often weakens, and
almost always distorts, the frame. Mr. Shaw, a surgeon
of great eminence in the treatment of distortion, told us
that, as he walked along the streets, he could in general
tell each man's trade by his characteristic deformity. But
mental exertion, unless in those rare cases in which it is
carried to such an excess as to produce cerebral derange¬
ment, never seems to weaken the mind. It may some¬
times, perhaps, a little distort it, may sometimes give to
one or two faculties an undue preponderance ; but even
this, to such an extent as to diminish the productiveness
of the individual's subsequent exertions, is comparatively
rare. And, in general, it will be found, that the more
work a man's mind has done, the more he is able to do,
and the better he will do it.
The obstacles which exist, even within the same neigh¬
bourhood and the same Country, to the transfer of
labour and capital from one employment to another, are
of course aggravated, when not only the occupation but the
neighbourhood or the Country is to be changed. Adam
Smith states the common price of labour in London and
its neighbourhood to have been, when he wrote. Is. 6d.
a day, and the usual price in the Lowlands of Scotland
to have been Sd, " Such a difference of prices," he adds,
" which it seems is not always sufficient to transport a
man from one parish to another, would necessarily occa¬
sion so great a transportation of the most bulky commo¬
dities, not only from one parish to another but from one
end of the kingdom, almost from one end of the world,
to another, as would soon reduce them more nearly to a
level. After all that has been said of the levity and in-
«/
constancy of human nature, it appears evidently from
experience, that a man is, of all sorts of luggage, the
most difficult to be transported " Book i. ch. vi.
When we compare the wages of labour in different
Countries, we usually estimate them in money. And we
are forced to do this for two reasons: first, because the
precious nietals are the only important commodities uni¬
versally distributed throughout the world ; and, secondly,
because they are the only commodities of which the
value is every where the same, or very nearly the same.
We should gain little information by comparing the
number of pine-apples that can be earned in Java and in
England by a week's ordinary labour. And still less by
comparing the quantity of pulque earned by a Mexican
with the quantity of whisky earned by an Irishman. Political
But money wages, though they measure accurately the
value of national labour in the general market of the
world, afford a very imperfect test of the degxee of com-
fort and convenience obtained by the labourer in different Inequali-
Countries. Now it is this difference, not the difference tios of
in money wages, that leads him to change his residence ; aad
and we can ascertain, or rather approximate to ascer-
taining, these differences only by translating the money Countnes.
wages in different Countries into the commodities used by
the labourer. The money wages of labour in North
America are about one-third higher than in England ;
this is in some measure compensated by the higher price
of manufactures. But as food, which every where forms
the largest portion of the labourer's expenses, is con¬
siderably cheaper than with us, the real superiority of the
American over the English labourer is greater than is
indicated by the difference in their wages. We are told
(Crawford's Embassy, p. 468) that a day labourer in Ben¬
gal can hardly earn £3 a year. Notwithstanding this
low rate of wages, most manufactures are dearer there
than in England. Food, of course, is cheaper; for were
it at the same price as the cheapest food in England, a
family could not exist at about Is. a week. And it is
obvious that in every Country the average wages of labour
must be sufficient to support an average family. In
proportion to the quantity of land and labour required,
rice is, perhaps, the most abundant food that the earth
affords. Rice, therefore, is the food of the Bengallee, and
his wages, supposing them to be all laid out in food, would
produce him about eight hundred pounds ; the same
quantity of rice might be purchased hert for about £lO
sterling. Estimated in money, therefore, wages in England,
at £30 a year, are ten times as high as in Bengal ; esti¬
mated in manufactures, they are more than ten times ;
estimated in rice, they are about three times as high.
In comparing the rate of profits in two Countries, this
difficulty does not exist ; both the advances and the re¬
turns being always estimated in money, the apparent
must be the real difference between the rate of profits in
any two Countries.
The g-reat obstacles to the circulation of labour are
difference of climate, distance of place, and difference of
language. The first is by far the most powerful, and is
so great that there is little voluntary emigration of la¬
bourers to a very dissimilar climate. Difference of lan¬
guage seems often a greater obstacle than very consider¬
able distance of place. The advance of wages obtained
by an English mechanic in France is greater than he
can get by going to America ; but ten go to America for
one who will venture to France. Differences in hcibits,
government, and religion are comparatively weak obsta¬
cles, except in those cases where the differences have
caused an antipathy, making immigration dangerous.
Few Countries differ more in habits and religion than
England and Ireland, or in government than Ireland
and the United States. Yet we know how great is the
emigration from Ireland to both those Countries. In
general, however, the physical and moral obstacles to
the emigration of single labourers, or even of bodies of
labourers, unless supported and directed by a very con¬
siderable capital, are such that it seldom takes place
unless under peculiar circumstances ; such as those of
Ireland and England, or Ireland and America, where
the temptation is very great, the physical obstacle only
a passage of a few weeks in the one case, and a few
hours in the other, and the language the same.
â22
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
Political
Economy.
Distribu¬
tion.
Inequali¬
ties of
wages and
profit in
different
Countries.
But the voluntary migrations of capitalists and la¬
bourers united, and the attempts by capitalists to force
the involuntary migration of labourers, have been among
the principal causes that have advanced and retarded the
improvement of mankind. To the first class belong
those hostile migrations in which a whole nation, in the
hope of obtaining a climate or a soil more favourable to
production, has moved in a body to seize the territory of
a neighbour. From the invasion of Eg\pt by the Shep¬
herd Kings to that of Greece by the Turks these move¬
ments have kept the inhabitants of the whole of our
hemisphere in a constant fluctuation. Many Countries,
and among them our own, have been so covered by suc¬
cessive strata of occupants, that no trace of the first
settlers can be discovered ; in others, the poor remains
of the aborigines are discovered, like the Helots of La-
conia, the Fellahs of Egypt, or the Bheels of Hindostán,
by their misery and degradation. Europe, in its present
state, does not fear these invasions. They could not be
attempted by a civilized nation, nor, in the present state
of the art of war, could they be successful against one.
But, until the improvement of military science and the
extensive use of machinery in war, gave to wealth and
knowledge their present superiority, these attributes seem
to have been sources rather of weakness than of strength.
The least polished people seem, on the whole, to have had
the advantage. Cicero confesses the warlike superiority
of the Gauls over the Romans. It was not till after
Gaul had become comparatively civilized that her mili¬
tary fame was recalled as a tradition.* A few centuries
of peace made the Britons an easy prey to the Saxons,
and the Saxons to the Danes. Under such circumstances
the permanent improvement of the human race seemed
almost hopeless. And if gunpowder had not been
brought into use just at the time when those military
virtues which belong to semi-barbarism were decaying,
it appears probable that another irruption of barbarians
might have brought back another middle age, in which
Europe might have lost all that she gained between the
Xllth and the XVth Centuries.
Resembling in kind these migratory invasions, but
very different from them in effect, have been those emi¬
grations on a smaller scale, to which we give the name
of colonization; in which a portion of a comparatively
civilized nation have gone out, with their knowledge and
wealth, their material, and moral, and intellectual capital,
and settled in an unoccupied or thinly peopled district.
It is a remarkable and a most unhappy circumstance
that, notwithstanding the progress of political knowledge,
the true principles of colonization have been less and
ess understood, or, if understood, less and less acted on,
as civilization has advanced. The earliest colonies with
which we are acquainted, those founded by the Phoe¬
nicians and the Greeks, seem to have been founded for
the benefit of the colonists. They were allowed to ap¬
point their own governors, to direct their own industry,
and to manage their own concerns; and thev relied
on themselves for their defence. They were children,
but emancipated children ; and their progress was in
proportion to their independence. The Phoenician
colonies in Africa and Syria, and the Grecian colonies in
Ttaly, Thrace, Sicily, and Asia, seem quickly to have
risen to an equality with, or to have surpassed, their
Mother Countries; to have obtained, in fact, all the
wealth and power which their extent of territory, and
M*'— -■ .III ■»,. I. I I , , I. I— ..II I ■■ ■ ».I, ,.■11
* Gallos in bello ßoruisse audivimus.
the religion and knowledge of the times, made it possible
to acquire. The Roman colonies scarcely deserve that
name. They were generally formed by grants of the
lands, the capital, and the persons of conquered Tribes,
almost as civilized as their conquerors, to the armies or
to the populace of Rome, as a reward for services in
foreign or civil war, or for sedition and riot in the forum.
It may be a question whether they accelerated or re¬
tarded the improvement ot the world.
The colonies of modern Europe have been established
partly for the benefit of the colonists, and partly, as it was
supposed, for that of the parent state. The latter has,
in general, contributed a part of the expense of outfit,
and almost all the expense of protection against foreign
aggression. She has also, in general, given to her
colonies a monopoly, or something approaching to a
monopoly, of her market. On the other hand, she has,
in general, required her colonies to give to her own pro¬
ductions a much stricter monopoly, She has, in general,
required her colonies to receive European productions
solely from the Mother Country, and to export only to
the Mother Country colonial productions. She has, in
general, appointed the principal officers, and interfered
in the internal management of her colonies. She has
not only prohibited the colonists from purchasing in
any other market what could be produced in the Mother
Country, but has prohibited them from producing for
themselves. She has peopled them with the refuse of
her gaols, and governed them by the refuse of her aristo¬
cracy. The Court of Spain commanded the vineyards
of Mexico to be rooted up; the English Parliament for¬
bade Jamaica to discontinue the slave-trade, prohibited
the establishment of iron, woollen, and hat manufactures
in our North-American colonies, and even now forbids
the West Indians to refine their own sugar. The
Mother Country dragged the colonists into all her wars,
and, from their comparatively defenceless situation,
exposed their trade to more loss, and their persons and
property to more danger, than she encountered herself.
And when the rising strength of the colony rendered
these oppressions intolerable, no Mother Country has
yet had the good sense to submit quietly to a separation,
which, even if it could have been avoided, might have
been desirable; and which, whether expedient or not,
was inevitable. England, France, Portugal, and Spain
have all wasted, in the vain attempt to retain their
colonies, ten times more wealth than was expended in
founding them.
But, mismanaged as colonies have been, they have,
without doubt, been one of the principal means by
which civilization has been diffused.
The separate attempts by independent capitalists to
procure the voluntary emigration of labourers have
generally been made on a small scale, and have been
unprofitable to the undertakers, in consequence of the
difficulty of compelling or inducing the labourers to
perform their engagements, and work diligently at a
rate of wages sufficiently inferior to the current rate of
the colony to repay the expense and risk of the capi¬
talist. Sir R. Wilmot Horton's plans for effecting
emigration on an extended scale, and as a national
undertaking, have not received the attention which the
magnitude of the probable advantage, and the unwearied
diligence and public spirit of its proposer, deserved.
And the scheme for founding in Australia a colony in
which the first price of all the land shall be employed in
Polificai
Economy.
•
Distribu¬
tion.
Inequali¬
ties of
wages and
profit in
different
Countries.
POLITICAL ECONOMY.
223
Political
Economy,
Distribu¬
tion.
Inequali¬
ties of
wages and
profit in
difierent
Countries.
transporting labourers, has not yet been submitted to
the test of experience.
The attempts by capitalists to force the involuntary
migration of labourers have been productive of almost
unmixed evil. They produced, and have continued, the
abominable traffic in which man is the commodity ;—a
traffic which, partly by its direct effects, and partly by
the wars and general insecurity which are its necessary
accompaniments, retarded more than any other cause the
early civilization of Europe ; has kept, and continues to
keep, the greater part of Asia, and the whole of Africa,
in hopeless barbarism ; and has divided the inhabitants
of the most fertile portions of the Continent of America,
and, until lately, those of almost all her islands, into
two classes only, the oppressors and the oppressed.
The transfer of capital from one Country to another is
subject to less difficulty. When the exchange is at par
between any two Countries, capital can be transmitted in
the shape of money without any expense. And as
the occasional loss which occurs when the exchange is
against the Country to which it is to be exported is
compensated by the occasional gain when it is in favour
of that Country, it may fairly be said that monied
capital is transferred from Country to Country without
expense. The chief obstacle is the unwillingness of
capitalists either to trust their capital out of their own
superintendence, or to encounter a change of govern¬
ment, habits, climate, and language, by accompanying
it. Difference of language, however, is felt as a slight
objection by educated men. Nor is difference of
government of great importance to those who propose
only a transitory residence. The difference indeed is
often considered an advantage. During the late war,
London was filled by foreign capitalists, whose principal
motive was to escape the tyranny of Napoleon, Differ¬
ences of habits and climate are more material, especially
the latter; but even those do not seem to counter¬
balance a great increase of profit. There is scarcely a
port in the civilized world in which a considerable part
of the mercantile class does not consist of the natives of
Great Britain. The inequality in the rate of profit
throughout the civilized world is, therefore, much less
than the inequality of wages. And as the general
progress of improvement tends more and more to
equalize the advantages possessed by different Countries
in government and habits, and even in salubrity of
climate, the existing inequalities of profits are likely to
diminish.
Political
Economy,
Distribu¬
tion.
Inequali¬
ties of
wa^es and
profit in
different
Countries,
CONTENTS.
Contents. Political Economy defined as. The Science which treats of the Na¬
ture, the Production, and the distribution of Wealth, 129.
Wealth defined, as comprehending all those things, and those
things only, which are transferable, limited in supply^ and
directly or indirectly productive of pleasure or preventive of
paiuf or, to use an equivalent expression, which are susceptible
of exchange, or, to use a third equivalent expression, which
have value, 131.
Constituents of Wealth :
1. Utility, 131.
2. Limitation in supply, 131.
3. Transferableness, 132.
Limitation in supply the most important, 133.
Value defined as, The quality in any thing which ft s it to be given
and received m exchange, 134.
The intrinsic causes of the value of a commodity defined as. Those
which give to it utility and limit it in supply.
The extrinsic as, Those which limit the supply and occasion the
utility of the commodities for which it is to be exchanged, 134.
Steadiness in value depends on the permanence of the intrinsic
causes of value, 137.
Objections to the definition of wealth considered, 137.
Statement of the four elementary propositions of the Science :—
1. That every man desires to obtain additional wealth with
as little sacrifice as possible,
2. That the population of the world, or, in other words, the
number of persons inhabiting it, is limited only by
moral or physical evil, or by fear of a deficiency of
those articles of wealth which the habits of the indi¬
viduals of each class of its inhabitants lead them to
require.
3. That the powers of labour, and of the other instruments
which produce wealth, may be indefinitely increased by
using their products as the means of further production,
4. That, agricultural skill remaining the same, additional
labour employed on the land within a given district
produces in general a less proportionate return, or, in
other words, that though, with every increase of the
labour bestowed, the aggregate return is increased, the
increase of the return is not in proportion to the in¬
crease of the labour, 139.
Developement of the first elementary proposition, namely, the ge- Contents.
neral desire of wealth, 139.
Developement of the second elementary proposition, namely, the.
causes which limit population, 140.
Production defined as the occasioning an alteration in the condition
of the existing particles of matter, for the occasioning of which
alteration, or for the things thence resulting, something may be
obtained in exchange. This alteration is a product, 149.
Products divided into services and commodities, A service is the
act of occasioning the above-mentioned alteration. A commo¬
dity is the thing as altered, 150.
Consumption defined as the making use of a thing, 151.
Productive consumption defined as that use of a product which occa¬
sions an ulterior product. Unproductive consumption as that
use which occasions no ulterior product, 151.
Instruments of production ;—
Primary, 1 labour; 2. natural agents, 152.
1. Labour defined as the voluntary exertion of bodily or
mental faculties for the purpose of production, 152.
2. Natural agents those productive agents which
do not derive their powers from man, 152.
3. Third and secondary instrument of production. Ab¬
stinence. Abstinence defined as the conduct of a
person who either abstains from the unproductive use
of what he can command, or designedly prefers the
production of remote, to that of immediate, results,
153.
Abstinence, combined with one or both of the other two instruments
oí production, occasions the existence of capital. Capital de¬
fined as an article of wealth, the result of human exertion, em¬
ployed in the production or distribution of wealth, 153.
Different modes in which capital may be employed. 153.
Statement of the advantages derived from tiie use of capital.
1. The use ot implements, 156.
2. The division of labour, 159.
Under these heads the third elementary proposition of the
Science is developed.
Additional labour when employed in manufactures is more, when
employed in agriculture is less, efficient in proportion, 162.
Developement of the fourth elementary proposition of the Science.
Distribution.
224—228
CONTENTS.
Contents. Society divided into three classes^ labourers, capitalists, and pro*
^ __i prietors of natural agents, each class having a different instru¬
ment, a different conduct, and a different rmwwcrai/ow, 165.
Nomenclature applicable to the first class, the labourers, 165.
Nomenclature applicable to the second class, the capitalists, 165.
Nomenclature applicable to the third class, the proprietors of
natural agents, 166.
Exchange.
Cost of production defined as the sum of the labour and abstinence
necessary to production, 170.
Divided into cost of production on the part of the producer, and cost
of production on the part of the consumer, 170.
These are the same, unless the production be subject to a monopoly,
171.
Monopolies divided into four kinds :—
1. K monopoly under which the monopolist has not the
exclusive power of producing, but exclusive facilities
as a producer which may be employed indefinitely
with equal or increasing advantage, 171.
2. A monopoly under which the monopolist is the only
producer and cannot increase the amount of his pro¬
duce, 172.
3. A monopoly under which the monopolist is the only
producer and can increase indefinitely with equal or
increasing advantage the amount of his produce,
172.
4. A monopoly under which the monopolist is not the only
producer, but has peculiar facilities which diminish
and ultimately disappear as he increases the amount
of his produce, 172.
The last is the great monopoly of land, 172.
Effects of the cost of production on price, 175.
Effects of monopolies on price, 176.
Consequences of the proposition that additional labour when em¬
ployed in manufactures is more, and when employed in agri¬
culture is less, efficient in proportion,
I. Different effects of increased demand on the prices of manufac¬
tured, and of raw, produce, 178.
II Different effects of taxation on the prices of manufactured, and
of raw, produce, 179.
Discussion whether certain revenues ought to be called rent, profit,
or wages, 182.
Causes on which the proportionate amount of rent depends, 185.
Discussion of the circumstances which decide what, at a given
time and in a given place, shall be the average rate of wages
and the average rate of profit.
Statement of the question, 188.
Meaning of the words high and low as applied to wages, 188.
Difi'erence between the amount of wages and the price of labour,
191.
Proximate cause deciding the rate of wages stated to be the extent
of the fund for the maintenance of labourers compared with
the number of labourers to be maintained, 193.
Discussion of seven opinions inconsistent with this proposition :—
1. The doctrine that the rate of wages depends solely
on the proportion which the number of labourers
bears to the amount of capital in the Country, 193.
2. The doctrine that wages depend on the proportion
borne by the number of labourers to the whole re¬
venue of the society of which they are members, 193.
3 The doctrine that the non-residence of unproductive
consumers can be detrimental to the labouring in¬
habitants of a Country which does not export raw Contents,
produce, 193.
4. The doctrine that the general rate of wages can, ex¬
cept in two cases, be diminished by the introduction
of machinery, 196.
5. The doctrine that the general rate of wages can be re¬
duced by the importation of foreign commodities, 199.
6. The doctrine that the unproductive consumption of
landlords and capitalists is beneficial to the labour¬
ing classes because it furnishes them with employ¬
ment, 199.
7. The doctrine that it is more beneficial to the labouring
classes to be employed in the production of services
than in the production of commodities, 200.
Statement of the causes on which the extent of the fund for the
maintenance of labourers really depends. 1. The productive¬
ness of labour in the direct or indirect production of the com¬
modities used by the labourers. 2. The number of persons
directly or indirectly employed in the production of things
for the use of labourers compared with the whole number
of labouring families, 201.
I. Causes on which the productiveness of labour depends:—
1. The corporeal, intellectual, and moral qualities of the
labourer, 202.
2. The assistance of natural agents, 202.
3. The assistance of capital, 202.
4. The existence or thé absence of government inter¬
ference, 202.
II. Causes which divert labour from the production of commodi¬
ties for the use of labouring families
1. Rent, 204.
2. Taxation, 205.
3. Profit, 206.
Profit consists of the difference between the value of the advance
made by the capitalist and the value of the return, 207.
How that value should be estimated, 206.
The facts which decide in what proportions the capitalists and
labourers share the common fund after the deduction of rent
and taxation stated to be two : first, the general rate of profit
in the Country on the advance of capital for a given period:
and, secondly, the period which in each particular case has
elapsed between the advance of the capital and the receipt of
the profit, 206.
Cause regulating the rate of profit ascertained to be the proportion
which the supply of capital employed in providing wages bears
to the supply of labourers, 209.
Causes regulating the period of advance incapable of a general
statement, 210.
Capitalists and labourers interested in the period of advance only
so far as they are consumers, 211.
Causes of variation in the amount of wages and the rate of profits
in different employments of labour and capital assigned by
Adam Smith :—
1. Agreeableness, 212.
2. Facility of learning the business, 214.
3. Constancy of employment, 215.
4. Trustworthiness, 216.
5. Probability of success, 216,
Variations occasioned by the difficulty of transferring labour and
capital from one employment to another, 219.
From one country to another, 221.
CARPENTRY
Carpentry, CARPENTRY is the Art of preparing timber principally for
the constructîon of building.
In the following Essay we shall first treat on the
nature and properties of timber ; we shall then proceed
to the practical application of timber to Carpentry, and
to the principles and practice of geometrical operations
required in working drawings, in order to effect the con¬
struction of buildings in the easiest and most substantial
manner.
Various Kinds and Properties of Timber.
Timber is obtained either from the trunks or branches
of trees. The trunks of trees approach to the figure of
the frustum of a cone not differing materially from that
of a cylinder, the difference of the diameters at the ends
being generally very small. In order, therefore, to de¬
scribe the properties of timber we shall suppose that
when it is cut into such trunks, the figure of each trunk
is that of the frustum of a cone, of which the diameters
of the circular ends even of very long pieces do not differ
considerably.
When timber is split by any straight-edged instru¬
ment, the surfaces which are separated are very nearly
in planes, and would pass through the vertex of the cone
were the upper part restored ; and as the splitting may
be made both in parallel and in transverse planes so as
to form bars which shall have the areas of their sections
as small as we please, the bars may have their right
sections as small as threads ; such threads are called
fibres^ and timber which has the property of splitting
into such small rectilinear parts is said to be straight
grained.
If two square bars of equal lengths and breadths be
cut from the same trunk or stem of a tree, the length of
one of the bars being in the direction of the fibres, the
length of the other perpendicular to the fibres, the trans¬
verse strength of the bar, of which the length is in the di¬
rection of the fibres, would exceed the transverse strength
of the bar, of which the length is perpendicular to the
fibres, several times ; by some experiments the lon¬
gitudinal bar is three times as strong as the trans¬
verse bar. Moreover, a timber bar, of which the length
is in the direction of the fibres, will also resist the force
of extension or that of compression with much greater
effect than when the length is perpendicular or oblique
to the fibres. Hence, since timber must always be
employed either to resist transverse, extending, or
compressing forces, it is always divided for use in the
direction of the fibres into bars of various din^ensions ;
and whenever the right section is spoken of, this section
will always be supposed perpendicular to the longitu¬
dinal arrises, or because the longitudinal arrises are in
the direction of the fibres, the right section will be per¬
pendicular to the fibres ; moreover, if a bar be rectan¬
gular, the dimensions of the right section will be equal
to the lengths of two adjacent sides of the rectangle which
is the right section of the bar.
Durability Of timber materials none is more durable than oak;
and use of gQj>^e others are, however, less expensive and easier to
* wQrk, and are, therefore, preferred on that account. Qak,
vol.. VÏ '^'39
therefore, is used only occasionally in small quantities. Carpentry.
Among the timbers which are more easily wrought, fir
is the most useful, on account of its durability and The general
strength, the straightness of its fibres, as also the ease
by which it may be formed into various figures or cut in
every direction. We shall, therefore, direct our attention
principally to this species of timber, but not to that of
the growth of our own Country, which is not only
weaker, but more subject to decay than foreign timber.
Timber is imported into Britain from the North of
Europe and from North America. European fir is
distinguished by the names of the places from which
it is cut; viz. Memel, Dantzic, Riga, Norway, Prussian,
and Russian, and comes under the forms of baulk and
deal timber. Baulk timber consists of the largest square Baulk tim-
bars which can be cut from the trunks of trees, being her.
generally from eight to sixteen inches square, and some¬
times extending to sixty feet in length or more. American
baulk timber is of much larger growth than European,
being from two feet to two feet six inches square, and in
length from twenty-five to fifty feet, or even more.
Deals are rectangular bars from two and a half to Deals,
three inches in thickness, and are also imported from
America as well as from the North of Europe. European Their di-
deals are from ten to twenty feet in length, and from eight mensions.
to eleven inches in breadth, and American deals are
from ten to twelve feet in length, and from nine to eleven
inches in breadth. The colour of timber is either red in¬
clining to yellow, or white, and is therefore called yellow
and white fir accordingly, or sometimes red and white fir.
The fir timber which is the most esteemed in this
Country is imported frorn Memel, Riga, and Dantzic.
Norway fir also is much used for the smaller timbers of
a building, and is extremely durable when exposed to
the air or kept under ground. Red and white pine are
imported from America.
Deals are either white or yellow according to the Use of deals
timber from which they are cut. The best European building,
deals are from Christiana. White deals are also imported
from America. Deals are mostly used in joinery.
Yellow deal is considerably harder than white deal, and
being saturated with turpentine is better adapted for
enduring the weather. White deal, from its being less
liable to shrink than yellow, is proper for panelling
and the finishing of bed-chambers, but is not capable of
enduring the weather. The American yellow pine, from
being straight grained and uniform in its texture, is
excellent for mouldings, and is often used for panels ;
the white deal of America is very tough and strong, but
none of the American firs are durable, and in close
places are subject to the dry rot.
Of home growth wood, oak is the only kind which is Use of oak.
very useful in Carpentry. Oak in logs is imported from
Holland, Prussia, and other parts of Germany, as also
from Russia. Oak thus imported is called wainscot. Wainscot,
and having a fine grain, and being generally free from
knots, and more easily wrought tnan our own oak, is
employed in floors, doors, windows, and the finishings
of principal apartments.
Deals are divided into thin, rectangular bars of tbe
2 1
'230
C A R P E N T R J.
Various
kinds of
deals.
Kinds of
wood in
respect of
(piality.
Caipentry, same length and breadth as the deals from which they
are cut by means of the pit-saw. Bars thus cut from
two to seven inches in breadth, and from half an inch
to two inches in thickness, are called battens. Bars from
seven inches to any greater breadth, and from half an
inch to two inches in thickness, are called boards^ and all
boards above nine inches in breadth are called planks.
Bars are sometimes so cut that their right section is a
quadrilateral or four-sided figure, of which two opposite
sides are not only unequal, but the greatest is very small
compared to either of the other two ; such boards are
called feather-edged boards, and are of the same breadth
and thickness as those which are rectangular. There
are other names belonging to deal timber when cut
into boards, as half-inch, three-quarter inch, inch, &c. to
two-inch deal. Whole deal boards are those which are
one inch and a quarter thick. Slit deal are boards made
by dividing a three-inch deal by five cuts of the pit-saw
into six boards ; thinner boards are called veneers.
When deals or other timber bars are divided into
boards of the same breadth and length by means of the
pit-saw, the surfaces of these boards are very liable to
change in various parts, from a plane surface, as was in¬
tended, to various curved forms.
Though bars and boards may be selected of a texture
apparently uniform, the far greater number contain knots
at the points in which the branches begin to issue from
the tree, and these knots are attended with a coiling of
the fibres round each ; the wood of such a bar or board
is called curling stuff. The term stuff* is a very com¬
mon expression with workmen for any material they
may have to use as timber, &c. Clean stuff^is, that which
is without knots or sapwood. Free stuff that which is
clean, and works in the operation of planing without
tearing. Frowy stuff \9> a piece of timber or board of a
soft texture, and 'with brittle fibres.
Timber after having been cut into various rectangular
bars, when exposed to the weather will contract in breadth
and thickness ; but after a certain time, in a uniform
temperature, will cease to become less. This contrac¬
tion arises from the expulsion of the natural sap, and
may be promoted by various means ; but whether by
Nature or Art, a piece of wood or timber having under¬
gone this change is said to be seasoned.
The surfaces of all rectangular bars, though they may
have remained correct after having been cut or divided,
will be very liable to change in seasoning, so as to be¬
come concave and convex in various directions, and thin
bars will be more liable to this change than those which
are thicker.
When any face of a board or piece of timber is a
quadrilateral, and when the surface is concave between
two opposite corners and convex between the other two,
the surface is said to wind., or to be winding.
Such a form of surface is also said to warp, and the
effect is called warping. Some woods are more liable
to warp than others ; thus American white deal is more
liable to warp than that from the North of Europe. The
warping of timber is occasioned by some of the fibres
being in a state of tension, and others in a state of com¬
pression ; circumstances which arise from the unequal
exposure of timber in a growing state to the weather,
and from knots and other irregularities.
Timber, in the act of seasoning, is not only subject to
bend and warp, but is also liable to rend in various
places. Timber which is thus partially split is said to
be shaken. This disagreeable effect may be often pre¬
Slu'iiiking
of timber.
Timber
liable to
warp or
wind.
The effect
of season¬
ing timber.'
vented before the timber is used by being careful in the Carpentry,
seasoning ; and after it has been put to use, by painting
the exposed surface immediately with two or more coats
of oil paint.
A piece of timber properly seasoned is not liable to
warp, or to change its magnitude in any considerable
degree ; and besides, its stiffness and hardness will be
greatly increased. In 'this state it is best adapted to
every purpose of building. Timber is contracted in
breadth or in thickness in passing through the various
degrees of change from moist or dry weather, and ex¬
panded in passing through the contrary state ; but
whatever variation takes place in a direction perpendi¬
cular to the fibres, the change of length in the direction
of the fibres themselves will be almost imperceptible.
A piece of timber may be compressed in a direction Compres-
perpendicular to the fibres ; so that after the compress- sion of
ing forces are taken away, it will be greatly reduced in
breadth or in thickness, but very much increased in
hardness. No compressing forces, however, can be
employed to shorten its extension in the direction of the
fibres, in any sensible degree, without crushing or crip¬
pling the fibres.
Another valuable property which wood possesses, is Use of glue
that two or more pieces may be connected together by in joining
an intermediate substance called glue. The two pieces
thus connected will acquire a degree of adhesion equal
to that of the wood itself in separating the fibres longi¬
tudinally from each other ; and thus two or more boards
may be joined edgeways, so as to form a surface to
any extent of breadth which may be required. It must,
however, be observed, that whenever two or more pieces
of wood are glued together, they must not be exposed to
a damp situation; and therefore must always be under
cover to protect them from the influence of the atmo¬
sphere.^ No boarding, however, of this description can
be made so that one of its surfaces may fill a permanent
inclosure, or surrounding border, or frame, from the
shrinking of the timber in its transverse direction ; and
if a board thus glued together be fastened along its two
longitudinal edges, (supposing the surface a rectangle.)
it will be liable to split, and the exposed surface will be
liable to change from its first position.
A series of boards placed together, so that the edges
may join each other, and that a right line, or straight
edge, stretched along the whole may coincide with the
surface of any board thus joining, is called 'à. plane of
boarding ; or, more generally, common hoarding.
A most useful property of timber is, that a spike or Use of nails
nail of considerable thickness may be driven into a piece in joining
of wood of sufficient substance to a considerable depth, or timber,
even through its whole breadth, without splitting it, and
without having any other effect than merely compressing
the fibres on each side : and the adhesion of the nail or
spike thus driven is so strong as to require very great
power to extract it.
Timber exposed to the action of the atmosphere is
subject to speedy decay by rotting ; the period of its
duration may, however, be greatly prolonged by painting
its exposed surface with two or more coats of oil paint ;
but, previously to the operation of painting, if the sur-
* Unless the glue be made in the following manner it will not
endure the weather. Mix with the glue white lead and linseed oil
in a leaden pot, which is considered the best for the purpose, and in
this vessel boil them a sufficient time ; and the compound of these
materials thus prepared will be found to answer the purposes, apply¬
ing it in the same manner as before described with common glue.
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry.
How timber
is beut.
Timber,
stronger
and cheaper
than stone.
Use of iron
in building.
Compara¬
tive uses of
timber and
iron.
face be covered with two or more coats of linseed oil, until
the wood become saturated to a considerable depth from
the surface, this last process will greatly extend its
period of duration.
Boards may be bent upon a curved surface, or upon
several bars of wood, of which the edges are arranged
in a curved surface by means of nails.
Timber bars may also be bent by being brought
into a pliable state either by boiling or steaming; and
in this state, if sufficiently softened by the operation,
they may be bent, so that the linear edges may form
plane curves, to a certain degree of curvature ; but,
however pliable the state to which the timber may be
reduced, it is very difficult to bend a bar so that the
linear edges may form curves of double curvature. After
a piece of timber has been thus bent, and become cold
and sufficiently dry, if it be taken off the mould, the
curvature will be lessened in a small degree ; and if
the ends of the piece are not confined, it will still con¬
tinue to unbend, as it endeavours to regain its rectilinear
direction.
The solid materials fitted for building are stone,
brick, metals, and timber. In comparing two square
rectangular bars of equal length and of equal breadth
upon each side, the one bar being of stone and the other
of timber, (we shall say of yellow deal,) then, whether
these bars be employed to resist the force of tension
or compression, or a force transversely applied, it will
be found that the timber bar is the strongest ; hence,
yellow fir is preferable to stone when used either as a
tie or a straining bar, or to sustain a weight or pressure
acting transversely. Timber is lighter than stone, and
therefore throws less stress upon its bearing supports.
Moreover, bars of timber can be procured in lengths
vastly greater than that of stone, and therefore in this
respect more accommodating to a great extent of bear¬
ing ; and not only so, but to form bars of stone would
be much more expensive than those made of timber.
Timber is not only preferable to stone in resisting pres¬
sure, but also in resisting percussion. The use of brick
in resisting a transverse strain, or the force of extension,
is altogether out of the question. As to metals, iron is
the strongest of those that are sufficiently cheap for com¬
mon use. Iron bars are stronger than wooden bars of
the same scantlings in any of three modes of applying
powers ; but yellow fir is stronger and cheaper than iron,
weight for weight ; on this account, therefore, it is more
economical, and consequently more generally employed.
Iron has, however, some properties which timber does
not possess ; viz. that it can be easily bent into curves of
every degree of curvature, or even formed into the most
acute angles, without the strength being sensibly im¬
paired; but straight-grained timber can be bent only
into a small curvature ; and in no case can a single piece
of such timber be formed into an angle without weaken¬
ing the piece by cutting it across the fibres ; neither can
two bars of straight-grained timber be joined so as to
form an angle, which will not be much weaker at the
joint than in any other section of each of the parts.
Thus it is that iron becomes a useful auxiliary in
securing the joints of timber framings either in the form
of straps, bolts, spikes, or nails, or by any combination
of these. Iron is, therefore, a most essential material in
the constructive parts of Carpentry.
Though timber is more generally employed in this
Country than iron, owing to the cheapness and the great
ease by which it is wrought, the adoption of the one or
the other of these materials will depend upon the purpose Carpentry,
to which it is to be employed. If the object be to form
such a construction as shall be proof against fire, as also
to be of small dimensions, or of small thickness, or even
of the same thickness when great strength is necessary,
and when the weight is not an object, iron must in this
case be preferable to wood. In the introduction of iron,
however, it will be of some advantage to remember the
following observations.
All metals are subject to variation from the extremes Expansion
of heat and cold ; for they are expanded by heat and 9^^'
contracted by cold proportionally in all their dimensions, i^í^n^b^heat
Moreover, iron, when exposed to the action of the and cold,
atmosphere, is soon brought to a ruinous state by de¬
composition. These rapid effects of destruction may be
greatly retarded by painting the exposed surface several
times over with oil paint.
To resist impressions by violence or accidental force,
wrought iron is both cheaper and better adapted than any
other material. Cast iron, however, is better calculated
to resist oxidation than wrought iron ; and therefore, for
many purposes is preferable, particularly in bending
stone work together With respect to timber work
wrought iron is preferable to cast iron, used as fastenings,
in the form of straps, bolts, nails, &c.
'Preliminary observations.
In order to have a complete understanding of the
adaptation and applications of different materials to build¬
ing purposes, particularly that of timber, and of the
proper forms into which it may be cut, it will be neces¬
sary to describe the figures of buildings as will at the
same time be both convenient and cheap, and which, if
required, may be susceptible of elegance and decoration.
It is not only economical that every floor should be Mostecono-
level, but a level position is also the most easy for walk- forms
ing upon ; and because our position in walking is vertical, of building,
the surfaces also of all walls within rooms ought to be
vertical, at least to a certain height, in order to occupy
the area of the floor to the most advantage ; moreover,
the laws of gravitation require the surfaces of walls to
be vertical. In economical buildings, plane surfaces are
easier to execute than any other ; hence in this case the
figure of every room ought to be that of a right prism,
of which one of the ends or bases is the plane of the
room, and the other end is the ceiling, and of which the
sides are the surfaces of the walls. Hence the plan of
every room as regards convenience and economy ought
to be a rectilinear figure or polygon, and all the faces of
the walls, which are the sides of the prism between the
ends, should be rectangles.
When a building consists of two or more rooms, in
order to occupy the least space and to use the fewest ma¬
terials, the walls or partitions between them ought to be-
equally thick ; hence every wall, whether exterior or in¬
terior, ought to be comprised between parallel planes.
Among all the figures which may be given of the plan
of a room, a rectangle is the most convenient for furni¬
ture and accommodation; therefore since every rectilinear
figure, of which every two adjacent sides form a right
angle, may be wholly divided into rectangles of equal or
of various dimensions and proportions, the subordinate
rectangles will constitute the plans of the rooms and
division walls.
A building upon a rectilinear plan having every twq
adjacent sides reciprocally perpendicular to each other,
forming a right rectangular solid figure, is better adapted
2 I 2
232
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry, for subdivision than one of any other figure, as not only
being the least expensive upon the Avhole, but as every
room is more convenient than one of any other figure.
For walls which are oblique to one another require more
materials at their junction, and are therefore more ex¬
pensive ; and they are not only weaker than those which
are at right angles, but they introduce forms which
are inconvenient for furniture.
Therefore to execute a building at the least expense,
and at the same time to be the most convenient in
respect of accommodation and communication, all the
dihedral angles of rooms should be right angles ; hence
all three trehedral angles ought to consist of three olane
angles, all which are right angles. Therefore any two
distinct surfaces whatever, must either be in the same
plane or in parallel planes, or in planes reciprocally per¬
pendicular to each other. Hence any two distinct lines
formed at the meeting of these planes must be right
lines, which are either in the sá'Cne right line or in paral¬
lel right lines, or in right linës reciprocally perpendicular
to each other ; moreover, in any 'such right line and in
any plane, the right line will either be in that plane or
parallel or perpendicular to it.
Because the plans of all walls and partitions are com¬
prised between parallel lines, and because planes pass¬
ing along parallel lines are also parallel as well as the
lines, the substance of every wall and partition carried
upon these planes is comprised between parallel planes.
Moreover, as the surface of a floor for walking upon is
more convenient and less expensive in a horizontal than
in an inclined position, and since in economical build¬
ings every room is the figure of a right prism, of which
the floor is one end and the ceiling the other ; therefore
as the floor is horizontal the ceiling also must be hori¬
zontal ; and as it is convenient in every story of a build¬
ing consisting each of two or more rooms, that all
the floors of these rooms should be on the same level,
therefore the substance of the division between two adja¬
cent rooms, one immediately above the other, is com¬
prised between parallel planes, the upper plane being
the floor of the upper room, and the lower plane the
ceiling of the lower room ; hence the substance of all
exterior walls and divisions of rooms ought to be com¬
prised between parallel planes, whether the surfaces are
horizontal or vertical ; and generally, as all rectangular
apertures receding from vertical planes having each two
sides perpendicular to the horizon, and consequently the
other two parallel, are not only cheaper to form, but the
figure is more congenial to the shape of the room than any
other ; it is for this reason that rectangular apertures
are more generally adopted than any other form what
ever. All the meeting lines of vertical surfaces, whether
external or internal, being right lines perpendicular to
the horizon, are much more easily executed than curves,
and consequently are cheaper. All the ceilings and
floors of buildings, as regards convenience and economy,
must be parallel to the horizon. The substance between
the apparent surface of the ceiling of one room and the ap¬
parent surface of the floor next above is comprised be¬
tween two parallel planes, as well as the substance of walls
and partitions. Moreover, the floors and ceilings of
rooms, the soffits of the apertures of doors and windows
in economical buildings are parallel to the horizon.
It is therefore from motives of economy and conve¬
nience, that the far greater part of buildings are con¬
structed as here described. Hence whenever buildings
or rooms are mentioned, though the plan may be of any
figure whatever, it will always be considered as a rectan- Carpentry,
gle unless otherwise defined. This is the reason why
timbers are generally divided longitudinally into rectan¬
gular bars ; for if the right section of any timber bar be
required of any other figure, it is most convenient to
form such a bar from a rectangular one ; but bars which
require to be of a different figure in their sections will
scarcely occur in any part of such building except in the
margins or in the several sides of a roof.
All the parts of a habitation which appear to the eye
are called apparent surfaces. These apparent surfaces
ought to be plane figures.
Every material used asa covering, in order to possess
sufficient strength and continuity, must have such thick¬
ness as is requisite to preserve the apparent face in its
due form. This thickness, in the covering of roofs, is the
distance between a plane containing the arris lines of
the courses, and the plane of arrangement which contain
the under faces of the boarding and the edges of the sup¬
porting timbers ; in partitions and ceilings the thickness
of the covering is the thickness of the lath and plaster
together, which is equal to the distance between the ap¬
parent face of the plaster, and the plane containing the
edges of the supporting bars ; and in the boarding of
floors, the thickness of the covering is the distance be¬
tween the surface for walking upon and the plane con¬
taining the edges of the supporting bars and the lower
face of the boarding.
Surfaces to cover hypethral apertures in order to shut
the interior, so as to effect the stoppage of rain and in¬
clement weather, as also the rapid discharge of water
generated by rain or snow, and at the same time to be
both beautiful and cheap, ought to be constructed in in-
chned planes.
As no apparent surface can exist without substance,
we shall call the material, whatever it may be, by the
simple name of covering, or by the compound names of
covering substance, or covering material, which will al¬
ways be supposed of uniform thickness.
Every covering will therefore be comprised between
two parallel planes. We shall call the plane of this
covering opposite the apparent face, the concealed face
or invisible face.
Of Wall Timbers.
All the operations in economical buildings are con¬
structed for the purposes of supporting the apparent
coverings, in whatever position or situation they may
occur ; the materials should therefore be of such strength
as will enable them to resist the accidents to which they
may be exposed.
The exterior walls being carried up between vertical
surfaces, will be best constructed with solid and weighty
materials, such as stone or brick bedded in mortar, as Applica-
the more weighty the materials are, the more capable will
be the walls of resisting the pressure of heavy winds and
tempests, and their position, if they are sufficiently thick,
will prevent the possibility of their falling either to the
one side or to the other, and thus it will be impossible
for them to produce any lateral pressure ; but on the
contrary they will be able, if sufficiently thick, to resist
any proposed lateral pressure whether applied upon the
one side or upon the other.
Partition walls are often built with brick or stone bed¬
ded in mortar, particularly when it is required that they
should contain chimnies. In such cases, where cheapness
and the saving of room is required, partitions may be
CARPENTRY.
Use of tim¬
ber in builil
ing.
Lintels,
bond tim¬
ber, and
Wood
bricks.
Carpentry, constructed of timber work adapted to support a cover-
ing on both sides of lath and plaster. Such a construc¬
tion of timber becomes necessary whenever the floor
under the partition is unsupported from below, except
under the vertical extremities of the frame.
Therefore the principal objects to which timber is ap¬
plied in buildings, are the framings used in supporting
the coverings of partitions, floors, ceilings, and roofs.
Timber is also applied in exterior walls ; thus long
pieces of timber, {piles,) and sometimes planking are
used in bad foundations ; as also for the greater security
timber bars {sleepers) are laid transversely at short in¬
tervals under the foundation, extending about two feet
wider. Other timbers {lintels) are laid horizontally over
the apertures of doors and windows to support the super¬
incumbent part of the wall. Other timber bars {bond or
chain timber) are built into the walls in order to prevent
^all plates, settlements ; and others again {wall plaits) are inserted
in order to give a firm support for the timbers of the roof,
and those of the floor or floors when such occur in the
building; besides these, pieces of timber {wood bricks or
plugs) are built or driven into walls for supporting the
timber bars to which the laths for sustaining the plaster
is nailed, and for the conveniency of fixing the finishings re«-
quired in Joinery. Bond timbers, wall plates, lintels, and
wood bricks, should always be laid in walls in a hori¬
zontal position with two faces parallel and two faces
perpendicular to the horizon, and with one of the verti¬
cal faces parallel to the faces of the wall. Bond timbers,
in order to be the most durable, should be made of oak,
and they ought to be placed in the middle of the thickness
of the wall, and not to have either of their two vertical
faces in the interior face of the wall, as the shrinking or
decay of the timber will greatly weaken the substance of
masonry or brickwork, and thus will hasten the destruc¬
tion of the fabric. Bonds made of cast-iron, with one
face flush with the interior face of the wall, and with
holes at regular intervals for plugs, would not only be
proof against fire, but would add greatly to the strength
of the wall. After the stone lintel has been laid over
the aperture of a window or door, the remainder of the
breadth between it and the inside of the wall may be
covered with wooden lintels, in order to save the expense
of iron or of a stone arch. The thickness of wooden
lintels ought to be as many inches as the bearing dis¬
tance is in feet.
Timbers inserted in a wall, or in walls for supporting
the ends of the horizontal timbers in a roof, or those
for supporting the ends of the timbers in a floor, are
called wall plates, and are employed in order to distri¬
bute the pressures of the timbers which they support
upon the walls. Without wall plates the masonry or
brickwork would be liable to be crushed under the ends of
the timbers, which would act partially, and thus dislocate
the parts underneath ; one of the vertical faces of every
wall plate should be flush with the interior surface.
The sizes of wall plates will greatly depend upon the
thickness of the walls, and the weight of the timbers
which they have to sustain. In thick partition walls of
stone or brick, the wall plates should be double upon
each such wall, and their upper faces as well as their
lower faces ought to be level.
The greatest care, however, must be taken not to
place any timber inserted in a wall, in whatever office
that timber is to serve, nearer to a flue than nine inches ;
and if it be necessary that timbers should be placed, so
that they would fall upon flues, the ends must be cut
off, and cast-iron ends must be fixed to the timbers, and Carpentry,
these must be supported upon cast-iron wall plates or
templates.*
Construction of Floors,
When any room in the basement story of a building
is intended for living in, a boarded floor will be found
the most comfortable ; and as boards cannot lie solid
without being fixed to some material or other, and as
timber is the most convenient for the fixing of timber, a
row of timber supporting bars, laid upon dwarf walls, or
upon props of stone or brick piers, is generally em¬
ployed for the fixing of the boarding ; the supporting
bars for this covering are called ground joists.
In a house which consists of two or more stories, the
timber work which is necessary for supporting the cover¬
ing of the floors for walking upon or the coverings of
the floors and ceilings l^ogether, is called nakedßooring. Naked
and by some writers carcasi.,.flooring. To accommodate flooring
rooms of various dimensions, naked flooring consists of
two different kinds.
One species of naked flooring may be constructed with
a row of timber bars, which at once supports the floor
for walking upon and the ceiling of the room below.
This description of naked flooring, which is the most Single
simple of any, is called a single joist floor. joist floor
When the building has been carried up'\ nearly to
the clear height of the story, the inside of the walls
must be levelled, so that when the wall plates come to
be laid, and the ends of the joists upon the wall plates,
as also the ceiling finished, and the floor below is
completed for walking upon, the clear height of the story
may be equal to that which it was intended to be ; then
if another story be intended, after having laid the wall
plates, and the joists upon the wall plates, the walls
must be again carried up, by previously building upon
the wall plates in the interval between the ends of the
joists, so as to fill up every cavity to the level of the top Beam
of the joists. This operation is called beam fllling. Alh^g
Another mode of constructing naked flooring is to
support the supporting timbers by another stronger row
of timber bars laid upon the wall plates. The timber
bars of the row thus laid, are so notched upon the wall
plates as to prevent the timbers being drawn oflT the top of
the wall plates, and therefore from being drawn out of the
walls, by pulling the timbers in a direction of their length,
without either tearing; the ends of the timbers or the wall
O
plates. These notchings, as well as the operation of Cockings.
framing them, are called cockings.
The building is generally roofed in before the sup¬
porting bars are laid, and when they are laid their ends
do not penetrate or enter into the thickness of the walls,
as the row of timbers upon which they are laid, but only
abut upon the interior face of each opposite wall. The
supporting bars and the bearing timbers which support
them are notched into each other, so that the supporting
and bearing bars may be comprised between two hori¬
zontal planes, of which the distance is less than the
sum of the depths of one of the bearing timbers and
one of the supporting bars. Each of these rows of
timbers is called joists; the lower row of bars, or bear¬
ing timbers, is called binding joists ; and the upper gjntjjng,
^ For an explanation of this term, see postea, p. 235.
I Walls are said to be carried up when they are built to any re¬
quired height. The terms bring up and brought up are also used
ÏOÏbuilding up and built up.
234
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry, row, or supporting bars of the covering, is. called
bridging joists; moreover, the construction of naked
and bridg- flooring is called a bridged floor.
»»g joists. In order that the timbers may have equal bearings,
and that they may have the utmost advantage in point of
strength, and in economy, materials, and workmanship, as
also to render them convenient for Joining one another,
and for fixing the coverings, two faces of every two joists,
whether in the upper or lower row, ought to be parallel
to either face of two opposite walls or sides of the room,
and all the intervals of the binding, as well as those of
the bridging joists, should be equal to each other. In
substantial works, the supporting bars, whether in a
bridge floor or in a single joist floor, ought not to be
more than one foot from centre to centre, that, is in every
two adjacent joists the distance from in to out ought
not to exceed one foot.
It is obvious that in bridged, naked flooring, the
transverse strength of the bridging joists by a force
acting in the middle of one of its bearing distances, (that
is, between two binding joists,) should not be greater
than the strength of a bridging joist and the binding
joists, supporting it by a transverse force acting in the
middle of the area comprised by the four sides of the
room. Hence it is evident, that the binding joists ought
to be placed at much greater intervals from each other
than the bridging joists. Therefore, owing to the great
distance between the intervals of the bridging joists, the
lath upon which the plaster of the ceiling is laid being
very thin, cannot be attached to the under edges of the
binding joists, without being too weak for sustaining the
plaster. Therefore, to render the laths of sufiicient
strength, another series of supporting bars for the lath
and plaster may be introduced and placed at such inter¬
vals as will render the bearing distances sufficiently short
to give the degree of strength required. The timbers thus
introduced are ceiling joists. The ceiling joists
are either nailed upon the binding joists, crossing two or
more, or even extending from wall to wall in one length ;
and to save room they may be notched, so as to make
shorter nails answer the purpose of fixing them to the
binding joists, which ought not to be notched, as they
have to support the two coverings, viz. the boarding for
walking upon, and the ceiling of the room below, or in¬
stead of extending the ceiling joists across the timbers,
they are sometimes let into the binding joists so as to be
very nearly flush with the lower edges of the binding
joists, and thus the thickness of the binding joists and
bridging joists may be comprised between two horizon¬
tal planes, of which the distance is very little more than
the depth of a binding joist. This mode of fixing the
ceiling joist is not so strong as extending them over the
binding joists, which, however, is much more expensive.
Thus in a bridge floor we have a compound frame,
consisting of three rows of timber bars, all called by
the general name of joists, of which each row of sup¬
porting bars or joists is supported by the binding joists,
which constitute the middle row.
These rows in economical buildings have all their
vertical surfaces in planes which are either parallel or at
right angles to each other, as well as to the interior faces
of the walls of the building.
Sometimes, however, the walls are at so great a dis¬
tance from each other, as to cause the entire distance be¬
tween two horizontal planes, which will just comprise the
thickness of the naked flooring, to be so great, as to render
the binding joists too weak. Therefore, in order to fur¬
nish shorter bearing distances for the binding joists, one Carpertry.
or more rectangular timber bars, of the largest scantling
which can be found, are introduced instead of walls for
supporting the ends of the binding joists, and are called
girders. The girder or girders ought to divide the length Girders,
of the room into two or more equal intervals, and their
surfaces ought always to be comprised between the
parallel planes which comprise the naked flooring.
The part of a bridged floor comprised between two Bay of
adjacent girders, or between a girder and the wall, in joisting.
clear space is called a bay of joisting, that in the clear
of two girders is called a case bay^ and that in the clear Case and
between a girder and the wall is called a tail bay. More-
over, when there are no girders, the bridging and ceiling
joists between the binding joists in the clear, or between
a binding joist and the wall in the clear, are called a bay
of joisting. A bay of joisting between two binding
joists is called a case bay^ and that between a binding
joist and the wall is called a tail bay.
Girders are supported by short pieces of timber
placed under their ends, which are inserted in the wall.
These short pieces of timber, called templates^ ought to Templates,
be of sufficient length, to distribute the pressure of the
girders to a considerable extent along the wall or walls,
because the entire weight of the floor will press upon the
templates.
We shall call all the timbers which derive their sup¬
port immediately from the wall, whether they are placed
upon wall plates or upon templates, by the name of
hearing timbers. All bearing timbers ought to be sup¬
ported at their extremities upon the two walls, which
are in the direction of the length of the room ; hence in
a single joist-floor the length of the joists should be laid
in the breadth of the room, and thus the direction of
the boarding will extend in the length ; in a bridge floor
(sometimes called a double floor) which has no girder,
the binding are the bearing timbers, therefore the direc¬
tion of the binding joists ought to extend in the breadth
of the room, as also the boards which form the covering
or floor for walking upon ; moreover, in a bridged floor
with girders, the girders are the bearing timbers ; hence
their direction ought to extend in the breadth of the
room, as well as the bridging joists ; therefore, the
binding joist and boarding will extend in the length.
It is obvious that when the plane of a room is square,
the strength of the timbers can never be affected, whether
they are placed parallel to one side of the room or to the
other ; hence in such a case as this, and when there are
more than two or more rooms upon a floor, the choice
of the direction of the timbers will be influenced by
the direction of the timbers in the other floors, or by the
direction of the boarding. When the direction of bear¬
ing timbers extends over two or more rooms, they will be
much stronger if they extend in single lengths over both
openings.
Wood will resist either by compression or extension,
therefore in a building consisting of two or more stories,
the walls will be greatly strengthened by the timbers,
and will consequently be more capable to resist the pres¬
sure of heavy winds or other accidental forces; hence,
with such assistance, the walls will not require to be so
thick as independent walls of the same height. As
a further contribution towards the strength of the build¬
ing, the wall plates in very substantial buildings are
often fixed to each other at the angles, and the two wall
plates, which are thus joined, are again joined by a third
bar of timber fixed at each end to each of the other two,
CARPENTRY. 235
Carpentry, at equal distances from the joining of the two wall
plates; the three timbers thus joined, encloses a space
in the form of a right-angled triangle, the two sides
Diagonal which are perpendicular to each other being equal. The
tie or angle piece of timber which is opposite the right angle is
brace. called a diagonal tie, or angle brace.
Floors are generally interrupted by one or more cir¬
cumstances : every comfortable room must have a fire¬
place, and whenever a building consists of more than
one story, a stair will be necessary to pass from the one to
the other. For the safety of the building, in order to
prevent its being liable to burning, no joist nor girder
ought to be placed near to a fire-place, nor to enter any
wall containing flues opposite to the ends of the timbers.
But from whatever circumstance bearing timbers are
interrupted, instead of inserting the ends of the timbers
they are generally cut off, and the ends thus cut off are
framed or fixed to a timber bar, and the ends of the
timber bar are fixed to the two adjacent joists, which
Various ' remain uncut. The timber bar which sustains the ends
kinds of of the joists is called a trimmer, and the two joists which
trimmers, support the trimmer are called trimming joists. When
the trimmer is opposite to flues it is called a tail trimmer,
if opposite to a fire-place it is called a hearth trimmer,
and if to make way for a stair it is called a stair trim¬
mer, which forms the margin of the landing. Tail
trimmers are generally brought close to the wall ; but
hearth trimmers, on account of the marble slab which is
necessary to protect the fire from the timber work, are
fixed at some distance from the surface of the adjacent
wall.
As the slab which forms the hearth requires a sup¬
port, the space under the hearth between the trimmer
and the wall must be filled with something in order to
support the slab ; and, since nothing is stronger than
an arch, a brick arch is generally thrown over between
these extremities as abutments, which are the hearth
trimmer and the wall, at such a distance from the ap¬
parent surface of the boarding as is sufficient to receive
the slab, generally constructed of stone or marble.
The arch thus thrown also is called a trimmer by the
bricklayer, but to distinguish it from other trimmers, it
is called a brick trimmer.
The mould upon which the arch is formed is called
the centre of the trimmer. It is obvious that the brick
trimmer must be comprised between two parallel
planes, of which the higher is below the level of the
floor, and the lower above the surface of the ceiling.
Scantlings. construction of naked flooring and roofing the
small timbers which are used are called by the general
name of scantlings, though, perhaps, not with good
reason ; as this term has been appropriated to the di¬
mensions of breadth and thickness of a rectangular bar,
and in regard to squared stones the term is applied to
the three dimensions of length, breadth, and thickness.
In the construction of the timber works of floors and
ceilings, the arrises of the timber ought always to have
a horizontal position and to be perpendicular to the
two opposite walls, and consequently parallel to the
other two opposite walls.^
* Bridge floors have been long in use, and had always been con¬
sidered as the best in order to support the covering and ceiling over a
large area, until Professor Robinson caused two models of naked
flooring to be made, one being a single-joist floor, and the other a
bridged floor, each containing the same quantity of timber, and co¬
vering equal areas. These models were each loaded uniformly with
small shot until they were broker ; the strongest was that constructed
Horizontal framings are used in roofs as well as in Carpentry,
floors, to prevent the action of the oblique timbers -^v—
from thrusting out the walls. They also serve to sup¬
port the timbers to which the ceiling of the room
below is attached ; such a construction is called a
ing floor.
Construction of Partitions.
Every construction of partitions where the bearing is
solid below the framing, ought to be filled with timber
bars, called quarterings, of which every timber has each
of its four faces perpendicular to the horizon, and of
which the interval between every two adjacent timbers
is equal. But when the floor under the partition is
unsupported, as the partition ought not to lay any stress
upon the floor, it ought to be supported only at the extremi¬
ties of the under edge. N ow if the partition be filled with
timbers, as has been described, the whole weight of these
timbers will press upon the unsupported part of the
floor. To prevent the strain which they would give, and to
make the partition capable of supporting the floor above,
and even the floor below, if necessary, two oblique tim¬
bers must be fixed in such a manner that the lower end
of one must rest upon the one supported extremity,
and the lower end of the other upon the other supported
extremity. The upper extremities may either meet
each other, or meet an intermediate post, or they may
meet two intermediate posts with an interval between,
in such a manner that each oblique timber may meet
the nearest post ; between the two posts, opposite to the
places where the oblique timbers join, another piece of
timber bar must be inserted in the interval. Whether
there are two posts with an interval, or only one post,
two timbers will meet every post ; and, including the
post, three timber bars will therefore meet each other.
To prevent this timber from moving, the three timbers
must be secured to each other at every junction of three
timbers : the triple junction of the timbers is called a
joggle, the oblique timbers are called braces, and the in¬
termediate piece is called an intertie. Hence, when
only one post is used there are three joggles, and when
two posts are used there are four joggles ; in each case
the joggles at the lower ends of the braces are included.
The posts, when the partition contains a door, are those
which form the sides or jambs of the door, and the inter¬
tie is the head of the door. When there is no doorway,
the timber along the floor becomes a tie. The whole
of the partition is included within a rectangular frame ;
the post or posts must meet the horizontal sides of the
frame.
The interruption of doors in partitions frequently
occasions an irregularity in the position of the braces,
and, in many cases, so much so as to render their effect
insufficient. But since the door is generally much
lower than the height of the story, the head of the door¬
way is extended so as to meet the upright timbers at
each extremity of the partition, and thus the rectan¬
gular frame will be divided into three rectangular com¬
partments when the partition contains one door, and
into four rectangular compartments when the partition
of single joist. The same experiment has been recently tried, and
the result of Professor Robinson has been verified by Professor
Barlow, of the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. It has,
however, been argued in favour of the compound framing, though
not in such a manner as to decide the fact, that its use is better cal¬
culated to preserve the ceiling from cracking than a single-joist
floor with deep joists.
236
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry, contains two doors ; hence the upper compartment,
which extends the whole length of the partition, may be
framed in the very same manner as the whole would
have been when it contained no door, or when it con¬
tained one door in the middle ; and this framing might
even be made of sufficient strength to support the floor
above, and the timbers below adjacent to the door or
doorways without bracing any of the lower compart¬
ments : very frequently, however, the lower compart¬
ments are braced as well as that above the door or door¬
ways.
•/
Use of
parabolic
arches in
partitions.
Quarter
partitions.
As the timbers which support the lath and plastering
are most advantageously arranged when their faces are
in planes perpendicular to the horizon, and when their
intervals are equal, and as these vertical timbers must
rest upon the braces, which would therefore be bent by
the pressure, and consequently would either have their
effect diminished or entirely destroyed ; in order to ren¬
der them as effectual as they were intended, parabolic
arches, described so as to answer to the obliquity of the
braces and intertie, are recommended ; these arches ought
tobe double, and opposite to each other, and if they are
made of iron, they may either be used as a tie or in a
state of being compressed.
The upright quartering for the fixings of the lath
being fixed to two such arches will effectually pre¬
vent them from descending by their weights, and thus
the whole stress will be thrown upon the joggles; the
braces and intertie, when there are two posts, will be in
a state of compression, but the weight of the timbers
upon the arches will lessen the degree of compression
upon the straining pieces.
Partitions constructed of timber bars to be lathed and
plastered are called quarter partitions.
There is yet another species of partition constructed
with timber posts placed at equal intervals, and filled
with brickwork between the adjacent posts, which are
called quarters ; the quarters are placed at eighteen or
twenty-seven inches in the clear, and to strengthen the
brickwork, horizontal pieces of timber extend between
the quarters over every five or six courses of brick. A
partition thus constructed, partly with brick and partly
with timber, is called a hrick 7ioii:ging partition^ and the
work done in this manner is called hrick nagging. The
horizontal pieces between the quarters are called nag¬
ging pieces.
Brick nogging partitions ought always to be con¬
structed upon a solid foundation, and, consequently,
ought never to be used but in ground or basement
stories. The quarters ought always to be three-quarters
of an inch thicker than the brick, so that half the differ¬
ence, or three-eighths of an inch, ought to project before
each face exhibited by the brickwork, in order to allow
for the irregularities of the surface of the lath, occa¬
sioned in the splitting by the sinuosities of the fibres in
taking curve directions round the knots.
Of the Various Kinds of Roofs.
A common roo/is that which has only two apparent
sides, which meet each other in the ridge, and which
rest upon opposite walls, which, in isolated houses, are
Gable ended generally the two opposite walls that have the least in-
Toof. terval. This roof is called a gable ended roof.
Common A common hip roojf is that which has only one ap-
hip roof. parent face adjacent to each of the four walls, and the
two apparent faces which rise from the two opposite
Brick Hog¬
ging parti¬
tion.
walls, which have the least interval, meet each in the Carpjentry.
ridge.
As the meeting plane of a hip roof generally bisects
the dihedral angle formed by the external faces of two
walls which meet each other, every two planes which
meet have the same inclination to the horizon, and the
right section of a common hip roof between the two
most remote walls is a trapezium ; but if the dimensions
of the aperture to be covered are equal, all the four
faces of the roof will meet in a point, and each of the
right sections through this point will be an isosceles
triangle.
A truncated roo/* is that which is flat upon the top. Truncated
and may either be of the simple prismatic form or roof,
hipped. When it is not hipped it is called a simple
truncated roof and when it is hipped it is called a trun¬
cated hipped roof. A truncated roof is also called a
terrace roof or cut roof. A truncated roof has its right
section in the form of a trapezium, with two parallel
sides, and the two diagonals equal ; the side which is
parallel to the base is not absolutely a right line, but is
raised in the middle to an obtuse angle for the purpose
of discharging the water. The top, which is nearly ho¬
rizontal, ought to be covered with lead.
A curb roq/is that which has two sloping faces upon Curb roof,
each side ; when it consists only of a simple prism it is
called a common curb roof and when it is hipped it is
called a curb hip roof A curb roof is also called a
mansarde roof.
As the roof of a rectangular building may consist
of the intersection of two or more prisms, as has been
described, these intersections may be either external or
internal, that is to say, the dihedral angles of their
planes may either advance or retreat, and, accordingly,
are called by the French salient or re-entrant angles ;
hence when the dihedral angles of the adjacent sides of
a roof are salient, every two of such which meet each
other will form a hip, which has already been described ;
but when the dihedral angles are re-entrant, they form
what are called valleys. A roof having a valley is called
a valley roof
A roof which has both a hip and valley is called a hip Hip and
and valley roof"^ valley roof.
The roofs of buildings in which the faces of the walls
terminate in horizontal right lines are called straight
roofs, in order to be distinguished from curved roofs.
Curved roofs are generally circular and isolated. We
may, however, have both straight and curved roofs inde¬
pendent of each other, or intersecting each other.
Roofs either cover the tops of the exterior walls from
which they spring entirely, or only partially ; when a
straight roof covers the top of the wall, the inclined
surfaces are prolonged before the face of the wall several
inches, or even feet ; such a roof is said to have dripping Drippin^^
eaves, and the parts thus prolonged are called the skirts eaves,
of the roof ; in such a roof the water is supposed to drop
from the margins of the eaves upon the ground without
being stopped in the way.f
* When the plan of a building is curved, the walls are also
curved surfaces, and the roof is denominated from the plan of the
building, or from the form of the top of the walls ; a roof for such
a building is called a curved roof. Hence, when the top of the walls
from which the roof rises is a circle, the roof is called a circular roof,
and, if an ellipse, it is called an elliptic roof, and so on.
f Such forms of roofs have sometimes trough« placed with a
gentle inclination under, but near to the margin of the eaves in order
to carry the water into pipes ; but the appearance of such ap¡)eu^
dages is rather unsightly.
CARPENTRY. 237
Carpentry. Straight Roofs,
^ ^ Straight roofs of the most agreeable and best con¬
struction ought to have a certain number of dihedral
angles. Let us conceive, either in a hip roof, or in a
hip and valley roof, a bar to be fixed in the intersection
of every such angle ; and the plane which bisect-s the
dihedral angle to divide the bar into two equal parts, so
that two of its faces may be parallel to the bisecting line.
Let us again conceive, at the margin of every face
of the roof which joins the wall another bar to be
fixed, so that two sides may be parallel to the horizon ;
these two faces will therefore make an acute angle with
the plane of arrangement, or with the apparent face of
the covering ; and suppose all these bars to meet each
other, so as to form a complete frame surrounding the
aperture to be covered ; also, let the upper edges of the
bars of every such frame be in the plane of the support¬
ing bars of the covering, (that is, their plane of arrange¬
ment,) so as to allow for the proper thickness of covering
and boarding. If any particular bar is required to
project abt Ye the apparent face of the covering, draw a
right line on the inner face of such a bar which will
mark the intersection of the surface of the plane of
arrangement.
The bar in the dihedral angle, of which the line of
meeting of its two faces is parallel to the base of the
Ridge piece, ^oof, is called the ridge piece; and each of the inclined
bars in the meeting of every two adjacent inclined
Hip rafter, faces, which form a salient angle, is called a hip rafter;
and the timber in every face which joins the wall is called
Wall plate, a wall plate.
Thus every apparent face of the roof of an economical
building will have its enclosure in the form of some of
the diagrams, Plate, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. to 7. No. 1
is the figure of the apparent sides of a gable ended roof;
No. 2 that of a gable end and a hip ; No, 3 that of a
gable end and a valley.; No. 4 that of a hip and valley ;
No. 5 that of two hips; and No. 6 that of two valleys,
The quadrilateral diagrams. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, all
belong to the longest sides of the roof, and No. 7 to the
end of a hip roof.
Here, in this diagram, each timber bar adjacent to
each line, or side, is called by the general name of a
When the roof only coverg the top of the walls in part, the front
of the walls may be carried up to any required height above the
level of the roof, and a construction of wood, in the form of a trough,
is covered with thin sheets of metal, generally lead, for the purpose
of carrying off the water into pipes, which may either be concealed
or exposed, as the circumstance of the building may require. In
such constructions the water-ways are entirely concealed, and some¬
times the roof itself, b} the walls ; the wall thus carried up is
reduced ip its thickness in order to make room for these water-ways,
which are called gutters^ and such roofs are sometimes also called
gutter roofs ; the part of the wall thus carried up is called a parapet.
Gutters are not only placed along the horizontal margins of roofs,
but are also made in the valleys of return roofs. When the bot¬
tom and side pf the boarding of the gutters are supported by short
pieces of timber, thp gutters are called bridged gutters.
Gutters should be made sufficiently wide for a pergop to walk
along them with ease when repairs are needed, and they ought to
have a sufficient descent that water may run freely along them ; but,
instead of making one continued descent, it would be more conve¬
nient and less expensive to make two wherever circumstances will
admit ; and the nearer these descents can he made of the same length
the less height will be required for the fall of water ; because, when
long gutters are made in one descent, as the rise upon the whole
must be proportional to the length of run, the distance which they
cover the roof must be proportional ; or, otherwise, if the breadth of
the gutter be confined within parallel limits, the depth must bp very
great' to allow for the proper fall of thç water.
VOb. VI
hordering piece ; the bordering pieces being joined at Carpentry
the angles will form a triangular or quadrangular form,
according as the aperture consists of three or four sides.
The frame thus enclosing an open area is called the sur¬
rounding frame.
In the seven diagrams here referred to, the side B C is
supposed to be the skirt next to the wall, and A D that
adjacent to the ridge.
Fig. 8 exhibits the plan of a gable ended roof, figures
9 and 10 plans of hip roofs ; that of fig. 9 being square,
and that of fig. 10 oblong.
Fig. 11 is the plan of a hip and valley roof, or what Hip roofs,
is called, in reference to the plan, an ell roof, being in
form of the letter L ; and fig. 12 is the plan of a hip
and valley roof in the form of the letter T.*
All the supporting timbers of every inclined covering
of a roof ought each to be perpendicular to the wall
plate, and to have two faces perpendicular to the hori¬
zon, and a face in the plane of arrangement. All the
intervals between every two adjacent rafters ought to be
equal to one another ; and the breadth of every interval
between the frame and the adjacent supporting bar
ought not to exceed the breadth of the interval which is
common to the supporting bars. Moreover, every sup¬
porting bar ought to be fixed at each extremity to oppo¬
site parts of the skirting frame.
Hence, if the frame of the apparent face to be covered
belong to a hip roof, or to a hip, and valley roof, those
rafters only can be of equal lengths, which meet a ridge
in the summit of the roof and the plate at the bottom ;
therefore, in the triangular parts, the supporting bars
must be shorter and shorter. The supporting bars are
generally called rafters; and those which are of un-Rafters,
equal lengths, and all shorter than the rafters which ex¬
tend between the plate and the ridge piece, are called Jack raft-
jack rafters. ers.
But, it is clear, that the longer the rafters are, the
greater ought the scantlings to be ; therefore their depth,
or their thickness, or both their cross dimensions ought
to be increased as their length is gre_ater : for if all the
rafters were of the same scantling, their strength would
be very nearly in a reciprocal ratio of their length.
Now, instead of increasing the rafters in thickness, or
in depth, or in both these dimensions of breadth and
thickness, it is a general practice with builders to
make the rafters nearly of the same scantlings for all
buildings ; and therefore, when they are so long as not
to be able to support themselves and the covering withr
out sagging or breaking, it becomes necessary to support
every rafter at one or more intermediate points, and thus
to divide its length into two or more equal parts,
For the purpose of giving the rafters a sufficient sup¬
port, it is not only convenient, but economical, to place
one or more horizontal rectangular bars, called purlins^ Purlins,
so that each extremity of every purlin may be fixed to
the opposite parts of the bordering frame ; and that one
of the faces of every purlin, and the lower edges of all
the rafters comprised in the length of the purlin, may be
ail in one plane ; and, lastly, that all the intervals be¬
tween the plate and the ridge may be equal, the number
of intervals being one more than the number of purlins.
it is evident that, in hip roofs, the plane which bisects every
dihedral angle will be perpendicular to the horizon; therefore,
two faces of every hip rafter, two faces of every valley rafter, and
two faces pf every ridge piece, ought to be perpendicular to the
boyizua
2 K
•238
CARPENTRY
Principal
rafters.
Common
rafters.
Carpentry. Therefore every rafter in that length will be supported
by one point of the purlin, and at as many equidistant
points as there are purlins in the length of that rafter,
making the intervals one more than the number of
purlins.
Here the same observations may be made on purlins
as have been offered on rafters ; viz. that it is customary
with builders to make the purlins for all buildings" nearly
of the same scantling, whatever may be their length.
Hence, there is only one necessary length between one
prop and another that will sustain the rafters and the
covering to the best advantage ; therefore, if they have
any longer bearing than that which would be just neces¬
sary between their extremities, that bearing ought to be
divided into two or more equal bearing distances. This
may be done by placing a sufficient number of other
oblique bars in the same direction as the rafters, so that
all the upper edges of these timbers, and the under
edges of the purlins, may be in one plane ; and that the
two ends of the bar or bars thus introduced, may be
supported, and of such length as to contribute to the
support of all the purlins.
The bars for supporting the purlins are called prin¬
cipal rafters., and the rafters supported by the purlins
are called, by way of distinction, common rafters.
Again, let it be supposed that the principal rafters are
in their turn supported opposite to every purlin, as well
as at the two extremities. For this purpose, let as
many beams be extended across the building as the
principal rafters are in number, and let these beams be
supported upon wall plates ; viz. one plate upon each of
the opposite walls in the same manner as the binding
joists of a floor were laid upon the wall plates ; more¬
over, let the lower end of every principal rafter be fixed
to the end of the beam. Then, if the roof is of the best
construction, and be a common hip roof, its right section
will be an isosceles triangle ; therefore, if on the other
side of the roof principal rafters of the same length are
supported at their lower extremities, each upon the
opposite end of every beam, and if the two equal sides
thus constructed for the opposite faces be made to meet
each other in a vertical plane passing through the sum¬
mit, they will necessarily balance each other. However,
if they only lean one upon the other, a very small force
will destroy their mutual balance : hence, if they are
fixed together in any manner so as to prevent them
from sliding upon each other, their balance cannot be
easily destroyed by any accidental pressure acting upon
either side only.
Thus the supports of the purlins have been reduced
to a triangular frame of an isosceles figure, the two
opposite principal rafters forming the two equal sides and
the beams its base. It is obvious that in this state of
the timbers, the principal rafters from their own weight,
and from the load which they have to support, are in a
state of compression, and therefore the beams are in a
state of tension.
Hence the beams are called tie beams, and the whole
of the triangular frame, together with the timbers it
comprises, in order to support the principal rafters most
effectually and sufficiently, is called a truss, and the prin¬
cipal rafters among builders are often called principals.
The lower ends of the common rafters, when the con¬
struction of the roof requires principals, are fixed to a
bar of timber supported upon the ends of the tie beams.
This bar is called a pole plate. The whole of the
timbers, including the purlins and common rafters be¬
Tie beams.
Pole |)late.
tween every two adjacent trusses, is called a hay of roof- Carpentry.
ing. The whole of the timber work for supporting the
covering is called a carcass roof
The timbers of two skirting frames for supporting the
covering of two opposite inclined faces of a hip roof
which meet and form the ridge have been described.
The two triangular frames in the ends ought tobe filled
with common rafters supported by the same number of
purlins exactly in the same manner as has been ex¬
plained in respect to the sides of the roof.
In large roofs the construction requires a principal
rafter reaching from the middle of the wall plate to the
summit, and this is supported below upon a half tie
beam, and the feet of the common rafters upon a pole
plate is in the two sides which meet and form the ridge.
Whatever may be the form of a straight roof, the
timber work for supporting the covering of every in¬
clined aperture ought to be constructed in the manner
which has been described. Here, as in naked floorins»*,
the common rafter may be let into the purlins in the
same maimer as the bridging joists of a floor are let
into the binding joists. Hence the entire substance of
the rafters and purlins may be comprised between two
parallel planes, of which the distance will be less
than the sum of the depths of a rafter and purlin.
The purlins and principal rafters may also be comprised
between two parallel planes, which will be less distant
from each other than the sum of the depths of a purlin
and a principal rafter.
In roofing, not only horizontal and vertical framings
are employed in the construction, but oblique framings
also. The oblique framings are those which immediately
support the covering.
The vertical framings not only support the oblique
framings but the horizontal framings also. The whole
of the framings, taken collectively, is called the framing
of the roof, and all of them are connected and fixed at
the joinings. The timbers belonging to the horizontal
frame are disposed similarly to those in the framing of a
floor, and the timbers in the vertical frames to those of
a partition.
Every truncated or terrace roof ought to have at least Truncated
two sloping sides, and when such a roof is hipped it ought 'oofs, &c.
to have at least three equally inclined faces of which
two and two are adjacent, and every adjacent pair of in¬
clined faces form a dihedral angle. Such roofs may also
have one or more valleys according to the figure of the
plan. The hips and valleys of such a roof, as well as the
apertures of the skirting frame, ought to be constructed in
the same manner as those of a common roof, or of a com¬
mon hip roof, or of a hip and valley roof. The upper ex¬
tremities of the rafters in each face of the roof rest upon
a horizontal bar between the inclined face and the flat on
the top of the roof ; and the principal rafters instead of
meeting, have a beam fixed between the top of every two
opposite rafters so as to balance them ; and thus every
truss will consist of four rectangular bars, viz. ihc tie
beam, the two principal rafters, and the top beam which
is parallel to the tie beam. The top beam, from its
rising in the middle in order to give the boarding and
leaden covering a gentle inclination, is called a camber Cambet
beam. beam.
The four timbers of every truss ought to be comprised
between the two vertical planes which contain the ver¬
tical surfaces of the tie beam. It is evident that in
every such quadrilateral truss frame, the top beam and
the two principal rafters are in a state of compression,
CARPENTRY.
239
Carpentry, and the tie beam is in a state of tension. The cover-
ing' of the aperture on the top, supposing it to be rectan¬
gular, may be supported by a row of beams perpen¬
dicular to each of the horizontal bars, to the sides of
which the ends of the common rafters and the ends of
these beams may be fastened. The under edges of
the level row of timbers ought to be arranged in the
same horizontal plane, but the upper edge or back of
every timber extending across the horizontal aperture, is
generally cut into a very flat or obtuse angle having the
summit in the middle, so that all the summits may be
in a right line bisecting the aperture. Each sloping side
of the camber beams is boarded over, and the boarding
is covered with lead.
In the construction of a curb roof, the lower part being
the same in form as a truncated roof, and the upper part
the same as a common roof, or a common hip roof,
the construction of these parts may be the same as that
of common and hip roofs. The horizontal bar between
the two inclinations will serve to support the tops of
the rafters in the lower inclined face, and the feet of the
rafters in the upper inclined face. The beams which in
terrace roofs are required to support the boarding, do not
require to be cambered in the curb roof, as they only
serve the purpose of ceiling joists.
Curb The rafters used in the upper part are called curb
rafters. rafters, and the timbers in the angles which divide the
Curb two inclinations are called curb plates.
plates.
On the Trehedral in general.
A trehedral is a solid angle contained under three
plane surfaces called faces, every two of which meet
each other, and all the three in a point called the vertex
of the trehedral.*
Def. The angle formed on any face by the two edges
is called the angle of that face, and the face is said to be
obtuse or acute, according as the angle of that face is
obtuse or acute.f
♦ Generally speaking, timber is divided into solids, of which each
is contained by six rectilinear plane faces. The solids thus formed
for the èonstruction of buildings have various names according to
their relative magnitudes or their destination.
The faces of such solids terminate in twelve edges called by
workmen arrises, which are right lines, because the intersection of
every two planes is a right line. The twelve edges again terminate
in eight points, and three of the edges meet each other in each of
the eight points. Any three of the right lines which thus meet
contain between every two of them a face of the solid. But as the
faces are at right angles to one another, the edges are also at right
angles to one another. None of the eight trehedrals having the
three planes perpendicular to one another, can ever be an object of
research, all the parts being known.
But as timber may be cut by planes (that is by saws) in all
positions, we may have trehedrals of various forms in which the
angles containing the faces may be of all magnitudes.
As we shall frequently make use of the words oblique angle, it
will be proper to explain its meaning. An oblique angle is an angle
in which one of the sides containing it is not perpendicular to the
other, and may therefore be either an acute angle or,an obtuse angle.
An oblique plane has always a reference to another plane, and implies
that the two planes are not perpendicular to each other.
The cutting of timber contained under plane surfaces depends
entirely upon a knowledge of the trehedral, and there is no object
constructed in parts with plane joints which does not embrace some
case or other of trehedral solutions. We shall therefore proceed
to give the remaining definitions, and then to the solution of the
different cases.
f Proposition.'—Theorem 1.
If each of the three faces of a trehedral be acute, its section made
by a plane perpendicular to one of the edges, if sufficiently extended,
will be a triangle of which a side will be contained in each of the
three faces.
Def. If from any point in any one of the three edges Carpentry,
of a trehedral two right lines be drawn perpendicular
to that edge one upon each adjacent face, the angle con¬
tained by these lines is called the dihedral angle, which
is less than a right angle ; it is also called the inclination
of the planes.
Def. If a trehedral, of which the angles of the faces
are acute, be cut by a plane perpendicular to one of its
edges, the triangular section is called a sectional triangle,
and each of the three triangles formed by two edges of
the trehedral and a side of the sectional triangle is called
a lateral triangle.
Def. The edge to which the cutting plane is perpen¬
dicular is called the adjacent edge, and the remaining
two edges of the opposite face are called opposite
edges.^
On the Right Trehedral.
Def. If two of the faces of a trehedral be perpen¬
dicular to one another, the trehedral is called a right-
angled trehedral.
Def. The two faces of a right angled trehedral which
are perpendicular to one another are called the right faces.
Def. The face of a right angled trehedral which
joins each of the two right faces is called the oblique
face.
Def. If a right trehedral be cut by a plane perpen¬
dicular to one of the edges of the oblique face, this edge
is called the adjacent edge, the remaining edge of the
oblique face is called the opposite edge, and the edge
between the two right faces is called the right edge.
Def If the two right faces of a right angled tre¬
hedral he both acute, the trehedral is called a right tre¬
hedral.
Def. The right face which terminates in the adjacent
edge is called the adjacent face, and the right fact
which terminates in the opposite edge is called the op
posite face.f
For let C V, B V, and A V (plate i. fig. 1) be the three edges of
the trehedral, and let the angles of the three faces C V B, C V A,
and B V A be each an acute angle, and let the plane F G be drawn
perpendicular to one of the edges V C, and let the planes of two of
the faces which meet in this edge be prolonged to meet the plane
F G, thus let the face C V B meet the plane F G in the line G E
and let the face C V A meet F G in the line C D.
Then because the intersection of two planes is a right line, the
lines G E and G D are right lines, and because a right line perpen¬
dicular to a plane is also perpendicular to every right line drawn in
the plane from the point in which the line intersects the plane, the
right line G V is perpendicular to the two right lines G E, C D.
Moreover, because the angles G V B and V C E are both in the
same plane, and because the angle G V B is an acute angle and the
angle V G E is a right angle, the two right lines V B and G E will
meet ; but G E is in the plane F G, therefore V B will meet the plane
F G. In the same manner it may be shown that V A will meet the
plane F G. Let the edge V B meet the plane F G in E, and the
other V A meet it in D, therefore since the intersection of every two
planes is a right line, D G E is a rectilinear triangle.
* The definitions hitherto given are general for all kinds of tre¬
hedrals but as two adjacent planes of timbers are generally per¬
pendicular to one another, the oblique trehedral seldom occurs in
practice, and whenever it does so the object of inquiry may be ob¬
tained by dividing such a trehedral into two others, of which each
may have two planes perpendicular to one another. It is therefore
to this more Ijmited species of trehedrals to which we shall direct
the attention of the reader.
f Proposition.—Theorem 2.
In a right trehedral, the three triangles formed by the edges of
the trehedral and the sectorial triangle, as also the sectorial triang
itself, will be all right angled triangles.
For in fig. 2 let the trehedral be V A G B, in which the point V is
2 k2
240
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry. Def. In the sectorial triangle A B the angle A is
called the vertical angle, the leg adjacent to the vertical
angle is called the adjacent leg. and the leg opposite to
the vertical angle is called the opposite leg.
Deß The common leg of the sectorial triangle, and
the triangle upon any face of the trehedral formed by
two edges and that leg, is called the sectorial leg of the
triangle in that face.*
De/. The angle contained by the oblique face and one
of the right faces is called the inclination of these faces.
Def. The point in which any two of the sides of the
sectorial triangle meet each other in one of the edges of
the trehedral is called the sectorial point.f
the vertex, and A C B the sectorial triangle, and VA he the edge to
which the plane of the sectorial triangle A B C is perpendicular, and
let the two right faces be A V C and B V C, and the oblique face be
AVB.
The right line V A being perpendicular to the plane of the secto¬
rial triangle ABC will be perpendicular to every right line drawn
in the plane from the point A, in which the perpendicular meets the
plane ; hence V A is perpendicular to each of the right lines A C and
A B ; therefore, the two triangles V A B and VAC are each right
angled at the point A, and are consequently right angled triangles.
Moreover, because the right line A V is perpendicular to the
plane BAC, every plane passing along A Vis perpendicular to the
plane BAG, therefore the plane V C A is perpendicular to the
plane A C B ; and reciprocally the plane A C B is perpendicular to
the plane VGA. But because VGA and V G B are the right
faces, the plane V G B is perpendicular to the plane V G A ; hence
each of the planes AGB and V G B is perpendicular to the plane
A G V ; therefore their common section B G is perpendicular to the
plane A G V : again, a right line which is perpendicular to a plane
is perpendicular to every right line drawn in that plane from the
point in which the perpendicular meets the plane ; hence B G is
perpendicular to each of the right lines G V, G A ; therefore the
triangle V G B is right angled at G, and the triangle A G B is also
right angled at G ; hence all the four triangles A V B, A V G, B V G,
and ABC, are right angled triangles.
Cor. 1. Because the triangle V A B is a right angled triangle,
and the right angle is at the sectorial point A, the angles AVB
and AB V are each an acute angle ; therefore the angle A V B of
the oblique face is always less than a right angle, when the angles
of the right faces are each less than a right angle.
Cor. 2. Because the sectorial triangle A B G is a right angled
triangle of which the vertex of the right angles is in the right edge
at G, each of the two angles contained by the oblique plane and
each of the right faces is an acute angle.
Scholium.
From these two corollaries it appears that the sum of the angles
of the three faces is less than three right angles, and the sum of the
angles contained by every two faces is also less than three right
angles.
* Cor. The vertical angle A of the sectorial triangle is the
dihedral angle formed by the planes of the oblique and adjacent
faces, and the hypotenuse A B, the adjacent leg A G, and the oppo¬
site leg B G of this triangle are respectively the sides of the lateral
triangles opposite the angle of the oblique face, the angle of the
adjacent face, and the angle of the opposite face.
Hence if these triangles be all developed upon one plane, the
lines which are common in the solid are equal in the dev elopement j
that is, the vertical angle A of the sectorial triangle is equal to the
angle contained by a right face and the oblique face ; the hypote¬
nuse of the sectorial triangle is equal to the sectorial leg in the
oblique face ; the adjacent leg of the sectorial triangle is equal to
the sectorial leg in the adjacent face ; and the opposite leg of the
sectorial triangle is equal to the sectorial leg in the opposite face.
»
f Proposition.—Theorem 3.
Every right angled trehedral having one or both its right faces
obtuse, may be reduced to a right trehedral, or to one which shall
have both its right faces acute.
For let in fig. 3 one of the right faces of each of the four
adjoining trehedrals, A V B G, A V G D, A V D E, and A V E B,
be upon the same base B G DE, so that the oblique faces may
coincide two and two in the plane BAD, and the right faces may
also coincide two and two in the plane GAE, and let the right
Def. In a right trehedral the two inclinations and Carpentry,
the three faces are called parts.
The right angle being always given is not one of the
parts. Hence in every right trehedral the number
of parts are five. In every right trehedral, when tAVt>
of its parts are given, a third may be found at one ope-'
ration.
(1.) In all the diagrams the oblique face is denoted
by A V B, the adjacent face by A V C and the opposite
face by B V C.
The sectorial triangle is denoted by ABC, and the
three sectorial points by A, B, C.
As one inclination is only concerned in our opera¬
tions, this inclination is denoted by B' A C or by B A' C:
vh.i by B' A C when the sectorial triangle is placed
upon the sectorial line A C of the adjacent face, or by
B A' C when the sectorial triangle is placed upon the
sectorial line B C of the opposite face. It being conve¬
nient to place the sectorial triangle sometimes upon the
one, and sometimes upon the other of these lines.
All the triangles may be entirely detached in the con¬
struction, but it is convenient to adjoin in the same
manner as they are in the solid. This not only saves
lines, but renders the diagram more evident in order to
bring the corresponding edges in contact, and thereby
form the trehedral.
Keeping the above notation in view, the sectorial lines
A B and A C will be each perpendicular to A V, and
C B perpendicular to C V.*
faces in the plane B G D E be called the bases, and the other
right faces the vertical faces.
The bases of these trehedrals being right lines cutting one
another, are either adjacent or opposite, that is. in opposite angles.
Now let each of the three trehedrals AV GD, AVDE, and
A V E B, be compared with the trehedral A V B G, in which both
the right faces AV G and BVG are acute. Then, because the
angle B V G is acute, and the two angles BVG and G V D are
together equal to two right angles, the angle G V D is obtuse ; and
because G V D and D V E are equal to two right angles, and the
angle G V D is obtuse, the angle D V E is acute ; and because
D V E and E V B are equal to two right angles, and the angle
D V E is acute, the angle E V B is obtuse.
Moreover, because the angles A V G and AVE are together
equal to two right angles, and the angle A V G is acute, therefore
the angle A V E is obtuse ; hence the trehedral V A G D has an
obtuse base, G V D, and an acute vertical face C V A, and is joined
to the trehedral V A B G by the common vertical face A V G ; the
trehedral VADE has an acute base D V E and an obtuse vertical
face AVE, and the two trehedrals AVDE and A V B G are oppo¬
site each other, and have their vertical faces in one plane, and their
oblique faces in another plane ; and lastly, the trehedral V A B E
has an obtuse base B VE and an obtuse vertical face AVE, and
the two trehedrals V A B E and V A B G are joined to each other by
the common oblique face AVB, and hence the proposition pro¬
posed to be proved is true.
Gorollaries.
Hence, 1. If a right angled trehedral, of which the base is obtuse,
and the vertical face be given, find the adjacent trehedral, so that
the vertical face may be common to the trehedrals.
2. If a right angled trehedral, of which the base is acute, and
the vertical face obtuse, be given, find the trehedral upon the oppo¬
site base.
3. If a right angled trehedral, of which both its base and ver¬
tical face are given, find the adjacent trehedral so that the two tre¬
hedrals may have a common oblique face.
In any of the three cases the trehedral to be found will have all
its parts, and the like parts of both will be either equal or supple¬
mentary to each other. The common faces and opposite bases will
always be equal, as well as the dihedral angles which terminate in
the same right line, and upon the same side of this right line, and
the adjacent faces will be supplements of each other, as well as
the dihedral angles adjacent.
♦ Notwithstanding the variety of cases, which are sixteen in
number, every construction is extremely easy, as there is no case
CARPENTRY.
241
Cai^^entry. PROPOSITION.—Pro6/m 1.
(2.) Any two of the three paTts, the inclination, the
adjacent faccj and the oblique face of a right trehedral,
being given to find the third part.
Preliminary,
The adjacent änd oblique faces A V C, A V B being
constructed, the triangles upon these faces will have
a common leg V A upon the adjacent edge, therefore
the sectorial line upon each face will be perpendicular
to V A ; hence the construction may be found from one
of the three following rules.
Rule I.
(3.) When the inclination is required, the adjacent
and oblique faces must necessarily be given.
1. From any convenient point, A, in the adjacent
edge V A, draw the sectorial line upon each of the two
given faces.
2. The sectorial line upon the adjacent face, and the
sectorial line upon the oblique face being drawn, the
adjacent leg and hypotenuse of the sectorial triangle
will be given to find the vertical angle.
3. The vertical angle being found will be the inclina¬
tion required.*
Rule IL
(4.) When the oblique face is required, the adjacent
face and the inclination must necessarily be given.
1. Upon the adjacent face draw the sectorial line.
2. Having drawn the sectorial line upon the given
adjacent face, the adjacent leg and the vertical angle of
the sectorial triangle are given to find the hypotenuse.
3 Having found the hypotenuse of the sectorial
triangle, the lateral and sectorial legs of the triangle
upon the oblique face will be given to find the angle at
the vertex, or opposite the sectorial side.
4. The angle at the vertex being found, will be the
angle of the oblique face required.f
Rule III.
(5.) When the adjacent face is required, the oblique
face and the inclination must necessarily be given.
J. Upon the given oblique face draw the sectorial
line.
that requires more than three right angled triangles in the diagram,
and when the same triangle occurs, it is uniformly denoted by the
same letters. Though the number be sixteen, seven or eight of
these are sufficient for our present purpose.
♦ Example 1. to RuliE I. Proposition.
(6.) Given the oblique face AVB, fig. 4 or 5, and the adjacent
face A V C of a right trehedral, to find the inclination.
1. Take any convenient point A in the adjacent edge V A, and
draw the right lines AB, AC, each perpendicular to A V.
2. Draw C B' perpendicular to A C, and from the point A with
the distance A B cut the perpendicular C B' in B'. Join A B, and
the angle C A B' is the inclination required.
Example 2.
(7.) Given the adjacent face A V C, and the inclination of a
right trehedral, to find the oblique face AVB.
1. Having as before assumed the point A in V A, draw the right
line A C perpendicular to A W.
2. At the point A with the right line A C make the angle CAB'
equal to the given inclination, and draw the right line C B'' perpen¬
dicular to A C.
3. Draw the right line A B perpendicular to A V j make A B
equal to A B', join B V, and A V B is the angle of the oblique face
required.
2. Having drawn the séctoriál line upon the given Carpentry^
oblique face, the hypotenuse and an angle of the sec¬
torial triangle are now given to find the adjacent leg.
3. Having found the adjacent leg of the sectorial
triangle, the lateral leg and sectorial leg of the triangle
upon the adjacent face are now given to find the verti¬
cal angle.
4. The vertical angle of the lateral triangle being
found is the angle of the adjacent face required.*
Proposition.—Problem 2.
(9.) Any two of the three parts, the inclination, the
oblique and opposite faces of a right trehedral being
given, to find the remaining third part.
The oblique and opposite faces AVB, B V C, fig,
6, 7, and 8, being concerned, the lateral side of the two
adjoining triangles will be their common hypotenuse
B V ; and the sectorial lines will therefore be perpendi¬
cular one to each of the unconnected edges A V and
C V. Hence, by the following Rules, the part required
may be found.
Rule I.
(10.) When the inclination is required, the oblique
and opposite faces will necessarily be given.
1. Draw the sectorial leg upon each of the two given
faces.
2. The sectorial leg upon the oblique face, and the
sectorial leg upon the opposite face being drawn, the
hypotenuse and the opposite leg of the sectorial triangle
will be given to find the vertical angle.
* Example 3.
(8.) Given the oblique face AVB, the inclination BAG of a
right trehedral, to find the adjacent face A V C.
1. Draw the right line A B perpendicular to A V.
2. Draw A C perpendicular to A V ; make the angle CAB' equal
to the given inclination, make A B' equal to A B, and draw B'C
perpendicular to A C.
3. Join V C, and A V C will be the angle of the adjacent face
required.
In order to find any of the three parts required by compu¬
tation, we shall here give the investigation of the three formulas,
and as this can be done according to any of the three Rules, we
shall adapt this process to Rule I., in which the dihedral angle is
required to be found as being the most simple.
Let VA radius s: 1 j then will A B = tan AV B, and A C =
tan AV C.
Now in the right angled triangle A B' C are given the adjacent
leg AC and the hypotenuse AB to find the vertical angle CAB'.
By trigonometry making radius upon A B' and the cosine therefore
upon A C, the following analogy will give an equation from which
any of the three parts may be found.
A B' : A C : : radius : cos C A B' =
A C X rad taii A V C
AB'
tan A B V
hence
tan A V C = tati A V B X cos C A B',
tanAVB = = tanAVC X secCAB
because sec =
I
——J
cos
cos C A B =
cos CAB
tan A V C
tan AVB
tan A V C X cot AVB;
because cot =
tan
These equations in terms of the trehedral will be thus expressed:
tan adjacent face tan opposite face X cos inclination,
tan oblique face tan adjacent face X cos inclination,
cos inclination == tan adjacent face X cot oblique face
242
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry. $. The vertica. ang*le being found, will be equal to
the inclination.*
Rule II.
(II.) When the opposite face is required, the oblique
face and the inclination must necessarily be given.
1. Draw the sectorial leg upon the given oblique face.
2. The sectorial leg upon the oblique face being
tbund, the hypotenuse and the vertical angle of the
sectorial triangle will now be given to find the opposite
le<>'.
3. The opposite leg of the sectorial triangle being
found, the hypotenuse and the sectorial leg of the tri¬
angle upon the opposite face will be given, to find the
angle of this opposite face.
4. The angle of the opposite face being found is the
angle required.t
Rule III.
(12.) When the oblique face is required, the opposite
face and inclination must necessarily be given.
1. Draw the sectorial line upon the given opposite
face.
2. The sectorial line upon the opposite being found,
the vertical angle and opposite leg of the sectorial triangle
will be given, to find the hypotenuse.
3. The hypotenuse of the sectorial triangle being
found, the hypotenuse and sectorial leg of the triangle
upon the oblique face will be given, to find the angle
opposite to the sectorial leg.
4. The angle opposite the sectorial leg being found,
will be the angle of the oblique face required. J
* Example to Rule I. Proposition II.
(13.) Given the oblique face B V A, (fig. 6 or 7,) and the oppo¬
site face B V C of a right trehedral to find the inclination.
1. Draw the right line B C perpendicular to C V, and the right
line B A perpendicular to A V.
2. From the point B, with the distance B A, cut V C, or V 0 pro¬
longed in A', and join A' B. Then B A' C is equal to the inclina¬
tion required.
This case is applicable to the ranging of hip rafters, and to find¬
ing the dihedral angles of the regular solids.
f Example to Rule II.
(14.) Given the inclination B A C, (fig. 8,) and the oblique face
A V B of a right trehedral, to find the opposite face B C V.
1. Draw B A perpendicular to A V.
2. At the point A, with the right line A B, make the angle
BAC equal to the given inclination, and draw B O perpendicular
to A
3. Upon VB as a diameter describe the semicircle B C V; from
the point B, with the distance BC, cut the semicircular arc in C,
and join CV. Then BVG is the angle of the opposite face re¬
quired.
I Example to Rule III.
(15.) Given the inclination B A' C, (fig. 8,) and the opposite face
B V C of a right trehedral, to find the oblique face.
1. Draw B C perpendicular to V C.
2. In V C, or in V C prolonged, take any point, <?, and draw erf,
making the angle Cerf equal to the given inclination ; and from B
draw the right line B A' parallel to rf e, meeting C V in A".
3. Upon V B as a diameter describe the semicircle B A V j and
from the point B, with the distance B A', cut the semicircle in A.
Join A V and A B. Then the angle B V A is equal to the angle
of the oblique face required.
The methods of finding the formula when two parts out of the
three parts concerned in the proposition are given to find the third,
are similar to those investigated in the note to the example of Rule I.
It will, therefore, be only necessary to give the three expressions in
terms of the right trehedral.
1. sin opposite face = sin oblique face X sin inclination
2. sin oWique face =: sin opposite face X cosec inclination.
3. sin inclination =: sin opposite face X cosec oblique face,
Proposition.—Problem 3. Carpentry.
(16.) Any two of the three parts, the inclination, the '
two right faces of a right trehedral being given, to find
the third, or remaining part.
Preliminary.
i
The two right faces being concerned, the lateral edge
of the two adjacent triangles will be the right edge, and
will be the leg of the triangle upon the opposite face,
and the hypotenuse of the triangle upon the adjacent
face. Hence, the part required may be found by one
of the three following Rules.
}
Rule I.
(17.) When the inclination is required, the two right
faces must necessarily be given.
1. Draw the sectorial line upon the adjacent face, and
the sectorial line upon the opposite face.
2. Having drawn the sectorial lines upon the adjacent
and opposite faces, the adjacent and opposite legs of the
sectorial triangle will be given to find the vertical angle.
3. The vertical angle being found will be the inclina¬
tion required.^
Rule II.
(18.) When the opposite face is required, the inclina¬
tion and adjacent face must necessarily be given.
1. Draw the sectorial line upon the adjacent face.
2. The sectorial leg being drawn upon the adjacent
face, the vertical angle and adjacent leg of the sectorial
triangle will be given to find the hypotenuse.
3. The hypotenuse of the sectorial triangle being
found, the lateral and sectorial legs of the triangle upon
the opposite face will be given, to find the angle opposite
to the sectorial leg.
4. The angle opposite to the sectorial leg being
found, will be the angle of the opposite face required.f
* Example to Rule I. Proposition.
(20.) Given the adjacent face A V C, (fig. 9,) and the opposite
face B V C of a right tiehedral, to find the inclination.
1. Draw C A perpendicular to A V, and C B perpendicular to C V.
2. Draw C B' perpendicular to C A, and make C B' equal to
C B. Join A B^ ; then the vertical angle C A B' is equal to the in¬
clination required.'''
Or thus, instead of 2. (fig. 10 and 11.)
2. Having drawn C A and C B as in 1. Froin the point C, with
the distance C A, cut C V, or C V prolonged in A', and join A' B.
Then the vertical angle C hJ B is the inclination required.
N.B.—This Problem is applied in Carpentry to the ranging of
hip rafters ; and in Sciagraphy to the shadows of cylinders in all
positions, as also to the shadows of polygonal and circular rings.
•}• Example to Rule II.
(21.) Given the inclination B'AC, (fig. 9,) and the adjacent
face A V C of a right trehedral, to find the opposite face B V C,
1. In the connecting line V C of the two faces concerned, take
any point C, and draw C A perpendicular to A V.
2. At the point A, with the right line A C, make the angle
CAB' equal to the given inclination, and draw C B' perpendicular
to C A.
3. Draw C B perpendicular to C V ; make C B equal to C B', and
join B V. Then C V B is the angle of the opposite face required.
Or thus, instead of 2. and 3.
2. In CV, (fig. 10 and 11,) or in C V prolonged, cut off the
part C A' equal to C A, and make the angle C A' B equal to the
given inclination. Draw B C perpendicular to C V.
3. Join B V, and C V B is the angle of the opposite face required.
N.B. This Problem is applied in perspective in finding the
vanishing line of a plane, and in Dialling to finding the hour lines,
the angle which the style makes with the substyle being given,
* Formula for tbe arithmetical computation.
tan opposite face rr tan inclination X sin adjacent face,
tan inclination =: tan opposite face X cosec adjacent face,
tan adjacent face tan opposite face X cot inclination.
CARPENTRY.
343
Carpentry. RuLE III
(19.) When the adjacent face is lequired, the incli¬
nation and opposite face must necessarily be given,
1. Having drawn the sectorial line upon the given
opposite face, the vertical angle and opposite leg of the
sectorial triangle will be given, to find the adjacent leg.
2. The adjacent leg of the sectorial triangle being
found, the hypotenuse and sectorial leg of the triangle
in the adjacent face will be given, to find the angle
opposite to the sectorial leg.
3. The angle opposite to the sectorial leg being found,
will be the angle of the adjacent face required.^
Proposition.—Problem 4.
(23.) Any two or three faces of a right trehedral being
given to find the third.
General Rule,
When any one of three faces is required, the other
two must necessarily be given, and these may either
be the two right faces or one right face and the oblique
face. If the two right faces be given, the lateral right
edge V C must be the connecting edge, but if the oblique
face and a right face be given, the right face may always
be supposed to be the adjacent face A V C, and conse¬
quently A V the adjacent edge.
As the face to be found may be attached to either of
the unconnected edges of the two given faces, the lateral
side of the trian2:le to be found, attached to the uncon^
nected edge, must either be a leg or hypotenuse of the
triangle in the face required, but as one of the two may
always be chosen, the leg will afford the most easy con¬
struction ; hence.
If the lateral edge, to which the third face of the tre¬
hedral is connected, be a leg, draw a right line from the
sectorial point perpendicular to the leg, and the secto^
rial leg will be upon this perpendicular from the secto¬
rial point, and from the vertex of the lateral faces with
the length of the other unconnected lateral edge cut the
perpendicular, join the point of section and the vertex.
Then the angle at the vertex will be the angle of the face
required.
But if the lateral edge to which the third face is con¬
nected be the hypotenuse of the triangle in the face
required, describe a semicircle on this hypotenuse as
a diameter, and from the vertex of the trehedral faces
with the length of the other unconnected lateral edge
cut the semicircular arc. Join the vertex of the faces
and the point of section, and the angle by the line and
the diameter of the semicircle is the angle of the face
required.
Though the construction is easier when the face re¬
quired is attached to a leg, yet as the intersection of the
* Example to Rule III.
(22.) Given the inclination BA'C (fig. 10 and II) and the
opposite face B V G of a right trehedral, to find the adjacent face
A VC.
1. In V € take any convenient point C, and draw C B perpendi¬
cular to C V.
2. In C V, or in C V prolonged, take any convenient point e, and
draw e rf, making the angle Ge d equal to the given inclination.
Draw B A! parallel to d e, making C V, or C V prolonged in k!.
3. Upon C V as a diameter describe the semicircle C A V ; and
from the point C with the distance C A^ cut the semicircumference
in the point A. Join A C and A V, then C V A is the adjacent face
required.
N. B. This Problem is used in Sciography, in order to find the
fines of light and shadow in a cone.
arc aescrioe.a irom ine vertex and
tiití sccionai leg is v;arpeniry,
sometimes occasionally very oblique, a preference on
this account, when it so happens, may be given to the
other construction, when the face required is attached to
the hypotenuse.
N. B. When the two right faces are given, either
may be made the adjacent face.*
* Example to Proposition IV.
(24.) Given the two right faces of a right trehedral to find the
oblique face.
Let the adjacent face be C V A, (fig. 12,) and therefore the op¬
posite face C V B'
Now, in the adjacent face, the sectorial leg is perpendicular to
the adjacent edge V A, and in the opposite face the sectorial line is
perpendicular to the right edge ; therefore,
1. Draw C A perpendicular to V A, and C B' perpendicular to
CV.
2. Let it now be required to find the oblique face attached to the
adjacent edge V A. Draw A B perpendicular to A V, and from the
point V with the distance V B' cut the right line A B in B, and
join V B. Then A V B is the oblique face required.
Scholium.
The four Propositions now given will be found to apply to every
useful purpose in Carpentry, Perspective, Sciography, and Dialling.
As to the case in which the two dihedral angles and one of the
right faces, and that in which the two dihedral angles and the
oblique face are concerned, we shall leave for the exercise of the
reader, who will now, if he understands the preceding Propositions,
not be at any loss to supply the two Theorems just now men¬
tioned.
The three faces being the parts of the trehedral concerned, any
two being given as above, we shall here give the investigation of the
formula for finding any one of the three parts from the other two
being given.
Let C V = radius = 1, then will V B rS see C V B, and V A
cos OVA. Now since by construction V B rr V B, V B' rr sec
C V B ; hence in the triangle B' A V the hypotenuse V B see
C V B, and the leg V A =íí cos C V A, are given to find the angle
B V A ; therefore, making radius upon B V, the cosine of the
angle B V A will be upon V A ; hence
-rr XT A J -r. TT A V A X rad COS C V A _
V B' ; V A : : rad : cos B V A = -— = ^
V B' sec C V B
cos CVAXcosCVB.
Hence cos C V A zr cos B V A x see C V B j
and cos B V A zz cos C V A X cos C V B J these expressed
by the parts of the right trehedral, will be
cos one right face zz cos oblique face X see other right face.
cos oblique face zr cos one right face X cos other right face.
But before we dismiss this part of our Treatise, it will he found
useful to show how this last Problem may be constructed by another
principle independent of the trehedral.
(25.) Let gV d (fig. 13) be one of the right faces, and let g\
be the edge of the other right face which is common to the two
faces, and let V be the common vertex of these faces.
Through any point ^ in V ^ draw g bin any convenient position,
and prolong ¿ V to any convenient point A. From the point g
with the distance g A describe the arc A ó, and from the same point
A with the distance g V describe the arc V c meeting ^ ô in c.
Make the angle g cF equal to the angle contained by the other
given right face, and draw g F perpendicular to g h.
From the point F with the radii F F c describe the arcs b D,
and c E, and from any convenient point E in the arc c E with the
distance V A cut the arc ¿ D in D. Join F E, E D, and FED will
he the supplement of the angle required.
. For suppose the other right face to be placed upon g V with its ver¬
tex in V, and to he perpendicular to the plane gV b. Draw g F' in
the vertical face perpendicular to g h; then the vertical face will meet
the oblique face in a right line F' V which is the hypotenuse of a right
angled triangle of which ^ V is the-'hase, and therefore the angle Y^vd
will be the angle of the oblique face. Imagine g A and F' A to be
joined, then F'A will he the subtense of the angle F' V A, which will
be the supplement of the oblique face. Now because ^ c is equal to
g V, and ^ F is equal to the perpendicular ^ F of the imaginary ver¬
tical face, the right angled triangle ogY will be equal to the light
angled triangle V y F' in the vertical face ; hence the hypotenuse c F
is equal to the hypotenuse c F' in the vertical face. In like manner,
244
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry. Definitions.
J)eß A plane to which the relations and positions of
points, lines, and planes are given, and on which, from
these data, other relations are determined, is called the
'primitive plane,
Def. A point, line, or plane is said to be in space
when it vi situated out of the primitive plane, and a line
or plane is still said to be in space, even though one
extremity of the line or plane should come in contact
with the primitive plane.
Def. If a right line be drawn from any point in space
perpendicular to the primitive plane, the point in which
the right line meets the primitive plane is called the
projection of the point, and the right line itself is termed
the projectant of that point.
Def. A right line drawn through the projections of
two points of another right line in space, is called the
projection of this right line.
Def. A line or a point is said to be given when its
relations to the primitive plane are given.
Def A right line is given in space when the projec¬
tion and inclination of the line is given, or when the
projections and projectants of two of its points are given,
or provided the line meet the primitive plane when the
point of coincidence and the projection and projectant
of one of its points are given.
Def A point is said to be given either when it coin¬
cides with the primitive plane, or when its projection
and projectant are given, or when the distances from
the point to three given points upon the primitive plane
?tre given.
Def A right line is said to be given either when it
coincides with the primitive plane, or when its projection
and inclination are given, or when it is parallel to the
primitive plane, and the projection of the line and the
projectant of one of its points are given ; or any line
obliquely situated is said to be given when the projec¬
tions and projectants of two of its points are given ; or
a right line meeting the primitive plane is also said to
be given, when the point of contact and the projection
and projectant of one of its points are given.
Def A parallel plane is understood to be that which
is parallel to the primitive plane.
Def An oblique plane is that which has an inclination
to the primitive plane.
As the intersection of two planes is a right line, the
oblique plane will meet the primitive plane in a right
line.
Def. The right line in which an oblique plane meets
the primitive plane, is called the trace of the oblique
plane.
Def The trace of a plane is said to be given when a
right line is drawn upon the primitive plane, so that the
edge of the oblique plane, supposed to be a right line,
may coincide with the line thus drawn for its trace.
Def. A parallel plane is said to be given when the
projectant of any one of its points are given.
Def An oblique plane is said to be given when its
trace and inclination to the primitive plane are given.
Or when its trace and the projection and projectant
of one of its points are given.
if F Ä supposed to be joined, the hypotenuse F b will be equal to
the hypotenuse F A in the oblique face. But F E is equal to F c,
and F D equal to F 6 ; therefore the three sides of the triangle in
the oblique face are equal to the three sides of the triangle FED;
therefore the obtuse angle FED will be equal to the sujiplement of
the oblique face.
Or when the projection and projectants of three of Carpeniry,
its points are given.^ »-v'—^
Proposition.—Problem 1
(26.) To find the primitive inclination of a plane
which shall have a given trace, and which shall contairi
a given right line meeting the trace.
Here in the right trehedral are given the vertical and
primitive faces to find the primitive inclination.
Now as the primitive inclination is the inclination
concerned, the primitive face is the adjacent face A VC,
and the vertical face the opposite face BVG.
This Proposition, therefore, becomes the following
Problem :
The adjacent face A V C and the opposite face BVG
of a right trehedral being given to find the inclination.
The solution of this Problem will be found as in (20.)
fig.
Proposition.—Problem 2,
(27.) To find the vertical inclination of a plane which
shall have a given trace, and shall contain a given right
line meeting the trace.
Here in the right trehedral are given ihe vertical and
primitive faces, to find the vertical inclination.
Now as the inclination concerned is the vertical incli¬
nation, the vertical face must be the adjacent face A V G,
and the primitive face the opposite face BVG.
This Proposition, therefore, becomes the following
Problem :
The adjacent face A VC and the opposite face BVG,
of a right trehedral being given to find the inclination. J
♦ The angle contained by the trace of a plane, and the projection
of a right line contained in the plane, is one of the right faces of a
right trehedral, and is situated in the primitive plane ; because both
the trace of the plane and the projection of the right line are
situated in the primitive plane. The angle of projection of the right
line is the other right face of the trehedral, and is in consequence
in the vertical plane ; and the angle which the right line makes
with the trace of the plane is the oblique face of the trehedral.
When it is said that an oblique right line is given, it must be
understood that the projection and angle of the projection of the
yight line is given.
When it is said that an oblique right line is required, it must be
understood that the projection and angle of projection are required.
When the trace of a plane is required, it must be understood
that the projection of the right line must be given, and the angle
contained by its projection and the trace of the plane must either
be given or found.
When the projection of aright line contained in a plane is re¬
quired, it must be understood that the trace of the plane must be
given, and the angle which the tyace makes with the projection of
the line found.
Of the two inclinations of a right trehedral, the one, formed by
the oblique face and the primitive plane, is called for the sake of
brevity the primitive inclination and the other, formed by the
oblique and vertical faces, is called the vertical inclination.
When only one of the two inclination^ is concerned in the propoi;
sition, this inclination must be either given or required, but which -
ever of the two it is, the right face which forms the inclination with
the oblique face must be the adjacent face ; that is, when the primi¬
tive inclination is given or required, the primitive face must be the
adjacent face; and v/hen the vertical inclination is given or reqirred,
the vertical face must be the.adjacent face.
f This Problem is applied to the shadows of cylinders in all
positions, to a given position of the Sun's rays, as also to the .shar
dows of polygonal and circular rings.
I This Problem only differs from the last in the vertical inclina-^
tion being required in this, and the primitive in the la^t ; but both
are resolvable into the very same case of the trehedral, (20.) fig. 9,
when we abstract the trehedral from any position in regard of the
primitive plane.
This is the case which applies to the ranging of hip rafters, when
the angle which the hip makes with its projection, and the angle
which the projection makes with the wall plate, are given,
CARPENTRY.
245
Carpentry PROPOSITION.—Problem 3.
(28.) To find the inclination of a plane, so that the
plane shall have a given trace, and shall be parallel to a
given right line.
Let D E (fig. 14) be the trace of the plane, C V
the projection of the right line, V any convenient point
in DE, and C any convenient point in V'
Make the angle C VB' equal to the angle of projec¬
tion, and draw V C parallel, and make it equal to V C.
Draw CA perpendicularly upon DE, CB perpendi¬
cular to C A, and C B' perpendicular to C Vk Make
C B equal to C B', and join A B. Then C A B is equal
to the inclination required.
This Problem is equivalent to that of having the two
right faces of a right trehedral to find one of the inclina¬
tions, which is here the horizontal inclination, the two
right faces being CV A and C VB'. (1'7.) (20.)
Proposition.—Problem 4.
(29.) The trace A V (fig. 12) of a plane, and a right
line parallel to the plane being given, to draw a right
line in the plane from a given point V, in the trace
parallel to the given right line.
Let DE be the projection of the right line, and let V
be the given point in the trace A V of the plane.
Draw V C parallel to E D, and at the point V with
the right line C V, make the angle C V B' equal to the
angle of projection of the line.
Here we ha\e now given the two right faces C V A,
CV B' of a right trehedral, to find the oblique face,
(23.) (24.) and we shall find that A V B is the oblique
face required.
Thus the oblique face will be found without pre¬
viously ascertaining the inclination of the planes.^
Proposition.—Problem 5.
(30.) Two oblique right lines being given, to find the
trace of a plane which shall contain one of the lines and
be parallel to the other.
Let AB (fig. 15) be the projection of one of the
lines, and C D that of the other.
Draw B E parallel to C D. Draw B perpendicu¬
lar to BE, and BF perpendicular to BA. Make the
angle B A F equal to the angle of projection of the line,
of which the projection is A B, and make B F^ equal to
B F. At any convenient point in B E, make the angle
B 1 h equal to the angle of projection of the right line,
of which the projection is C D, and draw F' E parallel
to h L. Join A E, then A E joined is the trace of the
plane required.f
* These two last propositions v/ill be applied to cylindrical vault¬
ing upon an inclined plane, where they are indispensable.
f For imagine the right angled triangles A B F and E B F"*, to be
raised upon their bases A B and B E, until B F and B F' be each
perpendicular to the plane ABE, and the two right lines B F and
B F" will coincide, and the point F will coincide with the point F'.
Let this point of coincidence be called G ; the point G will be a
point in the plane ; but the trace A E, and consequently the points
A, E are in the plane, hence the sides A G and A E are in the plane.
Now, because C D and B E are parallel, and the angle B E G is, by
hypothesis, equal to the angle of projection of the line of which the
projection is C D ; and because the two planes which contain the
lines of which C D and B E are the projections are vertical planes,
they are parallel planes.
Hence the right line G E will be parallel to the right line of
which C D is the projection ; but if a right line be parallel to a right
line in a plane, the right line is parallel to that plane ; therefore
the plane AEG will be parallel to the right line of Avhich the pro¬
jection is CD.
vol. vi.
Projection. Carpentry.
Since a right line is given by having the position of
the points in which it terminates, and a plane rectilinear
figure by having the position of the right lines which
form the edges, a solid bounded by plane figures is
therefore given when the points terminating all the
right lines which form the edges of its surfaces are given.
Now as a point is most simply determined by its pro¬
jection and the length of its projectant, so also a solid
in space, contained by plain faces, is most simply deter¬
mined by having the projections and the heights of the
projectants of all its linear extremities.
Proposition.—Problem 1
(31.) Any oblique plane, and the position of a point
in that plane, being given, to find the horizontal projec¬
tion of the point.
Let T R (fig. 16) be the trace of the plane, and M
the position of the point. Draw M u intersecting T R
perpendicularly in and draw v W making the angle
uvW equal to the horizontal inclination of the plane.
From the point v, with the radius v M cut v VV in n, and
draw n m cutting uv perpendicularly in m, and m is the
projection of the point M.
Or, thus :
(32.) Let D be the given position of the point to be
projected. Draw Dd intersecting T R'perpendicularly
in g. In T R take any convenient point v, and draw
vu perpendicular to TR, and make the angle 7¿ííW
equal to the inclination of the plane. In î? W make v n
equal to g D, and draw n m meeting perpendicularly
in m. Draw m d parallel to T R, and d is the projection
of D as required.^
Proposition.—Problem 2.
(33.) An oblique plane and the projection of a point
in that plane being given, to find the position of the
point in the plane.
Let T R (fig. 16) be the trace of the plane, and d the
projection of the point. Having constructed the angle
uvW, draw d m parallel to T R, meeting vu'in m, and
draw mn perpendicular io vu meeting W in tz. Draw
d D perpendicular to T R, meeting T R in g, and make
g D equal to v ii, then D is the point required.
Proposition.—Problem 3.
(34.) To find the horizontal projection of the point
in which a given right line will meet a given plane.
(35.) Case 1. When the given right line is parallel
to the plane of projection, it will then be given when its
projection is given, and when the projectant of any one
of its points is given.
This proposition will be useful when the inclination in the Sun's
rays is given, and the inclination of a right line to the primitive
plane, to find the shadow of the line.
* For two right lines, one drawn from the point and the other
drawn from its projection, will meet the trace of the plane in the
same point, and because ^ D is equal to v M, the right line D M
is parallel to T B ; therefore the points D and M are in a right
line parallel to the trace of the plane ; hence the projections are
also in a right line parallel to the trace of the plane ; hence the
point d is the projection of the point D.
Scholium. This last part will be often found convenient, for if
many points were to be projected, it would be only necessary to
contract one angle for the whole, and thus the unnecessary trouble
to construct an angle equal to the inclination of the planes, for
every point to be projected would be avoided,
2 l
246
CARPENTRY-
Carpentry. In this case let 6 d (fig*. 17) be the projection of the
}g^ rjp tracc of the plane. In T R
take any convenient point and draw v tí perpendicular
to T R. Make the angle u vW equal to the horizontal
inclination of the plane, and from any convenient point
p in V u draw p q perpendicular to vu. Make p q equal
to the height of the projectant of the point, and draw
qn parallel to v meeting v W in n. Draw nm per¬
pendicular to V zi, meeting vu m and draw m d pa¬
rallel to T R. Then d is the projection of the point in
which the right line will meet the plane of which the
trace is T R, and of which the horizontal projection is
6 d,
(36.) Case 2. When the right line is obliquely situ¬
ated to the horizontal plane, it must be given in this case
either by having the projection of two of its points, and
the projectants of these two points, or by having the
point of coincidence, in which the line meets the plane
and the projection and projectant of one of its points.
Let öd (fig. 18) be the projection of the line, 0 the
point of coincidence, and k the projection of one of its
points, of which the projectant is known.
In TR take any convenient point v, and draw vu
perpendicular to T R. Make the angle uvW equal to
the horizontal inclination of the planes, and draw 0 I
and k p each perpendicular to u v, meeting u v in I and
p. Draw p q perpendicular to u v, and make p q equal
to the height of the projectant of the point, of which the
projection is Är, and draw the right line I q. Prolong I q
to meet vW inn, and n m perpendicular io uv meeting
u V in m. Draw m d parallel to T R, and d is the pro¬
jection CÍ the point required.^
Proposition.—Frchlem 4.
(37.) To find the point in which a given right line
will meet a given plane.
Fig. 19 exhibits the case in which the right line is
parallel to the horizontal plane, and fig. 20 exhibits the
case in which the right line is obliquely situated to the
horizontal plane. The notation or letters of reference
being the same as in fig. 17 and 18. Let Qk (fig. 19)
be the projection of the right line which is parallel to
the horizontal plane ; find the horizontal projection d oí
the point in which this right line will meet the given
plane. (34.) Again, in fig. 20 let 9 be the point of coin-
eîdeiice in which the right line meets the horizontal
plane, and let k be the horizontal projection of a point in
the line of which the projectant is known ; then find
(S6.) the horizontal projection d of the point in which
the right line in this case would meet the given plane.
The remaining part of the process being the same for
each figure ; therefore, in fig. 19 or fig. 20, draw d D
perpendicular to T R, intersecting T R in g ; then the
point n being already found by the construction which
was necessary in finding the horizontal projection of the
point in which the right line meets the given plane ; it
only remains to make g D equal to v n, and D will be
the point in which the right line will meet the given
plane, as required to be found.t
* For let the plane of the angle mi; W he turned upon v u until
it become perpendicular to the horizontal plane, and upon this hypo¬
thesis, the right line I n, and the right line of which Ô di^ the pro¬
jection, will be in a plane, of which ^ / is the trace ; and because Ô I
and T R are parallel, the traces of the two planes are parallel ; there¬
fore the intersection of these planes is parallel to each of the traces ;
therefore since n and D are in a right line parallel to T R, the pro¬
jection of the points w and D are also in a right line parallel to T R.
4 The reason of this process is so obvious, from that in the pre-
Applications of Projection in finding the Sections and *
Envelopes of Solids.
The surfaces of all solids are developable which can
be imagined to be unfolded and extended so that every
point in the surface may be in contact with a plane. Or
reciprocally, the surface of a solid is developable when
aplane surface can be bent upon the surface of the solid
so that all its parts may be in contact with the surface of
the .solid.
Proposition.—Problem 1.
(38.) To find the oblique section and covering of a
given prismatic solid, the plane of the section being
given.
A prismatic solid is given when the plane which con¬
tains the right section is given, and when the section
itself is given in relation to the trace of the plane.t
Let a ß e (fig. 21) be the given right section of
the solid, and let y zhQ the trace of the plane which
contains the right section ; also let T R be the trace of
the plane which contains the section required to be
found.
From the points a, ß, 7, e draw right lines perpen¬
dicular to y z, all meeting it in as many points as there
are right lines, and these right lines will be the heights
of the projectants of the edges. From the point of sec¬
tion in 7/draw right lines perpendicular to y z, and
these right lines will be the projections of the edges upon
the primitive plane. Let Odhß the projection of the
edge of which b is the section, and let 0 5 be the perpen¬
dicular height of the point h, and 6 ê will be equal to the
])rojectant.
Find d, the projection of the point in which the right
line, whose projection is 9 d, and the height of its pro¬
jectant 9 è, meets the plane whose trace is T R and angle
of inclination uvW. (34.) (35.) (36.) In the same man¬
ner find the projections e ab c oï the points in which the
remaining edges would meet the plane of section.
Find the point D, in which the right line, of which the
projection is 9 d, will meet the plane of section, (37.) and
in the same manner find all the other points ; then the
right lines EA, AB, EC, CD, DE, being drawn,
ABODE will be the section required.
(39.) Let it now be required to find the develope-
ment of the successive planes and the edges of these
planes which will meet the plane of section upon the
right lines A B, B C, C D, D E.
ceding proposition, that no demonstration seems necessary to com¬
prehend it. These pi opositions being understood, the student will
find their uses in Carpentry of unlimited application, particularly
in the various sections of difficult construction, as will be sufficiently
exemplified in this Treatise. We shall therefore proceed to apply
them in finding the sections and coverings of such solids as are
developable.
* TTie covering of solids is of the greatest use in Carpentry
and Joinery, in forming the soffits of arched doors, windows, or
gates ; the solids employed in the formation of arches are generally
those of cylinders, cylindroids, or of cones, the surfaces of which are
always developable.
f This being the case, all the edges of the solid will be perpen¬
dicular to the plane of section. But when a right line is perpendi¬
cular to a plane, the trace of the plane and the projection of the line
upon another plane will be perpendicular to each other, therefore
the projections of the edges of the solid in the primitive plane will
be perpendicular to the trace of the plane of section. But as it is
here supposed that the plane of section is perpendicular to the hori¬
zontal plane ; therefore the edges of the solid and their projections
will be parallel.
CARPENTRY.
247
Carpentry Prolong zy io a", and at any convenient point in
the prolongation y a^' from a' a" cut off a' ß' equal to
a ß ; from ß' a" cut off ß' 7' equal to /3 7; from cut
off 7' ê' equal to 7 3 ; and from h' a'f cut off h' e' equal to
è e ; and, lastly, make e' a" equal to e a.
From the points ß', 7^ è\ e', draw the right
lines a' a', ß' h\ c', e e', a!\ each perpendicular
to o!' d ; and from the points /), c, c?, e, in the projec¬
tion of the section, draw the right lines a a',hh\ cc\ d d'^
ee\ a d\ parallel to zd\ Join d 6', V c', d d\ d!e!^ dd\
then will the covering required be the rectilinear figure
a'^ d a' h'd d'd a".
Fig. 1, pi. ii. exhibits another example in which the
figure of the solid is a semicylinder instead of a prism.
Proposition.—Problem 2.
(40.) To find the envelope or covering of a right
semicone, the axis being situated in the horizontal plane.
Let ahc, pi. ii. fig. 2, be the section of a cone along
its axis, and let 6 c be the section of the base, then the
sides a h and ac this section are equal to each other,
and each equal to any edge whatever of the cone ; and
consequently, the envelope or covering will be the sector
of a circle of which the radius will be equal to any edge
of the cone, and the length of the arc equal to the semi¬
circular arc of the base ; therefore, upon ¿í c as a diasl:e-
ter describe the semicircle hf c, and from the summit a
of the cone with the length a c of one of the edges de¬
scribe the arc cFB, and make the arc cF B equal to
the semicircular arc cfb. Join B a, and ßcB is the
envelope required.*
Proposition.—Pro6Zem 3.
(41.) Given upon the primitive plane a section of a
right cone along the axis, the envelope of the semicone,
and a point in the envelope to find the projection of that
point upon its surface.
Let ahc (fig. 2, plate ii.) be a section of the cone,
and let ACB be the envelope of the semicone, and let
D be the point in the surface which is required to be
projected.
Through the points a and D draw the right line a¥
meeting the arc c B in F, and upon h c describe the
semicircle h f c. Transfer the arc c F of the sector to the
semicircular arc, making cf equal to c F, and draw/e
perpendicular to b c. Join e a, and from the point a as
a centre, with the distance a D, describe the arc Dg-
meeting a c in g. Draw g d parallel to c 6, meeting e a
in d, and d is the projection of the point D.t
* For imagine the semicone to be so placed, that the sides of the
section through the axis may be upon a b and a and the diameter
upon b c, and imagine the semicircle 6/c to be turned upon b c as
an axis until its plane coincide with the semibase of the cone ; then
as the centre of the semicircle b fc coincides with the base of the
cone, the two semicircumferences will coincide and become one
semicircumference. Imagine, then, that the sector a c B is so bent
that every point in the surface of the cone will coincide with the
surface of the sector ; then because every right line drawn from the
point a to the arc C F B is equal to every right line on the cone's
surface drawn from the summit a to the semicircumference of the
base, the arc of the sector will coincide with the semicircumference
of the base of the cone, and therefore the cone will be entirely co¬
vered.
f For suppose the semicone to be enveloped with its envelope,
then upon this hypothesis the right line e f will be perpendicular to
the plane ab ci therefore every plane passing through ef will be
perpendicular to the plane ahc ; hence the plane passing along the
right lines ae and ef will be perpendicular to the plane ab c; there¬
fore the right lines fa and e a are in the same plane.
Again, since the section cf a cone parallel to its base is a circle
perpendicular to the axis of the cone, the section of the semicone
Proposition.—Problem 4. Carpentry.
(42.) Given the projection of a point in the surface of
a right cone upon a section passing along its axis, to find
the position of the developement of the point.
Suppose the cone to be placed upon the horizontal
plane, so that its section along the axis may coincide
with the horizontal plane.
Let ß 6 c, fig. 2, be the section along the axis, b c being
the section through the circular base, and consequently
a diameter of this circle, and let d be the projection of
the point upon the section ahc.
Join ß d, which prolong to meet he in e, and upon
6 c as a diameter describe the semicircle hfc. Draw ef
perpendicular to h c, and from a as a centre with the
distance ß c describe the arc oF. Make the arc cF
equal to the portion efoi the semicircular arc cfb^ and
join F ß. Through d draw the right line i g perpendi¬
cular to A H, the axis of the cone meeting the side ßc in
the point g, and again from the centre ß, with the dis¬
tance a g, describe the arc g D meeting ß F in D ; then
is the developement of the point of which d is the
projection.
Proposition.—Problem 5.
(43.) To find the section and envelope of the portion
of a right cone comprised between the horizontal plane
passing along the axis and a given oblique plane.
Let Ola (fig. 3) be the section oí the cone along the
axis, and let T R be the trace of the cutting plane, and
let 01, 0 a meet T R in I and a.
Bisect the angle Z 0 ß by the right line 0 d, and through
any point in Od draw y z perpendicular to 0 d, meeting
01 in y and 0 a in z. Upon yznsn diameter describe
the semicircle yiZi and divide the semicircular arc into
as many equal parts as there are intended to be points
found in the section or in the curve of the envelope.
Draw right lines through the points of division to meet y z
perpendicularly, and through the points of section in y z
draw the right lines Oh, 0 c, Od, &c. ; then 0 is the point
where the right lines Ob, Oc, Od, &c. meet the hori¬
zontal plane, and the perpendiculars to y z are the pro-
jectants of the points in the semicircular arc. There¬
fore the projection and the projectant of a point in every
one of the lines of which the projections are Oh, 0 c, Od,
&c., are given, as well as their common intersection at
0, to find the projection of the points in which these
lines will meet the horizontal plane, (34.) (35.) (36.) and
to find the points in which these lines will meet the plane
of section, (37.) the trace and horizontal inclination of
the cutting plane being given. Let h, c, d, &c. be the
projections of the points where the right lines forming
edges of the conic surface would meet the plane of sec¬
tion, and B, C, D, &c. the points of section of these
right lines and the cutting plane ; then by the last Pro¬
blem (42.) find d, d, d', &c., the developement of these
points of which the projections are h, c, d, &c., and the
curve ß B C D, &c. will be the section ; moreover, the curve
wdll be the curve of the section of the developement.
will be a semicircle perpendicular to the axis ; hence g d a. part of
the diameter, and the arc of the semicircular section are both in the
same plane, and since the semicircular section is perpendicular to
the axis, all right lines drawn from a to the semicircular arc are
equal. Now, since by hypothesis the point F coincides with f and
the right line a F with a f; therefore the point D will be in the
right line a f and because a D is equal to a g, the point 1) will be
in the semicircle of which the diameter is g i ; hence the points
d, D will be both in a right line perpendicular to the plane ab c ¡
therefore d is the projection of the point D.
2 L 2
248
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry. Proposition.-—Problem 6.
(44.) To find the envelope of an oblique pyramid,
given the base, the projection, and projectant of the ver¬
tex upon the horizontal plane.
Let abed (fig. 4) be the base and e the projection of
the vertex. Then the figure fa^b'c'd^a", which is the
envelope, may be found by (25.) fig. 13. But as this is
of considerable importance in the Art of Carpentry, we
shall give the description here; the point e in this being
the point g in that of fig. 13, and being common to all
the sides «6, hc,cd^ d a of the base, will render the
description easy.
Draw any right line e k through the point e.
From the point e as a centre with the radii e e 6,
ec, edi &c., describe the arcs ah, bi, ck, dl^ meeting
ek in h, i, k, I.
Draw ef perpendicular to ek, and make ef equal to
the height of the projectant of the vertex upon e. Then
from the point /" as a centre, with the distances of the
point/from each of the points h, i, k, I, describe the arcs
h a', h a", i h', k c', I d\ and in the arc h a! take the
point a'^ at pleasure ; then from the centre a! with the
side a b of the base cut the arc i b' in b', from the centre
b', with the side 5 c of the base cut the arc kd in c', from
the centre d with the next side cd oï the base cut the
arc I d' in d', and from d' with the remaining side d a
of the base cut h a!' in . Join W V, b'd, d d', d'
also join f a', fa", nndi f a' y d d' a" will be the enve¬
lope required.^
Proposition.—Problem 7.
(45.) Given the radius of a cylindric surface, to find
the envelope of one of the portions of this surface com¬
prised between two planes intersecting each other, so that
the common section and one of the planes may each be
perpendicular to the axis.
Let S T (fig. 5) be the axis of the cylinder.
Method First.
From any point D in S T draw D C perpendicular to
S T, and make D C equal to the radius of the cylinder.
Through C draw RU parallel to ST, and draw DE,
making the angle CDE equal to the inclination of the
planes. Let D E meet R U in E. From the point D,
with the radius D C, describe the quadranfcal arc ABC,
and prolong D C to A'. Make the right line C A'equal
to the length of the arc ABC, and divide the arc ABC,
and the right line CA', each in the same proportion, or
equally into an equal number of parts. At the points
I, 2, 3, &c. of section in the arc draw right lines per¬
pendicular to DC; and from the points of geclion in
DC draw right lines again perpendicular to DC to
meet D E. Likewise, from the points of section in A' C
draw right lines perpendicular to A'C, and make the
perpendiculars from the points of section respectively
equal to the perpendiculars comprised between the right
lines DC and DE, so that the perpendiculars receding
from A' towards C may be respectively equal to the
perpendiculars receding from D towards C.
Thus, for example, from the second point of section
II, in the arc ABC, draw 2p, meeting AD perpendi¬
cularly in p, and draw pm perpendicular to C D, meet¬
ing E D in m. From the corresponding second point
* Scho/mm. In this maimer we may approximate to the surface
of an oblique cone, or that of any oblique pyramid, whatever may be
the number of its sides.
P, in the right line A' C, draw P M perpendicular to Carpentry
A' C, and make P M equal io pm. A sufficient number
of points being thus found, and the curve A' M' E' drawn
through these points, the triangle ACE formed by the
right lines A' C, C E, and the curve A^M E will be half
of the envelope required.
But if the abscissas be increased beyond a quadrant,
the ordinales will become less and less in reverse order ;
and when the abscissa is equal to the semicircumference
of the circle, the figure will end in an opposite vertex or
point.^
Def. Any portion of the sinic figure contained by an
ordinate and abscissa, and therefore the part next to the
vertex, is called the vertical segmejit of the sinic fgure.
Def Any portion of the sinic figure comprised be¬
tween two ordinales is called a truncated sinic figure,
Def If the abscissa of the sinic figure be a quadrant,
the figure is called a semi-sinic figure.
(46.) Hence we have another method of describing
the sinic curve.
Method Second.
Let C A', fig. 6, be the abscissa for half the length of
the curve, and C E the middle ordinate perpendicular to
C A'. Prolong h! C to G, and from the centre C, and
with the radius C E, describe the quadrantal arc E G,
Divide the arc G E into any number of equal parts, and
divide A'C into an equal number of equal parts. From
the points 1, 2, 3, &c., in the arc G E, draw the sines of
the arcs G 1, G 2, G 3, &c. ; and through the points of
division in the right line A'C draw right lines perpendi¬
cular to A'C, Make the perpendiculars upon h! C, as
they recede from A', equal to the sines of the arcs in
the arc G E as they recede from G ; then the curve
A' M E, drawn through all the unconnected extremities
of the perpendiculars, will be the sinic curve required.
Def If two sinic figures have the same abscissa in
common and equal ordinates, these two sinic figures are
called a cylindric right gore, a-s the fig. F A'E.
Def The figure comprised between two sinic curves
which have a common abscissa, but the ordinates of the
one less than those of the other, whether the curve be
upon the same or on contrary sides of the abscissa, is
called an oblique cylindric gore. Such is F N A' M E,
(fig. 6.)
Proposition.—Problem.
(47.) To describe an oblique cylindric gore, the dia¬
meter of the cylinder being given, and the inclination of
the axis to each of the planes.
* Scholium. The figure thus described is called the sinic figure.
For if any succession of arcs be taken upon the circumference
A B C, from the point A as their origin, as A 1, A 2, A 3, &c., the
sines of these arcs will be the right lines drawn from the points 1,
2, 3, &c. perpendicularly upon the radius A D, and will be equal to
the portions of the right line D C, intercepted between the point D
as their origin, and the points of section of the perpendiculars drawn
from 1,2, 3, &c., upon D C. Thus, let the portion of the quadrantal
arc A B C be A 2. Draw 2 p perpendicular to D C, meeting at p.
Again, let A1 be a smaller portion of the arc, and draw 1 q perpen¬
dicular to D C, meeting it in q. Draw p m and q r each likewise per¬
pendicular to D C, meeting DE in m and r. Now Dp and D q are
the sines of the arcs A 1, A2 ; but, by similar triangles, Hp m and
Hqr, we shall have this analogy. Dp \ H q y, pm \ qr that is,
p m and q r are to one another as the sines of the arcs A 2 and A 1 ;
therefore, as the abscissas AI, A 2, in the plane figure C A' M E
are equal to the arcs A 1, A 2 ; and, as the ordinates 1 Q and P M
in the plane figure CAME are equal io qr and p m, the ordinates
1 Q and P M are proportional to the sines of the corresponding arcs
A ], A 2 of the right section of the cylinder.
CARPENTRY.
249
Carpentry. Let ST (fig. 7) represent the axis. Make the
angles T DE and T DF equal to the inclination of the
two planes, and draw D C perpendicular to S T ; in
D S make D A equal to the radius of the cylinder, and
describe the quadrantal arc ABC. Proceed with each
of the plane curves A'ME and ANF, as in (45.),
and the figure F N A' M E will be that required.
Proposition.—Problem 8.
(48.) To descnbe a cylindroidal oblique gore for one
quarter of the cylindroid, the vertex of the curve being
in the extremity of the axis major of a right section of
the cylindroid, the two axes of the right section being
given.
Let S T, fig. 8, be the projection of the axes of the
cylindroid upon the horizontal plane to which the axis
itself is parallel, and let T D E and T D F be made
equal to the angles of inclination of the axis of the
cylindroid to each of the two planes which comprise
between them the portion of the surface of the solid ;
which, (portion of the surface,) when developed, will
form the cylindric gore required.
Draw DC perpendicular to ST. Join D S, make
D A equal to the semiaxis minor, and make D C equal
to the semiaxis major of the ellipse of the right section
of the cylindroid. Having described the elliptic qua¬
drant ABC, proceed in the same manner as in the last
})roposition for fig. 8, and we shall have the spheroidal
gore required.*
Proposition.—Problem 9.
(49.) To describe the gores in order to approximate
to the covering of a spherical surface.
Conceive the sphere to be divided into a number of
equal parts by planes intersecting each other in one
common diameter of the sphere, then each of these equal
parts or sectorial solids are contained by three distinct
surfaces, of which the figures of two are semicircles,
and the remaining one is called a spherical lune.
Let a plane bisect the dihedral angle, contained by
the two semicircular faces of one of the sectors, and its
intersection with the spheric lune will be the semicir-
curnference of a great circle ; now let a plane surface be
so bent and applied to the spherical lune that every
point in the intermediate semicircumference may coin¬
cide with the surface thus applied, and if the surface
thus applied be cut by the planes of the two semicircular
faces, the portion thus intercepted of the surface applied
will be a portion of a cylindric surface,t and will be the
* Scholium. The envelopes of cylindrical, prismatical, conicah
and pyramidical bodies may be correctly found in one plane figure ;
but the surface of a nondevelopable solid cannot by any means be
unfolded into a plane surface, nor can the figure be altered without
breaking it in all parts. Such are the surfaces of conoids which, in
course, include those of spheres, spheroids, &c.
j- Proposition.—Theorem 1,
(50.) All right lines drawn through any given points in the cir¬
cumference of a great circle of the sphere perpendicular to the plane
of that circle, are tangents to the spheric surface at these points,
and are in a cylindric surface of which the great circle is a right
section.
For, let a diameter of the sphere be draw^n perpendicular to the
plane of this circle, (which let be called the primary circle,) and the
diameter the axis of the primary circle ; and let another great cir¬
cle pass through any one of the given points in the circumference,
and through the poles of the primary circle, and let this circle be
called a secondary or meiidional circle ; the circumference of the
secondary circle will be divided into four equal parts by the axis,
and by the chcumference of the primary circle. Now because in
any semiciicle whatever a right line drawn through the point of
nearest approximation to the s-urface of the spherical Carpentry,
lune ; therefore, to construct a surface which shall be the
nearest possible approximation to the entire surface of
the sphere, we have only to form the figure of the de-
velopement of one of the cylindric parts, which being
done, will serve as a mould in drawing the remaining
parts, the whole being bent and fixed together so that
the vertices may meet, and the adjacent edges come in
close contact ; then a cylindric polyhedron consisting of
as many obtuse angles as there are parts will be formed,
and this polyhedron, if the number of cylindric parts be
many, will not differ in any perceptible degree from that
of the spherical surface.
Pig. 9 exhibits the great circle of the sphere with the
divisions, and also the figure of one of the parts in
developement ; the letters of reference are the same as in
fig. 5, which is only required to be understood in order
to understand this.
Proposition.—Problem 10.
(52.) To find the covering of the surface of a spheroid
approximately, the fixed and revolving axes being given.
Because if a spheroid be cut by any plane whatever
through the centre, a cylindroidal surface may be so
bisection in the arc parallel to the diameter is a tangent to the curve
at this point ; therefore a right line drawn parallel to the axis which
is the diameter of the secondary circle of the sphere through one of
the points in which the two gieat circles intersect, will be a tangent
to the circumference of the secondary circle at the same point, and
since this tangent is parallel to the axis it is perpendicular to the
plane of the primary circle. Then, since a right line which is a
tangent to a great circle at any point, is also a tangent to the
spheric surface at the same point, hence a right line drawn through
any given point in the circumference of a great circle of a sphere
perpendicular to the plane of that circle, is a tangent to the
spheric surface ; and as the same may be proved of every right line
drawn in the same manner, hence all right lines drawn through
any given points in the circumference of a great circle perpendicular
to the plane of that circle, being tangents to the spheric surface and
perpendicular to the plane of a great circle, are in a, cylindric sur¬
face of which the great circle is a right section.
Proposition.—Theorem 2.
(51.) If two or more great circles intersect a minor circle and
intersect each other in one common diameter of the sphere, and if
this diameter pass through the centre of tlie minor circle as its axis,
all the tangents to the great circle at the points in which their cir¬
cumferences intersect the minor circle are tangents to the spheric
surface at the same point, and are all in the surface of a right cone
of which the minor circle is the base.
For all semi-great circles of the sphere are eqnal, therefore the
semicircles which have the axis of the minor circle for their common
diameter are equal ; and because the plane of the minor circle will
intersect the surface of every semicircle in a right line perpendicular to
the axis as an ordinate, hence all the ordinates of the semicircles will
he equal, being drawn from the same point in the common diameter ;
hence all the angles formed by the tangents to the semicircular arcs
at the extremities of the ordinates are equal ; and because the axis
is at right angles with every ordinate, and that the angles formed
by the ordinates and the tangents are acute on the side of the minor
circle to the nearest pole, and since the tangents and the axis are in
the same plane, the tangents will necessarily meet the axis and
form as many right angled triangles as there are tangents ; but as
any one of these right angled triangles has two angles, and the in¬
terjacent side respectively equal to two angles and the interjacent
side of any other, all the right angled triangles are equal, therefore
all the sides opposite to the equal angles are equal \ hence all the
hypotenuses are equal, and the perpendiculars opposite the angles
contained by the ordinates and the tangents are equal ; and since
they coincide with the axis line, and have one common extremity at
the points in which the ordinates intersect, the other extremities will
also coincide in a common point ; hence all the tangents are in the
surface of a cone, of which the base is the minor circle, and the axis
the intercepted part of the axis of the minor circle and the conic
surface, is a tangent to the spheric surface at every point of the cir¬
cumference of the minor circle.
250
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry, formed and applied to the spheroidal surface, that the
two surfaces will only come in contact in every point of
the curve of the section of the spheroid.^
The entire ellipse, fig*. 10, is a section through the
axis of the spheroid, the curve is divided into equal
parts and right lines are drawn to the centre ; these right
lines are the projections of the joints in which the boards
meet each other. If every two adjacent lines be pro¬
longed to meet a tangent to the intermediate curve
parallel to the chord, the triangles thus formed will be
the projections of half the gores. To find the dimen¬
sions of the spheroid for any particular gore or part,
the semi-axis minor of the spheroid will also be the
semi-axis minor of the cylindroid for every gore what¬
ever ; and for any particular gore, draw a right line from
the centre perpendicularly upon the tangent, or tangent
prolonged, and the length of this perpendicular will be
the semi-axis major. Thus let the projection of one of Carpentry,
the gores be DE F. Prolong E F to C, and draw DC
perpendicular to E C, and D C is the semi-axis major.
The method of forming the gore is given (48.) and
applies here also, the letters of reference being the same
in both ; the gore being found is here exhibited by the
figure E F N M E, as in fig. 8.
Another Method,
(54.) Let the circle ABC H (fig. II) be a great
circle of the sphere, and let C O be a radius of the same.
Draw the diameter H B at right angles to A O, and
divide the arc C H into a number of equal parts, C c?,
de, ofyfg'i &c., so that the chords may be very small.
Draw the right lines d d\ ee', ff, gg', &c , parallel to
the diameter H B to meet the opposite part of the cir¬
cumference, and because A B C H is a great circle of the
sphere, its plane will pass through the centre. Let the
sphere be cut by planes through the points d, e, f, g, &c.,
perpendicular to the radius C O, and the curved surfaces
of the parts will very nearly be the frustums of conic
surfaces, and the sections of these solids through the axis
are the surfaces comprised by the parallel right line
d d\ &c. Therefore, if O C be the axis, join
d C, then d C is the radius of the sector which will cover
the surface of the sphere, of which the triangle cdd' is
the projection, or which will cover the surface of the
part of the solid of which c dd^ is a section through the
axis.
Prolong O C to any convenient length, and join d e,
eff g, &c. ; also prolong ec, fe, g h, &c., to meet the
prolongation of the axis DC in the points Zehn, &c. ;
the right lines cÄ, dk are equal to the distance of the
vertex of the cone to the circumference of each end oí
the conic frustum, and of which a section through the
axis is d d' e' e, therefore, from the point k, with the
radii kdyke, describe the arcs dq, er; then the figure
edqr is a part of the coveiing of the surface of the
conic frustum of which the section is dee'd'. In like
manner the coverings of the lemaining frustums may be
found.^
* (53.) For let the section through the centre be called A, and
let a section through the axis, perpendicular to the plane of the sec¬
tion A, be called B, and let a thiid section, parallel to the section B,
he called C. Then the sections B and C will be cut by the section
A in right lines, which will be parallel to each other, and will be
diameters to the ellipses of the sections B and C ; therefore since
all paiallel sections of a conoid are similar figures, and have their
corres])onding diameters parallel, the tangents at the extremities of
these diameters will be parallel to each other. Now every right line
which is a tangent to the curve of any section of a solid, is also a
tangent to the surface of the solid, therefore the two parallel right
lines which are tangents to the curves of the sections B and C, are
also tangents to the surface of the spheroid ; but the same two
points of contact in the curves of the sections B and C, are also
points in the curve of the section A ; therefore the two parallel right
lines, which are tangents to the spheroidal surface, have only their
points of contact in the curve of the section A. In the same man¬
ner it ma}?- be proved that any other right line which passes through
any other given point in the curve of the section A, parallel to tan¬
gent to the curve in the section B, is a tangent to the surface of the
spheroid ; hence if these tangents be ever so numerous, being all
parallel, they are in the surface of a cylindroid, which will touch the
spheroidal surface only in every point of the curve of the section A.
Scholium. Another method of finding the coverings of solids of
revolution, is by supposing in any such solid that it is divided into
a great number of parts by planes perpendicular to the axis of rota¬
tion, so that the chords of the curb surface may be all equal ami very
narrow, the spherical surfaces of the frustums will not difier sen¬
sibly from the surface of the frustums of right cones which are de¬
velopable. Now as the covering of every right cone is the sector
of a circle, of which the radius is equal to an edge of the cone, and
the length of the arc of the sector equal to the circumference of the
base of the cone, and because similar cones have their angles of
developement, that is the angles of their sectorial coverings equal ;
and since, the frustum of a cone is the portion of a cone that remains
after cutting off the part next the vertex by a plane parallel to the
base, and as the part thus cut off is a cone similar to the whole
cone.
Therefore, if the angle of developement of a right conic surface
be found, the truncated sector which will cover any given frustum of
this cone will be found, by describing, from the vertex of the angle
of developement, with radii respectively equal to an edge of the
whole cone and equal to an edge of the part cut off, two arcs, then
the four-sided figure contained by the two arcs, and the portions of
the right line forming the angle of developement intercepted by the
arcs, is the covering required.
But, since the edges of a right cone are equal, any edge of such
cone is equal to the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle, of which
one of the legs is equal to the axis of the cone and the other equal
to the radius of the circular base ; therefore, in order to find the
radius of the sectional covering from the given cone, we have only
to construct such a triangle, or two such triangles being joined so
that they may have a common leg equal to the length of the axis,
will form an isosceles triangle, of which the hypotenuse will be the
equal sides, and the two remaining legs will be equal to the dia¬
meter of the circular base.
The isosceles triangle thus constructed will be equal to a section
of the cone through its axis. We shall now apply the principles of
describing the covering of cones, or of their frustum, to the cover¬
ings of spherical surfaces.
Application of Cylindric and Conic Surfaces to the
Soffits of Doors and Windows.
Def. A soffit is the lower surface, or intrados, of the
part of a wall suspended over the aperture of a door or
window between the jambs.
We shall treat only of such soffits as are the under
surfaces of arches, and those only which are develop¬
able, and therefore easily described in piano.
Proposition.—Problem I.
(55.) To find the developement in the construction
of a cylindric soffit perforating a straight wall, so that
* These methods of covering a spheric surface may be distin¬
guished by the names of the cylindrical and conical princi})les, as in
the foimer case we approximate to the spherical surface by means
of cylindrical surfaces, and in the latter we approximate to the
spherical surface by means of conic surfaces ; the conic method is
the most easy in its general application, the principle is the same
whether the solid be a sphere or a spheroid or conoid, so that the
solid may be divided by planes perpendicular to the axis of rotation.
The conic method, however, requires more materials to cover the
solid than the cylindric method; and in the most useful solid,
which is the sphere, its application is abundantly easy ; since when
one figure is formed, the remaining ones may easily be described
without constiuctive lines, only employing that which was found by
a construction as a mould.
CARPENTRY.
251
Carpentry, the axis of the cylinder may be parallel to the horizon,
and in any given position in respect of the plane of the
surface of the wall, the radius of the cylinder and the
thickness of the wall being given.
Let the parallel right lines B C, A D (fig. 12) be the
intersections of the faces of the wall, with a plane paral¬
lel to the horizon. Draw the right line B A so that the
angle C B A may be equal to the angle which the axis
of the cylinder makes with the plane of the wall, and
prolong A B to any convenient point E. Draw E G
perpendicular to A E, and make E G equal to the dia¬
meter of the cylinder. Draw G D parallel to E A,
meeting B C in C, and upon E G as a diameter descrioe
the semicircle E H G. Prolong G E to I, and make
E I equal to the developement of the semicircular arc
E H G. Divide the semicircular arc E H G and its
developement E I each into the same number of equal
parts, and draw right lines through the points of divi¬
sion in the semicircular arc to meet the base E G. From
the points of section in E G draw right lines parallel to
G D or E A, to intersect B C and to meet the right line
A D, and from the points of division in EI draw right
lines also parallel to E A, and consequently perpendi¬
cular to E I. Find points in the parallels drawn from
the points in E I by transferring the parallels comprised
between the right lines E C and E G, so that the dis¬
tances as they recede from A E on each side of it may
be respectively equal, and through the points of division
marked upon the parallels draw the curve K L B.
In the same manner find the curve M N A and join
KM, then KLBANM is the developement of the
cylindric intrados or soffit required."''^
* In order to prove the truth of this, it is only necessary to show
that the developement will, when properly bent, coincide with the
cylindric surface, and its edges with the two planes which are per¬
pendicular to the plane of the axis of the cylinder, and which are
the faces of the walls.
The following are the propositions in which the demonstration
depends, viz.
Every right line which is parallel to the plane of projection, is
projected into a right line equal to its own length.
Every right line and its projection are in a plane perpendicular to
the plane of projection.
Every point which has a projection is in a right line perpendi¬
cular to the plane of projection drawn from the projection of the
point.
Now, since the plane of projection contains the axis of the
cylinder, and all the right lines on the curved surface of the
cylinder are parallel to the axis, therefore all right lines upon the
surface of a cylinder are projected upon a plane which contains the
axis, into right lines of equal length and also parallel to the axis.
Let the plane of the semiciicle EH G be raised upon the right
line E G perpendicular to the axis, and suppose the semicylinder to
he placed upon the section so that the axis may be upon F B, and
the centre of the semicircular base upon the point F ; then the
semicircumference E H G will coincide with the semicircumference
of the end or base of the cylinder.
Then, because if in the plane of developement two right lines
form a right angle, and if one of them he applied so as to coincide
with any edge of a cylinder, and if the plane of develo})ement con¬
taining them he bent upon the cylindric surface so that all the points
of the two surfaces shall coincide, then the other right line will fall
upon the circumference of a circle which will he a right section of
the cylinder.
Moreover, if two right lines in a plane are parallel, and if one
of these right lines he applied to any edge of a cylinder, and the
plane so bent upon the cylindric surface that all the points of the
two surfaces may coincide, then the other right line will coincide
with another edge of the cylinder.
Therefore, in the developement, since the right line E I is the
length of the semicircular arc, and both the right line E I and the
semicircular arc divided into the same number of equal parts, and
since the right line E I is perpendicular to the edge E B of the
Def. A surface is said to be perpendicular to a plane Carpentry,
when a right line, drawn from any point in the inter-
section or trace of the surface perpendicular to the plane,
coincides in all parts with the surface.^
Proposition.—Problem 2.
(56.) The plane of a circular wall being given, the
radius of a cylindrical sofiit, and the direction of the axis
of the cylinder in a horizontal plane, to describe the
developement of the soffit.
Let AEC and BFD (fig. 13) be the plans of the
faces of the walls, and let them be parallel arcs of circles ;
then the two faces of the walls will be concentric, cylin¬
dric surfaces having their axis perpendicular to the plane
of the horizon, that of the aperture being parallel to the
horizon. Let G F be the direction of the cylindric
surface of the aperture passing through the axis of the
faces of the cylindric wall. Draw A B and C D each
parallel to G F, and at a distance from G F equal to the
radius of the cylindric soffit, and draw the chord C A of
the arc of the concave side of the plan of the wall. Then
A B F D C may be supposed to be a horizontal section
of the cylindric part of the intrados of the arch through
the axis upon which the soffit is to be formed. Upon
A C as a diameter describe the semicircle A H C, and
prolong C A to 1. Make AI equal to the developement
of the semicircular arc A H C, and divide the arc A H C
and the right line A I, each into the same number of
equal parts.
Through the points of division in the arc A H C draw
right lines perpendicular to A C to meet it in as many
points as the perpendiculars are in number ; and from
all the points of section in A C draw right lines parallel
to A B, intersecting the curve AEC, and meeting the
curve BFD each in as many points as the number of
lines which are parallel to A B, drawn from the points of
section in A C. Through the points of division in A Î
draw right lines parallel to A B, and upon each of these
right lines receding from A set off the respective
cylinder, therefore if the developement A E I M N A be bent upon
the cylindric surface, and if all the points in both surfaces he in
contact, the right line E I will fall upon the arc of the semicircular
base, and the points of division upon the corresponding points of
the semicircular arc, and all the right lines which were in the de¬
velopement will be parallel right lines upon the cylindric surface,
and will therefore he parallel to the axis ; and as these right lines
pass through points in the circumference of the base, and as those
points in the circumference of the base are the upper extremities of
right lines perpendicular to the plane of projection, and the other
right lines drawn in the plane of piojection from the foot of the per¬
pendicular are parallel to the axis ; hence the right lines upon the
cylindric suiface drawn from the upper extremities of the perpendi-
lars, and the lines drawn from the feet of the perpendiculars in the
plane of projection, are in planes perpendicular to the plane of pio¬
jection, viz. every two which are drawn from the same perpendiculars
are in a plane perpendicular to the plane of projection and paiallel
to the axis of the cylinder ; hence the right lines which aie drawn
in the plane of projection parallel to the edges of the cylinder, are
the projections of the right lines which form the edges of the
cylinder, and, since all the points of these edges are equal to the
corresponding parts of their projections, all the points in the plane
of projection must be the projections of the points upon the cylindric
surface ; and as the curves pass through these points in the cylindric
surface and the right lines which form the faces of the wall pass
through, the points in the plane of projection ; therefore, the whole
developement will coincide with those lines on the cylindric surface
of which the projections are given.
* ScÂo/ium. The following theorems are indispensable, and are
almost self-evident of themselves; but, as the last two require many
words to connect the chain of reasoning, we shall he under the
necessity of omitting the demonstration, and so remain satisfied with
the enunciations of the propositions.
252
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry, distances comprised between the chord A C and the
curve AE C. Through the extremities of the distances
draw the curve I K A, and, in the same manner, draw
the curve L M B, and join £ I ; then the figure A M B
L Í K A is the developement of the soffit required.*
Proposition.—Problem 3.
(59.) To draw a tangent to either of the curves in
the developement of a cylindrical soffit in a straight wall,
the axis of the cylinder being parallel to the horizon, but
oblique to the face of the wall.
Let it be required to draw a tangent at the point L
(fig- in the curve It L B. Draw L <9 parallel to
A E, meeting E I in .s, and make the arc E r equal to
the right line E^. Draw rv, a tangent (o the semicir¬
cular arc E H G, at the point r ; and from any conve¬
nient point, V ïn TV, draw the right line vt perpendi¬
cular to A E, meeting I E in f. Draw t n parallel to
B C, and rz perpendicular to E G, meeting E G in ^ ;
also draw zu parallel to E A. Construct, in any con¬
venient situation, the right angled triangle xyw, so that
the base x w may be parallel to E I and equal to v
and that the perpendicular xy maybe equal to zu.
Through the point L draw J Q parallel to yw, and J Q
is the tangent required.
Proposition.—Problem 4.
(60.) To draw a taugent to either of the curves in the
developement of a cylindric soffit in a cylindric wall,
the axis of the cylindric surfaces being in the same
plane, one parallel and the other perpendicular to the
horizon.
This process is in every re.spect the same as the pre¬
ceding, except that a tangent must be drawn to a cor¬
responding point in tiie curve of the plane of the wall ;
and then the tauRvnt to be used in the same manner as
was done in respect of the right line B C. (Fig. 12.)
Let it be required to draw a tangent through the point
K (fig. 13) to the curve I K A, which is the develope¬
ment of the cylindi ic soffit, and the concave face of the
wall. Having drawn rz perpendicular to AC, draw
zE parallel to AB, meeting the concave side of the
plan of the wall in E ; and through the point E draw
PQ, a tangent to the circular arc AE C, which is the
plan of the wall. Then, having constructed all the
parts, and the triangle xyw^ as in the preceding pro¬
Proposition.—Theorem I.
* (57.) If a plane A, and any surface B, be each perpendicxilar
to a plane C, the common intersection of the plane A and the sur¬
face B will be a right line perpendicular to the plane C.
Proposition.—Theorem 2.
If any right line be drawn parallel to the edge of a plane, which
is also a right line, and if the plane be so bent that, when applied to
a cylindric surface, the rectilinear edge of the plane may coincide
with an edge of the cylindric surface, and the bent surface in all
points with that of the cylinder, the other line upon the bent surface
will fall also upon an edge of the cylinder, or coincide in all points
of it.
Proposition.—Theorem 3.
(58.) If in any plane A, passing along the axis of a cylinder
without the solid, a point B be so situated that the shortest dis¬
tance to the nearest edge C of the cylinder may be less than the
circumference, and if a right line D be drawn in this plane through
the point B perpendicular to the axis ; and if the plane be so bent
into a curved surface E, and applied upon the cylindric surface, that
all the points of the two surfaces may coincide, the position of the
point B in the bent surface E will be in another plane F, passing
along the right line D perpendicular to the first plane A.
I Observation. As the first of these curves in Prob. I. fig. 12, of
this section is the developement of the intersections of the surfaces
blem, through K draw JN parallel to yib\ and J N is Carpentry,
the tangent required.t
PRACTICAL CARPENTRY.
Section I.
The practical operations in Carpentry consist in the
methods of pieparing timbers and in joining them to¬
gether, so as to effect the end or purpose desired.
Timber bars may be extended to any length in a right Junction tf
line, by joining one timber to the end of another as
often as may be necessary to make the required length,
by cutting the corresponding ends which join, in such a
maimer that every point of the part cut away in the one
will coincide with a corresponding point in the other; in
whichever of the two the point is taken. The parts
cut away at the two ends of two pieces of timber
which join are generally plane surfaces, and the joint
ought to be such, that when the two timbers are joined
and kept together, two forces applied in a direction of
the length of the two pieces thus united, may not be
able to pull them asunder without breaking at the joint.
Timbers joined in the manner now described are said
to be scarfed. This will be evident by inspecting figures Scarfing
13 and 14, which are the simplest forms of scarfing.
Fig. 13 exhibits a plane scarfing, and fig. 14 a
scarfing put together with two wedges in such a manner
as to draw the joint close together The timbers of
fig. 14, if held together sideways, without any pressure
but that which is just .sufficient to keep their surfaces
straight, could not be drawn from each other, when
keyed or wedged, without splitting off some part or
other at the joint.
Timbers may also be joined either at oblique or at right
angles. The timber bars which form the enclosure
of every frame used in building may be rectangular,
excepting those which are employed in the different
faces of a roof in order to support the covering. There
is no reason, however, why the interior timbers of every
frame comprised between the sides of the enclosure
should not be rectangular. The advantage of rectan¬
gular bars will appear manifest from the following con¬
sideration : if two rectangular bars have each two faces
perpendicular to a plane, and if the two faces of the one
which are perpendicular to the plane intersect the two
faces of the other which are perpendicular to the same
plane, two intersections of these faces will be perpen¬
dicular to that plane. Î
Whenever two pieces of timber are joined to form aii
angle, we shall always suppose that they are rectangular
bars, of which two faces are parallel to a plane, and
of a cylinder and that of a plane, the method of drawing the tan
gents to the intermediate points of the curves in fig. 5, fi, and 7,
being of the same species, will be the same as here shown. It will
only be necessary to give an example of the method of drawing a
tangent to the extremity of the curve, fig. 5. In A'C make A d
equal to D G, and draw de perpendicular to A G. Make de equal
to G E, and join A e. Then A <? is the tangent required. This de¬
scription will also apply to fig. 6 and 7.
I The trusses of a roof are the only frames in a building com
prised between parallel planes which have not to support a coverings
their office being to support the weight of the roof which presses
upon their sloping edges. All timbers in the truss of a roof ought
to have each two faces parallel to a given plane, and the other Wo
faces perpendicular to that plane, in order that when they join, the
intersections of the faces which are perpendicular to the plane may
he in right lines perpendicular to the other two faces.
CARPENTRY.
253
Caq)entiy. consequently the other two faces perpendicular to that
plane, unless the contrary is expressed ; and thus, when
one piece of timber is perpendicular to another, if the
end of the one piece fit close upon the side of the other,
that end must be in a plane perpendicular to any one of
the four arrises of that piece.
Every timber in a building which terminates with a
close joint upon the^face of another, will have its end
in the figure of a rectangle, of which two sides will be
perpendicular to the plane of the angle formed by these
two timbers, except in the faces of hip or in hip and
valley roofs, where the ends of the jack rafters and the
ends of the purlins meet the hips.
When the ends of a piece of timber join one of the
faces of another piece of timber, and form such a joint
that all the faces of the piece of which the ends fit upon
the other intersect, and form a close joint, these two
timbers may be firmly secured to each other by means
of nails or bolts, provided that the angle which they form
Shoulder t^blique. This form of joint is called a shoulder
joint. joints and the end of the piece which fits upon the face
of the other is called the shoulder : but if the directions
of the pieces form a right angle, or approach nearly to
a right angle, such a method of fixing them cannot be
secure, at least where one of them acts as a lever upon
the other.
Another method of fixing two timber bars at a given
angle, is to cut the ends of each of the pieces, so that
they may meet each other in a plane perpendicular to
the plane of the angle which the two pieces make with
each other, and which will either bisect that angle or
pass through the intersections of the outer and inner
faces of these timbers. This form of joint is called a
Mitre joint. 7nitre joiïit, and the two pieces are said to be mitred.
Here the lengths of the mitring surfaces in both nieces
are equal. The pieces which are mitred together may
be rendered much more secure by means of nails or bolts,
than when they are simply shoulder jointed, particularly
when one of the pieces is required to act as a leverupon
the other.
One piece of timber may be joined to another by in¬
serting a part of the one into an excavation of the
other, or reciprocally by excavating both, and inserting a
portion of the solid of the one into the hollow of the
other. The surfaces which are thus concealed by being
brought into contact are called a close joint. A close
joint may be made in an infinite variety of ways ; by
making the hollow of the one in such a manner, that
when the two pieces are joined all the points of the
surface which were excavated in either piece may
come in contact with some point or other of the sur^
face of the other solid. This is an universal method
of joining timbers, but the modes by which it may
be done are of infinite variety. Generally, whatever
may be the office of a piece of timber which is to be
fixed to another, the excavation which is cut in the
one piece in order to receive a part of the solid of the
other, ought to be such that the surfaces may be in
planes either perpendicular or parallel to the face of the
timber from which the excavation may be made. The
particular manner of forming the joint will depend upon
the two following cases; viz. 1. when one of the pieces
is fixed and the other in a state of tension ; and 2,
when one is fixed and the other in a state of compression.
As every timber bar has a considerable weight, it cannot
be kept stationary without being supported at least under
one point ; but the most secure supports will be under
VOL. vu
its extremities. For whatever be the kind of pressure to Carpentry,
which a bar of timber may be subjected, it has also to
support its own weight ; and thus the formation of the
joint of two timber bars to be fixed to each other at a
given angle will depend upon the joint consideration of
the species of strain and the weight of the timber.
In forming the joint of two timbers making a given
angle with each other, we shall always suppose that one
of the pieces is fixed or immovable by some means or
other, and the species of strain to which the other may
be subjected given, and that the fixed piece has to sup¬
port the other.
The case of tension requires the joint to be made in
such a manner, that it would be impossible to pull the
piece of which the strain is given out of the fixed piece
without leaving apart of the end of the one or the other
or of both timbers. The operation of forming such a
joint has been called cocking, and the piece of timber in Cocking^
the state of tension is said to be cocked upon the other.*
When two pieces of timber are of the same thickness,
and are required to be joined to each other in the form
of a cross, the two parts may be so cut, that when put
together they may be comprised between two parallel
planes at a distance from each other equal to the thick¬
ness of one of the pieces only. This method is called
notching, and when each of the pieces is reduced to Notching,
half its thickness, by taking away a rectangular solid
equal to half their thickness, the method of notching
is called holving. Helving.
When two timber bars are intended to be joined to¬
gether in order to form a cross,where one of the pieces is
to be let down upon the other, two notches are generally
cut from the upper face of the lower bar, by taking
away two rectangular solids, and leaving* a solid part
between the two notches, and one notch is cut from the
lower face of the upper bar to fit the piece which re¬
mains whole between the two notches in the lower
timber bar, so that when the two timbers come to be
joined, two ends of the two notches of the lower piece,
and one of the perpendicular faces of the upper piece,
may be in the same plane, and the remaining ends of
* The state of compression requires only that the end of the
timber may be supported from falling, and that it may coincide in
all parts with the face of the fixed timber : therefore any joint that
will answer this purpose will be sufficient.
Another consideration in the joining of two timbers A and B
together is, 1. when the length of the timber A extends from one
of the perpendicular faces of the timber B to any required distance
before the opposite face of B, and reciprocally when the length of the
timber B extends from one of the perpendicular faces of the timber
A to any required distance before the opposite face and thus making
two arms which form only one angle.
2. When the length of the timber bar A extends from one of the
perpendicular faces to any required distance before the opposite per¬
pendicular face of B, and when the length of the timber bar B
extends on both sides of the timber bar A} without dividing it into
two parts, and thus making three branches which form two adjacent
angles.
3, When the length of the timber bar A extends on both
sides of the timber bar B, and the length of the timber B on both
sides of A, without dividing either of the timbers A or B into
separate parts, and thus making four arms or branches, of which
every two will make the opposite angles equal.
The first of these modes is the weakest, the second is stronger
than the first, and the third is stronger than the second, and con¬
sequently the strongest of the three. In the first, one is said to
form an angle with the other, and is called the method of joining at
an angle ; in the second, one timber is said to stand upon the other,
and is cajled the method of joining at two adjacent angles ; and in
the third, either timber extends on both sides of the other, and is
cglled the method of the cross.
2 N
254
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry, these two notches in the lower bar in the same plane as
the remaining opposite perpendicular face of the upper
bar, and that the depths of the notches in both pieces
may be equal to the distance intended to be let down.
In plate iii. fig. 15, the figure efgh, No. 1, is a
right section of the lower timber; AJB CD one of the
vertical faces of the upper timber. These exhibit the man¬
ner in which the solid part between the two notches of
the lower timber fills the notch in the lower side of the
upper timber. In No. 2, S T U V exhibits a part of
the upper face of the low'er bar, with the outlines
i j k If mn 0 p of the notches, w oc r q show the situa¬
tion into which the upper timber comes.''^'
Though fig. 15 and 16 are essentially the same in
principle, fig. 15 is adapted to the cookings of roofs
and floors upon wall plates. Here, as each extremity
of a beam m\ist be within the thickness of one of
two opposite walls, and the two opposite wall plates
are each in the plane of the two interior faces of the
two walls, the length of the beam cannot therefore ex¬
tend over the outside vertical surfaces of each wall
plate in any considerable degree, perhaps not more than
the breadth of the wall plate itself, if rightly propor¬
tioned to the thickness of the wall. In this case the
weight of the beams alone, independently of the weight of
the incumbent parts of the wall, gives sufficient pressure
to keep them in their cockings when they are either
pulled or compressed. This is the reason for diminish¬
ing the breadth of the solid break k Ip Of between the
two notches in No. 2, fig. 15, and keeping nearer the
face in the interior surface of the wall than to the other
vertical face inserted in its thickness.f
* It is now evident that if the lower bar S T U V were im¬
movably fixed, and the upper timber bar w x r q were kept down
upon the lower timber bar ST U V by any sufficient pressure, that
it would be impossible to draw the upper bar from the lower one,
by any force pulling in a direction of its fibres ; but when one of
the arms of the upper timbers extends only a very short distance
fiom the adjacent vertical face, as in. fig. 15, the part w x k I qÏ the
short arm underneath, between the notch and the extremity, would
be liable to split off: for this reason, the solid part I hop is not
only made narrower, but brought nearer to the face adjacent to the
long arm, than if both had been long arms, as in fig. 16.
f It cannot be properly said, that when timbers are perfectly
straight, any timber bar is either drawn from or compressed to¬
wards the wall plate, because the ends of the bar only lie upon the
wall plates, and therefore their weight only presses perpendicularly
upon them. However, as all timber is liable to bend, and if it bend
by not being sufficiently strong, the under edges of the beams will
descend from each extremity to the middle in a curve, and will
therefore form a wedge, which will endeavour to separate the two
opposite walls to a more remote distance, in this respect these
beams will'be actually drawn in a direction of their tangents to the
extremities of the curves upon the under edges of the beams ; and
not only from this circumstance alone, but even by the walls them¬
selves having a tendency to separate, from being unequally sup¬
ported at the foundation, or from bad building, by which the walls
may contract more upon one side than upon the other. To verify these
observations, many floors have fallen down, and this could not have
happened unless by the spreading of the walls. There is not so
much danger to be apprehended from the tie beams of a well-con¬
structed roof having any tendency of being drawn from the wall
plates, as from the binding joists of a floor ; for the tie beams may
be kept in a right line by being supported in a sufficient number of
points, so as to divide the length into equal intervals of short bear¬
ings : moreover, the weight of the roof is discharged upon the
tie beams in two different directions from each end, so that in each
end one direction is peipendiciilar to the horizon, and the other is
parallel to it. The tension of the tie beams is sufficient to resist
the force of extension without making any sensible alteration in
iheir length ; therefore the only effect which the roof can have, is
a perpendicular pressure upon each wall equal to half its weight.
The case would be very different if the ends of the principal rafters
were supported by the wall plates, instead of being supported by
Though, as has already been observed, fig. 15 and Carpentiy.
16, plate iii., are the same in principle, yet with respect
to their use, they are adapted to very different purposes. It
has been shown that fig\ 15 is adapted to the juncture
of the tie beams of a roof to the wall plates, and it will now
be shown that fig. 16 exhibits the best proportion between
the tongue part of the joint, and the notches where the
two pieces of timber are joined in the form of a cross in
which the upper timber extends before the lower vertical
faces to a considerable distance. In this case, as each
arm of the upper timber extends before each adjacent
face of the lower timber, there can be no danger of split¬
ting away the part between the notch and the extremity ;
hence the breadth of the tongue kip o between the two
notches of the lower piece may be made in the middle of
the breadth of the upper face of the lower limber, and
of much greater breadth than that in fig. 15, so that each
of the two notches in the upper face. No. 2, fig. 16,
will be much narrower than the width of the notch
ij kl, fig. 15 ; by this means the strength of the piece
S T Ü V, fig. 16, will not be sensibly diminished by the
two notches,^
Indeed, if the bridging joists were merely laid upon
the binding joists without any notching whatever, the
floor would be equally strong as if they had been
notched. The only use, therefore, of notching and
tonguing is to give the bridging joists a more steady
bed upon the binding joists ; and this would often be
required when the binding joists are bent in the season¬
ing of the timber, or by taking a curved direction after
the operation of sawing.
The proportion between the breadth of the tongue
and that of the notches, and the situation of the tongue
in regard of the horizontal breadth of the timber, from
which it is cut, is not only applied to the joinings between
the bridging and binding joists in floors, but also to the
joinings between the common rafters and purlins, and
between the purlins and principals in roofing.
Fig. 17 exhibits another distinct method of cocking
wall plates upon tie beams by dovetail joints. But by
this method of forming the joint between two timbers,
when the upper timber shrinks the dovetail tongue at
the end will also shrink; and thus the joint will open.
And hence in the ca.se of an extending force, the upper
piece will be liable to be drawn away fiom the lower
piece.; but this cannot be the case when the tongue of the
lower piece runs across the breadth of the upper piece,
the ends of the tie beams ; for if the principals were supported by
the wall plates, the wall plates would have a tendency to separate
from each other, and nothing could prevent this separation except
the cockings at the ends of the tie beams.
^ This proportion and situation of the tongue, in respect of the
breadth oí the upper horizontal face, in which it is situated, as shown
in fig. 16, is proper for one of the" joints between a bridging and
binding joist, as the area of the right section of the binding joist is
not diminished in any considerable degree. This case, as the bind¬
ing joist is only supported by opposite walls, or between a girder
and the wall, or between two girders, requires the binding joists io
be of the greatest possible strength, and difiers materially from the
other case, in which the wall plate is in the same situation in
respect of the binding joists as the binding joist is with respect to
the bridging joist ; and in the mode which fig. 15 exhibits, the wall
plate is supported in every point by the stone or brick work under¬
neath, which is levelled for the purpose of receiving the lower hoii-
zontal face of the wall plate ; but as to the binding joist it is quite
unsupported except at its extremities, and therefore the less the
substance is diminished in any part the resistance which it makes
will be greater. If the binding joists are sufficiently strong, any
moderate pressure laid upon its middle will not have any sensible
effect in drawing the bridging joists, between which it is sus¬
pended.
C A R P K N 1 ß Y.
255
Carpentry, and its being made so very narrow leaves but a very
small breadth for shrinkage.*
Mortise. A mortise is a recess in the figure of a prism from any
face of a piece of timber to any depth, or even entirely
Tenon. through the timber, and a tenon is a part left on the end
of a piece of timber, proceeding forward generally from
a plane surface in the form of a prism, so that one
of the parallel ends may be in the plane from which
the tenon proceeds, and the other end the extremity of
the tenon, and that the remaining faces of the tenon
may be parallel to the faces of the timber from which the
Shoulder of tenon is made. The apparent part which forms a border
a tenon. round the tenon is called the sfioidder of that tenon.
One piece of timber may be joined to another by
means of a mortise and tenon adapted to each other so
as to have a close joint ; hence the shoulder of the
tenon will coincide with the face of the other timber
from which the mortise is recessed, and because the
timbers are generally rectangular bars, and when one
bar is joined to another, the tenon if cut through in the
same plane with the shoulder will be a rectangular pa-
rallelopiped. The manner of joining rectangular bars by
means of a mortise and tenon is of excellent use where it
is required to confine a piece of timber between two
others which are firmly supported, and the piece be¬
tween only to be supported by these timbers, considering
it either in a state of compression, or by being strained
transversely by a force.t
* The method of rectangular notches, and a lectanguiar tongue,
of which the apparent sides are parallel to the sides of the timber,
is of very late introduction, perhaps not more than sixty years.
The principle of notching with square abutting Joints, has always
been much adheied to by the best Carpenters since its first intro¬
duction J but its advantages over the dovetail joint in not admitting
the upper piece to be drawn out of the lower piece when the timber
is shrunk, was, we believe, first noticed by Mr. Peter Nicholson.
f The method of joining two timbers by means of mortise and
tenon is that which is applied to the trusses of roofs at the joggles,
and in fitting the upper ends of the struts into the inner or under
edges of the principal rafters. This mode is also frequently applied
to truss partitions, similarly to its application in the trusses of
roofs ; moreover, the joining of timber bars by means of mortise and
tenon is also applied in naked flooring in connecting the trimmers
to the trimming joists, as also, with a slight modification, to connect¬
ing the binding joists with the girders. The only difference in this
application from common mortise and tenon being in the shoulder
of the tenon, in which the upper part is made to slope towards the
tenon in such a manner, that the upper surface of the tenon and the
part of the shoulder above it may form an internal obtuse angle, equal
to the external angle made by the same part of the shoulder of the te¬
non and the upper horizontal surface of thebinding joist. This sloping
part of the shoulder of the tenon upon the end of the binding joist
is called tusk, which is let into the girder with a view of giving a
stronger support to the tenon, which is generally made thin in order
to preserve the substance of the girder as much as possible.
The method of connecting the ceiling joists with the binding joists
is a species of mortise and tenon. In the ceiling joists the shoulder
of the tenon is generally made adjacent to the under horizontal sur¬
face of the ceiling joist, only so that the upper horizontal surface of
the ceiling joist and that of the tenon may be in one plane. The
tenon formed in this manner is called a barefaced tenon. But as
the ceiling joists are generally put in after the building has been
roofed, and as in this case the binding joists are always fixed, their
ends being inserted in the opposite walls, or between two girders, or
between a girder and the wall, the mortises must be prepared in
such a manner as will admit of the ceiling joists being brought ||to
their places, as if they had been previously formed, into the placing
of the binding joists on the building.
To fix the ceiling joists under these circumstances ; the mortises
must be prepared in such a manner that if we call a close mortise at
one end m, and at the other end M, and one of the two next adjacent
mortises from the same face N ; when the tenon is fitted into the
mortise m, the other tenon when revolved round m, as a centre, may
Bud no obstruction in bringing it to its place M, where it cannot be
Section II. Carpentry.
A frame consisting of timber bars so coiidtnicted that
every bar may be divided longitudinally by a plane
into two symmetrical parts, and that the section of the
frame made by this plane may also consist of two sym
metrical parts on each side of a right line perpendicular to
the section of one of the outer edges called the base ; more¬
over, that if two extremities of the base be supported,
and if forces be applied so as to act at certain other points
upon the surrounding edges of the frame in the bisect¬
ing plane, and in right lines perpendicular to the base,
and that the number of these points on the one side of
the perpendicular may be equal to the number of points
on the other side, and that every pair of such points
may be in right lines parallel to the base, and equally dis¬
tant from the perpendicular, and that the forces upon
every two corresponding points may be equal, and that
the effects of these forces may not have any tendency to
produce a transverse strain on any part of the frame ; Truss,
such a frame is called a truss.
The two fixed points, one at each extremity of the Points of
base, are called the points of suspension, and, the re- suspension,
maining points, on which the forces act so as to keep the
frame in equilibrium, are called truss points. points
The plane which bisects the timbers is called the Plane of the
plane of the truss, and the perpendicular which divides truss,
tfie truss into symmetrical parts is called the line of Li"«
symmetry ,• moreovenj a plane passing along the line of
symmetry perpendicular to the plane of the truss is
called the plane of symmetry ; and thus the plane of Plane of
symmetry divides the truss into two equal parts.* symmetry.
Each of the two points of suspension of every truss
is in the under horizontal face of the tie beam, near the
extremity of that face, and rests immediately upon the
wall plate.
The tie beam of every truss in a roof ought to be
moved further in any direction excejit backwards. This may be
accomplished by cutting away as much of the binding joists which
contain the mortises M and N as may be necessary ; and this is
generally done by cutting away the wood below the moitise M so as
to make "one long mortise instead of the two M and N, the sides
and back of the long mortise being a continuation of the planes of
the sides and backs of the mortises M and N The long mortises
which are thus cut in the vertical sides of binding joists are called
'pully mortises, or chose mortises.
* The definition which we have given of a truss is such as will
be found to apply in many situations ; viz. in roofs to support the
inclined covering ; and here also it may be employed in discharging
the pressure of the rafters from the intermediate parts of the walls in
case that the roof is constructed without tie beams. Trusses are also
used in partitions for supporting the floors.
When a truss is employed for supporting the covering of a roof,
the bisecting plane of the timbers ought to be in a plane perpendi
cular to the plane of the roof and in a plane perpendicular to the
horizon, and thus the rafters and tie beams will be perpendicular to
the wall plates ; and when a truss is employed for discharging the
pressure of the rafters from the wall plates, and consequently from
the walls themselves, the plane of the truss ought to be parallel to
the plane of the covering.
If a truss be so constructed that when thi© line of symmetry is
peipendicular to the horizon, and the whole of the timber work
situated above the horizontal line ; then if in the half of the truss
upon one side of the roof, the upper ends of the remaining timbéis
of the surrounding enclosure be nearer to the line of symmetry than
the lower end, such a truss is proper for the truss of a roof.
In the application of trusses to roofing, the truss points will be
in the upper inclined edges of the principal rafters, and they ought
to divide the lengths of their rafters into equal parts, so that every
truss point may support a point of a purlin, and all the truss points
in the inclined upper edge of the principal rafter will support one
point of every purlin, and all the truss points will sujiport all th«
equidistant points of every purlin.
2 !\I 2
256
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry
Trussing
post.
King post.
Corre¬
sponding
side posts.
Queen
posts.
Tie beam.
Collar
beam.
Auxiliary
rafters.
. supported in a certain number of equidistant points, so
that if weights are suspended from these points, the
weights thus suspended would not cause a transverse
strain in any timber whatever in the construction of the
truss.*
Every timber bar which forms one side of a triangle,
and which is perpendicular to the horizon, is called a
trussing post, A trussing post in the middle of a truss
is called a king post. Two trussing posts on each side
of the plane of symmetry, and equidistant, are called
corresponding side posts, and if there be only one pair of
corresponding side posts in a roof, such a pair of side
posts are called gueen posts : moreover, if the truss posts
consist of more than one pair of corresponding side
posts, but have king posts, that pair of corresponding
side posts which are at the least distance from each other
are called queen posts. If a truss have only one beam,
that beam is called a tie beam ; but if it have two beams,
the lower beam is called the tie beam, and the upper
beam is called the collar beam. If the principal rafters
are supported upon an independent truss, the timbers
in the truss upon which the principal rafters are sup-
orted are called auxiliary rafters^
Fig. 18, pi. iii. is the elevation of a truss which exhi¬
bits the faces of the timbers which are parallel to the
plane of the truss, and in their real proportions, T t
being the tie beam, Vp, Vp the two principal rafters,*K k
the king post ; D d, D d queen posts, B b collar beam,
E e, E c auxiliary rafters, and S s, S s struts. These
are the timbers which constitute the truss. The truss
is supported by the wall plates, of which their sections
are W, W, fig. 18. The timbers supported immediately
by the truss are the pole plates Qq, Q q, fig. 19, the
purlins hi, Li I, and the ridge piece R r, and lastly,
the timbers supported by the pole plates, purlins, and
ridge piece are the common rafters, C c, C c. The
double letters in the timbers supported by the truss, are
only to be found in the perspective view, as also in the
wall plates W w?, W w.
Section III.
To find the lengths and angles of the timbers of a
roof in every position in which they can be placed, is
only to resolve the various cases of the right trehedral.
It may be proper to observe in this place that those who
have previously acquired this knowledge will never be,
at a loss to solve every difficulty ; but those who have not
done so, must be contented with the rules by which the par¬
ticular case in hand may be constructed. We shall here
give an example or two of the application of the trehe¬
dral, which perhaps will be as much as the practical
Carpenter may desire, but which will be of signal ad¬
vantage to the theorist by showing how the principles
are applied in practice.
Example 1, Given the directions TU, UV, VW,
fig. 20, pi. iii., of the wall plates of the regular hip end
of a ridge roof single inclined upon each side of the
* The number of trusses in a roof will depend upon the length
of the purlins in their extension from gable to gable, or from hip to
hip or from hip to valley. The truss points in a roof may be found
so that the rafters may be equally divided, or in given proportion,
by timbers so arranged as to form two series of triangular openings
between the points of suspension, so that the vertex of every triangle
of one of the series maybe in the under inclined side of the principal
rafters, and that the opposite side may meet the vertices of two
adjacent triangles of the other series of which the bases are parts of
the principal rafter.
ridge piece, and the height of the roof, to find the Carpentry
lengths of the common and hip rafters.
In UT and in V W make U d and V a each equal
to the half of U V, and draw the right line a d. Bisect
ad in c, and draw c b' perpendicular to a d. Make c -
equal to the height of the roof, and join a b\ h'd, ana
ab', b'd are the lengths of the common rafters.
From a with the distance ab', the length of a com¬
mon rafter, cut a dinb, and join V b, and V 6 is the
length of the hip rafter.
Example 2. To find the angles of the backs of the
hip rafters.
Join V c, and through any convenient C in Vc draw
B e perpendicular to V c, meeting V W in B and VU in
e. Draw B A perpendicular to V b, meeting b V in A.
and from the point B with the distance B A cut cV in
A'. Join h! B and A! e and B A' e is the entire hip
angle, or the angle of the back of the hip rafter.^
Example 3. The same things being given to find the
angles which the upper arrises of a purlin makes with
each adjacent arris of the section of that purlin upon the
vertical face of the hip rafter.
In b'd, the back of the common rafter, let fg be the
side of a right section of the purlin, and f g hi the entire
right section. Join cU, and draw jo parallel to U T
meeting U c in o. From the point / with any convenient
radius describe the semicircle ^ Imk, and draw the dia-
m^iex jk parallel to d a. Let the semicircle cut b'd in
I and/ï, prolonged if necessary in m. Draw y r. Is, mq,
and kp parallel to/o, and let Is and m q meet c U in s
and q. Draw qp and sr perpendicular to/o, and join
op, or; then nor nnánopnre the two bevels re¬
quired.f
The developement or the method of extending the
surfaces of a roof in planes are of signal utility in finding
the lengths and bevels of all the timbers in these
various faces.
Example 4. To describe the covering of a regular hip
roof in piano, the plan of the roof being given.
Part 1. Let AB CD, fig. 21, be the plan of the
*■ General observation. The i)art of the first example which
shows how the length of the hip rafters are found, is the same case
of the right trehedral as when there are given the inclination and
the adjacent right face to find the oblique face. (7.) Here a V c is
the adjacent face, and V a the adjacent edge. Then having assumed
the point « in V W, draw a c perpendicular to V a, (this is already
done, for the point h is either in û o or in « c prolonged,) and at the
point a with the right line a c make the angle cab' equal to the
given inclination. Draw c b' (from the middle of a d) perjjendiculai
to a c, and draw the right line a b perpendicular to a V. Make a b
equal to a b'. Join ¿V, and a V 6 is the angle of the oblique face
required ; consequently, a b ox ab' is the length of the common
rafters, and V b is the length of the hip rafters. This comprises
the first example.
The second' example is the same case of the right trehedral as
when there are given the oblique face A V B, and the opposite face
C V B of a right trehedral to find the inclination. (13.) This has
already been done. The reference now given is sufficient, in order
to make the demonstration understood.
f The angles which are already found will give also the bevels of
the jack rafters. For the same bevel which is applied to finding the
angle which the upper arris and the joint between the back of the
purlin and the adjacent face of the adjacent hip rafter make with
each other, will give the angle which the longest arris of the back of
a jack rafter and the joint of the back of the jack rafter, and the
adjacent vertical face of the adjacent hip rafter make with each
other, by deducting a right angle from the angle made by the upper
arris and the joint gf the back of the purlin upon the hip rafter^
The other bevels of the jack rafters are the same as the angle which
the upper arris of one of the vertical faces of a common rafter makes
with the joint between that face and the vertical face of the ridge piece.
CARPENTRY.
2Ô7
Carpentry, edges OÍ the wall plates, E F the plan of the ridge.
From any convenient point E in E F draw E g perpen¬
dicular to one of the sides of the planes A D, and in
E F make E h equal to the height of the roof, and join
g h. Draw E e perpendicular to A D intersecting A D
in g, and make ge equal to gÄ, and join Ae.
Part 2. Draw ef parallel to A D, and FjT parallel
to E e, and join/D. From the point A with the radius
A B describe an arc, and from the point e with the
radius e A describe another arc intersecting the former
arc in the point h'. Join A h' and e Upon ef^ as a
line of symmetry, describe the figure ef ch symmetrical
to the figure ef D A, and lastly, upon J^f describe the
triangle T>f</, so that D c' may be equal to D C and
f & equal to/D. Then the several faces of the covering
are efc 6, e/D A, e A 6', and fD c'.*
Section IV.
A curved surface is that which, if cut by a plane, the
section may be a curve.
A cylindrical surface is a curved surface on which only
one right line can be drawn through a given point, and
two right lines being drawn through two given points
will be parallel.
Every right line drawn on a cylindrical surface is
called a line of direction.
If a solid having a cylindrical surface for its super¬
ficies be cut by a plane perpendicular to any line of di¬
rection, the section of the solid is called a right section
or profile^ and every section of the solid which is neither
parallel nor perpendicular to a line of direction is called
an oblique section ; moreover, every section of the solid
passing along a line of direction is called a longitudinal
section, and every section which is not a longitudinal
section is called a transverse section.
Hence every right as well as every oblique section is
a transverse section.
If the transverse section of a cylindrical surface be
one continued curve, the cylindrical surface is said to be
close ; but if the transverse section be open, the cylindri¬
cal surface is also said to be open.
If an open cylindrical surface terminate in two right
lines, the two right lines are called its rectilinear termi¬
nators.
If the right section or profile of a cylindrical surface
be the arc, or the circumference of a circle, the cylindrical
surface is called a cylindric surface.
If the profile be the curve of an ellipse, the cylindrical
surface is called a cylindroidic surface.
Of ceilings. A ceiling is that apparent surface of a room which is
opposite to the floor, and is of such a nature that a right
line which is perpendicular to the horizon can only meet
the ceiling in one point.
Cylindrical. A simple cylindrical ceiling is that which consists of
one cylindrical surface only.
Waggon- A waggon-headed ceiling is that which consists of
headtti. only one cylindrical surface terminating upon the vertical
faces of four walls, in such a manner that every right
line which is entirely upon the cylindrical surface is com¬
prised between the vertical faces of two opposite walls.
* Observation. The first part of this process is the same case of
the right trehedral as when the two right faces are given, to find
the oblique face ; (24.) therefore, having found the angle ^ A e, the
angle g D/will be found in the same manner. Fig. 22 is given as
an example in which both hips and valleys occur ; but as hips and
valleys are all described by the same case of the trehedral, a bare
inspection of fig. 22 will render the construction sufficiently evident.
Hence it is evident that in a waggon-headed ceiling, Carpentry,
that the concave surface will meet the vertical faces of
the other two walls in two right lines, and that the two
right line.s will be parallel.
The springing lines of a waggon-headed ceiling are
the two right lines in which the cylindrical surface meets
the face of two opposite walls.
A plane surface comprised by the two springing lines
is called the base of the cylindrical surface.
A close transverse section of a waggon-headed ceiling
upon a plane comprised by the curved surface and its
base, is called a transverse section of such a ceiling, and
the right line which joins each extremity of the curve is
called the base of the section.
The direction of a cylindric ceiling is the same as
that of any of its lines of direction. When a ceiling is
formed by two cylindrical surfaces intersecting each
other so that a line of direction drawn upon either of
the cylindrical surfaces through any point whatever may
meet a line of direction upon the other cylindrical sur¬
face, such a ceiling is called a return cylindrical vault.)
and each cylindrical surface is called a branch.
If a plane be a tangent to the two cylindrical surfaces
of a return vault, the two right lines in which the tan¬
gent plane touches the two curved surfaces of each cylin¬
drical branch are called the summit lines^ and the tan
gent plane is called the plane of the summit.
If the rectilinear terminators be both in a plane pa¬
rallel to the plane of the summit, each of these termina¬
tors is called a springing line. A groin in a vault or
ceiling is the intersection of two concave surfaces, when
the angle which they make with each other projects and
when the line of common section breaks the continuity
of the surface upon either side of it.
A ceiling is called a rectilinear quadrangular groin Rectilinear
ceiling, when it is compounded only of concave cylin- quadrangu.
drical surfaces, consisting of four separate branches which groin,
have only one common point, and of which two are in
one cylindrical surface, and the remaining two in another
cylindrical surface, and of which the two branches con¬
tained in either of the cylindrical surfaces are entirely on
the convex side of the cylindrical surface which contains
the other two branches.
Hence every rectilinear quadrangular groin ceiling
has four groins.
The point in which all the four branches, or in which
the four groins meet, is called the centre of the ceiling.
If a plane touch the convex superficies of all the cylin¬
drical parts, the plane is said to be a tangent to the
surface of such a ceiling, and it will contain the centre
of the ceiling.
When the profiles of all the four branches are equal
curves, or such as may coincide when their summits and
when each branch may be divided by a vertical plane
parallel to any line of direction into two symmetrical
parts, and when the cylindrical surfaces intersect each
other at right angles, the ceiling is called a regular
groin
*
* Illustrations of the 'preceding Definitions and of the Construction
of the Centrings for Groin Ceilings.
Fig. 1. pi. iv. A perspective view of a groin ceiling, supposed to
be executed in masonry. This view exhibits pilasters projecting
from the piers between the apertures with circular bows projecting
from the cylindrical surface of the ceiling j being supported by the
imposts over the pilasters.
Centrings to groin ceilings is the wooden mould upon which the
masonry or brickwork is turned ; therefore the reverse of the surface
258
C A R P E W T K. i'.
Carpentry Edcample. Given the profile WVX, pi. iv. fig'. 4, of
the cylindric surface of one of the transcripts, to find the
profile of the nave and the coverings of the curved sur¬
face in piano.
In the curve WVX take any point M and draw M P
perpendicular to the ground line f g, meeting the base
W X in P. Draw Vi perpendicular to W X, meeting
the ground line fg in i, and draw ij perpendicular to
J g meeting the projection ac of the groin above ac
u\j. Let w X he the base of the rib of the nave, be
perpendicular to the projection of the axis of the cylin¬
drical surface, and draw jp perpendicular to w x meet¬
ing w X m p. Draw p m also perpendicular to w x, and
make p m equal to P M. Then m and M are corre¬
sponding points, and thus to the axis w x the point m is
a point in the curve.
In this manner, having found a sufficient number of
points, the curve may be drawn through these points,
which, being done, is the right section of the nave
part of the groin ceiling.
To find in piano the curved surfaces of the two
transepts. Let 7 ê be the projection of the right section
of a profile of the cylindric surface of one of the tran¬
septs, and ocß that of the nave. In the given curve
WVX take any point M and draw the line as before,
and let ij intersect 7^ in /, also \Qijp intersect aß in k.
Extend the curve W V X into the right line q r. No. 3,
and in q r, No. 3, let ql and r/ be each equal to the arc
W M, No. 2. Draw tj. No. 3, perpendicular to q r, and
make Ij equal to Ij, No. 1 ; and in this manner a suffi¬
cient number of points may be found to construct the
whole figure qsutr, which will be the form of the
boarding of one of the transepts in piano.
In like manner sqrtu, the boarding of the nave in
piano, may be found.
Fig. 5 exhibits the plan and elevation of a groined
ceiling to be formed with lath and plaster, the construc¬
tion of the ribs is found in the same manner as in fig.
4 ; but here, as well as the right ribs, we shall also
of the groined ceiling which is concave. In practice,|the contres are
placed first over the widest avenue (or nave) upon a horizontal timber
bar at each of the springing lines of the cylindric surface, the two
springing lines being upon the level. The two horizontal timber bars
are supported by posts, distributed at regular intervals without any
regard to the transverse vault, and the centres are placed over the
posts, and boarded in v/ithout being interrupted by the transepts.
Then the groins or intersections of the two cylindric surfaces are
drawn upon the boarding over the navej and the uprights, tlie
beams in the springing, the centres, and the boarding, aie all placed
on the concave side of the centring of the nave. Fig. 2 is a per¬
spective representation of the centring of a groin vault. This
view exhibits the nave completely boarded in, with the centres and
their necessary supports in the transepts. Fig. 3 exhibits another
perspective view which shows both parts boarded in and ready to be
built upon.
Fig. 4 is the plan and elevation of a groin ceiling ; No. 1 being
the plane, and No. 2 the elevation of the transepts. Here the groins
are Ibrmed by the intersections of a cylindiic arch upon the planes
of the diagonals. The elevation is here taken upon a plane perpen¬
dicular to the axis of the cylinder, /g being the ground line.
The sides of the plan are perpendicular to each other, and the
plan and elevation are so placed in respect of each other that right
lines drawn from any two corresponding points perpendicular to
the ground line will meet the ground line in the same point ; and
thus all right lines parallel to the axis will be projected in the plan
into right lines perpendicular to the ground line, and in the eleva¬
tion these right lines will be projected into points. It is unne¬
cessary to say more with respect to the orthographical drawings,
since those who are familiar with plans and elevations will find the
reason and meaning of every line in the construction by merely in¬
specting the drawings. In the plan, a c and b d are the projections
©f — groins.
require to find the groin ribs. The method for this Carpentry
purpose will be sufficiently evident by merely inspecting
the plan in which it is traced upon the diagonal hd, the
ordinates being of the same height as in the two pro¬
files. Thus let the semicircle abc ho, the stretch-out of
the groin ceiling, exhibited in the elevation, No. 2, fig.
5. In the semicircular arc abc, pl. v. fig. 1, take a
sufficient number of points ; but for the purpose it will
be sufficient to take these points in the quadrant or half
arc; and through these points draw ordinales, and draw
gi and df in any convenient situation. Make df'àïià
g i respectively equal to h d ov a c, pi. iv. fig. 5, No. I.
Then in pi. v. fig. 1, let bj be one of the ordinates of
the semicircle meeting the base ac inj, and divide df
and g i in p and q, in the same proportion as ac is
divided in j. Draw p e and q h respectively perpen¬
dicular to df and g i. Make p e and q h each equal to
the ordinate jh of the semicircle, and thus the points e
and h are in the curves of which the bases are df and
g i. The curve being drawn through a sufficient num¬
ber of points thus found, the curve of the angle rib
will be d ef and the curve of the ribs of the nave will
be g* Ä i. But if the curve of the half of each rib be
found, the other being symmetrical will be found in the
usual manner. Thus drawing the line cn, take the
half of df and the half of g i, and with these distances
from the centre 0 of the semicircle cut the right line cn
in n and m. Join rri, rm, and draw lines parallel to
cn, which will divide the half bases of the ribs as re¬
quired.
Example. Given the plans A ^ N P, O N PQ, pi. iv.
fig. 6, of two inclined vaulted passages meeting each
other at an angle in a vertical plane, the angles which
the springing lines of the arches make with the level
plane and a vertical section of the first vault intersecting
the springing plane in a line perpendicular to the two
springing lines ; it is required to construct these vaults
with plaster, and to place all the ribs in vertical planes,
so that the bases of the common ribs may be perpen¬
dicular to the springing lines : the things required to be
done by a geometrical construction is to trace the curves
on both sides of each half of the angle rib, so that the
edge may range in both directions of the vault, as also
to trace the curves on each of the faces of the common
so as to range in their respective directions.
Let A b and b N, fig, 6, be reciprocally perpendicular
to each other. Make the angle N 60^ equal to the angle
of inclination of the springing line of the first direction
of the passage, and draw Ñ a perpendicular to b N.
Prolong ON to S, and draw N R perpendicular to G S.
Make Ñ R equal to N « and make the angle N R S
equal to the complement of the angle which the spring¬
ing line of the second direction of the vault makes with
the plan. Prolong T R to meet O N in S, and pro¬
long b A and N P to meet each other in m. Draw NU
perpendicular to N P. Make N U equal to N R or
N a, and join m U and m S.
We have now given the two right faces, N m S and
N m U, of a right trehedral; therefore (17.) (20.) find
the inclination mqk, which is the angle made by the
plane of the angle rib, and the springing plane of the
upper direction of the vault. Draw B C perpendicular
to 6 N.
Let Ab up and qpno (fig. 7) be the springing planes
of each direction of the vault, the angles pnb and p no
being respectively equal to piib and p' n'o', (fig. 3,) and
6 A (fig. 4) equal to 6 A (fig. 6.) Let 6 A (fig. 7)
CARPENTRY.
259
Carpentry, be perpendicular to n b, and let h A be prolonged from
each extremity towards e e. Through any point e in e e
draw ed perpendicular to ee, and make the angle def
No. 1, equal to the angle abc. (Fig. 6.) Let the seat
p n (fig. 7) of the angle rib be prolonged from each of
its extremities to e'^ e\ Find (26.) the inclination of a
plane which shall have a given trace e" ef, and which
shall be parallel to the right line of which the seat is e d,
No. 1, and the angle of projection gef.
Let d^é f\ No. 2, be the angle thus found. From the
point e". No. 3, draw e^' perpendicular to e'V, and
make the angle f'^ equal to the angle mlk, fig. 6.
Again, find the inclination of a plane which shall have
a given trace e'" e'"\ and which shall be parallel to a right
line, of which de is the seat, and d" e"f'^ the angle
of projection, and let d'^' e'" f" be the angle thus found.
From any point g' in e'd', No. 2, draw g'h' parallel
to d e, No. 1 ; draw gf perpendicular to d d^ and pro¬
long d' e to d. Make e' i' equal to df \ and join h' i\
Let the given curve of the rib be A D 6. From any
point C in the base A b of the given curve of the rib
draw CD perpendicular to A 6, and draw CE parallel
to 6 71, meeting pn in E. Draw EF parallel io hi,
No. 2, and make E F equal to C D, and F is a point
in the curve. In the same manner as many points
F, F may be found as will be sufficient to trace the
curve. These points being actually found, draw the
curve p F 71 from the one extremity p through the points
thus found to the other extremity n.
The curve pQn is identical to the curve pF7i,
therefore the ordinates E Q make the same angle with
np as the ordinates E F make with np ; hence all the
ordinates E Q are respectively equal to the ordinates E F.
To prevent confusion in describing the ranging curves
for the two faces of each half rib, the reader's attention
is directed to a separate diagram. No. 5. In No. 5,
draw p n parallel to p n, fig. 7, and equal to it, and
draw n h and p A, No. 5, parallel to ri 6 or p A, fig, 7.
Then, in No. 5, prolong pn io any convenient point e,
and draw e d perpendicular to ep. Make the angle
cZe/*equal to the angle mlk, fig. 6. Again, in No. 5,
draw h m parallel to ef, and at such a distance from ef
as will be equal to the thickness of the half angle rib.
Let mk, No. 5, meet de ink. In ef cut off the part
el equal to e k, and draw tu parallel to bnoi'Ap.
Draw Iv and ku parallel to 7ip, and draw uv perpen¬
dicular to t V, and join t v. Let the curve n F p he
Identical to the curve nFp, fig. 7, and let F,F,F, &c..
No. 5, be any number of points in the curve n F. Draw
7ir and p q parallel to Z u to meet t u, or tu prolonged
in q and r, and draw the right lines F G, FG, F G, &c.
parallel to t v. Make F G, F G, FG, each equal to tv.
A sufficient number of points, F, F, F, &c., being
thus found, draw the curve rGg, then rG^ will be
the higher curve of the intrados of the lower half rib.
The curves uQp, uF p, fig. 7, being the mitre curves,
must necessarily be identical in order to coincide ; hence
the ranging curve of the upper angle rib will be found
in the same manner from the mitre curve, as the mitre
curve was found from the ranging curve of the lower
half-angle rib ; but to remove all doubts from the mind
of the reader, we shall also show the manner in which
this is to be done.
Draw k!' No. 3, parallel to and at such a distance
from d' f as will be equal to the thickness of the half
rib, and let m" k!' meet e" d" in lé' From any conve¬
nient point w in pn draw w u parallel to no ox p q, and
draw V'v and k^^u parallel to pn. Draw uv perpen^ Carpentry«
dicular to pn, and join vw. Let Q Q Q be any num-
ber of points in the curve n Qp. Draw Q R, Q R, Q R,
&c., parallel to ic v, and make Q R, Q R, Q R, &c. each
equal to av, then r R Z is the ranging curve of the upper
half rib required.
In order to find the curve of the face and the ranging
curves of the ribs in the ascending direction of the
vault. It will be necessary to find the projection of
one of the ordinates, as X F, upon the springing plane
qp no, for this purpose, the trace e" d of the plane of
the mitre is given, as also the angle d" d' f" of projee«
tion ; this being found, X Z is the projection required ;
and g" f" is the projectant of the projection Z of the
point F. Through any convenient point, o in n o, draw
d" d" perpendicular to n o, and through any convenient
point h'" ill d"d", No. 4, draw h'"g'^' parallel to X Z.
Make h!"g'^' equal to XZ, and through draw^ V'^d"
perpendicular to d" d", meeting d^'d'^ in the point d".
Draw g'" f" perpendicular to d"g'", and make g'" f"
equal to g"f", No. 3. In d" f" make e'^^ i'" equal to
d"f'^\ and join Jé^' i'". Then, to trace the common rib,
draw E S, No. 4, parallel to no, meeting d" d" in S,
and draw S V parallel to Make SU, fig. 7,
equal to any one of the other ordinates, as E F and U
thus found is a point in the curve.
In the same manner, having found as many points
U,U,U, as may be necessary, draw the curve <7 U o, fig.
7, which, when done, is the ranging curve of the lower
face. Make e"^l'^' equal to d" lé", and draw V"f" per¬
pendicular to d"i^', meeting d" i'" inj'". Draw the
ranginglines U V, U V, UV, &c., of the edge of the rib,
and make U V, U V, U V, &c., each equal to k'"d". No.
4. Draw the curve <rV y, and it will be the ranging
curve required.
Fig. 8 exhibits the same plan when the springing
planes of the two directions are level ; hence in this
case all the difficulties of the former disappear since the
planes of the faces of all the ribs will be perpendicular
to the springing plane, and all the ordinates of the
curves perpendicular to their springing lines or bases ;
moreover, the heights of these ordinates which are in
vertical planes, parallel to the axis, will be equal, and
the ranging lines of the edges of the ribs will be parallel
to the bases of the curves. The whole is so evident
from the figure as to render any further explanation un¬
necessary.
Section V.
One surface is said to fit another, when every point of
the first surface coincides with a point in the second.
Any concave surface whatever in a ceiling is called a Cova,
cove.
When a cove is intended to be formed in a ceiling
with plaster upon lath, a receding surface, everywhere
equally distant from the apparent surface of the cove to
be formed, sufficient to contain the thickness of the lath
and plaster together, is called the lathing surface of the
cove.
It is evident that if the apparent surface to be formed
be a cylindric surface, the lathing surface will also be a
cylindric surface ; and if the apparent surface to be
formed be a spherical surface, the lathing surface will also
be a spherical surface ; but this will not hold universally.
If a part of a piece of wood be taken away, so that
the new surface formed by the part taken away may fit
the lathing surface of a cove continued from one extre»
260
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry, tnity of the surface to meet the other, such a piece of
wood is called a rib or bracket ; and the surface thus
Rib or fitted is called the ranging edge of the rib or bracket.
Bracket. Hence a continued line may be traced on the ranging
edge of the bracke.t from one extremity of the cylindric
surface to the other.
If two cylindric surfaces intersecting each other be the
lathing surface of two coves, and if the entire intersec¬
tion coincide in every point with the surface of a piece
of wood, and if a portion on each side of this intersec¬
tion of the superficies of the wood fit each of the lathing
surfaces close to the intersection, such a piece of wood is
called an angle r4b or angle bracket; and the parts
which fit upon the cylindrical surfaces are called the
ranging parts of the surfaces of the angle rib, or angle
bracket. A rib or bracket thus fixed is said to be pro¬
perly placed.
In order to form any surface whatever with plaster
upon lath, it is evident that every lath must at least be
supported in two points ; and that the thinner the lath
is, the number of points in which it is supported must
be more in order to Insufficiently strong to carry the
plaster upon which the apparent surface is to be formed.
Hence in forming a coved surface with plaster upon
lath, ribs or brackets receding from the lathing surface
are generally fixed at such distances from each other,
that every lath maybe supported upon the ranging edges
of the ribs or brackets at three or more points in its length,
and that the ribs or brackets thus fixed may have their
ranging edges in the lathing surface. When the apparent
surfaces of the plaster are required to be formed by two
cylindric surfaces intersecting each other, the lathing
superficies will also be two cylindrical surfaces intersect¬
ing each other. In this case it will be found convenient
to fix one extremity of the lath to an angle bracket, and
the laths throughout upon a sufficient number of ribs or
brackets properly placed. All ribs or brackets, except
angle ribs or angle brackets, are called common ribs or
common brackets.
In the construction of cylindrical coves in the ceiling
of a room to be formed with plaster upon lath, the lath
is generally supported upon brackets, and the cylindric
surfaces meet each other in such a manner that one of
them may terminate upon every vertical plane face of
the room, and upon a plane forming the apparent inter¬
mediate surface of the ceiling ; and that all the termi¬
nations of the cylindrical surfaces upon the walls may be
in a plane parallel to the plane of the intermediate sur¬
face of the ceiling, and that every termination in the
ceiling may be parallel to the vertical adjacent surface
of the room : such a ceiling constructed with plane and
cylindrical surfaces is called a cylindrical, straight, coved,
and flat ceiling, or, more generally, such a ceiling is
called simply a coved ceiling. Hence the plastering of
the cove of every straight coved and flat ceiling will re¬
quire as many angle brackets as the room has plane
vertical faces.
In order to save timber, every rib or bracket in the
construction of a cylindric surface ought to have two
surfaces in parallel planes, which may always be perpen¬
dicular to every line of direction of the lathing cjlindrical
surface. These parallel plane surfaces are called the
planes of the brackets. Hence when a cylindrical cove
to be formed with plaster upon lath is required to be
constructed, and to have any line of direction parallel to
the horizon, if the brackets are fixed so that their
surfaces may be perpendicular to the horizon, the rang¬
ing edges of the brackets will be perpendicular to the Carpentry,
planes of these brackets ; but, whatever be the position
of a line of direction, the planes of every two brackets
which range in a cylindrical surface are generally per¬
pendicular to the horizon, and parallel to the plane ver¬
tical surface of the wall ; and thus, when a line of
direction of the cylindrical surface in which the ranging
edges of the brackets are placed is not parallel to the
horizon, this line of direction will not be perpendicular
to the planes of the brackets.
Brackets to form small cylindrical coves with plaster,
seldom require more timber than can be obtained from
a board in one single piece ; but ribs to support lath
and plaster, as well as the brackets of large cylindrical
coves, require that each rib or bracket may be formed
in two or more pieces of boards joined together, so as to
form a whole bracket in two thicknesses ; and that the
joint between the two halves may be in a plane parallel
to the planes of the rib, and equidistant from these
planes. When two cylindrical surfaces intersect and
form a plane curve, it will be convenient to make the
angle rib or angle bracket, if large, in two thicknesses,
so that the joint between them may be in a plane paral¬
lel to the planes of the angle rib or angle bracket.
The cylindrical surfaces which are generally used in
coved ceilings, intersect each other in a plane curve,
and the plane of this curve is generally perpendicular
to the horizon. Moreover, two right sections of the
two cylindrical surfaces are generally such that the two
curves will reciprocally coincide in all parts. In this
general case it will be found convenient to form angle
ribs or brackets in two thicknesses of boards, and the
joint or plane of coincidence to be in a plane of the
curve in which the two cylindrical surfaces meet each
other. It is evident that all the parallel plane sur¬
faces which comprise the brackets are sections of the
cylindrical surface in which they may be arranged, and
w^hen two faces of every two brackets are parallel to one
another, as in common brackets, and their ranging
edges in the same cylindrical surface, that the sections
of these brackets, by the cylindrical surface, are identical
curves ; and that the curve lines of all the parallel ribs
or brackets are identical curves. Moreover, as cylin¬
drical surfaces are generally so situated in coved ceilings
that their lines of direction are parallel to the horizon ;
and as all the ribs or brackets are generally, and most
conveniently arranged in parallel planes, these planes
will be all perpendicular to the lines of direction of the
cylindrical surface into which their edges are arranged;
hence all the ranging edges of these brackets will be
perpendicular to their vertical faces ; so that, if a right
section of the cylindrical surface is obtained, and a mould
be made so as to contain this section, this mould will
serve to draw the curves on one of the faces of every
common bracket; and these being properly fixed with
angle brackets when necessary, will be in the lathing
surface required.^
* The cylindrical surfaces commonly employed are those of
cylinders, or those which have their right sections greater or less
portions of the circumference of a circle. Sometimes, however,
various other curved surfaces may be used with good effect. Of
these the cylindrical surfaces generally employed are those of cylin-
droids ; and the curves of the right sections of cylindroidal surfaces
arc, generally, either quadrantal portions between the two axes, of
which one is horizontal and the other vertical.
Every cylindrical surface used in coving will be sufficiently deter¬
mined by having given a right section of the cylindrical surface.
Moreover, two cylindrical surfaces intersecting each other will be
CARPENTRY,
261
Carpentry. To find the ranging edge, we have only to cut through
the th.ickness of every such board perpendicular to the
two plane faces by taking away the part on the concave
side of every rib or bracket, in order to form the rang¬
ing edges required.
Examples to the preceding Observations in ranging the
Ribs of Groin and Cov& Ceilings,
Example 1. Let pi. v. fig. 2 be the plan of a portion
of a coved surface at an internal angle, a e and a m the
springing lines, 6 and 6/the ceiling line in each re¬
turn. The ano'le bracket is traced in the same manner
o
as the angle rib of a groin : ab dc is the plan of half
the angle rib, a b the base of the mitre curve, and h h
perpendicular ioah the height, the curve itself being a h.
Draw the chord ah of the curve, and draw ck per¬
pendicular to a b, meeting ab in k, and draw k I per¬
pendicular to a Ä, meeting ah m I.
Let aefb. No. 1, be the edge of a board, out of
which a bracket is to be formed, abed and efgh the
two faces of the board which comprise the edge a efb
between them. Draw the right line o q perpendicular
to «6 or e f intersecting ahin p, and ef\\\ q, and make
po equal to Ik, fig. 2, In No. 1 and in No. 2 through
o draw i ?i parallel to ab, and in in make on equal to
a I, fig. 2. Apply the mould ah, fig. 2, to No. 1 and
No. 2, so that the extreme points a and h of the
curve, fig. 2, may be in the arris line, ef, No. 1 and
No. 2, viz. the point a, fig. 2, upon the point q, No. I
and No. 2, and the point h, fig. 2, upon the point I,
No. 1. Then, upon the face efgh draw the curve
qrl. Remove the mould from the face efgh, and place
it upon the other face, ab c d, so that the points upon q
and I may be in n i; viz. q upon n, and I upon m. Then,
upon the face ßöcd draw the curve nsm. The two
curves nsm and qrl are the curves in the parallel faces
of the brackets ; then the wood on the concave side
being cut away will give the ranging required. No. 1
and No. 2 being put together as they ought to be, will
complete the angle bracket for its situation.
Example 2. Let pi. v. fig. 3 be the plan of a portion
of the curved surface at the external angle, o y and o t
the springing lines, p s and p z the ceiling lines in each
return. The angle bracket being traced as before,
oprq is half the plan of the angle rib, op the base of
the mitre curve, and p x perpendicular io op the height,
the curve itself being o x.
Draw the chord o x of the curve, and draw q u, meet¬
ing p 0 prolonged in u. Draw w v parallel to o x, and
draw 0 w perpendicular to u v, meeting u v in w. Let
aefb. No. 3 and No. 4, be the edge of a board, out of
which a bracket is to be formed ; and let a6 c d, efgh,
be the two faces of the board which comprise the edge
a efb between them. Draw the right line i I perpen¬
dicular to ß Ô or ef, intersecting ab in I, and e fin k ;
and make k i equal to ow, fig. 3. In No. 3 and No. 4
given when the right sections of these are given, and when the
angle which two Unes of direction make with each other are
given ; but these will not be sufficient to fix ribs or brackets in their
situations with regard to the vertical faces of the rooms and the
plane in the intermediate part of the ceiling. In this case we must
have given, besides a right section of the cylindrical surface, a plan
and elevation of the springing and ceiling lines of each of the two
cylindrical surfaces.
The same principles extend to the construction of lathing sur¬
faces, whether they may be coves in ceilings or otherwise,
vol vi.
draw in parallel to ab, and in in make im equal to Carpentry.
ou, fig. 3.
Apply the mould o x, fig. 3, to No. 3 and No 4, so
that the extreme points o and x of the curve, fig, 3,
may be in the arris line a b. No. 3 and No. 4 ; vh. the
point o, fig. 3, upon the point q. No. 3 and No. 4; and
the point x, fig. 3, upon I in No, 3 and No. 4. Then
upon the face abed, in No. 3 and in No. 4, draw the
curve Irq. Remove the mould from the fiice abed,
and place it upon the other face efgh, so that the point
upon q and I may be in ni ; viz. the point q upon n, and
/ upon m ; then upon the face efgh draw the curve
msn. The two curves nsm and qrl are the curves in
the parallel faces of the bracket. Then the wood on
the concave side being cut away so as to form the cylin¬
drical surface, will give the ranging required.
Example 3. Fig. 4 is the plan of an equilateral and
equiangular cylindric groin ceiling, the ribs across the
diagonals are in half ribs, and every half rib is the
same as an angle bracket upon an external angle. In
this Example the arches are semicircular, and of the
same radius as the quadrantal circular arcs, fig. 2 and
3, of the common brackets, and therefore the mould for
each half angle rib of the groin ceiling is the same as is
found for the angle ribs. Examples I and 2 ; and, as
the angles of the groin are all external, the ranging of
each of the ribs will be found in the safme manner as
the angle bracket, fig. 3 ; and this will be evident by
again reading the description to the second Example to
the groin ceiling, fig. 4, where the same letters of refer¬
ence are applied as in fig. 3.
Example 4. Fig. 5 exhibits the plan of an oblong
cylindric groin; No. 9 exhibits the face mould; No. 6
and No. 7 the application of the face mould to the rang¬
ing of one of the half ribs ; No. 8 and No. 9 the appli¬
cation of the face mould to another of the half ribs which
form an acute angle with the former.
Fig. 6 exhibits an application of the same principles
to the backing of common or hip rafters.
Section VI.
A proper cylindro cylindric ceiling is a ceiling, or Cylindro
part of a ceiling, formed by two cylindric surfaces inter- cylindric
secting each other in such a manner that they may have -
four branches ; and that no part of either of the cylindric
surfaces may be comprised within the concave surface of
the other ; and that all the springing lines of the two
cylindric surfaces and the axis may be in one horizontal
plane, and that the two cylindric surfaces may not have
a common tangent plane.
K proper cylindro cylindric ceiling is given when the
plan of the springing lines are given in a plane parallel
to the plane which contains them ; and when the right
sections of the portions of the cylindric surfaces termi¬
nated by the springing lines are given.
Example. Let a I and s v, pi. v. fig. 7, be the two
springing lines for one of the cylindric surfaces, and e u,
ct, the two springing lines for the other cylindric sur¬
face ; and let c d e be the section of the cylindric surface,
of which the springing lines are eu and ct; and let
aqsho the section of the cylindric surface, of which the
springing lines are a I and sv; and let ec be the base
of the curve cde, and ßs the base of the curve aqs.
Moreover, let a I intersect ct, and euinb and/",- then
b and f are the plans of the springing points of the
2 n
262
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry, intersection upon one side. It is now required to find
the projection of the two cylindric surfaces.
In the curve cde take any point and draw dm
perpendicular to ce, meeting ce in m. Draw mn
parallel to c t or eu; and from the point o In a s draw
op perpendicular to as. Make op equal to md, and
draw pq parallel to as, meeting the arc aqs in q.
Draw q r perpendicular to a s meeting a s in r, and draw
r n parallel to a I ox s v. Then the point n is the pro¬
jection of an intermediate point in the curve of which b
SLudf are the projections of the springing points. In
this manner may be found as many points as will be
necessary to trace the curve b x f, which is the plan of
the intersection required ; and in this manner the plan
ty u of the opposite intersection will be found.
The plans of the two intersections are thus found by
projection ; but, as it is known that the projection of
two cylindric surfaces are hyperbolas when the right
sections of both cylindrical surfaces are circular arcs of
different radii, and when the projection is made upon a
plane which contains the two axes of the cylindrical sur¬
faces, the intersections may therefore be found inde¬
pendent of the principles of projection. We shall here
show by an example how this is to be done.
Let the semicircles abc, def fig. 8 and 9, be the
right sections of the cylindric surfaces, a c and df being
the diameters of these semicircles placed upon the same
right lines having the same centre, and let g i and hj be
the springing lines of the cylindric surface which has
the greatest diameter, and let the springing lines be
parallel to d f.
Draw em and an perpendicular to g i or hj, inter¬
secting g i in k and I, and hj in m and n ; and draw b e
parallel to ac, and a tangent to the semicircle abc, to
meet the semicircle d ef in e. Draw e u perpendicular
to df, meeting df in u, and bisect kl in s. Draw s t
perpendicular to k l intersecting m n in t, and in s ¿ make
so and ¿peach equal to f u ; then, having the vertices
o and p of the two opposite curves of an hyperbola,
describe the curves k o I and m pii ; and these will be the
projections of the two intersections required.
Fig. 8 is adapted to the same plan as fig. 7. In
fig. 9 the two cylindric surfaces are nearly equal ; that
is, their diameters are nearly equal to one another. The
manner of drawing the two hyperbolic opposite curves
as shown by dividing each ordinate into the same num¬
ber of equal parts, and dividing the ends of the rectangle
into the same number of equal parts ; then, drawing
right lines from the opposite vertices to these points, to
intersect as in the figures.*
Example. Given the projections of the springing
lines, the heights of the cylindrical surfaces, and the
height of the spheroidal surface above the springing
plane, which is parallel to the plane of projection, to
* If two equal semicylindric surfaces intersect a spheroidal sur¬
face, so that the axis of the semicylindric surfaces may intersect each
other at right angles in the centre of the spheroidal surface ; and that
the springing lines of the two cylindric surfaces, and the springing
line of the spheroidal surface, and the two axes of the cylindrical sur¬
faces may be all in the same plane ; and that the springing line of
the spheroidal surface may be the circumference of a circle, of which
the diameter is greater than that of either of the cylindrical surfaces,
and that no part of any of the cylindrical surfaces may be within the
concave side of the spheroidal surface ; such a ceiling is called a
proper spheroido cylindric ceiling.
'The projections of the four curves upon the springing plane, of
the four intersections of the cylindric surfaces, and the spheroidal
surface, are hyperbolas, having their axes terminated by the vertices
of the curves in each pair of opposite projections.
find the projections of the intersections of the curved Carpentry,
surfaces. v-—
Let fig. 10, No. 2, be the elevation, and let No. 1 be
the plan. In No. 1 let A P E Q be the springing line of
the spheroid, and let t u and if u' be the springing lines
of one of the cylindric surfaces, x y, x'y' the springing
lines of the opposite cylindric surfaces; also let vw,
v' w' be the springing lines of the passages in the trans¬
verse direction ; and let r s, r' / be the springing lines
of the opposite end of the transverse direction. In the
construction of the hyperbolas, which are the projections
of the intersections of the curved surfaces of the cylindric
surfaces, are given the double ordinates K K', 1 P, L L',
and N N', and the axis B Dand X Z, to describe the
hyperbolas, which being done, let the curves be K''BK,
G H I, L' DL, and Y Z M, which will be the projec¬
tions of the intersections of the curved surfaces required
in the horizontal plane.
The parts w K N' u', v N L <r, a?' L' Pr, and r'l EJ u of
the plan are pilasters placed under the springings be¬
tween the intersections of the curved surfaces.
In the elevation No. 2, let ß y he the ground line,
and let it be perpendicular to PQ, and hence parallel to
A E, then the right sections of all the cylindric surfaces
beiiig semicircles, the cylindric surfaces of which their
axes are perpendicular to the elevation will be projected
into semicircles, of which their diameter will be parallel
to the ground line. Let this projection be made, and
let it be g h i. No. 2, and let f h be the radius perpendi¬
cular to the terminating diameter g i. Prolong g i to a
and e, and make/e and f a each equal to C A or C E,
No. 1, the radius of the circle of the spheroid contained
in the springing plane. Through h draw yiy?, No. 2,
parallel to a e, and draw B 6, Dd perpendicular to the
ground line ßy to meet 7ip, No. 2, in b and d. Draw
C c perpendicular to the ground line ß y, and from
either of these points b or d, as d with a radius equal to
fa ox fe, cut C c in g. Draw g d intersecting a ein v,
and make f c equal to v d. Then by means of the axis
major ae, and the semiaxis minor ^c, describe the semi-
ellipse abode, and abc d e is the section of the sphe¬
roid required ; from this the ribs of the ceiling may be
constructed. The lines kb and Id are the projections
of the two intersections of the curved surfaces, of which
their projections are the hyperbolic curves K' B K,
L'DL.
Section VII.
A pendentive ceiling is a ceiling consisting of tue Pendentive
portion of a spherical or of a spheroidal surface, com- ceilings,
prised by the vertical faces of the walls of a room.
A proper spherical or spheroidal, pendentive ceiling is
a ceiling comprised by the vertical faces of the four
walls of a room rising from a rectangular plan, so that
the intersection of the vertical diagonal planes of the
room may pass through the centre of the spherical or
spheroidal surface.
A regular, polygonal, spheroidal, pendentive ceiling
is a spheroidal surface comprised by the vertical planes
containing the inner faces of three or more adjacent
walls, rising from a plane which is a regular polygon in
such a manner that the axis of rotation of the spheroidal
surface, being prolonged, may pass through the centre
of the polygonal plan.
A proper, quadrangidar, spheroidal, pendentive ceil¬
ing is the portion of a spheroidal surface comprised by
the vertical planes which contain the four inner faces
CARPENTRY
263
Carpentry, of a room, of which the plan is a rectangle, and of which
the vertical, diagonal planes intersect each other in a
right line containing the axis of rotation of the spheroidal
surface.
Springing The intersection of a spherical or spheroidal surface
curve. plane of every wall of the room, is called a
springing curm.^
In the construction of pendentive ceilings it will be
convenient to place all the ribs in vertical planes passing
through the centre of the sphere or spheroid ; for in
this position of fixing the ribs all the ribs may be formed
by means of one mould only ; since in this position they
will all have the same curvature and will all intersect in
one point of the spheric surface. In order to divide the
ribs equally, it will also be convenient that the vertical
planes which contain the curves of the ribs may make
equal angles with one another, and that four of these
ribs may be in the two diagonal planes. We shall call the
ribs placed in these planes the diagonal ribs ; hence if
one of the diagonal ribs be found, every radial rib will
be less than a diagonal rib.
Example. Let it be required to construct a spherical
pendentive ceiling over a given square plan A B C D,
pi. vi. flg. 2.
Then, because the chords of the springing curves are
equal to the sides of the plan, and since in this example
the sides of the plan are all equal, the chords of the
springing curves to any side of the plan are equal.
Draw the diagonal A C, then A C will be equal to
the chord of the diagonal ribs. Upon A C as a chord
describe the arc KefC of a circle, and the perpen¬
dicular g h from the middle of the chord is equal to the
perpendicular from the middle of the chord of each of
the springing curves. Therefore bisect the chord C D
of the springing curve upon C D, and draw il perpen¬
dicular to C D. Make i I equal to g h, and from the
point /, with a radius equal to /D or Z C, describe the
arc C D, which will not only be the springing curve
for the face of the room of which the plan is C D, but
also for every other face.
Now since all the radial ribs are of the same curvature
and their lengths only differ, and since the curve of a dia¬
gonal rib is given, we have only to cut an arc from the
curve of the diagonal so as to stand over the plan required.
Thus let r be the middle of the curve A ef C, and let mn
be the plan of one of the ribs ; also let g m be the radius of
the horizontal circle upon which this rib is intended to
* The extremities of all the springing curves are in a plane parallel
to the horizon, and when the suiface of the ceiling is spherical, and
when the plane containing the extremities of the springing curves
passes through the centre of the sphere, the springing curves will be
all semicircles.
If the plane containing the extremities of the springing curves
be above the centre of the sphere, then the centres of the springing
curves will be at the same distance below their chords, as the centre
of the spheric surface is below the horizontal plane which contains
the extremities of the springing curves.
Moreover, when the surface of a ceiling is spheroidal, and when
the horizontal plane containing the extremities of the springing
curves passes through the centre of the spheroid, and when the axis
of rotation is in a vertical position, the springing curves in the
planes which contain the inner faces of the walls of the room are
all similar to the curve of the vertical section of the spheroidal sur¬
face passing through the centre.
A room having a regular or proper pendentive ceiling will admit
of the most elegant decorations of pilasters and columns, as appears
from the perspective view, pi. vi. fig. 1, where A is one of the four
spherical pendentives which is formed by a horizontal cornice at the
top, and the two architraves bordering upon the springing curves in
the planes of two adjacent walls.
terminate upon. With the radius ^ m describe the semi- Carpentry
circle dmt, meeting A C in á and Z, and draw d e and
tf each perpendicular to AC, meeting the curve Ae/C
in e and/; then A e or C/are the portions of the curve
for each diagonal rib, in order either to be terminated by
a horizontal cornice or by a conic skylight in the middle
of the ceiling. Again from the centre g with the dis¬
tance gn, the length of the plan of a rib, describe the
arc Ti p, meeting the diagonal A C in p, and draw p q per¬
pendicular to A C, meeting the curve Ae/C in q; then
^e is the portion of the curve of the edge of the rit
which will stand over mn 'm the plan.
Section VIII.
A niche is a recess in a wall generally formed by a Niche,
cylindric surface standing upon a level surface and sur¬
mounted by a spheric surface, so that the axis of the
cylindric surface may be vertical and may pass through
the centre of the spheric surface, and that cylindric and
spherical surfaces may meet each other in a horizontal
plane, and that the cylindric and spherical surfaces may
have the same tangent plane, and that the cylindric and
spherical surfaces may be terminated each by the vertical
surface of the wall.*
Example. In fig. 3, let w, No. 1, be the projection
of the line in which the vertical planes of the ribs which
pass through the centre intersect am, the plan of the
wall, ß cZ g m the projection of the springing horizontal
arc. Let this plan be divided into ribs, and let the two
faces of one of these ribs be represented by the right lines
en and /p. Let the outer circle, in which the back of
these ribs may be supposed to be placed, be Ip i. From
the points e and / in which en and/A meet the inside
of the front rib, draw ei and fh perpendicular to en,
and let these lines meet the inner curve in g and 6';
then gbih shows the joint at the top; gÄand bi
being the right lines in which this joint terminates upon
each face of the rib. Of this rib d b is the length of the
curve on the inside over ed, and flZg is the length of the
curve over /o. In this construction, as the biseçting
planes of the ribs all meet in a vertical axis, the projec¬
tion of this axis is the point/ which is the centre of the
projections of all the ribs. The construction of the re¬
maining rib will be found in the same manner as the
rib now described. No. 2 is the elevation to the plan
No. 1.
Again, because the top or head of the niche is a por¬
tion of a hemisphere of which the springing plane is
* In the construction of the head of a spherical niche, since
the lathing surface of a spherical niche is spherical, as well as the
apparent surface of the head, the curves of the ribs will be portions
of the circumference of a circle ; and if the curves of the ribs be in
planes passing through the centre of the sphere, all the edges of
the ribs which are in these planes will have equal curvatures, and,
consequently, will have equal radii ; moreover, if the ribs be in ver¬
tical planes which pass through the centre of the sphere, the planes
of all the ribs will be perpendicular to the horizontal plane in which
the cylindric and spherical surfaces terminate. If the surface of the
wall be a plane surface, and if it contain the axis of the cylindric
surface, the curves of all the ribs will be quadrants of circles which
will all have the same radius ; but if the axis of the cylindric sur¬
face be without the face of the wall, the curves of the ribs will be
arcs of circles of the same radii, and these curves will be each less
than a quadrant.
In the plan, the springing between the cylindric and spheric sur¬
faces will be projected into the arc of a circle, and all the ribs which
are in vertical planes will be projected into right lines, and the ver¬
tical line in which the back ribs intersect will be projected into a
point which will be a common termination for all the back ribs.
2 n 2
264
CARPENTRY.
Carpentry, the base, all sections of the hemisphere perpendicular to
this base will be semicircles ; or because the springing
plane passes through the centre of the sphere, all the
sections of the spherical surface perpendicular to the
springing plane will be semicircles ; hence the front rib
of the niche will be a semicircle for the plane if the wall
is perpendicular to the springing plane.
JOINERY.
Joinery is the art of fixing various pieces of wood
together, chiefly for such parts of the interior of a build¬
ing as are exposed to the eye, and which are employed
in the construction of doors and windows, and for form¬
ing the various margins round plaster in order to cover
all external angles, and thereby protect it in its weakest
parts from injury or accidental violence, so as to render
these parts comfortable, convenient, and agreeable to the
eye.
Joinery may be extended to various decorations both
exteriorly and interiorly, as m architraves, bases, sur¬
bases, pilasters, columns, c^c., as also in the linings of
walls, or partitions, in the forms of boarding and wain-
scotiuiT, and in the construction of stairs and hand rails.
For all these purposes the surfaces which are exposed
to the eye ought to be made quite smooth, and the joints
between every two separate pieces of wood perfectly
close.^
Section I.
The best stairs are constructed with an opening
in the middle of the stair formed by the ends of the
steps, which are generally all in one surface, rising per¬
pendicularly to the horizon from a given line on the
floor, which line is called the plan of the enda of the
steps, and the open space in the middle of the staircase
is called the well hole.
The hand rail is a fence made adjacent to the well
hole, raised to such a height above the steps and sup-
y)orted by vertical bars called balusters, as to prevent
those who ascend or descend from falling through the
well hole. In the formation of the straight parts the
workman requires no directions; we shall therefore treat
only of the construction of the curved parts, or of the
curved part of a rail, and so much of the straight parts
as not only give the proper direction or })osition, but also
afford the best means of fixing the straight and circular
parts together.
A body is said to stand over a given plan when a
right line drawn from any point whatever in the outline
of the plan perpendicular to the horizontal plane, can
only touch the body thus raised.
A stair is said to make as many revolutions as the
stories are in number through which the stair is carried,
and all these revolutions generally stand over the same
plan.
The hand rail is generally prepared in such a manner
that the section of the rail made by a vertical plane
* In the operations of Joinery, the field of application of those ex¬
tensive principles, to which the Art of Carpentry has been so much
indebted, is narrow and not so generally interesting. We cannot,
however, dismiss this subject without laying before our readers some
of their further applications, and such as will be both advantageous
and agreeable to the pursiiits of the ardent student in the general
knowledge of construction.
Among these the principles and construction of hand rails will be
found of the greatest utility ; we shall therefore invite the reader
to direct his attention to that subject.
drawn perpendicular to any tangent whatever, to the Carpentry
convex or concave side of the plan through the point of
contact, may be a rectangle, and that the rectangle may
have two sides perpendicular, and consequently two
sides parallel to the horizon ; moreover, that every two of
those rectangular sections may have the same horizontal
breadth. The figure of the rail having this property
is said to be squared. A rail thus squared will have
four visible sides or faces, of which two are cylindrical
and stand immediately over the sides of the plan, and of
which the other two are spiral surfaces, and cover the
area of the plan between its outlines. The convex
cylindrical surface when extended in piano ought to be
everywhere of equal breadth.
The figure of the convex surface extended in piano
is called a falling mould.
As the curved part of a squared rail is generally put
together in two parts, so as to form the entire curved
part, with the addition of a small part of the straight
rail joining each extremity of the curved part, each part
may be comprised between two parallel planes, of
which one may be made to touch one of the spiral sur¬
faces in three points, and the other to touch the other
spiral surface at least in one point.
Then it is evident that the whole rail mav be con-
tained between two cylindrical surfaces and two parallel
plane surfaces. Therefore the sections of the cylindrical
surfaces in these parallel planes will be equal ; and since
the outlines of the plan of the rail are right sections of
the cylindrical surfaces, we have only to find from the right
section an oblique section of the two cylindrical surfaces
in the same position as the two parallel planes would be
when the rail is put in its proper position. A mould
formed to such a section is called 'a face moukL"^
Example. In a semicylindric stair terminating with
parallel straight walls, let a b c d e f e. .. . a, fig. 5, be
the plan, the half of the rail over the circular part ; the
quadrant bcdefbehvr half the ground line of the
semicylindric surface which contains the convex side of
* Hence, if the piece of wood out of which a part of the rail is
to be made, has its thickness equal to distance between the })arallel
planes, the rail may be cut out of the wood by applying the face
mould on each side of the plank in its proper position ; and having
cut away the superfluous wood, so as to form the concave and con¬
vex cylindrical surfaces, it will only remain to apply the falling
mould in its proper position, and then to form the spiral surfaces by
means of the lines drawn upon the cyliiidric surface, from the
falling mould, and the part of the rail thus squared, when set up in
its situation, will arrange over its plan as lequired. All that is then
required is to find the face mould and the falling mould.
The position of the plane of section may be determined by having
given thiee points on the plan, and the perpendicular heights of the
right lines standing upon these points to the under spiral surface of
the rail.
From vidiat has now been explained, it is expected that the reader
will have his ideas sufficiently clear to comprehend the construction
of hand i ailing.
The plan of a hand rail must be regulated by the plan of the
stairs. The most general form of a staircase is that of which the
vertical superficies of the walls is a semicylindric surface, joined at
each edge by two plane surfaces, which if prolonged would be tan¬
gents to the semicylindric surface, and are consequently parallel
to one another ; the staircase is enclosed by a third wall, of which
the inner vertical surface is perpendicular to the other two vertical
surfaces which join the semicylindric surface. So that the plan, of
such a stair is in the form of the letter D. Fig. 4, plate vi. exhibits
the two projections of a staircase and stair as that now described.
The faces of the steps are all perpendicular to the interior vertical
surface of the surrounding wall, therefore in the straight walls they
are in parallel planes, and in the circular part they bend to the
axis of the cylindric surface. Those steps in the cylindric part are
called winders, and those in the straight pait are called fliers.
CARPENTRY
265
i^arpentry the rail, and the quadrant Se, the ground line of the
semicylindric surface, which contains the concave ver¬
tical surface of the rail, the right lines ab, aß, the
groined lines of the planes containing the exterior and
interior surfaces of the straight parts of the rail, and
the right lines a a,fe, the ground lines of the vertical
planes which contain the joints. Moreover, let a, h, e
be the ground points of three vertical right lines which
contain the heights of the rail or distances from the plan
to the under spiral surface ; besides this are given the
heights above these points to the under spiral surface of
the rail to find the falling mould, and the face mould, as
also to show the positions in which these moulds may
be applied to the plank.
In fig. 6, draw the right line A D, and in A D make
A B equal to the breadth of one of the steps in the filers.
Draw B C perpendicular to A D, and make B C equal
to the height of one of the steps. Join A C, and make
B F equal to h a, fig. 5. In the right line A D, fig. 6,
make B Dequal to the length of the circular arc b c de f
fig. 5, and draw DK perpendicular to DA. In DK
make D E equal to the height of as many steps, and
one more than the half of the circular part of the plan
contains winders, and join E C. Cut off the angle at
C by the curve G H K, so that C A and C E may be
tangents to the curve at G and K.
The A G H K E is the under side of the falling mould.
Draw the mixed line UK equidistant from a mixed or
compound line A H E, so that the distance between the
two compound lines may be everywhere equal to the
breadth of the developeinent of the convex cylindric
surface of the rail, and these lines will form the falling
mould required. Prolong B C to meet the under edge
of the falling mould in H ; and F G, B H, and D E are
the three heights of the rail over the points a 6, c,
fig. 5.
It now remains to find the oblique section of the
cylindric surface by a plane passing through the three
points of which a, b, e are the feet. Join e a, fig. 5, and
draw b z parallel to e a. Draw the three right lines a 7i,
b X, and e y perpendicular to e a, or at any given angle
with e a, so as to be parallel with each other, and make
the right lines an, b x, and ey, respectively equal to
F G, B H, and D E, fig. 6 ; but as the object is to obtain
the intersection of the plane, which contains the section
to be found, this object will be found more conveniently
by making a n, b x, and e a certain part of each line.
Let therefore a n, b x, and be each respectively equal
to one-third part of FG, BH, and DE, fig. 6. In
fig. 5 join yn, and draw x z parallel to y n. Prolong
e a and y n to meet each other in o, and through the
points 0 and z draw the right line T U, which is the in¬
tersection of the plane which contains the section of the
rail to be found. Through any convenient point T in
T U draw the right line T V perpendicular to T U, and
draw e I perpendicular to T V, meeting T V in t. Draw
11' perpendicular to T V, and make 11' equal to D E,
fig. 6, and in fig. 5 join E V, which prolong to W if
necessary.
Then ab c d ef may be considered as the base or
right section of a cylindrical surface, T U the intersection
of a plane cutting that cylindrical surface, and V T W the
angle of inclination of that plane ; it is required to find
the sections of the cylindric surface upon this plane.
This section will be found in the verv same manner as
that of an angle bracket, or angle rib of a cove ceiling,
and the application of the moulds to the plank will be
found in the very same manner as the applicatioil of the Carpentry,
moulds to the boards in forming an angle bracket.
Thus let the oblique sections of both cylindrical sur¬
faces be found, and let them be a' b' & d' e) f' and
y'o'c'. Join a- e', and draw yq parallel to TV, and at
such a distance from TV as may be equal to the thick¬
ness of a plank sufficient to contain the rail, and let p q
meet I V in q. Draw q r perpendicular to T W, and
draw er parallel to T W, also draw rs perpendicular to
a' g' meeting a' e' in s.
In fig. 7, plate vi., let L M O N be the edge of the
plank, L P Q M the top, N R S O the under face. We
shall call a^ b' c'd* e' f e'.... a, in fig. 5, the face mould.
Apply the face mould in fig. 5 to the face F L M Q,
fig. 6, of the plank, so that the points of d, fig. 5, may
be upon L M, fig. 7, viz, e upon t, and a, fig. 5, upon z,
fig. 7, and draw Y the figure of the mould. In L M,
fig. 7, make t u equal to e's, fig 5, and in fig. 7 draw
u w perpendicular to L M, intersecting N O in u. Make
V w equal to r s, fig. 5, and draw u x parallel to N O.
Apply now the face mould so that the points e\ a',
fig. 5, may be in the line wx, fig- 7. the point e' being
upon Wy and the point a' upon x, and that the entire
mould may be upon the face N O S R. Then the
figure of the mould being drawn also upon this side of
the plank, the two figures thus drawn will be true sec¬
tions of the cylindrical surfaces required, and if the plank
containing these figures be set up in its real position,
the curve line a'b^ c'd't' f, fig. 5, will fall over the
ground line abc def and the curve line a ß'S' e'
will fall over the curve line aßr/ S e.
Having cut away the superfluous wood on the out¬
side of the figures, the two helical surfaces may be formed
by means of the falling mould, and what remains to be
done will be understood by the workman.
The mitre cap of a rail is a piece of wood formed into
a surface of revolution, in order to terminate a straight
hand rail, and is generally employed when the stair has
no well hole.*
In fig. 8 assume the point s' for the projection of the
axis of rotation, and from with a radius equal to the
radius of the great circle of the mitre cap describe the
circumference ci ß of a circle, and this circle will be
the projection of the contour of the mitre cap. Draw
s in any convenient direction for the projection of the
* The rail is mitred into the circular cap, which is of greater
diameter than the breadth of the straight rail, and the two are
joined together in such a manner, that, when finished, a vertical sec¬
tion may divide both the rail and the mitre cap into two symmetri¬
cal parts ; and that this plane may pass through the axis of revolu¬
tion of the mitre cap, and longitudinally along the rail ; and that the
back of the rail, after descending in a right line, may proceed in a
curve until it becomes level, or has a horizontal tangent at the
point where it meets the circular cap ; and that the surface of the
rail and the surface of revolution of the circular cap may meet each
other in two vertical planes only ; and that the intersection of the
meeting planes may be in the longitudinal plane which divides the
hand rail and the mitre cap each into two symmetrical parts.
Let the plan of the rail and the mitre cap be so projected that the
axis of rotation of the mitre cap may be perpendicular to the plane
of projection ; then the plane which divides the part of the rail and
the mitre cap each into two symmetrical parts will be piqjected into a
right line, and the centre of the mitre cap will be projected into a
point, and the contour of the mitre cap will be projected into a
circle of which the diameter is equal to the great circle of the mitre
cap. The point which is the projection of the axis of rotation will be
the centre of the circle, which is the projection of the contour of the
mitre cap, and the right lines which are the projection of the planes
containing the mitre will be radii of the circle, provided these
planes pass through the axis of rotation as they are supposed to do.
266
CARPENTRY
Carpentry, vertical plane which divides the rail and the mitre cap
into two equal parts. Then the projections of the con¬
tour of the sides of the rail will be right lines, which
will not only be parallel to the right line, which is the
projection of the symmetrical plane, but will be equi¬
distant from that right line, and on contrary sides of it :
therefore, through any point s in ss^ draw af perpen¬
dicular to ss\ and make sa and sf each equal to half
the breadth of the back of the rail. Draw a f g
parallel to s's, meeting the circle a' g f o in a' and g and
aa\ f g will be the projections of the sides of the straight
rail.
Let ahcdefvu be a right section of the straight
rail so placed with regard to the line aß that af may
be the greatest horizontal dimension of the right sec¬
tion of the straight rail ; hence the right lines in the
section which are perpendicular to af will be in planes
parallel to the plan which divides the rail and cap into
two symmetrical parts, and therefore the projections of
these planes and the ordinales of the right section of the
rail will all be in right lines parallel to
The figure aa' a f g f may be considered as the pro¬
jection of the surface S, as well as the projection of the
rail and cap, and a'f may be considered as the intersec¬
tion of one of the mitring planes in the surface S ;
therefore the ordinales upon a' f will be equal to their
corresponding ordinales upon af Hence through any
point p whatever in af draw the right line pp parallel
to s s' to meet af\x\ p. Draw p b perpendicular Xo a f
meeting the curve or outline of the right section in
and draw p' 6' perpendicular to a! f. Make p' h' equal
io ph ; then the points a\ b',f are in the curve of the
circular cap. In the same manner may be found a
number of points through which the curve may be drawn
with sufficient accuracy; this being done a'b'c'dJe'f v'u'
is the section of the mitre cap required.
Section II.
Hoppers of The construction of columns and the hoppers of mills
mills, in wood, whether mitred or dovetailed, depend upon
that principle of the trehedral in which the two right
faces are given, to find the inclination opposite to one of
them or adjacent to the other, and as such subjects fre¬
quently occur in practice, one or two examples will be
useful to the student in this branch of the art of con¬
struction.
Example. Fig. 9 exhibits the two projections of a
hopper joined together in the form of a regular square
pyramid. The horizontal projection containing the plan
being parallel to the square base of the pyramid, and the
vertical plane containing the elevation being parallel to
one of the edges of the base and perpendicular to the
adjacent edges. The base will therefore be projected
* Let us now suppose a surface passing through the solid of the
rail and containing the right line afXo be called the surface S ; and let
us suppose a veitical plane intersecting the surface S, and passing
through any point whatever in a f parallel to the plane of symmetry
to be called the plane P, and let the intersection oí the plane P and
the surface S be called the intersection I ; then let the intersection
I in the plane P divide the section of the rail in the plane P into
two such parts, that the part between the intersection I and the
hack of the rail maybe eveiywheie of the same breadth; then
every right line perpendicular to the surface S, comprised between
the surface S and the curved surface of the cap, will be equal to the
right line in which the cylindric suiface which contains the perpen¬
dicular, and of which the axis of lotation is also the axis of that
cylindric surface, meets one of the planes of the mitre.
into a square, and the elevation into an isosceles trian- Carpentry,
gle. Let the plan be A B C D and the elevation E FG ;
the right line E F being the elevation of the base
A B C D. In the plan draw the diagonals A C and
B D intersecting each other in the point H and draw
H i perpendicular to H B. Make H i equal to the
height of the pyramid liG in the elevation, and join B i.
We have now given the angles of the two right faces
HB¿, ÄBC of a right trehedral, to find the dihedral
angle opposite to the right face H B C.
From any convenient point H in the diagonal B D,
draw H J perpendicular to Bi meeting B¿injf, and
draw H C perpendicular to B D meeting B C, or B C
prolonged in C. In B D make H Á: equal to Hy and
join A: C. Then H A: C is the angle of the mitre, and
the double of the angle hkC will give the angle of the
abutment of the dovetail joint.*
Fig. 10 exhibits the two projections of a regular
octangular pyramid according to the foregoing positions,
and as the diagram will agree with the same explanation
it would be unnecessary to proceed further. The
accented letters in the two diagrams 9 and 10 are
affixed to pyramids of less height, and show the method
of finding the angle of the mitre more clearly.
By this means a solid of revolution approaching in
figure to the frustum of a right cone may be constructed
with a series of thick battens of wood.
For the frustum of a pyramid of which the bases are
regular polygons may be formed so as to be easily con¬
verted into that of a right cone. By increasing the num¬
ber of sides, and by making the planes of the sides at
equal angles with the planes of the bases, this conver¬
sion will be more easily effected.
And since this frustum is evidently the figure of a
roof hipped on all sides, having the planes of the cover^
ing at equal angles with the plane of the horizon, and
the outer edges of the tops of the walls in the form of
a regular polygon, the angle contained by any two ad¬
jacent planes of the sides of the pyramid will be found
in the same manner from the angle made by two sides
of the polygon, and the inclination of the face of the
pyramid to the plane of the base, as the angle at the
hipped edge of a roof is found from the angle made by
the two adjacent walls, and the angle made by any of
the sloping sides of the covering, and the plane of the
top of the walls.
With respect to the polygonal frustum under consi¬
deration, the angle contained by the ])lanes of two ad¬
jacent sides being tbund, the half of it will be the dihe¬
dral angle made by the outer face and the surface of the
edge of each batten. The length of each batten at the
edge will be found in the same manner as the length of
the hip line of a roof, and the breadth of a batten at
each end will be equal to the side of the polygon at the
corresponding end.
* Sometimes for want of room it may not always be convenient
to use the entire distance h G, fijçures 9 and 10, and since all that is
required is to find the angle H B i of the vertical face : therefore in
the case of more room being required, draw from any convenient
point s in the elevation gm perpendicular to E F meeting E G in m,
and draw g n perpendicular to E F meeting B D in n. Draw no
perpendicular to B H, and make n o equal to gm. Join B o, then B o
and B i are in the same right line ; hence Ä B o and Ä B 2 make the
same angle. Draw ns perpendicular to B ? meeting Bf in s, and
in B H make n I equal to ns. Draw n e perpendicular to B H meet¬
ing B C in e, and join ¿ e. Then the angles nkC and nie are
equal.
CARPENTRY.
267
Carpentry. The battens being all properly diminished, and the
surfaces of the faces and edges made to form the angle
required, the parts when joined together will be the
frustum of a pyramid, which will be easily converted into
that of a right cone by reducing the angles and thereby
leaving a regular curved surface in place of them.
Hence the shaft of a column may easily be con¬
structed upon this principle ; first, by making it in the
form of the frustum of a pyramid, and then by rounding
off the angles
The following observations on the application of the
principles to practice will be found of signal use to the
young architect, builder, or workman.
A working drawing is a representation of the whole
or of some part of a building on a plane surface, and
may either be a plan or elevation, a section or a deve-
lopement of the parts required to be put in execution.
The constructive lines in Carpentry are generally de-
velopernents of certain difficult parts of an object or
building. A developement, though drawn upon the
same plane, consists of one or more sections of the
object in ditfereut planes, these sections being supposed
to be raised to the proper angles which they make in
the object itself upon certain lines which are in the Carpentry,
plane upon which the drawing is made.
Having fully explained the theory and practice of
Carpentry and Joinery, the reader will now be prepared
to apply the principles of this theory to real buildings.
In conclusion, it may be useful to give a short con¬
nected abstract of the whole principles before enumerated,
and to point out their applications to practice.
Developable surfaces of cylinders and cones are not
only applied to the formation of arched soffits in the
apertures of doors and windows, but also to the cover¬
ings of circular roofs and domes. Pliable moulds
made with such surfaces are used in Joinery for the
construction of hand rails, and in masonry to form the
conical beds of the stones of a dome, and the intrados of
the stones of an oblique arch.
The sections of solids are applied in constructing the
angle ribs, brackets of roofe, groins, and of coved
ceilings.
The trehedral is applied in roofing to find the angles
at the junctions of the timbers and the backings of the
hip rafters, as also in masonry to form the beds of the
stones of oblique arches.
FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica- FORTIFICATION, in the strictest acceptance of the term,
tion. jg usually limited to the Art of constructing such works
of defence, as may enable a body of men to maintain
o/the Art possession of a city, or of any military post or line
or Science ^f country, against the assaults of a superior numerical
ofFoRTiFi- force. But in a more enlaro-ed sense, Fortification
CATION. embraces also the Science of attacking and defending
the constructions which it creates ; and in this view,
therefore, its uses involve a very principal part of the
whole business of warfare. The Art of fortifying has
often been eulogized, by its professors at least, as that
exercise of martial skill which merits the unqualified
applause of humanity: by reason of its being employed
for the protection of the feeble against the oppression of
the strong. The severer judgment of History will de¬
tract from much of this boast. Fortification, at the most
favourable estimate, must only share the praise or re¬
proach which justly attaches to the military Art in ge¬
neral, according as it is honoured or disgraced by the
purposes to which it is devoted. Defensive structures
were, doubtless, originally the resource of the weak : but
they have been full as often erected to rivet the yoke of
conquest and servitude, as to cement the proud security Fortifica-
of a free people ; nor, in the confusion and frequency of
international wars, would it be easy to measure the
moral benefits of an Art which, obeying the shifting vi¬
cissitudes of human events, is used alternately to resist
invasion and to consolidate tyranny.
Such considerations may be safely abandoned to the
idleness of professional enthusiasts: they tend tono prac¬
tical result, and suggest no lessons of improvement.
As a preliminary to any attempt to give an acquaintance Proposed
with the general principles of Fortification in its present <hvision of
stale, it is far more interesting and useful to trace the ^ e subject,
progress—or, as a lively foreign writer has termed it,
the Natural History—of the Art through its connection
with the military and political fortunes of Empires ;
and before, therefore, we enter into some analysis of the
existing principles of warlike constructions and the esta¬
blished rules of Science by which they are assailed and
defended, we shall endeavour to prepare the reader for
a clearer comprehension of the subject, by a rapid sketch
of the changes which the method of fortifying has under¬
gone in different Ages of the World.
PART 1.
HISTORY OF THE ART OR SCIENCE.
Obvious
origin of
Fortifica¬
tion.
First expe¬
dients for
defence.
CHAPTER I.
Fortifications of the Ancients.
In this retrospect to the earliest known modes oi de¬
fence, we shall not imitate those Writers who have ima¬
gined it necessary to elucidate with oracular wisdom the
origin of Fortification itself. Unquestionably we shall
not deny, and still less shall we proceed to prove, the
grave and palpable truism which such profound reasoners
have laboriously enunciated :—that the Art of fortifying
owed its primitive necessity and its rise to the violence
and the wickedness of mankind. We may be content
with the assurance, that the same want of individual
security against the oppression and rapine of the
stronger, which in the rudest stages of Society kept
men united in families and communities, would dictate
the first expedients for collective defence ; that the same
Art which reared the first hovels for human habitation,
would prompt the idea of encircling the congregated
dwellings of the Tribe for the public security with a
wall or a fence of similar materials and structure. The
nightly depredations of wild beasts, the incursions of
human enemies hardly less ferocious, would equally
suggest to the most untutored Savages the necessity of
such an enclosure for the protection of their flocks and
herds, their women, their children, and themselves. In
a word, the impulse of self-preservation, which is im¬
planted by Nature in the human breast, would teach
268
men in their wildest state to oppose to the fierce inroads
of brute force such obstructions, as might place their
lives and property in security from sudden destruction,
and compensate for disparity of numbers and physical
strength. Those obstructions, whatever might be their
form or kind, were, in effect, Intrenchments ; and the
craft which disposed and fashioned them already consti¬
tuted the Art of Fortification. That Art may therefore
be said to have originated with Society itself; the first
expedients for its improvement would be contemporary
with the earliest efforts of human ingenuity and contriv¬
ance ; and, it need not be added, that its principles of
construction have always kept pace with the general
progress of Civilization and the discoveries of Mechanical
Science.
It would not, perhaps, be very important to determine '^eir mate-
with exactitude, even if we possessed the means of so
doing, the nature and form of the very earliest fortifi¬
cations. But we shall probably collect a sufficient
idea of their qualities, by the analogy which may
be supposed to subsist between them and the rudest
essays of the Art, observable among the savage people
of different quarters of the Globe in recent times. The
materials of the most ancient and simple fortifications
were, no doubt, those on which, indeed, the modern
engineer, with all his science, is still obliged, in his
field operations, chiefly to rely :—earth and wood.
To clubs and stones, the first offensive weapons among
Barbarians, a bank and ditch, or a single row of strong
FORTIFICATION
269
Fortifica- stakes, or trunks of trees, might offer a more than
tion, sufficient resistance. But as soon as the assailant
learned also to assist his animal strength with even the
simplest expedients of Art, additional solidity and inge¬
nuity became requisite for security in the construction of
^works of defence.* In New Zealand, Cook observed the
hippahs, or village-forts of the natives, placed on heights
and in commanding situations, but consisting of only
a single enclosure of trunks of trees strongly and closely
set on end in the ground, with a slight inclination in¬
wards. This fence was lined at intervals by interior
platforms or stages raised to within three or four feet
of its summit, from which its defenders, themselves
covered to the breast, could hurl their stones and javelins
on the assailants below. At the outset of the conquest of
Mexico, Cortes and his followers (a. d. 1519) found
the defences of Tobasco, a town of some size on the
American Continent, yet more simple in construction than
those which we have instanced among the Savages of New
Zealand. That Indian fortress was composed of only
a circular enclosure or stockade of large trunks of trees set
upright, with small apertures through which arrows might
be discharged.t The ancient intrenchments of Kani
Sigeth, and Temiswar, in Hungary and Turkey, as they
existed so late as a. d. 1700, are said to have afforded
a specimen of barbarian Art but a step more advanced.
These consisted of a double line of strong piles, having
the interval between them filled with the earth of the
ditch which had been excavated in front ; the outer row
of piles being left highest, to servé as a sort of parapet
or breastwork for the defenders on the terrace or ram¬
part. A remarkable similarity to this construction was
shown in the intrenchments of the Burmese during our
late war in Ava. Their common breastworks were
formed of a double line of stakes or hurdle work, the
intermediate space of which was filled with earth ; and
their stockades or palisaded redoubts from ten to twenty
feet high, whose assault in an uncleared and difficult
Country cost the lives of so many of our gallant Country¬
men, were built much in the same manner as those
ancient Hungarian works.
Such examples may suffice to exhibit the natural in¬
fancy of the Art in all Countries and Times. The
next improvement in military defence would obviously
be coeval with the first employment of masonry in Civil
Architecture. Against the assaults of an enemy unpro¬
vided with ponderous missiles, a simple wall of stone
or brick would form a more lofty and durable rampart
than] intrenchments of earth or wood ; its height would
increase the difficulty of escalade ; and the invention of
battering engines for its demolition would only impose
the necessity of an additional thickness and strength in
its construction. But the defence was still extremely
defective, as long as the besieged, from behind the sum¬
mit of their wall, were altogether unable to see the
assailants at its exterior base ; and this inconvenience
produced the expedient of a flanking or side defence :—
a condition that may be said to form the main principle
See plate ii. of the Art. To obtain a flanking defence for the wall,
fig. 2.
massive towers of masonry were built at all its angles
Progress of
the Art,
Walls and
towers of
mason ty.
* As an ancient example of this first improvement in Fortifica¬
tion may be mentioned the strong-hold of the Drilians, a People who
inhabited the shores of the Euxine : this is described by Xenophon
{Anabasis^ lib. iv ) as surrounded by a ditch and rampart, on which
were palisades and wooden towers.
f B. Diaz de Castillo, Hist, de la Conmiista de la Nueva Espagnn,
c. 34.
vol. vi.
and on each side of its gates ; and these towers besides
being made to project for that purpose in front of the
wall, were constructed of superior height so as to com¬
mand or overlook every part of it. The use of towers,
indeed, in Fortification may be pronounced of imme¬
morial antiquity : for there are innumerable notices of
their existence on the walls of fortresses in the earliest
records, sacred and profane : in the Historical books of
the Old Testament, and in the Iliad. In later Affcs
they were made sometimes square, hexagonal, and
octangular : but the preference was generally given to
the circular over any of these forms, as best adapted to
resist the shock of battering engines.*
Another invention of uncertain but less remote date
was employed to increase the power of the defence,
and to enable the besieged to see down to the base of the
towers and walls. Along the summit of all the works,
and overhanging the main mass, was constructed a nar¬
row gallery, supported by corbels or stone bra'''kets,
through the pierced floor of which every kind of missile
might be showered upon the heads of the assailant be¬
low, who should attempt either to scale or undermine
the walls. These machicoles, or projecting galleries,
still presented to the country the parapet or battlement
that always crowned the walls, with apertures for the
discharge of arrows and javelins at the assailants in
front ; and a lower gallery also often ran through the
thickness itself of the wall near its top, pierced with
loopholes for the same purpose, and arched and open
towards the interior.f A wide and deep moat, either
filled with water, or dry where the level of the Country
denied that resource, swept round the whole circuit of
the walls, and completed the defence.
Such, whatever variety there might be in the details,
and whatever gradual improvement in the process of
construction, continued the general character of fortresses
and the principles on which their defence was regulated,
from almost the earliest epochs of authentic History
even until after the invention of gunpowder. The walls
of Psestum, which are pronounced by the best Classical
Antiquaries to belong to a period far more remote
than the Age of Grecian civilization, are surmounted at
intervals with the circular tower ; and these stupendous
remains do not differ greatly as fortifications from the
structures of much later times. This common agree¬
ment of the modes of defence, which seems to have ob¬
tained at a very distant Age throughout the Western
parts of Asia, and the European and African shores of
the Mediterranean, may justify the opinion that the first
improvements in Fortification, as in other Arts, weie
derived from the East But whatever was the origin oí
the general system of fortifying among the civilized
Nations of Antiquity, it was from the vigorous intel¬
ligence and warlike spirit of the Grecian and Roman
mind, that it attained all the perfection of which it was
susceptible, whether in attack or defence; and it is in
the records of the achievements and knowledge of those
People alone, that we can gather the traces of the an¬
cient Science.
It would, however, be to little purpose to fatigue the
Fortifica¬
tion.
Imme¬
morial anti¬
quity of
such de¬
fences.
Machicoles
and moats.
For an idea
of the gene-
ral appear¬
ance of
ancient
forti esses,
see plate i.
fig. 1.
* Vitruvius, book i. c. 5.
f Such a passage still appears in the remains of Aurelian's walls
at Rome. Newton on Vitruvius, lib. i. c. 5,
A modern traveller describes a similar kind of gallery with aper¬
tures for the discharge of missiles in the ruins of the walls of
Tirynthus near Argos, a construction of great antiquity. Hughes,
Travels in Greece, ^c.
9
n
970 FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica-
tien.
Fortifica¬
tions of the
Greeks and
Romans.
Configura¬
tion,
height, and
thickness of
their walls.
general reader with minute details, even from Grecian
and Roman examples, of the ancient system of fortify¬
ing : and a very few further remarks on its conditions
will be all we shall offer. In the tracing or ground-
plan of the works, it does not appear that any fixed
rules were followed, as in modern constructions. The
configuration of the walls was usually determined by
the accidents of the site ; or if any general disposition
was preferred, it seems to have been merely an irregular
succession of salient (or projecting) and re-entering
angles, flanked by towers. This arrangement, from its
frequent adoption, must have been generally considered
most advantageous for an obstinate defence : though
Vitruvius^ recommends the outline which most resem¬
bles a circle, and proscribes very salient angles as easiest
to attack and most difficult to defend. Under any cir¬
cumstances it was a natural rule that the towers should
not be further apart than the range of the ordinary mis¬
siles of the infantry in order that every part of the in¬
tervening walls might be covered by their flanking dis-
charge.f
The heio'ht of the walls seems never to have been
O
determined by any general rule, and differed in all sorts
of examples and circumstances. HerodotusJ gives to
the ramparts of Babylon the enormous elevation of
three hundred and fifty feet. Xenophon§ says the
works of Larissa on the Tigris were one hundred feet
high, and those of the Median wall near Babylon of the
same elevation.|| But, without multiplying citations, it
may be sufficient to observe, that modern commentators
have been led to consider about one hundred and twenty
feet as the mean height of the ramparts of Antiquity ;
and it is only in Asiatic constructions, which seem
usually to have been formed on more gigantic propor¬
tions than those of Europe, that many instances are-
record ed of a greater elevation. The thickness, like the
height, of walls was various : but to afford space for
the passage of armed men on the summit behind the
parapet or battlements, and through the lower galleries,
as well as to resist the assaults of the battering ram, it
could scarcely in any case be less than eight or ten feet.
But it was certainly often far greater ; nor for the
placing and working of the defensive engines could that
breadth have sufficed. It has been disputed, indeed, in
what manner these engines were disposed, and doubted
whether they were ever placed on the walls : but
though such as threw stones might cast their missiles
from interior terraces or mounds over the walls like the
modern mortar, there were others, for the discharge of
darts and iron-pointed beams, which must assuredly
have been used, with a horizontal or point-hlank direc¬
tion, through apertures on the summits and in the thick¬
ness of the works.^
* Ubi suprà.
f This range probably did not, in general, exceed one hundred
feet ; and for one example we find in effect that the distance
between Csisar's towers in his lines before Alesia (not at the siege
of Bourges as Newton has erroneously stated) was eighty feet. De
Bello Gallico^ lib. vii. The wooden towers constructed to strengthen
the intrenchments of armies were, however, frequently further
asunder; those raised by Philip of Macedón at the siege of
Thebes in Phthiotis were one hundred paces from each other.
Folybius, lib. v. c. 9.
f Lib. i. c. 98.
§ Anabasis^ lib. iii.
11 Idem, lib ii.
% Among the Romans there was an express distinction even in
terms between the embrasures or mere openings in the battlements
It was doubtless for the purpose of obtaining a more
spacious rampart for the placing of these engines, as
well as for increasing the power of resistance to the bat¬
tering ram, that the expedient of raising an inner wall
of masonry parallel to the outer, and filling the interval
with rammed earth and rubbish, was often adopted.
Thus the walls of the Piraeus and of Byzantium were
twenty feet broad ; those of Nineveh thirty feet ; and
those of Babylon, which are described by Historians as
seventy feet in thickness, were probably built in this
manner. The ramparts of Bourges were forty feet thick;
and Caesar has detailed their mode of construction,
which he declares was common to almost all the Gaulish
cities. They were built of trunks of trees laid in hori¬
zontal rows, two feet asunder across the thickness,
and of alternate courses of stones and well-trodden
earth ; and the outside of the rampart was clothed with
a thick wall of masonry, in which the ends of the beams
were imbedded. This mode of building was admirably
adapted for a good defence ; because the timber resisted
the efforts of the battering engines, while it was secured
from conflagration by its admixture with the earth and
stone.^ Vitruvius recommends the use of scorched
olive piles for the same purpose ; as that wood is un¬
affected by the weather, by rot, and by age. But in the
most massive constructions, he advises the introduction
of transverse walls to bind the external and interior
faces of the rampart, disposed between them either pei-
pendicularly like the teeth of a comb, or obliquely in the
manner of those of a saw.t
When a city happened not to be advantageously situ¬
ated for resistance, or when its wealth and importance
suggested a more elaborate provision for defence than
a single circuit of towers and walls, a double or even
triple envelope of works was constructed. Of these
we have instances in Jerusalem and in Rhodes ; while
Ecbatana, the Capital of Media, was surrounded with no
fewer than seven enclosures of rampart. J A citadel in
the interior of a fortress, or formed on the least accessible
part of its circuit, was as common a resource, for se¬
curing a last refuge to the garrison, or for overawing the
citizens themselves if disaffected, as in modern times.
And, not unfrequently, the several quarters and suburbs
of a large city formed so many distinct fortresses : while
sometimes a chain of detached works covered the heights
which commanded the approaches to the place, or, in
maritime situations, defended the entrance of ports, or
the mouths of rivers.
For a single example, exhibiting all these provisions
of defence, we need only cite the fortifications of Syra¬
cuse, which Nature and Art had conspired to render
one of the strongest places of antiquity, and which de¬
serves particular notice in Military History for its
resistance in three memorable sieges to the arms of the
most warlike and scientific assailants of the times—the
Greeks, the Carthaginians, and the Romans. In all
these sieges, of which the first and last (by the Athenians
at the top of walls, and the port-holes^ or apertures, with which the
successive stages of the towers were pierced ; the former were called
erencßi the latter fenestrœ. From Caesar we find positive evidence
that, in towers of attack, engines were placed which discharged
their missiles through port-holes. In the tower raised at the siege
of Marseilles, it is said, fenestra<^que quibus in locis visum est, ad
tormenta mittenda struendo reliquerunt. De Bello Civili, lib. ii.
* Caesar, De Bello Gallico, lib. vii.
f Parts of Coiistantine's walls at Rome show the remains of
such transverse walls. Newton on Vitruvius, ubi sup. note 7
Herodotus, ubi sup.
Fortifica¬
tion.
Breadth of
rampart re
quired.
Double and
triple circuit
of walls.
Example of
Syracuse.
B. C.
413.
396.
212.
FORTIFICATION
271
Fortifica¬
tion.
See pi. ii,
fig. 3,
Ancient
modes of at¬
tack.
L By the
mound or
ügger.
under Nielas, and by the Romans under Marcellus)
must be familiar to every reader, the defence may be
declared to have been successful : the besieging arma¬
ment of the Carthaginians under Tmilcon, like that of
the Athenians under Nicias, was repulsed and de¬
stroyed;* and it was not until the genius of Archimedes
had baffled the assaults of the Romans, and long after
they had been compelled to convert the siege into a
blockade, that Marcellus carried the place by surprise.
The main-land City of Syracuse was seated on the North¬
ern side of its fine port, at the entrance of which lay the
Island of Ortygia, {a) separating it into two harbours ;
the lesser, or that between the Island and the City, being
thus divided from the rest of the bay. Ortygia consti¬
tuted the chief maritime defence of the City ; it con¬
tained the citadel and arsenal, insured the command of
the two ports, and was therefore altogether so much
regarded as the key of the whole City, that the Romans,
after obtaining possession of the place, never suffered
a Svracusan to inhabit it. Between the first and second
sieges, Dion^-sius the Elder built a dam from the main-
shore to the Island across the inner entrance of the little
harbour, by which it had communicated with the great
port ; while the passage from the sea was closed by a
wall or pier, with gates which admitted only a single
vessel at a time. The little port, which was capable
of containing sixty of the largest war-galleys, was thus,
in fact, completely embraced within the fortifications.
The entrance of the great port from the sea was likewise,
at a later period, defended as well by a strong fort (/')
on the Southern main-land promontory of Plemmyrium,
as by that end of the Island ; while the castle of Olym-
piœum (g) at the bottom of the bay further commanded
its interior shore. The main-land City of Syracuse itself
was composed of four distinct quarters, each fortified
separately, while the whole was enclosed by a common
envelope of lofty walls and towers : Achradina (6)
facing the sea to the East, and forming the whole
lower breadth of the City; Neapolis (c) and Tychë {d)
adjoining it, and presenting their exterior walls to the
" great port" and the North respectively ; and Epipolse
(e) crowning the Westward heights. The security of
the last quarter, which was almost encircled by nature
with a chain of crags and precipices towards the country,
had been strangely neglected ; so that the Athenians, in
the first siege, were suffered to establish themselves in
it: but it also was fortified by Dionysius with such
strength as to cover the lower quarters of the City, and
to render the heights themselves, and the whole place,
impregnable from that side.
After this brief and general explanation of the ancient
manner of fortifying, it is necessary to offer a similar
illustration of the mode in which the attack of places
was conducted. In the ancient, as in the modern
Science of Fortification, the system of attack was na¬
turally regulated according to the method and form of
defence which it was requisite to overcome. In the
absence of any sufficient means of forcing a passage
through a solid rampart too lofty for escalade, the
first expedient, perhaps, which might present itself
to an assailant would be, to commence a mound or
bank of earth before the place, to increase and carry
forward the mass until it touched the walls, and was
raised to the level of their summit, and thus to pour
his whole force of numbers over the defences upon the
* Diodoriis Siculiis, lib. xiv c. 61--73.
besieged. Such, accordingly, ,we find was the earliest Fortifica-
mode of attack which is recorded in the authentic History
of Mankind ; and such, indeed, continued to be one of
the common expedients of assault, even in the most
scientific Ages of Classical Antiquity. A passage in
Holy Writ seems clearly to point to the existence of this
mode of attack, even as early as the Age of Moses,
fifteen centuries before Christ, where the Israelites are
commanded, in besieging a city, to cut down such trees
only as are not fruit-bearing, and to " build bulwarks
against the city" until it be subdued ;* but yet more
expressly the denunciation against Sennacherib, King
of Assyria, that he " should not shoot an arrow into
Jerusalem, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast a
bank against proves that, at least seven hundred
years before Christ, this was the ordinary process of a
siege in the Countries of the East.
At what period the next contrivance which might
occur to a besieger was invented—that of machines for
effecting an entrance into the ])lace by beating down a gines.
part of the walls, or the use by both parties of great
engines for hurling masses of stone and other missiles
O O
upon their adversaries, it is difficult to determine.
These inventions were probably not known in the Age
of Homer, since no mention of them is made in the
Iliad, where their use would naturally have found a
place in the vivid picturing and minute description of
the combats before the walls of Trov. But in Sacred
History we find them numbered, within four hundred
years after the era of the siege of Troy, among the
means provided for the defence of Jerusalem b^ King
Uzziah, (about b. c. 800,) who *' made in Jerusalem
enodnes invented bv cunnino; men, to be on the towers
O m/ o
and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones
Wiinal."i It is, however, probable that such engines
were not then for the first time constructed ; and we
may therefore refer their invention to an intermediate
period between the collection of the Homeric Poems
and the reign of Uzziah in Palestine, that is, about a
thousand years before the Christian Era.
After these references to the obscure practice of remote Process of
Antiquity, we pass at once to the mature state of the ancient
Science of offensive and defensive Fortification, as ex-
hibited in Grecian and Roman warfare. It would far
exceed our limits, and otherwise, indeed, it would not
answer any useful purpose, to mark with chronological
precision the fluctuations of the Science during what are
commonly understood as the Ages of civilized Antiquity,
from about the great Persian invasion of Greece to the
fall of the Western Empire of Rome ; and, therefore, in
briefly describing the process of an ancient siege, we shall
refer less to examples of any particular epoch, than to
the general perfection which was attained in the whole
period. In commencing a formal siege on a great Lines of cir-
scale, the first operation of the assailants, or mode of
investing a city, was to draw round it a double line of contravalla-
earthen intrenchments or ramparts : the one facing the tion.
country, the other the place ; and the intermediate space
forming the camp, and containing the troops, the
* Deuteronomy ch. xx. ver. 20.
t 2 KingSf ch. xix. ver. 32. So also an expression in Jeremiah
identifies the sense of the two passages above quoted; Hew ye
down trees and cast a mount before Jerusalem " ch. vi. ver. 6.
+ 2 CÄrow. ch. xxvi. ver. 15. We believe that a passage in
about two hundred years later, contains the earliest express mention
by name of the battering ram, that is any where to be found.
Ezek. ch. iv. ver. 2,
272 FORTIFICATION
Fortifica»
tion.
Manner of
approach¬
ing the
walls.
Modern
controversy
raised on
the subject.
Theory of
the Cheva¬
lier de Fo-
iard.
Impugned
by Guis-
ohardt»
engines, and the whole matériel or stores of the be¬
siegers. The object of the outer circuit, or line of cir-
cumvallation^ being to prevent the introduction of sup¬
plies to the garrison, or the relief of the place by an
army from without ; that of the inner, or line of contra-
vallation^ to confine the besieged to their walls, and
secure the camp from their sallies. Against a place of
great strength, or whenever the design was rather to
reduce the besieged to the necessity of surrendering by
the slow operation of famine, than to carry their de¬
fences by rapid assault, both the lines of circumvalla-
tion and contravallation were built with flanking towers
at intervals, like regular defensive fortifications ; and
this laborious and tedious process of permanent block¬
ade was, in fact, only the partial or entire enclosure of
the fortress besieged within a second of similar construc¬
tion. The distance of the circumvallation from the
place was usually from nine hundred to one thousand
yards ; and both Greeks and Romans seem in all cases
to have given great care and solidity to the formation
of their intrenchments. At about six hundred yards
from the place, a numerous guard was usually placed
to repel sallies and protect the progress of the attack.^
Covered by these supports, the assailants, if an active
siege were intended, began to carry forward their various
works and engines of offence towards the walls. These
were the mounds or aggeres already noticed ; covered
lines or galleries of approach and communication, being
either excavated trenches or, more commonly, blinds of
carpentry, hides, &c. the vineœ of the Romans ; sub¬
terranean passages or mines ; balistic and battering
engines, the principal of which we shall enumerate;
and, lastly, movable towers and other covered buildings,
composed of strong timber, hides, haircloth, &c., on
rollers and wheels. On the exact nature and form of
several of these processes and constructions, modern
opinions are much divided ; and the laborious zeal of
commentators has vainly endeavoured to illustrate satisfac¬
torily descriptions of the ancient Writers, which, in the
absence of plates, are necessarily obscure and uncertain,
and which very few sculptured trophies or other monu¬
ments have survived to explain. In the last Century,
particularly, the conflicting judgment of the military
world was curiously excited in a controversy, which was
first produced by the theory of the celebrated Chevalier
de Folard. That enthusiastic soldier and devoted an¬
tiquary, with some Classical learning, and much pro¬
fessional knowledge, but with still more Imagination,
endeavoured, in his Commentary on Polybius, not only
to demonstrate the superiority of the Ancients in the
whole Art of War, but to depreciate the efforts of modern
strategical Science into a mere imitation of their prin¬
ciples and practice. In his theory, therefore, the ope¬
rations of a modern siege seemed but the copy of the
ancient attack : the balistic engines were disposed by
his fancy, like batteries of cannon and mortars ; the
vineœ were the parallels and approaches of our modern
trenches ; the agger es, cavaliers or raised intrench¬
ments ; and the mines similar in construction and pur¬
pose to the appalling expedients of these gunpowder
Ages.
The theory of Folard was assailed after his death by
* Cœsar always observed this precaution. See his declaration,
especially at the siege of Bourges, lib. vii. " Instituto Cœsaris duce
semper legiones pro castris cxcubabant.'^
Guischardt,^ a Dutch Officer of equal learning and Fortifica-
cooler judgment, who exposed the extravagance of many tion.
of his conclusions, and established a superior reputation
for accuracy and success as a commentator on the Mili¬
tary Art of the Ancients. In the degree in which he
strained many passages from the Classical Authorities
to the establishment of a favourite theory, no one, we
believe, now doubts that Folard was wrong : but Guis-
chardt, it can as little be denied, was led, in the usual
eagerness of refutation, to the opposite extreme of error ;
and, in the conduct of sieges, at least, there are many
more traces of coincidence between the ancient and
modern practice, notwithstanding the vast change
effected by the discovery of gunpowder, than he has
always chosen to admit. In both, the object may be
considered generally as the same, to effect a breach in
the walls of the place ; the aid of engines for the dis¬
charge of missiles was employed by the Ancients, like
batteries of cannon and mortars in the modern parallels,
to cover the progress of the attack, to ruin the defences,
and to drive the garrison from the ramparts ; and there
was a close similarity in the object of the vineœ, whether
galleries or trenches, with that of the parallels and ap¬
proaches by the sap, in our times. The inferiority of
the ancient means of attack to those of defence, is a
far more remarkable distinction from the state of the
modern Science, than is contained in any difference as
to the mere order and design of the sie2:e.
O o
The nature and object of the ancient aggères, or of- Aggeres
fensive mounds, we have already sufficiently explained.
They were composed of earth, stones, timber, and all
kinds of rubbish which could be collected ; and con¬
structed of immense mass and height with a labour and
celerity—by the Roman legionaries especially—of which
modern troops would probably be found altogether in¬
capable. The agger, for example, raised by Csesar's
army at the siege of Bourges, was three hundred and
thirty feet long or broad,t and eighty high ; and he tells
us that this huge work, notwithstanding the severity of
the cold and perpetual rains, was completed, and ad¬
vanced almost to touch the ramparts of the place, in
twenty-five days. On the agger, the movable towers
and balistic engines were placed, to overlook the walls
and cast missiles upon the defenders ; and the whole
front of it was frequently screened with a strong blind of
carpentry, covered with hides, hurdles, &c., to protect
the assailants from the missiles of the garrison. At the
siege of Jotapata by Vespasian, no less than one hun¬
dred and sixty engines were ranged along Ûïq agger ;
and several towers of carpentry were in the sequel also
placed on it.J Finally, it should be observed that in
some cases more than one agger was raised against the
walls : as at Marseilles, where Csesar's troops attacked
two of the fronts of the place.§
Of the vineœ, however composed, we may be con- Vineœ.
tented to assert, that they were certainly the works of
communication and approach which the Ancients em¬
ployed in their sieges. The manner in which the term
is used by the Latin Authors is often vague and indefi¬
nite ; nor shall we stop to weigh the opposite arguments
* Mémoires Militaires sur les Grecs et sur les Romains, 2 vols,
in 1, 4to. La Haye, 1758.
j- In its parallel front to the walls, of course. De Bello Gallieo,
lib. vii.
J Josephus, lib. ii. c. 12, 13.
Ô De Bello Civili, lib. ii.
FORTIFICA TION
273
Fortifica- in the antiquarian schools of Folard and Guischardt on
their nature. There can be no doubt that they were
frequently mere raised galleries of carpentry, hurdles,
hides, &c., as above noticed ; and that they were some¬
times movable sheds on rollers and wheels. But it is
equally undeniable from several passages, that they
were at least sometimes, as Folard has asserted them to
have been usually, excavations like the modern trenches.
Thus, for an example of either kind, it may, in the first
place, be noticed that at the siege of Echinus in Thessaly
by the last Philip, where the attack was made against
two towers and the wall between them, the besiegers
erected a tower of timber, covered by hurdles, opposite
to each of those of the town, and of the same height ;
and betweßu them was a connecting gallery similarly
formed. From the camp to each tower was also a
covered gallery ; and all these galleries served to con¬
ceal the communications of the besiegers. A battering
ram was placed on the ground-floor of each tower, and
three batteries of halistœ were placed in front of the
gallery between them."^ But, on the other hand, we
learn that, at the siege of Lilybseum, during the first
Punic War, when the Romans invested both sides of the
town, they connected their two camps by an intrench-
ment ;+ and we find that, at Dyrrachium, Cœsar carried
forward his approaches against Pompey's lines, by
works which unquestionably corresponded to the modern
trenches J or excavations for cover. That lines com¬
posed of the vineœ were often drawn opposite to the
walls, where aggeres were not used, something in the
manner of modern y)arallels of trenches, to contain
troops for checking the sallies of the garrison, and
covering the circuit of communication, seems also most
probable, though there is no evidence that such was, as
in modern Science, the established and regular princi¬
ple of attack : but whether by such vineœ or covered
lines, and approaches, are in every case to be under¬
stood either raised galleries of timber, &c., or sunken
trenches of earth, is a mere idle quarrel of words.
Mine? Though at what time mines were first applied io the
attack and defence of fortresses is uncertain, there is
evidence of their familiar use by the Ancients as early
as the Age of Herodotus ; and in the more advanced
state of the Military Art we find them employed almost
invariably in sieges. In the memorable defence of the
little city of Platsea, in the Peloponnesian War, (b. c.
429—7,)—the first siege, as Mitford has observed, of
which any connected detail remains in the annals of
mankind,—-Thucydides relates§ the attempt of the gar¬
rison to undermine the agger of the besiegers ; and, on
the other hand, the story in Livy,|| of the mode in which
the Romans effected their entrance into Yeise, (about
b. c. 393,) after a ten years' siege, by the mine, is in
the memory of every schoolboy. The capture of Gaza
by Alexander may suffice for a later example^ of the
successful use of the same process ; and, in a subsequent
Age, the walls of Palsea, in Cephalonia, and of Thebes,
in Phthiotis, when besieged by the last Philip of Mace-
don, were undermined to the extent of two hundred
paces in length.^^
* Polyb. lib. ix.
f Ibid, lib. i. c. 3.
I Intra has mediocn latitudine fossam iectis militibus chduci
Jussit. De Bello Civilly lib. iii.
§ Lib. ii. c. 76.
j! Lib V. c. 19—21.
®|[ Quintas Ciirtius, lib. iv,
Polybius, lib. v. c. 1 e/ 9
Nor were the preparations of the besieged, either to Fortifica-
arrest the subterranean approaches of the assailants, or
to employ the same expedients against them, always '
deferred to the hour of danger. Vitruvius^ mentions
the construction at Apollonia of something like a system
of defensive, or countermines, carried out to the distance
of a bow-shot from the walls, to discover the subter¬
raneous approaches of the besiegers. In these galleries
were suspended brazen vases, which resounded at the
blows of the enemy's iron tools in their vicinity, and
showed in what part their miners were at work. These
contrivances thus answered the same purposes as we shall
find the listening galleries of the Moderns, and directed
the engineer of the garrison where to drive out his gal¬
leries to meet the enemy, and destroy his workmen from
above with caldrons of boiling water, pitch, &c. The
introduction of torrents of water and barrels of burned
feathers, and other suffocating mixtures, into the mines
of an opponent, was also a common expedient of de¬
struction. Finally, it may be observed, that at Gamala
in Judœa, during the war of Vespasian against the Jews,
Josephust appears, by his narrative, to have prepared,
while in the service of his Countrymen, a regular system
of countermines for the defence of that fortress, which
were used with considerable effect against the approaches
of the Romans.
The use of mines seems to have originated in the Objects and
extreme difficulty and labour which were experienced by usesofboth.
besiegers, either in battering down the massive walls of
a fortress, or in raising their aggeres to a level with the
towering battlements. It was by stratagem that the
assailants first hoped for success, therefore, when they
frequently commenced their subterraneous galleries at a
prodigious distance in the country, and, passing under
the foundations of the rampart, issued unexpectedly to
the surface in the heart of the place. But the besieged,
as we have seen, soon learned the art of listening to the
approach of the enemy's miners, and of defeating his
object. They closely watched the point at which he
was about to make his narrow issue, and anticipated his
assault by throwing in a shower of stones, or other
missiles, and combustible preparations, which at once
filled up his gallery, while it repulsed or suffocated his
miners and troops. But mining was also more actively
employed in the defence, and appears to have been ren¬
dered altogether available toa greater degree against the
besiegers, than by them in assisting the progress of their
attack. By driving out subterraneous galleries or
countermines from the walls, the garrison not only
ascertained the direction in which the enemy's miners
were approaching, and intercepted their advance, but
were enabled to diverge to those points above which the
aggereSy battering rams, and towers of the besiegers, were
placed, and to effect their destruction. Such was the
twofold object in the example to which we have referred,
of the system of countermines constructed in preparation
for the defence of Gama.la by Josephus. When the
garrison of a place attacked had driven their galleries
under the besiegers' works, they excavated large cham¬
bers supported by timbers, filled them with other com¬
bustible matter, and set the whole on fire. The effect
of the conflagration, by causing the superincumbent mass
of earth to fall in, seldom failed both to sink the mov¬
able towers and agger es, and to consume all the com-
* Lib. xi c. 22.
f De Bella Jud. lib. iv. c 1.
2T4
FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica¬
tion.
Engines of
attack and
defence.
Catapultœ
and balistœ
bustible materials of the various machines and construc¬
tions of the assailants : while detachments of the gar¬
rison, in readiness for the event, sallied from the gates,
and availed themselves of the confusion of the besiegers
to assist and complete the work of destruction. But
sometimes the design of both parties was mutually
anticipated and prevented by the meeting of their arti¬
ficers in these subterranean labours ; as happened at the
siege of Syrinx, in Hyrcania, by Antiochus, where the
opposing miners encountered each other under ground,
and fought with great fury.*
Of the eniîines and machines of attack and defence
employed in the ancient sieges, the number and variety
are too great for detailed description within our limits;
and we have already made some mention of them under
the head Artillery in our Miscellaneous Division :
but it will answer every general purpose to mention in
this place a few of those most important in their opera¬
tion, and most common in their use. Nor, as we have
already hinted, in our ignorance of many particulars in
their form and construction, can more be safely attempted
in any modern Treatise, than to notice their purposes and
recorded effects. Of projectile engines, the principal
were the catapuliœ and halistce :—terms which have
been confused in the application, not less by the ancient
Writers themselves than their modern commentators.f
Upon the whole, it is most probable that the two words
were applied with little fastidiousness, and almost in¬
differently, for the projectile engines of either kind. But,
in any case, the question of names is of little moment ;
since it is certain that, of the two engines, one was used
for the projection both of large stones or masses of
work, and of darts or even sharpened beams, and the
other of the latter missiles only. The one, worked by a
cord, being composed in general of one or more wooden
limbs, which on release fiom tension struck with prodi¬
gious violence against a capsill, and threw the projectile
by the blow ; the other, though often of immense size
and power, acting upon the common principle of the
arbalest or cross-bow. The twisted cords used in both
kinds of engine were frequently composed both of the
sinews of animals and of woman's hair ; and this dry
* Polybius, lib. ix.
f Folard, who has devoted a chapter (vol. ii. p. 312—323.) to
this subject, and insists that the catapulta was the machine for
throwing stones, is probably, in the strict acceptation, right. His
opinion is supported in general by the text of Csesar, Vegetius, and
Ammianus Marcellinus, and by the fair inference of etymological
derivation ; while the only great ancient authority against him is
Vitruvius, an authority still far inferior to Caesar. In the Com-
mentarles (De Bello Civili, lib. ii. at the opening) it is said, that
the Marseillois shot spear-pointed beams twelve feet long from their
largest balistœ—^maximis balistis missi / and, further on, more ex¬
pressly, that stones were thrown from the catapultœ^—saxa ex cata'
pultis laieritium discutèrent. Vegetius (lib. iv. c. 21.) distinguishes
the balista as throwing darts, and the onager^ or wild ass, (a name
which appears to have superseded that of catapulta for the same
engine,) as casting stones. Balista spicula emittit, onager dirigit
lapides. The Greek derivation of both terms should seem to settle
the question. Balista, from BdxXu, jaculor^ certainly describes the
point-blank shot of the dart ov jaculum : catapulta from Kara, circà,
et -ráxxea, vibro, the swinging hurl of the stone. Tb'« former might
discharge its missile through an embrasure, like the modern can¬
non ; the latter could be used only with a vertical range over a
parapet, like our mortars. Yet, on the other hand, Vitruvius (lib.x.)
pointedly reverses the terms of the two engines ; and it must be
confessed, that Hirtius, the continuator of Caesar, {De Bello Hispan.)
distinctly calls an engine, which destroyed a tower by the discharge
of a mass of rock, a balista. This, and the vague disagreement of
ancient Writers, may beget a strong suspicion that the words were
often used indifferently for either projectile engine.
Fortifica¬
tion.
detail of mechanism will recall to the mind of the Clas •
sical reader the interesting circumstance of the sacrifice
of their tresses, which the heroines of Carthage made to
the public defence in the last struggle of their ill-fated
Commonweath. Some of the engines invented by Archi¬
medes for the defence of Syracuse, which deserve notice
in this place, varied from these ordinary projectile ma¬
chines, and consisted in revolving cranes placed on the
walls, from whose projecting arms heavy masses of stone
and lead were let fall on the galleys of the enemy.
Another contrivance of the same master-mind was to
employ long levers, having at their outer extremities
chains and grappling irons ; which, being swung out,
caught hold of the men, or even of the vessels themselves ;
and the latter being drawn partly out of the water by
depressing the opposite end of the lever, were suddenly
let fall, and either upset or sunk.^
The enormous weight and effect of the masses of Power of
rock thrown by the larger engines, and the immense these ma-
number of these projectile machines which were em- chines,
ployed in sieges of importance, are features in the ancient
attack and defence of places, to excite our surprise and
curiosity. Archimedes, if the relation of the siege of
Syracuse may be credited, made them capable of throw¬
ing weights of ten talents, or eight hundred pounds.f
At Ategua,î a shot from a balista used by Caesar's
troops, threw down a tower, with five of the garrison
and a boy, or slave, who served as a sentinel to give
notice of the distending of the machine. Josephus
makes repeated mention of a similar power of destruc¬
tion in the larger engines which were employed in Ves¬
pasian's sieges in Judaea. At the siege of Cremona§
the garrison from their ramparts upset a machine itselt
upon the assailants below : it crushed every thing be¬
neath it by its vast weight and size, but dragged a part
of the wall after it in its fall, and formed a breach for
the besiegers. The confined range, however, of these
mighty projectile engines, when placed in competition
with that of our ordnance, will be heard with a smile by
the modern artillerist. The largest used by Titus before
Jerusalem could cast a mass of rock only two stadia, or
about two hundred yards : || though Athenaeus speaks
of smaller ones which would carry an arrow half a mile.
Of the immense number of these engines which were
provided in every strong place, there are perpetual
proofs. At Marseilles, Caesar speaks of the tanta mut- used.
titudo iormentorum, with which the arsenal of that city
was stored. At the siege of Jotapata, Vespasian had
an artillery of one hundred and sixty engines;^ at that
of Jerusalem, Titus employed three hundred balistœ
and forty catapultœ, the smallest of which could throw a
stone of eighty pounds.^* When Scipio captured New
Carthage,tt he found in the place one hundred and twenty
catapultœ of the largest size, and two hundred and
eighty-one lesser ; twenty-three great balistœ, and fifty-
two small ; and an immense quantity of scorpions, or
simple cross-bow engines, for the discharge of arrows :
and when the Carthaginians before the last Punic War
surrendered their arms to the mercy of the Romans,
above two thousand engines of all kinds for casting
* Polybius, lib. viii.
f Idem, ibid.
J De Bello Hisp.
§ Tacitus, Hist. lib. iii.
II Josephus, lib. v. c. 18.
^ Idem, lib. iii. e. 7.
** Idem, lib. i. c. 6.
f f Livy, lib. xxvi. c. 47.
FORTIFICATION
275
Fortifica¬
tion.
Jlries, or
battering
ram.
Ram-tor¬
toise,
Helepoles,
or movable
towers.
Their stu¬
pendous
height and
dimensions.
stones and darts, were delivered up from the arsenals of
the city.
The common purpose of all these engines in attack
was to destroy the tops of the parapets^ to kill and
wound the men behind them, and generally to ruin the
defences of the place, and by rendering them untenable
to drive from the ramparts the troops of the garrison,
whose missiles would otherwise annoy the workmen,
and impede the progress of the approaches. To form
a breach in the body of the rampart, through which the
assailants might enter by storm, was left to the operation
of another well-known engine of prodigious power :—the
aries^ or battering-ram. This was a huge beam, pointed
horizontally, with a head of brass or iron : sometimes
shaped like that of the animal from whose manner of
striking it derived its name. In the rudest form of the
invention,^ it was probably only a transverse beam,
balanced from a mast which was set up before the ram¬
parts, and swung against them with its point forward
by a number of men, until its repeated blows shook and
brought down the wall. But, at least as early as the
Age immediately preceding that of Alexander,! con¬
trivances were adopted for enclosing the ram in a mov¬
able shed, and thus advancing it to the walls under
cover. The whole engine so composed acquired the
name of the ram-tortoise^ which Vegetius derives from
its resemblance " to a tortoise with its head poked out
of its shell." The shed was usually constructed, like all
the movable galleries and towers of attack, of timber
covered with the hides of bullocks and other animals :
it moved upon wheels or trucks, and had often upper
stories for missile machines. In this shed, the ram itself
was sometimes worked to and fro, upon a number of trucks
in a groove, to give its blows ; but it was more frequently
suspended by ropes or chains from the roof, and its head
thus violently swung against the wall with repeated
concussions, until it beat down the mass of the rampart.
Of the great movable towers, or helepoles, in com¬
mon use at sieges from the Age of Alexander, the
accounts transmitted to us are, unlike those of many
other machines, perfectly intelligible. But the stupen¬
dous height which was given to them^ the immense
labour and quantity of materials required for their con¬
struction, and the difficulty of moving forward such
towering and unwieldy masses, are among the most ex¬
traordinary circumstances of ancient warfare, and would
be absolutely incredible, if their constant use and pro-^
portions were not too well authenticated for doubt. They
were generally of ten stories or more, and above a
hundred feet high ; and Vitruvius,î on the authority of
Diades, a famous engineer in Alexander's wars, recom¬
mends that the breadth of their base should be from
seventeen to twenty-three cubits, and their height from
sixty to one hundred and twenty cubits, and that every
tower should be gradually narrowed at the top to four-
fifths of its base. The helepolis moved upon four, six,
or eight broad oaken trucks, and it was composed of
timber,§ covered with raw hides, as we have already ob¬
served, to protect it from fire. The uses of these towers
Fortifica¬
tion.
attack,
♦ Vitruvius, lib. x. c. 19.
j- Idem,
! Ubi suprà.
§ Csesar's tower of brick at the siege of Marseilles is a famous
example of another kind. But though constructed under the range
of the missiles of the garrison, it was rather a lofty redoubt for
defence against sallies than a tower of attack, and was, of course,
not movable.
were obvious : whether placed on the natural plain or on
the agger, to gain the advantage of height, and over¬
look the walls ; to drive the enemy from their defences
by showers of missiles from the machines in the different
stages and on the summit ; and, finally, when the tower
had been rolled close to the rampart, either to enable
the ram to work against it from the lowest floor, or to
afford a passage for the assailants to the wall from the
top, by means of a drawbridge, prepared for that pur¬
pose, an-d let down upon the battlements of the place.
Of the smaller movable sheds of attack, since they Various
were constructed much on the same principle, we have smaller
neither space nor occasion to give any lengthened de-
scription. Such were the pluteus, the musculus, the
testudo of approach, all covered buildings of carpentry,
hides, hurdles, &c. pushed forward on trucks, for level¬
ling the ground in front of the heavier helepoles and
ram-tortoises, for covering the various works of approach,
for filling up the moat of the place, and for undermining
the walls. Neither is it necessary to load our pages
with an account of the various machines for escalade,
cranes for raising the assailants to the battlements,
(especially from the galleys in maritime sieges,) and the
thousand other expedients which the martial ingenuity
of the Ancients dictated under as many varying circum¬
stances ; and which are to be found in all the old pro¬
fessional Treatises.
From the particulars into which we have already Générai
entered respecting the machines and constructions em- course ot
ployed in the Grecian and Roman practice, the general
reader will already have acquired a sufficient insight into
the scientific process of an ancient siege. He will have
observed that the primary object of the besieger was to
approach the walls of the place under cover, and with
the least possible sacrifice of life to his troops. With
this view were employed either; lst¿ subterranean gal¬
leries to arrive at the foundations of the ramparts ; 2dly,
covered galleries and communications of approach, such
as viîieœ whether raised blinds or trenches, and mov¬
able sheds, and towers ; 3dly^ aggeres, or mounds rising
to the height of the battlements, and pushed to the edge
of the ditch, or even filling it; 4thly, missile engines of
all kinds to ruin the defences, to overpower the discharges
of the garrison, and to drive them from the ramparts.
This primary object of touching the walls having been
effected, the ultimate process was either to bring down
the rampart, and form a breach for passing into the
place, by the mine or by the strokes of the battering ram ;
or else to pass over it by drawbridges from the helepoles
and aggeres, and pour columns of troops into the place.
On the other hand, it was the object .of the besieged and of
to impede the progress of the enemy by destroying defence,
or rendering useless their works, and overpov-ering
their workmen with missiles. For this end, thé- em¬
ployed the greatest possible number of projectile ergines
on their towers and walls, and kept up an incessant
discharge upon the approaches ; they hurled down
all kinds of heavy masses from the walls to crush
the sheds of the assailants below ; they attempted fre¬
quent sallies to fire the towers, sheds, vineœ, engines,
and aggeres, for which the combustible nature of the
timber and faggots, and other materials which were
necessarily used, both in the wooden buildings and ac
cumulated mounds of the besiegers, gave great facility ;
and the labour of weeks and months was thus frequently
destroyed in as many hours. On their walls, the gar-^
risen protected themselves from the missiles of this?
276
FORTIFICATION
Foïtîfaca-
tion.
Superiority
of the an¬
cient Art of
Defence to
that of At¬
tack,
Aided by
the despair
of the be«
sieged.
Appalling
conse¬
quences of
defeat or
surrender.
assailant, by the same contrivances of wooden blinds,
hurdles, hides, &c., which he used. To the successful
employment of countermines for sinking aggeres and
overturning the hdepoles we have already adverted : but
there were sometimes even simpler modes of arresting
the approach of those unwieldy masses of timber, of
which a single example, related by Vitruvius,* may
suffice. At the siege of Rhodes, Demetrius, one of the
most able of the martial successors of Alexander, who
had acquired the surname of Poliorcetes, (besieger of
cities,) from the number and success of his enterprises,
constructed an enormous helepolis, one hundred and
twenty-five feet high and sixty broad, and so secured
with hair-cloth and raw hides, that it could stand the
blow of a stone weighing three hundred and sixty
pounds fiom an engine, and was probably indestructible
by fire. This huge tower itself is said to have weighed
three hundred and sixty thousand pounds ; and its ap¬
proach threatened imminent peril to the besieged. Yet
merely by inundating in the night the soil over which it
was to pass with quantities of water, mud, and filth, the
citizens produced such a quagmire, that the dreaded
machine stuck fast and sank by its own weight, so that
it could be moved neither forward nor backward ; and De¬
metrius was compelled there to abandon it, and to raise
the siege Î The most formidable engine, when its advance
to the walls was once effected, seems to have been the
ram : yet the besieged were not without the expedient of
strengthening their rampart against its shocks, to an im¬
mense mass and thickness at the points most exposed to
attack ; and sometimes mattresses of wool and hair-cloths
were hung over the walls to deaden the blows of this bat¬
tering machine. Another frequent contrivance was to
noose the ram by a chain or cord dropped from a crane
upon the rampart, and by this means to raise the head
of the beam in the air, while fire, the great auxiliary
of the defence, was showered in every form upon the
tower or shed.
Altogether, therefore, as will be concluded, the Art of
Defence in Ancient Fortification had an infinite advan¬
tage over that of Attack ; and it was only by immense
numerical superiority and mechanical means, by un¬
wearied labour, and indefatigable patience and activity,
that the assailant, advancing on his feeble lines and
heads of attack, could approach the defences, and effect
a passage through the ramparts of a well-fortified place.
For once in the History of mankind the Art of fortifying
had nearly perfected its professed object; and apart from
the ravages of famine and pestilence, and the bane of
domestic treason and dissension, every strong place, if
well-garrisoned, and defended with as much skill and
courage as it was assailed, may almost be pronounced
to have been impregnable. Nor were there wanting, in
the ferocious principles of ancient warfare, strong motives
of human passion to increase the moral energies of a
besieged population. While, from behind their lofty and
solid ramparts, with plenteous stores of provision and a
well-filled arsenal, a brave and united people might
securely defy the assaults of a besieger, the dreadful
consequences of surrender or defeat were far more ap¬
palling than the ordinary privations of a siege. For the
best fate they might expect from the mercy of the con¬
queror was slavery in its bitterest forms; the sure con¬
sequences of capture by assault were death by the sword
to themselves, and worse than that death to their women
and children. In our ordinary modern warfare, in which a Fortifica-
garrison may safely resist behind their last intrenchment bo"«
with the certain power of an honourable capitulation, it
is impossible for us to conceive the agony of patriotism
and desperation, by which the defenders of an ancient
city were wrought to superhuman endurance. The
whole siege was in truth a death-struggle of ferocity and
terror, not a mere effort of martial emulation. Even
the horrors of a modern assault in their rare and un¬
mitigated excess, fall more cruelly upon the often neutral
and passive inhabitants of a city than upon the troops of
the garrison, to whom quarter is seldom denied. The
modern soldier resists or surrenders, with equal indif¬
ference to the lot of a population to whom he is bound
by no ties of affection : but the ancient warrior beheld
all that was dearer than life involved in his own ruin ;
and in anticipation of the sanguinary and brutal triumph
of the victor, might well shudder, not at the death which
he probably welcomed, but for the slaughter, the viola¬
tion, and the servitude, which his own fall would pre
pare for his miserable kindred.
♦ Lib. X. c. 22.
CHAPTER II.
Fortifications of the Middle Ages.
We have abundant evidence from the Histories of the
Sieges which have taken place in Europe and Asia, that
the nature of the military engines used in the attack and
defence of fortresses underwent no material change, from
the days of Csesar till the discovery of gunpowder ; and
it is known that the ancient balistœ, catapultœ, &c. con¬
tinued to be employed in conjunction with cannon for a
considerable time after the latter were mounted on ram¬
parts or brought into the field. We may, therefore,
reasonably conclude that, during all this long period,
the manner of fortifying towns and military positions re¬
mained the same as that described in the Works of Vitru¬
vius, who is believed to have lived in the time either of
Augustus or of Vespasian : but the employment of the
modern artillery, small indeed at first, and far less im¬
portant in its effects than that which is used at the pre¬
sent day, at length rendered it necessary to exchange the
lofty stone walls of the Ancients for ramparts of earth,
which were soon found more efficacious in resisting the
shock of this powerful arm.
It may, at first sight, seem remarkable that such
ramparts were not frequently constructed even while
the ancient engines were in use ; since it is evident
that the material which is best capable of resisting the
momentum of an iron ball, must also have been best
capable of resisting that of a battering-ram ; and it would
seem to have been impossible, supposing the parapet
formed as at present, with its exterior face at an angle
of forty-five degrees with the horizon, to bring such
machines as the helepoles near enough to permit the
assailants to pass into the fortress by a bridge, thrown
upon the parapet from the top of the machine. Ram
parts constructed merely of earth are certainly men¬
tioned by the Ancient Writers as the fortifications of
towns and military posts : but, except where they served
as lines to protect a country from the inroads of Barba¬
rians,—like the walls of Hadrian and Antoninus in
Britain, and the chain of redoubts constructed along the
Illyrian frontier in the latter Ages of the Roman Em¬
pire,-—such appear to have existed only among rude
Long con¬
tinuance of
the an(.ient
mode of
fortifying.
Earthen
ramparts,
why not
sooner em-
ployeii.
FORTIFICATION.
277
Fortifica¬
tion.
Facilities
afibrded by
such works
to escalade*
Proofs of
the unvaried
character of
the Art of
Fortifica¬
tion in the
Classical
and Middle
Ages.
A. P.
323.
nations and in situations of small importance. That
elevations of earth were sometimes formed for the pro¬
tection of the ordinary brick or stone ramparts is, how¬
ever, rendered probable by the fact, that there remained,
in the XVIth Century, in the ditches of some ancient
fortresses, a bank of earth parallel to the sides of the
fosse, but separated from both, and covering the inner
wall of the excavation as far up as about three-quarters
of its height. It is asserted by Maggi,^ that such banks
in his time existed in front of the old circuit of wall at
Calais, and at another place in Flanders ; and he adds,
that at Pisa, banks of the same nature were placed close
against the walls of the curtains for the purpose, he
supposes, of resisting the engines brought against them
by the besiegers.
But in ancient warfare the practice of engaging in
combat hand to hand was^so general, and personal
prowess and self-devotion were held in such estimation,
that when an attack by storm was possible, it was
always preferred to a slower but more secure process :
the sacrifice of life entailed by an open assault being
then less regarded, than that of the time which would
be incurred by forming a regular siege. It being such
assaults, therefore, that the defenders would chiefly ap¬
prehend, it may be conceived that ramparts similar to
those of modern construction would be thought to offer
too many facilities to an escalade ; and this, together
with the opinion that they would be more easily under¬
mined, may account for the preference given to ramparts
of stone or brick. While, therefore, the penetration of
the rampart at its foot was to be feared, thick stone
walls remained necessary : in order that a sufficient
resistance might be opposed to the enemy's miners.
And, while the walls were liable to be passed by esca¬
lade, it was essential that they should be lofty, in order
to augment the difficulty of the assault. In fact, the
heights of the walls and of the opposing turrets of the
besiegers seem, in emulation of each other, to have
gone on increasing during all the time that the old
system of attack and defence continued : but a great
thickness of wall was only required near the foot ; and
this was accomplished by raising a mass of earth there,
either on the interior or exterior. In the parts of the
wall above the place where the ram might come in con¬
tact with it, it was sufficient to have the thickness ade¬
quate to resist the stones or other missiles thrown from
the machines : consequently, the loop-holed galleries
therein made, to serve for communications and as sta¬
tions for the archers, became admissible, and did not
liminish too much the strength of the rampart.
To mention only a few circumstances in support of
what has been asserted concerning the unvaried charac¬
ter of the Art of Fortification during the period above-
mentioned, we may observe that, in the lid Century of
our Era, the City of Byzantium, which was then consi¬
dered impregnable, and which, during three years,
resisted all the power of Severus, and all the means
employed in the ancient mode of attack, was fortified,
as were all other Cities of the preceding Ages, with walls
and towers of masonry.f In the same style also, after
their subsequent destruction, those walls were rebuilt ; and
when besieged by Constantine, the attack and defence
are described as being conducted in the accustomed
manner. The assailants raised an agger or mound, of
* Dtlla Fortißcatione delle Gitta, lib. ii. c. ?4.
f Dion Cassius, lihj Ixxv,
VOX . VÎ.
equal height with the walls of the place ; surmounted
this huge elevation with lofty helepoles and projectile
engines ; and finally breached the walls by the ram.^
So also, when the City became the seat of the Eastern
Empire, the new fortifications were of the same kind
as the former: the extent of the walls and the number
only of towers being augmented.f Of the latter, it is
said, that, in the reign of Theodosius, fifty-eight were
overthrown by an earthquake, and subsequently re¬
stored. J
We may collect from the Works of Procopius§ that
the military architecture of the Vlth Century differed in
no respect from that of preceding Ages : for, in de¬
scribing the fortifications constructed about Dara in
Mesopotamia, during the reign of Justinian, that Writer
states that the City was surrounded, at the distance of
fifty paces from each other, by two walls, which were
strengthened by towers : that the inner wall was sixty
feet high, and the towers one hundred feet ; and that
besides the platforms at the top of the walls and towers,
on which the defenders were to be stationed, there were
galleries formed in the thickness of the former. He
observes that the exterior wall was less lofty ; and that
against the back of the towers were raised large eleva¬
tions of earth to serve as places of arms for the defenders
at the time of an assault. The whole was surrounded
by a double ditch ; and the entrance was protected by
an outwork of a semicircular form.||
If we pass over the dark interval between the IXth
and Xllth Centuries, we shall find that, at the latter
epoch, the fortifications of Cities had been maintained in
all their former strength ; but that no improvement had
been made in the nature or dispositions of the works,
nor in the modes of attack and defence. On the con¬
trary, it may be gathered, from the relation of the sieges
undertaken in the First Crusade, that the state of martial
Science, in this as in all its other branches, had retro¬
graded since the Ages of Classical Antiquity. Thus,
as we have seen, in another portion of our Work,^
Nice, when invested by the Crusaders, was surrounded
by double walls of stupendous height and thickness,
provided with a deep ditch, and flanked at intervals by
no fewer than 370 towers. The attack of the City was
carried on by means of lofty wooden towers, the hele¬
poles of the Ancients, now termed helfredi, or b elf rois
by covered galleries and movable sheds, the pluteus,
musculus, &c. of old, now called indifferently foxes and
cats, or chat-chateils when surmounted by a tower ; by
battering rams contained within all these structures;
and, lastly, by all the balistic engines of earlier Ages.
But the whole of the towers and galleries of attack were
burned by the Greek fire of the besieged ; and it was
not until after much mismanagement and loss, that the
Crusaders, by the aid of an Italian engineer, succeeded
in attaching a chat-chateil to the walls of the City, F rom
that machine, undermining the foundations of a tower,
which had been injured in a former siege and leaned
forward from its base, wkile they supported the super
incumbent mass on strong wooden props, tiiey finally, by
firing these timbers, brought down the whole structure
♦ Zosimus, lib. ii. p. 97, 98.
f Qodàmxs, Antiquitates Constant.-ç. 12.
J Du Gange, Constant, lib. i. c. 10, 11.
§ De Edißciis, lib. ii. iii.
j| Procopius, De Edi/iciis, lib. ii. c. 1^—3. &c
^ Vide our Historical Division, ch. Ixxii. p. 599
** Du Gange, V' Belfreduê,
O D
Fortifica¬
tion.
Evidence of
Procopiua.
State of the
Art between
the IXth
and Xllth
Centuries.
Sieges in
the 1st Gru-
sade.
A, D.
1097.
278
FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica¬
tion.
A. D.
1099.
Examples
of the un¬
changed
state of the
Art in the
Italian wars
oftheXIIth
and Xlllth
Centuries.
And in the
siege of
Constanti¬
nople.
A. D.
1203.
Influence of
the Feudal
System
upon the
construction
of fortresses.
at a single crash, and displayed a yawning breach. Twer
years afterwards, Jerusalem was besieged and defended
in a similar manner : after the destruction of various
other engines of assault by fire, the besiegers could ad¬
vance only one movable tower to the walls at a point
at which the fortifications were low and the ditch deep.
The latter was filled up ; a harhacan or outwork was
beaten down ; the tower was rolled up to the inner wall ;
its drawbridge was let down upon the rampart ^ and the
troops rushing over the battlements obtained possession
of the City.*
The Histories of the wars in Italy, and particularly
the relations which have been transmitted to us of the
sieges of Como, Tortona, and Cremona, show that the
towns in that part of Europe, during the Xllth and
Xlllth Centuries, were fortified and attacked in the
ancient manner. The first of these places seems to
have been strengthened by castles in the nature of ad¬
vanced works : for the Milanese, who besieged it, are
said to have passed them without attack ; and encamp¬
ing under the walls of the city, they caused to be erected
four great towers covered with hides, which were wheeled
up to the walls. From these the cross-bow men, sta¬
tioned on their tops, annoyed the defenders ; and be¬
tween them were placed what are called gatti, or cats : a
sort of battering ram having at the end an iron hook to
tear out the stones which were loosened by the shock.
Balistœ also were used for throwing pieces of rock
against the walls.f In a manner precisely similar were
the two other places above mentioned attacked by Fre¬
deric Barbarossa ; nor do we find any other difference,
except such as arose from local circumstances, in the
nature of the attack on Constantinople when it was taken
by the Latins in the IVth Crusade. It is stated that the
towers of the City on the land side were raised above
their ordinary height by several stages of wooden tur¬
rets, in order to command the machines of the enemy ;
and that the Venetians having disposed their fleet along
the wall, on the side next to the port, swept that wall
with arrows and stones discharged by men stationed
on the masts of the ships. This division of the army
on landing is said to have taken as many as twenty-
five towers a proof of their vicinity to each other,
and that they did not exceed the usual size of such
works.
The rise of the Feudal System, however, during the Dark
Ages had produced a description of fortress in the West¬
ern Kingdoms of Europe, which, while constructed with
embattled walls and towers according to the ancient system,
exhibited several new and peculiar features. These were
suggested by the nature of the site, and the purposes which
distinguished such strong-holds from large and populous
cities. The anarchical state of Society, and the frequency
of private wars among the Feudal Nobility, bestowed a
license and imposed a necessity upon every Chieftain to
fortify his house. While the dwelling itself of the lord
and his family was strongly constructed in the form of
a tower, and rendered capable of defence by a small body
of domestic retainers, against any sudden attack, a larger
space, sufficient for the refuge of his numerous vassals
with their effects, and for the endurance of a regular siege,
was obtained by surrounding the main building with a
* Vide our Historical Division^ ch. Ixxii. p. 610.
f De Bello Comensi, apud Muratori Script, Ital, vol. v. 452,
X Villehardoui», e. 93. p. 29.
single or even double circuit of walls. The rural fort- Fortifica»
resses which, as we are informed by Procopius, were
plentifully provided in the frontier Provinces of the East-
ern Empire under the reign of Justinian, afford an earlier
example of the same kind of works : since they consisted
of a stone or brick tower, in the midst of an area sur¬
rounded by a wall and ditch^ to which the neighbouring
peasantry might retire with their cattle for protection
against the inroads of the Barbarians. But the castles
of the Feudal Nobility throughout the Dark Ages were
continually enlarged in extent and increased in strength,
until they were made capable of containing powerful
garrisons, and rendered almost impregnable against the
ordinary modes of assault.
Although the license of private war was more severely Description
restrained in England than in the Continental States of of a Feudal
Europe, a very complete idea may be formed of the Castle,
castles erected by the Feudal Nobility from the existing re -
mains of such structures in our own Country. These show
that the residence of the proprietor was a large building,
generally rectangular, of great height, and strengthened
at the angles by turrets, in one or more of which were
the winding steps leading to the several floors, of which
there were sometimes four or five, and to the upper plat¬
form of the edifice. Underneath were dungeons in which
the captives taken in the field, and often the victims of
lawless power, were confined ; and frequently subter¬
ranean galleries, commencing under this building, were
carried far beyond the outer walls, to facilitate escape in
the event of the castle being taken. Near this edifice were
commonly situated the chapel, stables, and the domestic
offices ; the whole were surrounded by embattled walls
which were sometimes double ; and the name of the
inner and outer ballium was given to the areas which
those walls respectively enclosed. The periphery of the
walls was generally irregular and adapted to the nature
of the ground ; at intervals were placed towers of a
square or circular form as in other ancient fortifications ;
and these, though used for the purposes of defence,
served also as magazines, or dwelling-houses for the
principal officers belonging to the castle.
When the walls crowned the summit of a rock, no
ditch was necessary, but when the surrounding ground
permitted the works to be accessible, the whole was
surrounded by a broad and deep fosse. The grand
entrance was flanked by embattled towers, closed by
massive gates, and protected by machicolations and a
portcullis or close grating of iron, which was drawn up
and let down by grooves prepared in the stone work.
The ditch was crossed by a drawbridge, which, in time
of danger, was raised, to prevent any one from entering
within the walls ; and the bridge was frequently covered
by an exterior work, called a harhacan^ consisting gene¬
rally of a stone wall built in the form of a portion of
a circle^ or polygon, strengthened at intervals by towers
and protected by its own ditch and drawbridge. Within
the outer wall there has been frequently observed a
mound of earth, and this is supposed to have been a sort
of cavalier (as such raised batteries are called in modern
fortification) on which engines were placed to oppose
those of the enemy. The central building generally
served as a keep, or citadel, which might hold out for
some time after the walls of the castle were taken ; but
when some great elevation of the ground rendered the
spot difficult of access, the keep was formed on the pe¬
riphery of the inner or outer wall. The ascent to
it from the ballium was by narrow steps ; and deeo
FORTIFICATION
279
Fortifica'
tien.
Mode of
besieging
such fort¬
resses«
Invention
of gunpow¬
der.
Slow pro¬
gress of the
changes
which it
produced
in the Sci¬
ence of For¬
tification.
Example in
the last
siege of
Constanti¬
nople.
a. d.
1453.
wells were dug within to supply the garrison with
water.*
In the siege of such fortresses, since the range of the
warlike machines then in use was not great, the assail¬
ants sometimes began their operations with the attack
of the outer wall, which frequently consisted only of a
row of strong palisades, and was then denominated the
lists. Many feats of Chivalry were here performed by
the Knights and men at arms, who considered the assault
of that work as particularly belonging to them ; the
weight oftheir armour preventing them from scaling the
walls. The besiegers having carried the lists, brought
up their machines, and established themselves on the
outer edge of the ditch, which, under cover of their tor¬
toises, they began to fill with fascines or faggots : over
this surface were impelled the movable towers, from
which the cross-bowmen annoyed the defenders ; darts
and stoneswere thrown from the engines; and the walls
were either battered by the ram or undermined. The
smallness of the range of missiles from the ancient en¬
gines rendered it no disadvantage to the works to be
commanded at the distance of four or five hundred
yards ; and such was actually the case with the Castle of
Dover, which was once considered as the key of the
Kingdom.t Fortifications of the kind which we have
been describing yet remain in different parts of the Con¬
tinent of Europe, situated on rugged and often inac¬
cessible rocks, showing their ruined battlements and
towers from a great distance ; and recalling to the mind
of the traveller those tales of chivalric exploits, of which
the relation has so often charmed his youth.
It must have been in the wars which devastated the
North of Italy in the beginning of the XlVth Century,
and probably between the death of the Emperor
Henry VII. and the election of Louis of Bavaria, that
the invention of gunpowder, which was subsequently to
produce so great a change in military operations, took
place. But whatever may be the precise date of its
discovery, it appears to have been first used in the field
by the Venetians, in a. d. 1330. Before the Xlth
Century the Italians, from their frequent intestine v/ars,
had made themselves skilful in the art of attacking and
defending places ; and Pisan and Genoese engineers
seem to have had the direction of all the sieges carried
on by the Crusaders against the cities of the East. We
find them also employed in the erection of fortresses in
Flanders so late as the time of Charles V. It is not,
therefore, wonderful that a people thus exercised in
martial science and practice should have been the first
to adopt an invention, which promised to render victory
an attendant on every movement of their armies. But
the discovery of gunpowder does not seem to have pro¬
duced at once the change that might have been expected
in the construction of fortresses ; nor to have given com¬
plete success on every occasion of its employment in the
attack of those already existing. In fact, however, the
first guns, except in a few cases, were so little superior
in effect to the rams and halistœ of the Ancients, that
the latter were long used in conjunction with them for
every military purpose to which either was applicable.
The most remarkable instance of such an admixture
occurs in that fatally memorable siege which, in a, d.
1453, gave the last City of the Romans to the power of
a Turkish Sultan. The fortifications on the land side
* Grose, Milit. Aniiq, vol, ii. p. 336, 337, &c.
f Grose, ubi suprù»
of Constantinople consisted of a double wall, with a Fortifica-
ditch in front one hundred feet deep, and extending to tion.
the length of four miles. Against this wall and its
towers, were raised fourteen batteries of guns, among
which were three pieces said to be capable of throwing
stones weighing from six hundred to twelve hundred
pounds. But, with thpe, we read that there were engines
for throwing darts, and rams for battering the walls :
as if the effect produced by the guns was not suffi¬
ciently great ; or as if the breaches which they made
were too steep to be ascended. The ditch being at length
filled, a movable turret was advanced on rollers up to
the wall, where, however, it was destroyed by the fires
of the besieged. The guns of the Greeks are said to
have been of small calibre, the weakness or want of
breadth of the ramparts not permitting a heavy artillery
to be used upon them.*
This, however, is not the earliest instance in which
the ancient and modern artillery were combined: for
when, in a. d. 1383, the Bishop of Norwich besieged
Ypres, the garrison is said, by Walsingham, to have
defended itself so well with stones, arrows, lances, Greek
fire, and guns, that they obliged the English to raise
the siege, and leave behind them all their artillery.i;
CHAPTER III.
Rise of the Bastion System,
In almost every Science and Art the progress of im- The transi-
provement has been so gradual, that the difference be- tion to a
tween two consecutive states has, for the most part, been ®tyle of
too small, to admit precise observation of the epoch at ^
, . , . , K , , , T 1 almost im-
wnich any particular improvement took place. It ought perceptible,
not, therefore, to be a matter of surprise that, in Military
History, no trace should be found of the transition from
the ancient walls and towers, to that form and disposi¬
tion of the works which the use of artillery rendered
necessary. But the absence of all notice of any novelty
in Fortification between the Greek or Roman style and
that which is known to have been followed intheXVIth
Century, may, perhaps, be considered in itself as a proof
that the works of that Age were those which immediately
succeeded the constructions belonging to the Ancient
School. It is more than probable, indeed, that, for many
years after the invention of gunpowder, no entirely new
fortifications were erected, but that, on the accessible
fronts of towns, the thickness of the ancient ramparts
was increased, in order that they might be better able to
resist the shock of a more polverful artillery. At the
same time the great height of the walls, which until then
had constituted their principal advantage, became a
serious defect : for being thus exposed to the view of the
enemy, they were breached after a few hours* firing from
guns planted even at a considerable distance from the
works. It was, therefore, soon found necessary to lower
the walls and cover them by parapets of earth constructed
in front; and in order to secure them against the
attempts of the enemy to carry them by escalade, the depth
of the ditch was proportionally augmented : but with
* See Gibbon, Decline and Fall^ 8çc, c. Ixviii ; who in that splen-
4id narration of the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, has not
failed, with his usual acuteness, to remark the admixture of the
ancient and modern artillery and expedients of attack as a distin¬
guishing feature in that memorable siege,
t Walsinghan p. 303, 304.
2p2
280 FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica¬
tion*
Construe*
tion of an¬
gular and
flanking
towers,
or balvardi.
Provisions
for their de
fence from
the curtain
or connect¬
ing line of
wall.
these exceptions, the other parts of the same fortress re¬
mained unchanged. From the description given of the
siege of Metz, in a. d. 1552, it appears that the fortifi¬
cations of that city then consisted of a single wall with
square and round towers ; and that to put it in a state
of defence, the Due de Guise, who commanded, raised
cavaliers, or mounds of earth on the exterior for cannon,
with parapets formed of large gabions : he also thick¬
ened the walls inwardly by the same means, and within
their periphery he formed retrenchments of earth strong
enough to resist the guns of the enemy* who had breached
the exterior wall in several places.
The destruction of the machicolated parapets by the
guns of the besiegers at an early period of the siege, by
depriving the defenders of the cover behind which they
used to annoy the enemy when he was at the foot of the
wall, evidently rendered it necessary that the faces of the
towers should be seen and defended by fires directed
from some other part of the works ; and, for this purpose,
the engineers of the day replaced the old round towers
by others with plane faces, presenting an angle to the
front. It is alleged, indeed, that a construction of this
kind had been occasionally employed by the Ancients ;
and that some of the towers of Jerusalem, as well as
many of those about the castles of the Nobility of a
former Age, were of an octangular form on the plan.^
But, let this have been as it may, the necessity for such
flanking towers noW became evident ; and from within
half a Century, probably, after the first introduction of
cannon in the field, we may date the general practice of
constructing such works at the angles of the polygonal
wall surrounding a fortified place. A tower consisting
frequently of two faces forming a salient angle, and
of two flanks, but sometimes having a greater number
of faces, and situated as we have described, but of
dimensions hardly exceeding those of the Roman times,
was called halvardo : a name derived by Maggif
from hellunguardoy signifying that which constitutes
the strength or maintenance of battle. It is observed
also by the same Writer that, from the acute angle
formed by the two faces, the towers had the name of
puntoni, (probably from their resemblance to the
pointed head of a spear or other weapon,) and he
adds, from the information of Marco Manini, whom
he qualifies with the character of a diligent observer of
the things of his time, that they had been so called
for seventy years before ; which, as his Work was writ¬
ten in a , d. 1584, carries the invention of this species of
tower so far back, at least, as the commencement of the
XVIth Century.}:
The same writer alleges, that the curtain or connect-
• ing line of wall between the towers, was at first made
straight, and served for the defence of the balvardi or pun-
toni^ in which, he observes, consists the safety of the city :
but he goes on to say that, since nothing can be made by
Art which by Art may not be destroyed, the shoulders of
the fortress, as he calls those works, were ruined by
the besiegers, and then the curtain was exposed. To
remedy this evil, he recommends that the latter should
be broken in two parts, forming with each other a re¬
entering angle ; and in this way, he observes, the City
of Nicosia in Cyprus was, in his time, fortified with
* It may also be cj»Aierved that some of the ancient towers of
Carisbrooke Castle have the appearance of square buildings placed
diagonally ^with respect to the walls between them.
f Maggi e Castriotto, Delia Fortif, delle Citta. lib. i. cap. 9.
t Ibid, cap. 10.
eleven balvardi, by Giulio Savorgnano. Hè admits, more- Fortifica
over, that this method of breaking the curtain was not
new, but the invention of a preceding Age, and asserts that,
in the year 1550, he saw such a curtain in the fortifica¬
tions of Padua. It is, also, worthy of remark, that
Maggi, in describing the advantages of the broken cur¬
tain, states that when the enemy would attempt to
breach it by a direct fire, he must present an end of his
battery to one of the oblique lines of the curtain ; from
which that battery may consequently be enfiladed. In
the plans of fortresses proposed by this Writer, the faces
of the balvardi are equal to about one-seventh only of
the distance between two of those works ; the lengths
of the flanks are little more than one-twentieth of that
distance: and half the flank is taken up with an orillan,^
evidently intended to cover that part of the work from
the view of the enemy : two tiers of guns are placed
on the flanks, to fire either over the rampart, or through
it from casemates, for the defence of the ditch.
Tartaglia of Brescia, and San Micheli of Verona, who Probable
lived only a few years earlier, and were even for some Authors
time contemporaries of Maggi, are mentioned as en-
gineers distinguished for the improvements which they pj-ovements
introduced in the Military Art. To the former is
ascribed the first formation of the orlo, or covert-way,
surrounding the fortress on the exterior of the ditch, a
work the importance of which has been ever since acknow¬
ledged ; and to the latter, the invention of the balvardo
itselfi This opinion is, however, founded only on a pas¬
sage in the Vit(B excellentium Architectorum of Vasari,
which was published at Florence in a. d. 1597, where
it is said that, before the time of San Micheli, the bal¬
vardi were made circular ; and Maffei, who, in his Ve¬
rona illustrata, advances that opinion, observes that
there are still among the works surrounding that city
some towers on which are inscribed the dates a. d. 1523
and 1529, at which times San Micheli is known to
have been employed by the Venetian Government in the
construction or repair of several fortifications in Italy
and the Greek Islands.! But this only shows the pro¬
bability that such works were then constructed by San
Micheli, not that he was the first to construct them.
Tartaglia makes mention oí balvardi, in his Quesiii ed In
ventione diverse, published at Venice a. d. 1546, as a new
invention of great importance. Brantôme and Montluc
attribute the invention to Antonio Colonna, who was
killed at the siege of the castle of Milan. The honour
of the invention is even assigned to the Ottoman Com¬
mander, Achmet Bassa ; who, it is alleged, raised such
at Otranto when, a, d. 1480, he made himself master of
that City. But it has never been the character of the
Turks to make discoveries in Art ; and it is more pro¬
bable that Achmet only caused his engineers to copy
the forms of works which might then have been recently
introduced.
In fact, after the taking of Constantinople, while the Numerous
wars in Italy rendered additional works necessary in fortresses
that Country, the apprehension that the Turkish power
might still further extend into Europe, induced the Ve- ¿s in the'
netians to rebuild and increase the number of their fort- XVth and
XVIth^
* An orillon, or orillion, Çltaiicè orecckione,) so called from its Centuries,
resemblance to an ear, is a prolongation of the face of a halvardo or
bastion in a semicircular or rectangular shape, beyond the flank,
which it thus covers in a retired position from the view of the
enemy.
f The bastion Delle Maddalene at Verona, which* though
small, exactly resembles one of those constructed by Vauban, bears
date a, d. 1257
FORTIFICATION
281
Fortifica¬
tion.
Celebrated
engineers
of those
Ages.
Invention
pf bastions
and rave¬
lins.
resses in Coffu, Candía, and Cyprus. A time of great
political excitement, like that of which we are speaking,
by calling into action the powers of the human mind, is
favourable for the introduction of novelties ; and, to the
improvements which then took place in the Sciences
and Literature, must be added those made in the Art of
Defence, which the new constructions would afford an
opportunity to put into execution. To the engineers
whom we have above mentioned as living about the time
of the great change in the construction of fortifications,
we may add, Cataneo, San Marino, and Albert Durer, who
were nearly contemporary with each other. No particular
systems of works indeed are ascribed to them : but they
wrote on the principles of the Art as it existed in their
day ; and we seem to be indebted to them for the first
application of almost every work raised for the defence
of a modern fortress. Since those days the most dis¬
tinguished engineers have been Errard de Bar le Duc,
(a. n. 1594,) Marchi, (a. d. 1599,) De Ville, (a. n.
1639,) Pagan j (a. d. 1645 ;) and in later times, Van ban,
Coehorn, and Cormontaingne.
The necessity of covering the curtains of masonry
which joined the ancient towers, to prevent them from
being destroyed by artillery, suggested, soon after the
invention of the balvardo^ the construction of works in
earth in front of those curtains. These, which were
made like the former, with two faces forming a salient
angle, and sometimes with flanks, were well known in
the time of Errard* and De Ville ; and the invention
of them is by the latter ascribed to the Italians.f But
it appears that they were first used in that situation
subsequently to the time of Castriotto and Maggi, or
between the years 1584 and 1594: since the last of
these Authors makes no other mention of them than that
the bastion of Gatti at Padua, which he designates as a
rivellino^ or ravelin, was a work of that nature.J It
should seem that, at first, all works of earth, whether
constituting part of the fortifications of a town, or of the
retrenchments made during the siege, were, in the time
of Maggi, denominated bastioni; (great buildings ;§)
and probably it was not till some time after the system
of the Italian engineers was adopted by those of France,
that the name of bastion was restricted to the work which
had been made to replace the balvardo at the angles of
the polygon surrounding the place fortified. It may be
observed, that Maggi never uses the term bastioni ex¬
cept when speaking of works made with earth ; and
that these were sometimes constructed without due care,
is proved by a passage in his third book, where it is
said that Lucca Martini had built one at Pisa which, for
want of bond timbers, gave way on one side from the
effects of rain ; and that a like accident befell a work
constructed with earth at Corfu, by San Micheli. The
rivellinOi or ravelin, whose name is apparently derived
from velletta^ or vedetta, a watchman or sentinel, was at
first constructed beyond the circuit of the walls ; and
Errard, in some places, uses indifferently the word bas¬
tion and ravelin to designate a work so situated.
The advantage of having capacious works may be
said to have been felt almost as soon as the new method
of fortifying was introduced; since Maggi complains
that the fortresses of his day could not be defended after
* La Fortification réduite en Arty liv. iii. ch. v.
-f- V Ingénieur parfait. Avant-propos y ch. A\,
I Delia Fortificatione dette CittUy lib. iii. c. 25.
\ Ibid. c. 20.
a breach had been made in the walls ; and assigns as a
reason the smallness of the places, which would permit
no retrenchments to be made in them. He observes,
also, that it would be better to lay out money in making
the balvardi large, the walls high, and the ditches deep,
rather than in multiplying the number of the bal¬
vardi : for if these are too near each other, the defenders
are liable to receive injury when the artillery on the
walls is fired against the works of the enemy. To
increase the defence of fortresses, he says, engineers had
invented platforms, cavaliers, and casemates. The first
he describes as of two kinds : either small works,
resembling the modern bastions, but projecting from the
middle of the curtain, and containing on their flanks
artillery to defend the faces of the balvardi when these
were not very distant ; or retired spaces in the curtain
resembling the second flanks, as they are now called,
in Vauban's Third System, and on which, also, artillery
was placed for the same purpose. The cavaliers were
elevations of earth either on the middle of t he curtain or
at the back of the balvardi ; and on these, also, artillery
was placed, under cover of gabions, or cylindrical baskets
of earth, for the purpose of keeping the enemy at a dis¬
tance by the superiority of their command.
Lastly, the casemates were recesses in the flanks of the
balvardi t and, according to Castriotto,^ they were some¬
times made, in the form of vaulted galleries, across the
ditch ; but he recommends that they should be built
behind the outer edge of the ditch opposite the faces of
the balvardo, and on each side of its salient angle, their
use being, as at present, to defend the ditch when the
enemy had entered it. The Italian engineer admits
that, if cannon were fired from them, they might become
unserviceable on account of the smoke ; but he proposes
to employ in them only cross-bows and engines for
stones ; and he alleges that they may be useful for gal¬
leries of countermines. The balvardi of that day were
always made with very short flanks, which were divided
into upper and lower stages, each containing only one
or two guns, and protected by orecchioni or orillons,
which were generally of a circular form, at the shoul¬
ders of the balvardi. The guns on the lower flank
stood on an open platform, protected by a parapet of
masonry with embrasures ; behind them was a semicircu¬
lar wall, having its concavity outwards, which supported
the earth constituting the upper flank ; and over this
wall the guns on the platform of the balvardi fired en
barbette, or over the parapet. Behind this circular wall
were sometimes situated casemates, containing guns,
which then formed a third battery between the levels of
the other two. The walls supporting the ramparts of
the place were occasionally strengthened by vertical or
horizontal Gounter-arches.( Maggi relates that such
works were, in his day, to be seen in several of the
cities of Tuscany ; and that there was at Padua a strong
one, which had been built in a. d. 1550, from a design
given by San Micheli of Verona. Under the gorge or
back of the balvardo was a vaulted gallery, the roof of
which was supported on pillars, and by which a commu¬
nication was made from one flank to the other. He ob¬
serves that this gallery may also serve as a countermine ;
for, on abandoning the balvardo, he would have powder
deposited in pits made on purpose under the piers : and
these being blown up, there would be left a ditch
between the enemy and the town.
Fortifica¬
tion.
Other new
construc¬
tions of the
same epoch.
Platforms.
Cavaliei
Casemate
Grillons.
Counter-
arches and
galleries.
* Detta Fortificatione dette Citta, lib. i. c. 10,
â82
FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica¬
tion.
Counter-
guards.
Places of
arms,
After speaking of the banks of earth which have been
observed in some of the old ditches of fortresses, Cas-
triotto proposes, in order to increase the strength of such
places, to connect the banks together by a large balvardo
built round each of the towers at the angles of the an¬
cient circuit of wall. In the plan which he has given of
a place thus fortified,* these works have a great re¬
semblance to the counterguards in Vauban's Second and
Third Systems ; and the idea may be considered as the
first step to the formation of large bastions in such situa¬
tions. In the covert-way surrounding the ditch, the
same engineer proposes to place circular redoubts, with
loop-holes in the walls, as stations for a guard ; and
such redoubts seem to have been the originals of the
places of arms, subsequently formed at the re-entering
and salient angles of that part of the fortifications.
Having given the dimensions of the great ditch and
glacis from the writings of Cataneo and Tartaglia, he
points out the advantages which would arise from con¬
tinuing the glacis at its foot below the level of the
ground, to form what may be called an advanced ditch ;
observing that it would impede the progress of the
enemy in making the assault,, and would prevent his
and fausse- retreat if repulsed. Castriotto observes that there then
braye. existed in France many places surrounded by what he
calls a fossa hrea, (fausse-hraye,) or outer circuit ; and
from the view which he has given, it appears to have
been simply a wall detached from the foot of the main
rampart.
Rapid adop- The inventions of the Italian engineers in the Art of
tion of the Fortification must have been very early adopted in the
North of Europe: for we find, that in the time of
Charles V., Emanuel of Savoy, the General of that Em¬
peror, built Hesdin near Amiens with spacious bastions,
whose distances from each other seem to have been re¬
gulated by the range of muskets. And the citadel of
Antwerp, which is thought to have been the first regular
fortification constructed in that manner, was built in the
reign of Philip II. of Spain. In the time of Errard,
however, who wrote in a. d, 1594, we find that large bas-
lopementby tions, or boulevards, as he sometimes designates them,
Ba^le Due ^^en generally introduced either as outworks in front
the father of round towers of ancient fortresses, or to supersede
the modern the latter entirely ; and, in the designs which that en-
Art of For- gineer has given as then new, they always form part
tification in of the circuit, and are constructed, at the angles of
the polygon as in modern fortifications. But their
flanks, which are double or triple, are short, and are
protected by circular or rectangular orillons. Errard
speaksf of ravelins and bastions as of detached works,
added in front of the curtains between two small
towers ; and when the curtain is long, he proposes to
have two such works, either separated from each other,
or connected by a curtain, and he denominates the
whole a tenaille, expressly stating it to be of use in
affording room for the defenders, which was wanting
in the ancient circuit. It is remarkable, however, that
he has shown ravelins of the modern kind in only one
of his own designs ; and in that they appear to be with¬
out ditches, and to resemble merely re-entering places of
arms. We may add to this brief account of the works of
one who may be considered as the father of French
military engineering, that he has givenj: an example of
• Delia Fortißcatione delle lib. ii. c. 24.
f La Fortification réduite en Art^ liy. iii. chr v.
I Ibid, liv. ii. ch. X.
Bastion
System
throughout
Europe.
Its deve-
France.
a front of fortification, in which counterguards arç Fortifica-
traced in such a manner as to cover the faces of a large
bastion : he does not, however, recommend them, al-
leging the expense of their construction, and the proba¬
bility that the enemy might place artillery upon them for
the purpose of breaching the inner wall. On the other
hand, he proposes, in order to prolong the defence, that
good retrenchments should be made in the interior of a
bastion, or at its gorge, by a rampart formed either in a
straight line or in the manner of a tenaille. Ravelins
or bastions, connected by curtains, so as to form one or
more fronts of fortification, as they are now called, and
therefore resembling modem horn or crown works, are
also recommended by Errard,* to serve as defences for
a bridge, or to cover the suburb of a town.
The Italian system, which, nearly as soon as it can Remarkable
be said to have been formed, was, as we have seen, in- example of
troduced into Flanders and France, appears to have ? j
been about the same time received in England ; and, England,
among the small number of military constructions which
our Country can boast, it happens that one belongs to
the first Age of modern Fortification. The example we
allude to is exhibited in the works about Carisbrooke Carisbrooke
Castle in the Isle of Wight. That interesting fortress Castle,
may pass for one of the most ancient in the Country,
(even though we should not assent to the opinion of
Dr. Stukely, that it was originally built by the Emperor
Carausius,) since mention is made of it in the Saxon
Annals. It is supposed to have been enlarged soon
after the Conquest ; and the grand entrance, on the
Western side, was built during the reign of Edward IV.
The old wall of the Castle is of a pentagonal
form ; it has a lofty keep on the North-East side ; and
besides the small towers at the angles, which are
disposed with a salient angle to the front, there is, on
the middle of each of the walls connecting them, a rect¬
angular projection having one side parallel to the length
of the wall, probably for the purpose of defending the
faces of the collateral towers. In the time of Elizabeth
the Castle was surrounded by fortifications, enclosing
an area considerably greater than that within the an¬
cient walls, and having the parapet on a much lower
level than the summit of those walls. These fortifica¬
tions are constructed on an irregular pentagon, with
bastions at the angles ; and on two of the fronts the
flanks are simple and rectilinear, but on the others they
are protected by rectangular orillons. The rampart is
revetted with a stone wall ; and in each of the retired
flanks, which are perpendicular to the curtain, are two
apertures, intended as embrasures for small pieces ot
artillery. On two of the fronts of fortification there is,
between the flanks, a bank of earth in the form of a
modern tenaille; and beyond the ditch, in what may
have been a sort of re-entering place of arms, there still
remains a small elevation of earth, of a semicircular
form, apparently intended as a ravelin, or, as this kind
ot work was sometimes called, a half-moon. In the
area between these fortifications and the Norman walls,
are elevations of earth which appear to have served as
traverses, and as cavaliers to give the defenders, in the
manner of the works of that Age, a command over the
neighbouring heights. On one of the bastions is in¬
scribed the year 1568, and the works are saidf to have
been executed by an Italian engineer named GeriebeUa,
La Fortification réduite en Art^ liv. iii. ch, ix.
t Vide Beauties of England and Wales^ vol. vi
FORTIFICATION.
283
Fottifica-
iion.
who was brought from Flankers for the purpose. Their
great resemblance to the fronts of fortification in the
System of Errard, who was contemporary with our illus*
trions Queen, may, with what has been before said, be Fortifie»
considered as a proof, that in her days the new method tion.
of fortifying places was practised nearly all over Europe.
PART II.
MODERN SYSTEMS OF FORTIFICATION,
CHAPTER I.
General Description of a Modern Front of Fortification,
For the ge- Having briefly traced the History of the Art of For*
neral ap- tlfying from the earliest Ages to the period at which the
pearanceof general adoption throughout Europe of the Bastion
fortre^es System may be said to have introduced and established
vide plate i. most essential principles in the Modern Science
fig. 2. of Defence ; we may next proceed to give some account
of the various forms of construction for fortresses which
have been since practised or proposed. Before, how¬
ever, we enter on this description, it will be proper, in
order to render it more intelligible to the general reader.
Form of the to explain the form of a rampart and parapet, and the
different nature of the works which constitute what is called a
works^^ front of fortification. Fig. 1, plate ii. represents the
* .. plan of a front with its outworks ; and fig. 4 is a profile
fi ^s^l^and4* section taken on that part of the plan which is de-
* signaled by the dotted line AB. A horizontal plane
Rampart, passing through this line in fig. 4, represents the plane
of site or level of the country ; and ahcei is the mass
of earth forming the rampart and parapet : the earth is
procured by excavating the ground in front; and this
excavation constitutes the main ditch, the profile of which
is vr st. The line a 6 is the interior slope of the ram¬
part ; and this is made gentle enough to permit the
defenders to ascend or descend it on occasion with to¬
lerable facility. The line 6 w is the terreplein of the ram¬
part, or level space on which the troops and cannon are
placed for the defence ; and its breadth is from thirty-six
to forty-two feet, to allow of a free circulation in rear of
the guns when in battery. Its part Cn is the ban¬
quette or step, on which the soldiers stand to fire over the
Parapet. parapet ; and it has a slope m c towards the rear, the
base of which is equal to twice its height. Again, d e, the
height of the parapet, is so regulated as to procure suffi¬
cient cover for the men and guns upon the terreplein.
When the fortifications are constructed upon a level
plain, seven feet and a half suffice for this purpose.
The superior slope ef oí the parapet is directed as
nearly as possible to the edge t of the opposite side of
the ditch, in order that a man, when firing over the
parapet, may without difficulty see the enemy there. The
line f i is the exterior slope of the parapet, which being
made of earth stands upon a base equal to its height,
for the sake of stability. The thickness of a parapet at
its upper surface is generally about eighteen feet, that
the work may not be pierced by shot from the heaviest
Revetment, artilleïy. The revetment, or wall of masonry (i rp)
or sustain- supporting the rampart, is made of such solidity, that
ing wall. resistance may be more than equal to the pressure of
the earth above and behind it ; and o is the buttress or
counterfort placed behind the revetment, to increase the
strength of the latter. The buttresses are placed at Buttresses,
distances from each other of fifteen or eighteen feet, counter-
reckoning from centre to centre, as is shown in fig. 5, yís%
which represents a portion of the ground plan of the
masonry on both sides of the ditch. The height of the
wall i r should be so great as to render escalade very diffi¬
cult or impossible ; and for this purpose thirty or thirty-
five feet may suffice. Nevertheless, its top i is not
allowed to rise above the level I k of the crest of the
parapet of the covert-way : the reason for which is, that
no part of the masonry should be discernible from the
enemy's distant batteries, lest being breached from them,
the parapet should fall, and thus expose the terreplein
of the rampart.
From what has been said, it must be evident to the Ditch,
reader, that the depth of the ditch is almost a fixed
quantity : since it must depend upon the necessary height
of the escarp, which is the name given to the outer face
of the rampart. This is particularly the case when the
ditch is a dry one í but there is no such absolute neces¬
sity when the latter contains a depth of water equal to
six feet, which is deemed sufficient to prevent the enemy
from wading through it to the assault, or to surprise the
place. The breadth of the ditch must, in a great mea¬
sure, depend upon the nature of the soil. If dry, the
least breadth it ought properly to have should be equal
to once and a half the height of the rampart : in order
that the rubbish of the breach may not extend across it,
and furnish the enemy's sappers wherewith to commence
their passage, after they have pierced through the wall
t s, which terminates the ditch on the side next to the
Country. It may be added, that a dry ditch, if very
narrow and deep, opposes an almost insurmountable
obstacle to the enemy when he would destroy the escarp:
since it renders him unable, from the crest of the glacis,
to see the wall sufficiently near the foot to allow a prac¬
ticable breach to be made ; or obliges him to form his
batteries on the terreplein of the covert-way, in which
situation they must be roofed, in order to secure his
gunners against the hand-grenades which the defenders
may shower on him from the parapet. In these circum¬
stances the besieger would probably resort to mines, as
the only means of effecting his purpose : but here again
he might be opposed by expedients of a similar nature,
of which we shall give a description in its proper place.
If, however, the ditch be a wet one, and that the enemy
cannot possibly drain it, the wider it can be made the
better, as the difficulty of forming a fascine passage
across it will augment in proportion to its width.
The opposite side of the ditch is called the counter- Covevt-way,
scarp, to distinguish it from the escarp. This ought
always to be supported by a masonry revetment t $, of
284
FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica¬
tion,
antl glacis^
Description
of a modern
front of for¬
tification.
Plate ii.
Fig. 1.
Bastions
and con¬
necting cur¬
tain.
Tenaille,
sufficient height to prevent the assailants from lowering
themselves into the ditch. The line ¿it; is the covert-way,
the breadth of which is limited to thirty feet, because that
extent suffices for a free circulation of the troops ; and
if made wider, the work would afford room for the
enemy to place his breaching batteries in it, instead of
being obliged to form them on the crest Ikoï the covert-
way, where they are more exposed to a direct fire from
the place. The mass w I h\^ the parapet of the covert-
way with its banquette, its height being the same as that
of any other parapet. The superior slope of this parapet
k h called the glacis^ which is formed with a gentle
slope, descending till it meets the level of the country in k.
The advantages of the covert-way are numerous. Before
its invention by Tartaglia, no sorties could be made or
attempted, without being foreseen and cannonaded by
the enemy : who, moreover, in many cases followed the
besieged in their retreat, and by introducing themselves
simultaneously, effected an easy capture without further
exertion. And if the troops within, regardless of the
fate of their comrades, and mindful only of their own
safety, shut the gates upon them, the latter were either
cut to pieces upon the counterscarp, or precipitated into
the ditch. The covert-way, therefore, secures the egress
and ingress of sorties or sallies, and also procures a
closer fire upon the enemy's approaches : besides per¬
forming the invaluable office of covering by the relief of
its parapet the revetment of the rampart. It is,in short,
one of the most valuable parts of a modern fortifica¬
tion, and the least expensive in its construction. The
height of the glacis above the natural ground being
fixed, as we have said ; that of the rampart may be
from thence determined : since, to obtain a powerful
direct defence of a work, it is necessary that a fire of
artillery should be made from its rampart, and of mus¬
ketry from the covert-way in its front at the same time.
F or this purpose, such a height should be given to the
former, that the line of fire from it to the ground at
the foot of the glacis may pass three feet above the crest
of the latter, in order that the wind of the shot may not
injure the defenders stationed on the banquette of the
covert-way.
By a front of fortification is meant that portion of the
works comprised between the salient (proj^^ciing) or
flanked angles a and/* of two bastions, A and C. It
consists, therefore, of two half bastions, abc and d efy
and a curtain, cd; or, in other words, of two faces, a b,
efy two flanks, 6 c, d c, and a curtain, c d. The reci-r
procal defence, which we have already mentioned as a
desideratum in modern Fortification, is here obtained by
the fire of the flanks along the opposite faces ; which
flanks also mutually defend each other and the curtain.
It has been objected by several engineers of celebrity
that, in this bastion outline, there exists a useless and
even defective developement of rampart ; and that a
more simple and better defence would be procured by a
mere succession of salient and re-entering angles. Of
this we shall make particular mention in treating of
Montalembert's and Carnot's Systems ; but we confine
ourselves for the present to the Bastion System, whatever
be its defects, since it has been followed in almost every
existing fortress: particularly as our object is to convey
general ideas to the general reader, and not to enter into
disquisitions, which are more properly the province of
the engineer officer.
Next, g g is the tenaille, a worii made just high
enough above the bottom of the ditch to allow the troops
Fortifica¬
tion.
Ravelin or
Demilune.
in it to be unmolested by the fire of cannon in the flanks
b c and d e, when directed upon the foot of a breach
that may be made near the angles of the shoulder 6 and
e of the opposite bastions. The letters hhhh mark the
ditch surrounding the enceintey or body of the place ;
and Hi the ravelin or demilune. This work covers
the flanks and curtain (with the town gate in it) from
the enemy's first batteries, and preserves to those parts
all their defensive influence for the most critical period
of the siege. It has, moreover, a powerful cross fire
upon the ground in front of the bastion, rendering the
approach to the latter difficult, and (in cases when the
ravelin projects sufficiently) impossible. When the
periphery has many sides, the projection of the ravelin,
besides increasing the difficulty of crowning the covert-
way of the bastion until it is itself captured, intercepts
the prolongations of the faces of the bastions, and there¬
fore screens the latter from that most destructive of all
fires, the ricochety or enfilade. The ravelii' or demilune
is likewise surrounded by a ditch, and furnished in its
interior with a redoubt, which affords a retreat to its
garrison, and prolongs ^the defence of the work after
the besieger has breached it, and lodged himself at its
salient angle. In the ditch. A;A; is a cajionnièrey or Caponnière
communication from the tenaille to the gorge, or rear of
the ravelin. It consists of two parapets (with banquettes
and palisades) having its superior slope terminating
gradually en gladSy at about fifty or sixty feet from the
crest. The caponnière, it is almost needless to observe,
is used in dry ditches only ; the communication over
those which have water in them being effected by
bridges ; and, during a siege, when the means of com¬
municating with the outworks require to be multiplied
as much as possible, boats, rafts, &c., are employed. -
The use of the covert-way, Inmlmvly has already
been described. The traverses are portions of parapet
thrown across the covert-way for the joint purpose of
screening the troops placed behind the palisades from the
ricochet fire, and of enabling the covert-way to be defended
foot by foot : so that the troops being driven from the
salient places of arms III may continue the defence from
behind each traverse until the progress of the besiegers
shall have rendered the re-entering places of arms n ?i,
and their redoubts oo, the only tenable parts of the
covert-way. The objects of the redoubt are to increase
the strength of the covert-way, to facilitate the making of
sorties upon the enemy's lodgements, and, by occasion¬
ally driving him from his work and destroying it, thereby
to create a loss of time. The retreat of the sorties on
such occasions is assisted by descents into the ditch on
inclined planes, called ramps, which are every where at
present preferred to stairs when there is room for making
ihem ; as they are not so soon rendered impassable by
the fall of shells.
Covert-\va}
with tra¬
verses.
Places of
arms,
aud re¬
doubts.
CHAPTER II.
Systems of the XVIth and XVIIth Centuries.
Such is the general outline of a fortification con¬
structed according to the Bastion System, with the
improvements which have been gradually introduced
since its invention in the beginning of the XVIth Cen¬
tury ; and we now proceed to give some account of the
principal constructions which have been executed or
proposed by engineers from that time to the present.
FORTIFICATION.
285
Fortifica¬
tion.
Castri-
otto.
Plate ii.
Fig. 6.
errari),
Fig. 7.
Marchi.
Fig. 8.
The first system, of which any certain account remains,
is that of Castriotto, which was published a. d. 1584 ; and
in which the round towers of the more ancient fortresses
are covered in front by detached bastions, having upper
and lower flanks ; and the whole place is surrounded
by a ditch and covert-way. This system so nearly re¬
sembles the works executed at Befort, Landau, and
Neu Brisack, as to leave no doubt that Vauban must
have borrowed from it some hints for the construction
of those fortresses. An inspection of fig. 6 will suffice
to give the reader a general notion of the disposition of
the works, which he will likewise more readily compre¬
hend after reading the paragraph in which we shall treat
of Vauban s Systems.
But the first French engineer who laid dowm general
principles for the construction of fortifications with
bastions was Errard de Bar le Duc, whom, on that ac¬
count, we have already designated as the father of the
Modern Science. An outline of the front which he
proposed is shown in fig. 7. His Treatise on the Art
was published a. d. 1594, and contains several excellent
maxims, which have ever since been universally adopted:
but the details of the works present many defects which
must have seriously lessened their defensive properties.
The flanks of the bastions he justly considers as essential
parts of the fortification : but, by making their length
depend on the form of the polygon, the construction is
embarrassed. They are protected, as already mentioned,
by orilions ; but, being made to form acute angles with
the curtains, the gorges of the bastions are so much
contracted as to prevent the necessary freedom of com
munication between those works and the interior of the
place. The defence of the ditch and faces of the colla¬
teral bastions is rendered, moreover, almost null on
account of the obliquity of the fires from the flanks,
which, besides, would endanger the defenders of the
curtain : since the soldier almost always fires mechani¬
cally in a direction perpendicular to the length of the
parapet behind which he is stationed. This habit arises
from an unwillingness to expose himself sufficiently to
allow him to take a deliberate aim in any other direc¬
tion ; and it has been found so completely incorrigible,
that engineers have been obliged to regulate the direc¬
tions of their parapets in accordance with that condition,
by drawing them nearly parallel to the lines of fire from
the works which are to defend them.
Marchi published, a. d. 1599, a voluminous Work
on the Art, containing no less than one hundred and
sixty-one Systems, which he assures the reader are all of
his own invention ; and, to say the truth, most of the
ideas suggested and executed by modern engineers may
be found among them. In that example which we have
selected and shown in fig. 8, the most salient face re¬
ceives a direct defence from a double flank and from
the inner face. The double flanks, by which the inner
face is joined to the curtain, might be made to batter the
interior of the small salient bastion, provided the parapet
of its high flank were demolished in time ; it would then
be advisable to cut off the small bastion by a retrench¬
ment across its gorge.
De Ville, In a. p. 1639 a Treatise on Fortification was published
by the Chevalier De Ville, an engineer of considerable
reputation, who was commissioned by Louis XIII. to
reconstruct several of the ancient fortifications in
France. In that Work the Author has described a
System invented by himself, which is shown in fig. 9 ;
and which has the merit of great simplicity, but par-
vol. vi.
Fig. 9.
takes, in a certain degree, of the defects above mentioned Fortifica-
in the plan of Errard. Its construction, however, differs
from the System of that engineer in being made to
depend on the length of the sides of the polygon. The I'ig* 9.
salient angles of the bastions are made equal to ninety
degrees for the sake of strength ; and the flanks are at
right angles to the curtain, by which means the risk of
injuring the defenders of that rampart is less than in
the construction of Errard : but the defence of the faces
of the collateral bastions is still very oblique, and con¬
sequently imperfect.
Blaize, Count de Pagan, may be said to have been Pagan.
the next engineer who made any remarkable improve¬
ment in the manner of fortifying places. Becoming
blind dfi thirty-eight years of age, and being therefore
compelled to retire from active service, he devoted him¬
self to the cultivation of Military Science ; and, a. d.
1645, he composed his Treatise on Fortification, in
which he describes the two Systems whose outlines are
represented in fig. 10. Setting out with an assumed Pig- 0
length for the side of the polygon, he made the flanks
of each bastion perpendicular to the produced faces of
those to be defended ; by which, and by giving more
length to the faces, he obtained, in the interior of the
bastions, much greater space than was allowed in the
Systems of former engineers ; but his high opinion of
the advantages to be derived from defending the
breaches by a powerful artillery induced him to crowd
the bastions with a triple row of flanks, which took up
nearly the whole of their interior. He thought little of
musketry as a means of defence, alleging the facility
with which the enemy might cover himself from it ; and
this was his reason for allowing a space of four hundred
yards between the salient points of his bastions : instead
of three hundred and sixty, which had been assigned by
other engineers, in order that the distance from the
flank to the extremity of the opposite face, or rather to
the ground beyond it, might not exceed the effective
range of the small arms employed in the defence.
Pagan's covert-way is but twenty-four feet wide, which
is too narrow ; his places of arms and ravelins are also
too small ; the latter do not sufficiently cover the cur¬
tains nor the flanks of the bastions ; and their want of
saliency permits the enemy to crown their covert-way at
the same time with that of the collateral bastions them¬
selves
Vauban, so well known in the military world, owed Vauban.
his celebrity more, perhaps, to the intelligence which
he displayed in the actual adaptation of works to the
most uneven sites and diversified localities, than to
any material alterations in the Systems of his prede¬
cessors. But it must be added that the skilful applica¬
tion of recognised principles involves the most arduous
duties of an engineer, in the exercise of sound judgment
and practical originality. No less than thirty-three
new fortresses were constructed by Vauban ; and up¬
wards of three hundred others were improved under
his direction : in all which works the science displayed
conveys the most exalted idea of the resources of his
genius. Unfortunately, however, the Art of Attack,
during his time, and principally from his own inven¬
tions, underwent such changes as rendered nugatory
almost all the benefits which might have been derived
from his constructions. And towards the end of his
career, so forcibly was he impressed with this truth, that
he saw the necessity of abandoning his original simple
method of fortifying places, and of resorting to others
2 Q
286 FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica- more complicated : in order to screen at least a small
tion. portion of the artillery of fortresses from the sweeping
ricochèt fire, which his own practice had introduced ;
and to prolong t.he defence after a breach should be
formed in the face of a bastion.
His First The method which he seems generally to have fol-
System. lowed in his constructions up to the year 1688, and
which writers have denominated his First System, differs
in many points of detail from that of Pagan. He
makes the distance between the salient angles of the
See fig. 11. nearest bastions equal to three hundred and sixty yards;
and, in assigning this length to the side of the exterior
polygon^ he was influenced by the consideration that
the range of the wall pieces, by which the defenders of
the flanks were to oppose the construction of the enemy's
counter-battery on the crest of the opposite glacis, was
equal to about three hundred yards. For, thence taking
off forty yards for the supposed breadth of the main
ditch and the covert-way, there would remain two hun¬
dred and sixty yards for what is called the length of the
line of defence ; and to this adding one hundred yards
for the face adjoining to the flank, on which the de¬
fenders were stationed, the front of fortification will be
found of the length above-mentioned. Vauban's reason
for making the faces of the bastions equal to about one
hundred yards in length, was that, in the inferior poly¬
gons, there would then be sufficient breadth at the
gorge to allow a free communication between the bas¬
tion and the interior of the place. He then traced the
flanks in directions forming angles of about eighty-one
degrees with the lines of defence, in order that the fires
from thence might take in reverse the assailants when in
the act of storming the breach made in the face of a col¬
lateral bastion. The length of the flanks must evidently
depend on the angle at which the lines of defence inter-^
sect each other ; and this was determined by letting fall
from the middle of the side of the polygon, towards the
interior, a perpendicular to that side, and making its
length equal to one-sixth of the length of that side in
all polygons greater than the pentagon. The extent of
the flank thus became somewhat greater than that of
the battery which the enemy could construct to dismount
its guns : while the flanked angle of the bastion con¬
tinually increasing with the number of sides in the poly¬
gon, the interior of that work became proportionally
more capacious, and its faces less liable to the action of
the ricochet. The above rules of construction also
render the curtain joining the flanks of two bastions
long enough to permit the defenders of those flanks to
see the whole of the ditch between tiiem ; and it is there¬
fore evident that no attempt of the enemy to surprise
the enceinte can succeed.
The earlier modern engineers had, with a view of
increasing the defence of the enceinte, surrounded it
with a fausse hraie^ or attached parapet on a lower level
than the principal one : but this work being subject to
several defects, particularly to a plunging fire from the
enemy's lodgements on the glacis, was superseded by the
tenaille, an invention of Vauban, who constructed it,
for the first time, when ordered to repair the citadel of
Lille, for the purpose of covering the postern in the
curtain, and defending the main ditch and the terreplein
of the ravelin. He also directed the counterscarp
towards the angle of the shoulder of the opposite bastion
instead of drawing it parallel to the faces, as in Pagan s
outline ; by which he gained the advantage of laying
open the whole of the ditch to the fire of the flank,
which otherwise was in some polygons intercepted by Fortifica-
the re-entering angle of the counterscarp. He aug-
merited considerably the size of the ravelin ; making its
faces about equal in length to those of the bastions, and
directing them to points taken on the bastions at ten
yards from the shoulder-angles, in ordei* to cover, in
some measure, those shoulders from the fire of the
enemy's counter-batteries at the salients of the ravelin.
He made the re-entering places of arms more spacious
than they were before ; gave ten yards to the breadth of
the covert-way ; and placed traverses across the latter,
at certain intervals, to increase its means of defence,
and protect the men there from the effect of the ricochet.
Notwithstanding all these improvements in the System jjig Second
of fortifying, many ameliorations were yet requisite to System,
keep pace with the ascendant which the attack was
rapidly gaining over the defence. The numberless
instances of capitulations being made as soon as a
breach was practicable in the body of the place, owing
to the unwillingness of Governors to risk the conse¬
quences of an assault, convinced Vauban that some
contrivance must be resorted to, which would obviate
the evils of dependence on a precarious retrenchment
made during the siege. With a view to this object,
when instructed to fortify Landau, he separated the
bastions from the body of the place by a ditch about
forty feet wide, in order that, after the breaching and
capture of the bastions, the besieger might be compelled
to recommence operations against the enceinte. The
angles of the latter were fortified by small pentagonal
towers of masonry, called tower bastions : underneath See fig. 12.
which he contrived casemates for two guns in each
flank, and bomb-proof barracks for the troops along the
faces, besides powder-magazines in the centre. This
mode of fortifying is distinguished by the name of
Vauban's Second System : but Befort is the only fort¬
ress besides Landau, where it has been executed. The
System, although in some respects stronger than the
preceding one, left nevertheless much room for improve¬
ment, of which Vauban seems to have been aware : for
in fortifying Neu Brisack, he increased the size of the
ravelin, and gave it a redoubt. The tower bastions His Third
were likewise made larger ; and the curtain which united System,
them was broken inwards : so as to form two small gg, 13
flanks, underneath which casemates for cannon were
constructed, to cooperate with those of the tower bas¬
tions in the defence of the ditch. This assemblage of
works constitutes what is commonly, but perhaps im¬
properly, called Vauban's Third System: for that
great engineer did not himself write on the fortifica¬
tion of places ; nor does it appear that he ever professed
to follow any exclusive method in his constructions ;
but rather that he always adapted the nature and dis¬
position of his works to the circumstances of the sur¬
rounding ground. Both these latter Stystems, although
calculated to prolong the defence, were of much too
expensive a nature to admit of being frequently put in
practice in any state. An opinion moreover has very
generally prevailed, that the smoke from the priming
would render it impossible to remain in the casemates
during the firing of the guns, owing to the want of
ventilation. To ascertain whether or not this prejudice
was well founded, the French Convention, in the year
1793, ordered an experiment to be tried in them by
General the Citizen Desnoyers. This was done in the
presence of the Governor and all the Garrison Staff of
Neu Brisack. The result proved that the casemates
FORTIFICATION.
287
Fortifica- under the flanks of the tower bastions were perfectly
lion. serviceable, however briskly the fire might be kept up
in them ; and that the small ones under the curtain
flanks were equally so, provided the gunners were re¬
lieved every quarter of an hour. In both cases, how¬
ever, it appeared that loose powder ought to be substi¬
tuted for tubes as priming ; and that, for firing, slow
match should be used in lieu of port-fire, the smell and
smoke from the former being less offensive.
CoEHORN. For the sake of chronological exactness, we shall
next notice Coëhorn's Systems, although their exclusive
appropriateness to marshy soils might fully justify our
speaking of them separately, without interrupting the
present sketch of the progress of improvement in the
Art of Fortification. Coehorn was the Vauban of the
United Provinces ; and like his great contemporary, he
excelled in the Science of Fortifying, and of attacking
and defending places. His talents and achievements
accordingly raised him to the highest posts in the service
of his Country ; and the works which he has executed
justly entitle him to the admiration of the Military
World. His ideas were adopted, with such modifica¬
tions as localities rendered necessary, at Nimeguen,
Breda, Manheim, Namur, and Bergen-op-Zoom. In
A. D. 1685 he published his three methods for construct¬
ing the fortifications of places : the First, which he
formed on a hexagon, was intended to be raised on a
soil, underneath the surface of which water is supposed
to be found at a depth of four feet ; his Second System
is formed on a heptagon, and is adapted to a soil three
feet above water ; and his Third is on an octagon traced
on ground five feet above water The principal aim
which he had in view was both to cover and flank his
works more effectually than had until his time been
done ; to deprive the enemy of the space necessary for
his batteries, and of soil for his approaches in the dry
ditches ; and moreover to surround him with cross fires
whenever, by dint of perseverance, he might have pene¬
trated into the works.
His First From the brief view which we are to give of the
System. means employed to arrive at these ends, it will be evi¬
dent to the reader that the reason why Coehorn exclu¬
sively chose marshy soils for the sites of his Systems,
must have been that he had the interests of his native
land alone in view ; and that he would have succeeded
equally well in appropriating defences to localities of
any kind, is manifest from the merit displayed, in the
See fig. 14. construction of Fort William at Namur. In his First
System he has a capital or interior bastion, the revet¬
ment of which is hidden from the enemy's first batteries
by the unrevetted face of an exterior bastion. This
unrevetted or low face has between it and that of the
capital bastion a dry ditch, the surface of which is but
six inches above the natural level of the water, by
which means it is rendered impossible for the enemy to
establish himself in this ditch without undergoing the
laborious process of bringing soil with him from the
rear for the purpose of cover. This dry ditch is de¬
fended by six guns in a casemate under the stone tower
placed at each shoulder of the exterior bastion ; and
the tower being unconnected with the fiank of the capi¬
tal bastion, covers it completely without taking up any
portion of its len2:th. A vaulted and loop-holed gallery
extends along the interior of the low exterior face under¬
neath the banquette, and communicates with the case¬
mate in the tower ; there are numerous doors made
in this gallery to facilitate the egress and ingress
of sorties ; and it is moreover partitioned off at every Fortifica-
eighteen feet by strong doors, that it may be defended ti-on.
foot by foot. Another considerable advantage which it
possesses, is that of serving as a gallery of mines, from
whence any lodgement which the enemy might attempt
upon the low unrevetted face may be destroyed. Besides
these defences, the dry ditch has a palisade provided
with numerous barrier gates, extending along the front
of the escarp of the capital bastion ; and the space thus
enclosed is swept by two guns placed at each extremity,
or near the shoulders of that bastion, A vaulted, loop-
holed, half-buried communication passes along the capi¬
tal of the dry ditch, from a gallery of mines at the back
of the escarp of the capital bastion, to the gallery under
the exterior face. This communication, or covered ca-
ponniere, being partly sunk under ground, is nece.ssarily
made cistern-like, owing to its being beneath the natural
level of the water, which, when the defenders are obliged
' ' c5
to abandon it, may be let in by means of a sluice to
prevent its being of any service to the enemy. The
stone tower before mentioned is separated from the dry
ditch by a small wet one, twelve yards wide, defended
by three guns placed behind a wall at its interior ex¬
tremity. The communication over this ditch is by two
bridges : one conducts to the space without, and the
other to that within the palisades above mentioned.
Another small wet ditch situated in front of the orillon,
or stone tower, and of the flank which connects the
latter with the curtain of the enceinte, serves as a har¬
bour : it communicates with the main ditch by a covered
passage for boats, rafts, &c. The dry ditch between the
flanks of the capital and exterior bastion, is defended by
four pieces of cannon placed in a casemate, which is
formed in the part of the curtain joining those flanks ;
through this there is a postern communicating with all
the lower works.
The main ditch is defended by thiee flanks: that of
the capital bastion ; that oí the inferior bastion ; and that
of the tenaille, or, as it may be called, the lower cur¬
tain. The latter flank is kept lower than the curtain
and face with which it is connected, in order to allow the
fires from the works in its rear to pass over it ; and the
curtain and face have a greater relief given to them, the
first that it may the better cover the principal curtain, and
the second that it may more effectually screen the low
flank. A communication is made into the space be¬
tween the two curtains, by means of a postern in the
middle of the enceinte. The capital ravelin is revetted ;
and in front of it is a dry ditch, which is covered by the
unrevetted rampart of the exterior ravelin. This dry
ditch is defended by the faces of the capital and lower
bastion, by the upper part of the tower, and by the
double fire from the coffers or splinter proofs, which are
formed across its extremities, near the main ditch. It
moreover derives a defence from a covered caponnière
joining the salient angles of the exterior and interior
ravelins, similar to that already described, in the dry
ditch of the bastion ; and from a row of palisades ex¬
tending along the foot of the escarp of the exterior
ravelin. The two splinter proofs are screened from an
attack by storm, by a small wet ditch, which is defended
by a loop-holed gallery under the face of the lower
ravelin. This loop-holed gallery serves as a commuiiica
tion into the dry ditch of the ravelin, for which purpose
doors are made at its extremities ; and a postern placed
under the face of the capital ravelin completes the com¬
munication to the interior of the latter. The oassage
2 Q 2
288
FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica- from behind the splintei proof to the space enclosed be-
tion. tween the palisades and the escarp, is by a small bridge.
There is likewise a postern passing under the capital of
the revetted or interior ravelin into the caponniere. The
three flanks which defend the main ditch can only be
counter-battered from the earthen counterguards which
cover the bastions : but as these consist only of a parapet
and a double banquette, the enemy would be unable,
from want of room, to establish a battery on them. The
covert-way is of a great breadth, (seventy-two iëet,) and
it slopes gradually inwards to the water s edge. The
faces of the re-entering places of arms are provided with
loop-holed coffers or splinter proofs, for the defence of
the glacis by a double and grazing fire. A loop-holed
wall serves as a redoubt to the place of arms ; and pali¬
sades placed along the branches, faces, traverses, and in
front of the above-mentioned redoubt, complete the de¬
fensive dispositions of the covert-way.
We shall not attempt any detail of the advantages and
defects of the System just described ; nor the mode of
attacking or defending it : for the curious reader may
find them in the Author's own Work. But it is allowed
by the ablest engineers, that notwithstanding some little
imperfections, (and the whole invention it must be re¬
membered was prior to that of ricochet firing,) this
System is capable of the most obstinate resistance, by the
numberless expedients which it enables the besieged to
oppose to the assailants. It may be added, that it
would also require to be very judiciously and most
vigorously attacked ; and that the siege could only be
abridged by the simultaneous employment of a very
numerous artillery, and by the developement of new
means. One of these would probably consist in firing
shells into the earthen masses of thecounterguards, with
a view of producing explosions therein, similar to those
of small mines ; for cannon has bßen found to produce
too slow and too imperfect an effect.
His Second Coëhorn's Second System, which he applies, as was
said above, to a heptagon, consists of a capital re-
S' ' • vetted bastion, the upper and middle flanks of which
are covered by the projection of the orillon. A wide
dry ditch extends round this capital bastion, having
its surface nearly on a level with the water. This ditch
is covered by an unrevetted rampart, underneath which
is a gallery, with loop-holes looking into it, in order to
afford a reverse fire upon the enemy when he may have
penetrated so far. The ravelin with retired flanks is
connected with an unrevetted rampart surrounding the
enceinte; and a low curtain, or in other words, a tenaille
with flanks, in front of which is a small wet ditch, covers
the curtain. By this disposition, the whole of the en¬
ceinte may be defended with still greater advantage than
in the First System, by strong sorties of cavalry as well
as infantry. A row of palisades extending along the
dry ditch in front of the capital face, covers the retreat
of the troops. An uninterrupted counterguard, placed
beyond a broad wet ditch, forms a third enceinte or en¬
velope ; each branch of which is divided and flanked
by a traverse ; and a ditch and covert-way, similar to
those of the First Svstem, surround this third enceinte.
The advantages of this System consist in a greater
facility of communicating with the second enceinte,
and of defending it by numerous bodies of troops of
all arms, owing to the uninterrupted continuity of
the broad dry ditch ; and in the economy of its con¬
struction, it being much less expensive than the First
S'y stem.
Coëhorn's Third System is that which he himself most Fortifica-
esteemed ; but as no one agrees with him on the sub-
ject, and as it has never received the honour of execution,
and is moreover the most expensive of the three, we gy¡tem^
shall not, in the limited space allowed us, enter into
a minute detail of its construction or uses. The reader
is by this time sufficiently familiarized with the subject
to be enabled, by an inspection of the figure, to form See fig. 16.
a competent idea of the defensive dispositions contained
in it.
CHAPTER III.
Improvements subsequent to the Age of Vauhan and
Co'èhorn,
In returning to the fortifications which are appli¬
cable as well to dry as to wet soils, we shall pass over
in silence the throng of Writers, contemporaries or im¬
mediate successors of Coehorn and Vauban, such as
Borgsdorf, Sturm, Herlire, Glasser, &c. ; and proceed
immediately to Cormontaingne, whose valuable improve¬
ments on the ideas of Vauban, give him a claim to the
honourable distinction of being the principal disciple of
that illustrious engineer. From the general merit of
its defensive properties, joined to economy in materials,
the Method of Cormontaingne may, perhaps, be con¬
sidered as that which is most likely to be adopted as a
basis of construction when circumstances shall require
the formation of new, or the restoration of any existing
fortresses.
Cormontaingne places the points of his bastions at the Cormon-
same distance as that prescribed by Vauban in his tamgne's
First and Third Systems : that is, three hundred and
sixty yards. The magistral line of his front of fortifia
cation is traced in nearly the same manner as in the
Systems of Pagan and Vauban : that is, the positions of
the lines of defence, or the produced faces of the bas¬
tions, are determined by the length of a perpendicular,
let fall from the middle of the side of the exterior polygon.
The faces are made one hundred and twenty yards iong ;
and the flanks are at right nngles with the taces of the
opposite bastions, in order that the fires from thence may
effectually graze those faces. In making the face of
his bastion longer than Vauban did in his original
method, he certainly shortens the flank, but he brings
the latter closer to the object which it has to defend.
The augmentation of size in the bastion, renders it ca¬
pable of containing such interior retrenchments, as may
enable the body of the place to sustain many assaults
ere it be forced to capitulate. Of the nature of these
works in reserve, mention will be made under the head of
Interior Retrenchments. The crest of the counterscarp
of the main ditch is drawn towards what is called the
interior shoulder angle of the collateral bastion : that is,
towards the point on the plan which represents the ^
meeting of the crest of the parapet on the face and flank ;
by which means the direct fire of a man stationed at the
shoulder will graze the exterior side of the ditch. In
order to correct the principal defect ofVauban's ravelin,
which does not sufficiently cover the central part of the
enceinte, Cormontaingne has constructed his upon a
larger base. Having also made it without flanks, he
has reserved the latter for the redoubt in its interior,
from which the besieged will be enabled to have a
FORTIFICATION
289
Fortifica- reverse fire upon the breaches of the collateral bastions ;
tion. go that the assault on the latter becomes impracticable,
until after the entire capture of both the ravelin and its
redoubts. It is only by giving greater saliency or pro¬
jection to some of the works, that a simultaneous attack
upon the whole of the defences may be prevented ; as
otherwise the enemy being able to embrace the whole at
once, would not be compelled to attack in detail what
might be carried by a single operation. Cormontaingne,
therefore, makes his ravelins project considerably be¬
yond a line joining the salients of the collateral bas¬
tions ; and thus the enemy becomes unable to attack
the latter until he has gained possession of the iormer,
on account of the reverse fires which might from thence
be directed upon his reproaches. The taking ot the bas¬
tions is therefore retarded by the time which must be
spent in working up their glacis after the ravelins have
fallen.
These were not the sole improvements now effected in
the ravelin. Cormontaingne observed, that in those
works at Neu Brisack, Vauban had given such a
breadth to them, that not only could the enemy there
find room to establish batteries for breachinir the re-
doubt, but the latter was by this same reason dimi¬
nished to an almost insignificant size. He therefore
reduced the ravelin to the smallest breadth possible,
consistently with the necessity of placing guns on it for
the defence ; and he augmented the size of the redoubt
so as to render it even capable of being retrenched, and
of covering from the fire of the enemy^s lodgement at the
salient angle of the ravelin, the coupures^ or traverses,
which might be placed near the lower extremities of the
faces of that work in order to prolong its defence.
Cormontaingne also proposed to trace the demigorges
of the ravedn and its redoubt, in the directions of lines
drawn from the flanked angles of the collateral bastions,
through the interior extremities of the parapets ofthe for¬
mer works : by this construction there is free space afforded
for the fire of artillery in casemates formed in the flanks of
the redoubt, into the breach made in the face of a collate¬
ral bastion; and the passage from the caponnière into the
main ditch is concealed from the view of the enemy when
he has crowned the opposite crest of the glacis. To afford
to the covert-way, and particularly to the long branches
of it in front of the ravelin, a powerful support, which
might enable it to oppose an obstinate resistance, and
allow of sallies being made to destroy the enemy's lodge¬
ments even after they were effected, he constructed re^
doubts or retrenchments in the re-entering places of
arms, with revetted escarps and counterscarps, and for
this purpose he considerably increased the size of those
places of arms.
In any System of Fortification with small ravelins, the
besieger has it in his power to breach, at the same time,
two bastions and the intermediate ravelin : whereas in
the Method of Cormontaingne, it becomes indispensable,
when it is desired to attack two bastions, to take three
i?velins ; and the attack of one sole bastion entails that
of the ravelins on each side of it; unless the place be
surrounded by a polygon of a very few sides. Whenever
the besiegers are able to breach and assail two bastions at
once, it is evident that the attention of the garrison must
be divided and consequently weakened ; and in this respect
the System of Cormontaingne has a decided advantage
over that of Vauban : for when the attack can embrace
no more than a single bastion and two ravelins, the en¬
ceinte being breached in one place only, the defenders
nave it in their power to concentrate all their forces at Fortifica-
that place, in order to oppose the last assault. But tion.
from the octagon upwards, the necessity of attacking
several ravelins can with great difficulty be eluded by
the besieger ; and this necessity increases in polygons of
a greater number of sides, in proportion to the magni¬
tude of their angles. Hence it follows, that when two
or more contiguous fronts are developed upon the same
straight line, this property arrives at its maximum ; and
that it becomes impossible to conduct the attack be¬
tween two ravelins against the covert-way of a bastion
by the ordinary process. The property also which the
ravelins possess of seeing, reciprocally, in reverse the
enemy's lodgement on each other's covert-way, increases
also in intensity with the size of the polygon, and like¬
wise attains its maximum on the straight line. The
covert-way, with the exception of the places of arms and
redoubts already mentioned, remains nearly the same as
in Vauban's constructions.
The figure of which we have made use on Plate ii. to Modem
explain the names and uses of the different parts which
constitute what is called a front of fortification, is con- ^ '
structed upon the Modern System, or in other words,
Cormontaingne's Method, with such improvements as
modern engineers have thought it expedient to add.
The ravelin is made to cover the shoulders of the bas-^
tions more effectually, and as great a projection is given
to it as possible, consistently with the necessity of keep¬
ing its salient angle within the limit of sixty degrees.
Each of its faces is retrenched by the coupures or cuts
through the rampart at pp, which prevent the enemy
from taking the redoubt of the re-entering place of arms
in the covert-way in reverse, without first possessing
himself of the redoubt in the ravelin : when the above
retrenchments of course fall of themselves. The direc¬
tion given to the faces of the redoubts o o in the re¬
entering places of arms more effectually prevents the
enemy from enfilading them. that is, sweeping the
whole of their length from batteries erected on the crest
of the covert-way. The place of arms itself is here
made circular, with the same view of avoiding the enfi¬
lade fire.
The chief of all these improvements is the increased its adva^-
projection and size of the ravelins ; but the credit of tages.
this cannot be justly claimed by modern engineers : it
being well known that it was designed by Cormon¬
taingne for his work of Bel croix at Metz ; and that he was
only restrained by the French ministry of that day from
putting it into execution. Cormontaingne, likewise, had
it in contemplation to make a difference in the depth of
the main ditch and that of the ravelin; from whence
would have resulted three important advantages :
1. The ditch of the ravelin being several feet less
deep than the main ditch, the sudden declivity, which is
supported by a wall, would prevent the enemy from
turning the ravelin when he shall have got into its ditch ,•
and would, moreover, compel him to blow down the
wall, in order to make a descent into that of the enceinte.
2. Under cover of the sudden declivity, the troops of
the garrison can circulate through the main ditch in per^
feet security until the enemy is established on the covert-
way of the bastion.
3. The fire of artillery from the bastion's face along
the ditch of the ravelin is rendered somewhat more
grazing, and consequently capable of producing a greater
effect against the enemy when he gains an entrance intc^
that ditch.
290
FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica¬
tion,
Fig. 4.
Genoral ob¬
jections to
the Bastion
System.
Suggestions
of Monta-
l-embert for
its altera¬
tion.
The revetments are likewise proposed by modern
engineers to be made vertical, as shown in the profile,
fig. 4 , experience having proved that perpendicular
escarps have some advantages over those to which a
slope is given : as on the latter (even on many of Vau-
ban's construction, which have a slope equal only to one-
fifth their height) weeds are found to grow, which
assist materially in their dilapidation. Many of the
escarps above alluded to, in the French fortresses which
were built in the reign of Louis XIV., are already, from
this cause, falling into ruin : whereas many vertical walls
standing near them, and which are of an earlier date,
are still in good condition, exhibiting no signs of vege¬
tation on them. It must not from this be concluded
that Vauban was unacquainted with the fittest profile
for a revetment. In fact, walls whose exterior faces are
formed with a small slope, better resist the shock of
breaching artillery, than those whose faces are vertical ;
and it may be added that the construction of the former
is more economical than that of the latter, since, with a
profile smaller in area, they present an equal resistance
to the pressure erected against them by the earth com¬
posing the rampart and parapet. It is probable, there¬
fore, that what are called vertical revetments can, with
propriety, be only applied at the counterscarps of ditches
which are, from their situation, but little exposed to the
artillery of the enemy. Revetment walls are now occa¬
sionally strengthened by vertical or horizontal counter-
arches. The former of these are portions of cylinders
standing on their bases and connecting the tails of the
counterforts ; and their convexities are turned towards
the mass of the rampart, that they may be better able to
resist its pressure outwards : the latter are disposed in
tiers, one above another, and rise from the sides of the
counterforts : the arches and counterforts are but slightly
connected with the front wall, that when the latter is
destroyed by breaching, it may not bring down the
others in its fall.
What has been hitherto said of the Systems of differ¬
ent engineers, relates exclusively to those in which the
bastion outline has been adopted : but, although that
method, with trifling variations, has alone been reduced
to practice, it is here proper to notice some objections
which have been raised against it. Foremost among
the opponents of the Bastion System stands the French
General Montalembert. He was, however, not the first:
for Werthmuller, a. d. 1685, and after him Landsbergen,
Augustus 11. Elector of Saxony and King of Poland,
Bollersheim, and Herbort, had written upon the supe¬
rior advantages of a line of rampart which should pre¬
sent a succession of salient and re-entering angles. Into
the value of the reasonings which have been offered in
favour of such a disposition of the rampart, both on the
ground of economy of construction and powers of de¬
fence, it is not here our province to enter. But though it
may be easily proved that the Bastion System is not
without many defects, yet, when the infrequency of
opportunities for the erection of entirely new fortresses
is considered, it need not excite our wonder, while we
avoid to prejudge the question of comparative merit,
that the proposed outline has never, in any instance,
been practically tried to supersede those methods of
fortifying which have so long been in use.
It must, however, be confessed by men of all opi¬
nions, that no Author on the Art of Fortification has
exhibited greater ingenuity, than did General Montalem¬
bert in his numerous and varied combinations of the
casemated System of alternate salient and re-entering Fortifica-
angles ; or in other words, the casemated tenaille Sys-
tem, which he published a. d. 1776. Several enceintes
situated within the main ditch ; a formidable artillery
placed in bomb-proof casemates ; and these serving
likewise as a cover for the garrison, for stores of every
kind, and even for the inhabitants : such is the system
which the author proposes to substitute for that of Vau¬
ban, the defects of which, he observes, are acknow
ledged by the best engineers, Vauban clearly showed
that his Art of Attack was much superior to his Art of
Defence ; and he left to posterity the task of remedying
the imperfections of the method which he had followed :
in attempting which it is evident that two conditions
must be adhered to ; first, that the new method shall not
be more expensive ; and secondly, that it shall not
require a stronger garrison than the old one. To
increase the means of defence under these limitations, is
the problem which Montalembert proposes to solve. We
shall not undertake to analyze the systems contained in
the whole of his eleven quarto volumes, composed, it is
said, after he was sixty years of age : but shall confine
ourselves to a cursory view of one or two of his prin¬
cipal contrivances, referring the curious reader for the
rest to the Work itself.
After pointing out the defects of the Bastion System,
as executed in most fortresses, Montalembert proposes
suppressing the tenaille and curtain, and producing the
faces of the bastions inwards to their junction with the
flanks of the redoubt in the ravelin, likewise produced
inwardly. A hundred toises of rampart would by this
means be saved ; the flanks would be better covered
than they are at present ; and their fire would be more
certain, because the line of defence would be so much
shorter. But if it be desired to preserve the same length
of line of defence, by producing the faces outwards an
exterior side of three hundred and six toises would be
obtained for the side of a heptagon, inscribed in the
same circle as a dodecagon whose sides are one hundred
and eighty toises long in the Systems of Vauban:
whence would result for a defence equal, as he asserts,
to the latter in other respects, a saving of one thousand
three hundred and thirty-six toises^ of rampart in the
body of the place. By adding to this the suppression of
five ravelins and as many redoubts, there would be
economized eighteen thousand nine hundred and twenty
cubic toises of masonry. It is true that such a fortress
would have but one enceinte like most others in actual
existence, which being once perforated would leave the
garrison without resource ; and for this reason the
author proposes, in a second System, said to be à
ailerons^ to form a triple enceinte within the main ditch
by producing the curtain to the capitals of the bastions.
This enceinte he defends by a casemate placed behind
the redoubt of the ravelin ; to the faces of which redoubt
he adds flanks defending the ditch. The retrenchments
of the bastions constitute the second enceinte, which is
defended by the wings annexed to the redoubt ; and he
places a casemated traverse across each face of his rave¬
lin. All the communications between the different
works are well covered ; and all objection to dead angles
is done away with by an appropriate arrangement of
casemates. The small space on the rampart of the'
ravelin, and on that which is substituted for the bastions*
faces, will scarcely allow of artillery being placed on
* The toise is equal to 6.3945 English feet.
FORTIFICATION.
291
Fortifica- them by the besieger, with a view of opeiiing the works
tion. within : he would besides, in such a situation, be bat-
tered in front and in flank within pistol range. Works
arranged in this manner, although less expensive and
easier to defend properly, are nevertheless greatly ex¬
posed to ricochet and shells ; and Montalembert, de¬
sirous of procuring cover in old existing fortresses from
the destructive effects of the latter, proposes making in
them the following alterations.
He would separate from their rampart the revetment
and 20. walls of the escarp both of the bastions and ravelins,
which may be supposed, as represented in fig. 19, to be
those of a front of fortification constructed according to
Vauban ; and proposes to make the exterior slope of the
ramparts of earth. He would lower the escarp walls,
(as shown fig. 20,) lengthen the buttresses or counter¬
forts, and make use of them as piers to the vaults
which are to cover the batteries ; by this he would
obtain casemates open in rear and uriinconvenienced by
smoke. The tenaille is to be suppressed ; and the cur¬
tain, as well as the retrenchments of the bastions, is like¬
wise to be casemated for both cannon and musketry.
A wall of masonry, traverses, and loop-holed guard¬
rooms, add to the interior defence of the bastions and
ravelins. Another species of retrenchment which he
proposes, is a casemated tower in the gorge of the bas¬
tion, by which the defence may even be continued after
the capture of the place. Either one or the other of the
above dispositions would, he conceives, oppose almost
insurmountable obstacles to the construction of breach¬
ing and counter-batteries against them under such a
powerful and covered fire of cannon and musketry.
After giving his attention to the means of improving
already existing fortresses constructed upon the old plan,
Montalembert allows full scope to his genius. He adopts
what he calls the tenaille system ; and considering
the defence of places to depend upon the greatest number
of covered fires that can be opposed to the attack, he
places casemates in all the re-entering angles of his
See figo 21. wet, and also at the angles of his dry ditches. The faces
of the tenailles are formed of a double casemated
wall, behind which extends an earthen counterguard,
whose interior slope falls into a wet ditch. A dry ditch
encircles this counterguard and wet ditch, and passes
along the foot of the capital rampart, the gorge of which
is retrenched by a loop-holed wall, and by a casemated
tower with an angular base. A general counterguard,
or earthen rampart, surrounds the main ditch ; and in
its re-entering angles there are casemates, covered by
lunettes with casemated flanks placed upon the coun¬
terscarp of the outer ditch. The communication from
the body of the place to the outworks through the
wet ditches is by a cistern-like caponniere, the cover
of which serves moreover as a bridge. This double
communication may easily be rendered useless to the
enemy by cutting away or demolishing a portion of the
bridge, and inundating the caponniere by means of sluice¬
gates at its junction with the place.
The advantages which the Author claims for this
system are as follows :
1. The enemy will have to penetrate through four
enceintes, of which the three principal ones are within
the grand ditch, and under the fire of a numerous artil¬
lery unseen, and, consequently, indestructible by the
enemy's batteries in the covert-way.
2. The covered fire of artillery which it opposes to the
construction of breaching or counter-batteries, is superior
to that which the enemy can bring, both in number and Fortifica-
in the advantages of cover : so that the execution of
those batteries will be a matter of extreme difficulty, if
not altogether impossible.
3. Its communications with the outworks are safe ;
and thus the operations of the troops are greatly facili¬
tated.
4. The tower and loop-holed wall at the gorges of the
tenailles, serve as a last retrenchment, when even the
enceinte has been carried.
5. The troops and stores are amply and safely covered ;
and have nothing to apprehend from conflagrations,
which too often prove destructive to the defence.
The celebrated Carnot was a zealous admirer of Mon- Camot's
talembert's talents, and publicly espoused his cause System,
against the enemies of all innovations or improvements
in the Art of Fortifying. The construction which he
proposes is a System of casemated tenailles covering the
body of the place, as in fig. 22. He places at the salient
angle of the interior rampart a casemate containing one
gun, to batter the saps which may be directed along the
capital, and also two pieces of cannon upon each face
and flank. The object of these last is to take in reverse
any batteries opened against the faces of the collateral
salients : two splinter proof batteries accompany the
above casemate with the same object. The second en¬
ceinte consists of a counterguard merely broad enough
for a parapet and banquette, so that the enemy cannot
place cannon upon it. Its relief is so regulated that it
may cover the casemate at the salient without masking
its reverse fires ; the covert-way is reduced to the breadth
of two banquettes ; and a single traverse protects its
blanches. The ditch of the body of the place is defended
by a casemate ; the under story of which, A,(see fig. 23,) Fig. 2a
receives air by means of a ditch, B : this casemate ex¬
tends beyond the alignement of the ditch, (see the plan ,
fig. 22,) in order to see the breach in reverse, and be
itself unseen. The upper story alone is continued (on
a level with the country) as far as the alignement of the
covert-way, in order to defend the ditch of the counter-
guard : which ditch is terminated by a gradual slope
towards the re-entering angle ; and here the counter-
guard is but a mere parapet sufficiently elevated to cover
the revetment of the body of the place. An opening is
made in this parapet for the egress of sorties, which may
also be made through posterns contrived under the
shoulders of the counterguards. By this arrangement
the besieged have the advantage of being able to make
sorties both of infantry and cavalry with great facility,
who issue from the ditches by the slope or ramp, which
terminates, as already mentioned, at the re-entering
angle ; and even in the event of a repulse they would
derive great protection from the salients. Cavaliers are
placed at the gorges of the tenailles, if necessary ; and
these gorges are closed by defensive barracks and by
loop-holed walls, calculated to stand an assault advan¬
tageously, or at least to compel the enemy to grant ho
nourable terms of capitulation.
Carnot subsequently recommended a system of works
which very nearly resembles that proposed by Cormon-
taingne. Its principal bastions, whose salient angles are
distant from each other four hundred and eighty yards, are,
however, detached from the body of the place, and cover a
range of casemated batteries at the gorge oí" each. The
bastions are themselves covered by narrow counterguards;
and a vast ravelin, having in its interior a loity redoubt or
cavalier, covers the intermediate space. These works are
â92
FORTIFICATION
Fortifica- of earth : but one detached loop-holed wall surrounds the
tion. body of the place ; and another is placed before the faces
and flanks of each detached bastion. This disting'uished
Mathematician and Engineer here dispenses with the
covert-way; and he has made the exterior sides of the ditch
to surround the fortress in the form of a glacis, sloping
downwards from the level of the natural «ronnd.
The principal means of defence proposed by Carnot
consist in a series of engagements with the enemy by
powerful sorties ; and an abundance of vertical fires, of
stones or small balls, made from thirteen-inch mortars
placed at the salient angles of the works, and in the
casemates in rear of the bastions : by all which the
enemy, who is supposed to be collected in greac numbers
between the third parallel and the place, will be com¬
pelled to cover his lodgements with blindages, or roofs
made of fascines and earth. A fire of musketry made
at an angle of torty-five degrees with the horizon up¬
wards is also recommended for the purpose of annoying
the assailants behind their trenches. Among the pro¬
posed advantages of this system may be ranked the ob¬
stacle which the enemy must experience in passing the
loop-holed wall before mentioned, which from its height Fortifica-
will be not only difficult to escalade, but more difficult tion.
to descend on the interior side ; while, being covered by
the exterior works, it was supposed to be secure against
any attempt of the enemy to breach it. To this may be
added, the benefit arising from the countersloping
glacis : which is not only convenient from the facility it
would afford to the defenders in making sorties ; but
because it would expose the trenches formed in it by
the besiegers to a plunging fire from the ravelin and
counterguards. It ought to be observed, however, thai
the former of these advantages are compensated, by a
corresponding facility afforded to the enemy when de¬
scending into the ditch to surprise the works; and since
the principal ramparts are without revetments of ma¬
sonry, it is evident that, after the detached wall is
breached, which some experiments purposely made at
Woolwich have proved possible, the enemy^s troops,
entering by the breach, may extend themselves along
the front of the interior work, and mount in line over its
parapet.
PART III.
ON THE MEANS OF INCREASING THE STRENGTH OF FORTRESSES,
CHAPTER I.
Nature of these Means.
Application What has been hitherto said relates only to the con-
of expedí- struction of different works immediately enveloping the
eats for in- spots fortified ; or in other words, to that of the body of
cieasing the place, with its simple appurtenances of tenailles and
ravelins. We shall now show the different expedients
by which the strength of this envelope may be increased.
But it should first be observed, that many places owe to
the nature of their situation such advantages, as it would
be difficult to procure by any contrivance of Art. We
have a strong exemplification of this in the rock of Gib¬
raltar ; and in a part of the country surrounding the
fortifications of Luxembourg : at the latter place, a bare
rock extending over the accessible ground would, on
account of the total impracticability of sapping in such
a surface, oblige the besiegers to bring with them from
a great distance their means of cover,
imera possesses, nevertheless, many resources independent
tion^f ar- those derived from Nature, and contributing to the
tificial same end. It may augment the duration of the re-
means for sistance of a fortress by some one or more among the
this pur- following means
1st. Interior retrenchments : behind which the garri¬
son, when beaten from the principal works, may renew
the defence.
2dly. Counterguards : which must not only be taken,
but even destroyed, before the works which they cover
can be touched.
3dly. Great exterior works : which, as they cover one
or more fronts, force the enemy to a preliminary siege
before he can arrive at those points.
Ithly. x^n advanced covert-way : which must be carried
V »'
before the interior one can be attacked.
5thly. Detached pieces : or works placed so as to com¬
mand the access to the place, and annoy the enemy with
reverse fires.
6lhly. Inundations : which drown the enemy*s works
at the commencement of the siege, and ultimately carry
away his fascine passage across the ditch at the moment
of his meditated assault.
7thlv. Defensive mines, or countermines : which force
the enemy to have recourse to the slower and more
minute proceedings of subterraneous warfare to make
sure his footing upon the surface.
8thly, and lastly. Casemates may likewise be in¬
cluded in this enumeration : notwithstanding the objec¬
tions which many authors have urged against them.
All these may either be employed separately, or com- Of their ap-
bined in different manners. We may nevertheless ob- „es^to^fcít
serve, that with the exception of inundations and mines, russes of
which can be applied to all kinds of places, according as different
the soil is best adapted to one or to the other, the use of size,
the rest must depend upon the magnitude of the fort¬
ress. For instance, interior retrenchments, as they
diminish the total space within the works, are but ill
suited to small fortresses. Great exterior works, on the
contrary, become such places peculiarly, owing to the
increased area which they afford for military establish¬
ments. The case is far different with counterguards and
advanced covert-ways ; which, requiring an augmenta¬
tion of defensive means, without furnishing additional
room to contain them, would only tend to multiply the
confusion and insufficiency of the interior resources ; and
such works are therefore only proper for large fortresses.
On the other hand, a fortress, which from its size miirht
be accounted of too great an extent, should in preference
be reinforced bv interior retrenchments.
FORTIFIC ATION.
293
Forfiñca-
íion
CHAPTER IL
Interior Retrenchments and Counterguards.
Interior retrenchments are works either constructed at
Interior re- the same time as the fortress itself, and constituting' a
trench- part of its system ; or else thrown up hastily during the
inents. siege to prolong the resistance, by cutting off the part
of the rampart breached, and permitting the defence to
be commenced anew behind a fresh obstacle. The in¬
sufficiency of such works when hastily constructed of
loose soil ; and the superior advantages which might be
expected to result from their being carefullv made before¬
hand, and revetted with masonry both at the escarp and
counterscarp; were the reasons which induced Vauban
to deviate from his usual mode of construction when or¬
dered to fortify Landau. He accordingly separated the
bastions from the enceinte, thereby converting the latter
into one great interior retrenchment. Where such
means of safe retreat exist, the garrison may with secu¬
rity stand the assault of the body of the place : they
are therefore a most essential means of adding- to the
defence, and by them alone can the besieger be com¬
pelled to epaule himself across the ditch, and to make
his lodgement upon the summit ol the breach ; which of
all the operations of the siege are the most difficult and
dangerous. The case is still worse if the retrenchment
be of such solidity as to compel the enemy to use can¬
non, or the mine, in order to breach it. The difficulty
of transporting heavy guns across the ditch and up the
breach under the fire of the opposite flank, would
naturally induce the besieger to prefer resorting to the
latter expedient. But this being of much slower exe¬
cution, the troops in his works on the crest of the
covert-way, or occupied in the passage of the ditch, or in
the lodgement on the breach, must all the while be ex¬
posed to great loss, under so close a fire of the garrison.
Sometimes These were undoubtedly the considerations which in-
composed of duced Cormontaingne to make in the bastions most
» « 11
f-ont of for- attack, good permanent retrenchments with
tiiication. revetted escarps and counterscarps ; and according to
the shape of the bastions he regulated that of the re¬
trenchments. When the obtuseness of the bastion left
a considerable space between its shoulders, the form
which he gave to the retrenchment was that of a small
front of foi idication : extending between two points
taken on the faces at twenty or thirty yards from either
shoulder, in order to preserve the whole length of the
flanks for the purpose of defending by their fire the
ditches and covert-wavs of the collateral bastions. A
•f
letrenchment of this sort, with a ditch twelve yards wide,
and suriounded by a covert-way, having a re-entering
place of arms in its centre, would certainly be of great
advantage in the defence : particularly if care were taken
to give it a command of two or three feet over the faces
of the bastions. It would enable the breach in the
bastion to be defended with the greatest obstinacy, by
the assurance with which it must inspire the troops of
a safe retreat, if ultimately overcome. Besides, as the
space included by the faces of the bastion diminishes in
width the nearer it is to the flanked angle, it follows
that, the retrenchment occupying the greatest space, the
besieger is always out-flanked and combated by a
superior force, during his approaches from the top of
the breach towards the counterscarp of the retrench¬
ment: the very reverse of the superiority which the
besieger has enjoyed during the whole of the pre\ious
operations of the siege. The nature of this retrench-
VOL. VI.
ment also entails upon the assailant the necessity of L<^rtifica-
repeating the operations of crowning the covert-way, ,
passing the ditch, and breaching the work, since we
have supposed that both escarp and counterscarp are
revetted. Such are the difficulties which he must
overcome if he should attempt to breach by cannon.
If he choose the mine, he may meet with still greater
obstructions from the defensive mines which the be¬
sieged may have prepared under the point of his bastion.
So that, upon the whole, it does not appear that any
exterior defence can be preferred to this species of re¬
trenchment, which upon a fair valuation may be con¬
sidered capable of adding twelve days to the defence ;
exclusively of the benefit which might accrue from the
existence of mines underneath the bastion.
When, by the acuteness of the flanked angle, the Retienched
interior space did not suffice for constructing the re- cavaliers,
trench ment in the form of a small front of fortification,
with proper dimensions and relief, Cormontaingne gave
it the shape of a cavalier. The faces and dit^h of the
cavalier were defended by coupures en retirade^ or
chequered retrenchments ; the foremost of which cut
the face of the bastion near the shoulder, and the other
was sufficiently thrown back to prevent any part of the
cavalier from being dead or deprived of fire. The
cavalier had a command of eight feet over the bastion :
but the coupures were on a level with the latter. This
sort of retrenchment, although much better calculated
to second the efforts of the bastion during the early
part of the attack, is much less so when it becomes
necessary to defend the space between it and the bas¬
tion. It therefore merits much consideration as a cava¬
lier, and but little as a retrenchment. As the want of
space between the cavalier and the bastion makes it
itnpossible to have a covert-way, the defenders of the
breach will not have sufficient room, and their retreat is
not made good. The defence will therefore be neither
ob.stinate nor animated. Besides, the narrow space be¬
tween the counterscarp and the br;;acli maybe laid open
by the enemy's mines : which will project the rubbish
into the ditch of the cavalier, enabling the latter to be
breached by the same batteries that breached the bastion,
and liiereby spare the besieger both trouble and time.
It may therefore be repeated that, although tiiis sort of
retrenchment has the property of increasing the be¬
sieger's loss during the early part of the attack, the first
has the more essential one of augmenting the duration
of the siege, and making its end more disastrous to the
assailant. The cavalier affords, nevertheless, the means
of constructing under the mass of its terreplein good
bomb-proof establishments; and this may in some cases
cause a well-founded preference to be given to it over
the other sort of retrenchment, which moreover cannot
well be applied to bastions of a small size, owing to the
narrow space between the shoulders. Two journals are
given by Bousmard of the attack of a cavalier : the first
case supposed being that in which there is sufficient
space in front of the work for placing breaching bat¬
teries ; and the second that wherein, from want of room
for such batteries, the enemy would be compelled to
have recourse to mining, in order to effect a gap for the
purpose of breaching through it with the same battery
which opened the bastion itself. In the former instance
the work is deemed capable of a resistance of only six
days, and in the latter of eight: being two days in favour
of the smallest space between the cavalier and bastion.
A letrenchm-ent en tenaille is made by uniting the
R
294 FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica- two shoulders of the bastion,—or rather two points
tiou taken on the faces at a few yards from the shoulders,—
by two lines iorming- an obtuse re-entering angle. The
Retrench, fiitcli of the retrenchment is made ten yards wide, and
tenaiUe^^^ the escarp and counterscarp, which are of masonry, have
a height of eighteen feet. The parapet is on a level with
that of the bastion. The communication made in the
re-entering part is covered by a traverse, and provided
with strong barriers, which is considered a better con¬
trivance than a postern and stairs. But a tambour, or
species of redan made with strong beams, may be con¬
structed during the siege, as a tête, or immediate cover
to the little bridge of communication. This retrench¬
ment, infinitely more simple and less expensive than
those already described, answers the object just as well,
for it suffices to arrest the enemy's progress, and induce
him to grant a capitulation ; at the same time that it
affords the besieged more space for an active resistance :
that is, by sallying in greater numbers and attacking
him in his lodgements, instead of remaining passively
behind the parapets.
Rectilinear Another retrenchment still remains to be noticed;
u'Ueuch- jg rectilinear retrenchment across the gorge
íhe"^oi^íe bastion. Dufour (a modern author and en-
gineer) thinks highly of it, and appears inclined to give
it a decided preference. In the first place, it is econo¬
mical ; and being more distant from the breaches, it
defends them better, and is itself less exposed to a sudden
attack. Secondly, it leaves the interior of the bastion
unincumbered. Thirdly, it may possibly be made to
receive a defence fiom the two collateral bastions; if
the besieged take care to demolish a portion of the
parapets of the flanks at the moment the assault is to
be given. This last advantage will suffice to retard the
taking of the place two days : for when the defenders
of the breach are compelled to retreat, the enemy's
lodgement on its crest will receive a triple battery, two
from the collateral flanks and one from the retrenchment
itself. This, it is just to suppose, will force him to
adopt measures of circumspection of a more than ordi¬
nary nature, to avoid being taken in flank when sapping
up to the retrenchment. The besieged may therefore
securely wait the moinent of the enemy's establishing
his cannon, to demand a capitulation. An oblique
passage may be made at each end, directed upon the
angle of the shoulder, thereby avoiding the enfilade from
the lodgement on the breach. Each of these passages is
covered by a 'palanque^ or tambour, to ensure the re¬
treat. The retrenchment at the gorge has the evil of
diminishing by one-half the length of the flank : but
this is obviated by leaving, entire and full, all that part of
the proposed ditch nearest the flank, with the intention,
nevertheless, of removing the mass in a moment of need,
and of applying it to the formation of those portions of
parapet, which, for the above reasons, have also been left
incomplete. This will entail but a veiy trifling increase
of labour, as it need only be done in the bastion or
bastions attacked ; and the trouble will be still less con¬
siderable, if the engineer, in constructing the place, has
taken care to produce, as far as the flank, the masonry
of the escarp and counterscarp of the retrenchment. The
only part therefore which will be in permanent existence,
is that comprised betwTen the two passages. The two
extremities may, until needed, be kept level with the
terreplein of the bastion. The defence of a retrench¬
ment thus situated will be more powerful, if the work
be constructed in the form of a front of fortification
and, that the flanks of the retrenched bastion may be Ft)rtifica-
left entire, it will be only necessary to place the work in tion.
rear of the gorge, terminating its two faces in points
taken on the curtain at twenty or thirty yards from the
angles of the flanks. By this co'\struction also the re¬
trenchment remains unturned, it a breach should be
made in the curtain by firing between the tenaille and
the flank of the bastion.
Counterguards are works solely destined to cover Counter-
others of a more important nature: in such a manner gaards.
that, without obstructing their fire, they shall preserve
them from being breached until the counterguards
. ^
themselves have fallen. The besieger will likewise be
compelled to erect batteries on them, or else partially to
destroy them by mines, in order to breach the principal
works through the gaps produced from the explosions.
The counterguard must, therefore, in the first place,
completely cover the principal work, or at least all that
part which may be exposed to breaching. It must be
lower than the work which it covers, but must, neveithe-
less, screen its revetment. And, lastly, it must be made
sufficiently narrow to prevent the enemy from finding
room on it to place his batteries As for the first condition,
that of covering completely the principal works, it must
be observed that the counterguards of the bastions,
being terminated at the counterscarps of the collateral
ravelins, always expose the bastions in rear to be breached
through the trouée or opening of the ditches of those
ravelins : unless, with a view of obviating this evil,
counterguards be likewise applied to the ravelins ; but
then these terminating also at the counterscarps of the
counterguards of the bastions, leave an opening through
which the ravelins may be breached. It may therefore
be considered a radical defect, inherent in such works,
that access is always given to the enemy's breaching
batteries against one or another of the principal works
which they are destined to cover. It is true that the
spots where such breaches are practicable, would be but
difficultly reached by the enemy, and therefore the evil
may perhaps be disregarded : except when it affects the
body of the place, in which any kind of breach being
productive of serious apprehension, is always dangerous,
and seldom fails to serve as a pretence for capitulating.
Besides the condition of covering the revetment of the
principal works, without nevertheless obstructing their
action upon the approaches, the counterguard must have
all its interior commanded by the fire of that work.
Whence it is evident, that the greater or less degree of
command of a work over its counterguard must depend
upon the breadth of the ditch which separates them. A
work only fourteen yards broad between its escarp
and counterscarp will not allow an enemy to construct
any battery upon it, if its face be seen from any other
which projects beyond it : because he must cut away
the parapet of that which he occupies to obtain materials
for the epciulement of his battery, and to make room for
his guns ; and this will evidently expose him to a reverse
fire from such collateral work.
CHAPTER III.
Exterior, Advanced, and Detached TForks.
Great exterior works owe their origin to the desire of
occupying some important space in the immediate vici-
nity of a fortress : as for instance, a neighbouring
height; the opposite banks of a river ; or, in short, any
F o R T I F I
CATION
FortiFica- portion of g-round, the possession of which might procure
tÍDii. some advantage, or remedy some defect. Such defences
have since been constructed, however, under circum¬
stances which seem to indicate a mistaken notion that,
by multiplying the number of works about a place with¬
out judgment or discrimination, its strength is propor¬
tionally increased. Marolais complained bitterly of the
abuse made of these means, and not without reason :
since no less than three hornworks were crowded upon
one sole front of the small fortress of Juliers, (a. d. 1611,)
when the place was threatened with a siege. Besides
the immoderate use made of hornworks and crownworks
at the period of their invention, the manner of placing
them was highly defective. For, their branches being
directed upon the body of the place, and their ditches
opening into the main ditch, it followed that the enemy,
when once established upon the crest of the covert-way
of the horn or crown work, could see and breach the
wall of the enceinte through the opening of the ditches
of the branches. To obviate this defect, Vauban pro¬
posed placing them with their branches and ditches
directed upon the ravelins, which, however, only pal¬
liated the evil by transferring it from the enceinte to the
outworks. Great exterior works, nevertheless, were so
placed by his directions, for the firsi time, at Dunkirk,
at Fort Nieulai, at Befbrt, and at Huningen. The
best position that can be given to these works, when
their construction cannot be avoided, is beyond the
main glacis ; having their own glacis blended with the
latter, and their gorges well secured against surprise.
By this arrangement, the evil of their affording an
opening through which any revetment can be breached
is avoided ; and the enemy will, moreover, after he is in
possession of the work, be compelled to repeat the
most perilous operation of the attack, that of crown¬
ing the covert-way.
Hornworks, When these works are composed of two half bastions
and a curtain, they are called hornworks. When their
head, composed of a bastion and two half bastions,
forms two fronts of fortification, they receive the name
of crownworks. When composed of two bastions and
two demi-bastions, the name of double crownworks is
given to them : it is evident that the addition of another
bastion would produce a triple crownwork. But when
these works, instead of being terminated by long
Di Cinches, are connected with the place by their extreme
fronts, which not only defend the'mselves but are de¬
fended by the works of the place, the name of couronnée
is given to them. Such are the couronnée of Landau,
and that ofYutz at Thionville. The hornwork, if its
ditches open into the main ditch, and its branches rest
upon the body of the place, unless there be some circum¬
stances of peculiar advantage in its situation, would
rather weaken than add to the defence. If its ditches
open upon those of the ravelin or other outworks, it
may add six or seven days to the siege. It will add
twice as many if the work be placed beyond the glacis,
as above mentioned. The crownwork, although it has
two fronts, adds nothing to the resistance of the part
which it covers, if its ditches expose the walls of the latter.
If placed upon outworks it may prolong the defence
about eight days ; and twice as long, if placed beyond
the glacis. The double crownwork, as it consists of three
fronts upon a straight line, or on a line nearly straight,
is capable of a much better defence, and will even add
to the resistance of the place, although its ditches should
open into that of the latter. This increased resistance
C'rown-
wui ks.
ann C'ou
ruiiaétís.
may be fairly estimated at eight days, when the ditches Fortifica-
open into those of the outworks ; and at twice as many tion.
when they only open upon the glacis. The couronnée,
indeed, as it may be considered in the light of a portion
or segment of a fortress, may possibly be stronger than
the place itself : this, however, will depend upon the
manner in which it is applied. If its ditch is made to
open into the main ditch, it will be defective : but this
junction is generally so contrived that the trouées or
gaps may not enable the enemy to breach through them.
In the former case, the only delay will be that required
for erecting breaching batteries in spots where they may
act through those gaps, and this will but amount to five
or six days, which will be doubled if the couronnée rests
or is directed upon outworks. In short, the full influ¬
ence of the couronnée, in adding to the resistance of the
works which it covers, will only be felt when it is placed
beyond the glacis. The above estimate of the value of
the different great exterior works, is that given by Bous-
mard, in his Essai General de Fortification.
If; in consequence of a rivulet passing along the foot Advanced
of the glacis, the making of sorties from those fronts coveit-
should become a difficult operation, it is usual to con-
struct, on the other side of the stream, another covert-
way performing the same office as the original one. In
it are placed the advanced posts to watch the enemy's
movements ; troops destined to act upon the oflensive
are assembled there to make their preparations for the
attack ; and they retreat into this advanced covert-way
as into a place of refuge in the event of discomfiture.
If the advanced covert-way is situated before a portion
of the enceinte, the fronts of which are nearly on a
straight line, and if its salients aie supported by ad¬
vanced lunettes, it will give the enemy as much trouble
to take it as the original covert-way itself. The place
will therefore experience by this addition to its works a
sensible advantage : since the besieger, after capturing
the advanced covert-way and lunettes, must renew
operations upon the inner glacis against the ravelins
and their covert-ways. The advanced covert-way, be¬
sides affording the lunettes security against a surprise
and their salients an immediate defence, renders them
more efficient works, and capable of a more protracted
resistance than if not so enveloped ; and these proper¬
ties in the advanced covert-way have caused it to be
employed as a means of increasing the strength of a
place, even in cases where no such necessity existed
for occupying ground beyond a rivulet. But these
advantages only exist under the particular circum¬
stance of the fronts being developed upon a straight or
nearly straight line, with their extremities resting upon
natural obstacles. For without these conditions, the
advanced covert-way which might surround a fortress
altogether, as it would have a developement much
greater than the ordinary covert-way, would likewise
have branches longer and more liable to the ricochet.
To this disadvantage may be joined that of being only
defended by the lunettes ; as the fire of the place must
cease as long as the advanced covert-way is occupied.
The great distance between the salients, which should
afford each other a reciprocal defence, may also be
mentioned as a serious defect. A work of this kind
may, therefore, without much difficulty, be carried by
storm, and would require the besieger to make but
two parallels, and to break ground at a small distance
from the salients. From which it appears that the
construction of a general advanced covert-way round
2 r 2
296 F (3 il T I F I Ç A T I O N.
Fortifica- a place, at least when fortified on an inferior polygon,
tion. would he productive of no real benefit to th'e besieged ;
and the expense would nevertheless be greatly in¬
creased. We may therefore (says Dufour) establish as
a principle, that an advanced covert-way can only be
made before a portion of the enceinte not likely to give
it an excess of developement, and that even then care
must be taken when constructing it : 1st, That the
narrowest space enclosed between the two covert-ways
shall not be less than sixty yards wide. í¿dly. That
every part of its counterscarp shall be revetted ; and
that this revetment shall be of a nature to force the
enemy to make a descent into the ditch, and shall put it
out of his power to surprise and storm the lunettes at
their gorges. 3dly, That the places of arms be provided
with small redoubts in which the defenders of the sa¬
lients may find a safe retreat. 4thly, That the advanced
covert-way be not as high as that which it surrounds, in
order that the enemv, when he has reached the crest of
the former, may be unable to see into the latter. 5thly,
That the faces of the lunettes be always flanked by the
salient parts of the ravelins or bastions. It is no easy
matter to adhere to all these conditions on a level
country; and it can only be done by giving to the
covert-way of the place a more than ordinary degree of
relief, and by producing its glacis beneath the natural
level of the soil, as far as the counterscarp of the ad¬
vanced covert-way, thereby enabling the latter to have
a greater height. The glacis of the advanced co¬
vert-way may in a great measure be formed of the
earth so excavated. Recourse may be had to this
method of lowering the ground by producing the
glacis, for the purpose of establishing lunettes of which
the gorges shall have sufficient height to prevent esca¬
lade, without elevating their crests too much above the
level of the countrv.
Lunettes. The lunettes above alluded to are a species of ravelin
usually placed upon the salients of the covert-way to
flank the approaches. Where there is an advanced
ditch, the lunettes are placed upon its borders, but
where no such ditch exists, they are situated at the foot
of the glacis. The lunettes themselves have a ditch
twelve or fifteen yards wide, surrounded with a coyert-
way, to screen their revetment from the enemy's distant
batteries and prevent them from being stormed at the
gorge. A series of good lunettes judiciously disposed,
should afford an excellent defence. It is calculated that
such works, on polygons of ordinary size, may add ten
or twelve days to the defence, and considerably more
when the angle of the polygon is very obtuse. Their
advantages are chiefly these : they compel the eneiuy
to break ground at a much greater distance from the
place ; and as a preliminary siege must be gone through
to take them, ere that of the place itself can be said to
have commenced, the defence is prolonged by all the
time consumed in their attack. These works are, never¬
theless only adapted to large fortresses ; as they need
an employment of troops and artillery beyond the
limits of the enceinte, which a numerous garrison
alone could afford. If the lunettes are surrounded
with a dry ditch, it is absolutely necessary to revet
tiiern with masonry : otherwise a few rounds of the
enemy's cannon would soon lay waste the fraises or
inclined palisades, and they might be assaulted without
furtlier trouble. But, wlieie a wet ditch surrounds
them, the expense may be spared, as no such danger
need be apprehended.
A smaller and much less important work than the Fortifica-
lunette is often placed at the foot of the glacis. It is
made in form of a redan,^ and the name of flèche is
given to it. The faces of the flèche are usually made
twenty-four or twenty-five yards long. Its object is to
support and flank an advanced ditch, or advanced
covert-way. When the glacis of a place is very steep,
and the covert-way of more than ordinary relief, the
fleche is of great use, because its fire acts upon spots
unseen from the covert-way ; but when the latter has
but a small relief, the fleche may be omitted, as its
relief may obstruct the fire of the covert-way, and enable
that of the enemy to plunge into the latter work when he
is in possession of the flèche.
When the site of a fortification is low and marshy. Advanced
and it becomes impossible to give the ditches the ditcheis
necessary depth for furnishing sufficient earth where¬
with to construct the covering masses, a second or ad¬
vanced ditch is excavated at the foot of the glacis, which
will make up the deficiency and obviate the necessity
of going to a distance to obtain it. Although the ad¬
vanced ditch serves as an obstacle and prevents the
enemy from arriving at the covert-way, it is, neverthe¬
less, far from being a good work when isolated as is the
case in many fortresses. For if, on one hand, the enemy
experiences a difficulty in getting across it, the besieged,
on the other, feels great inconvenience when making
sorties, as he must pass over bridges, troublesome
to construct and easily demolished by the enemy's dis¬
tant batteries during the first days of the siege. There
are, nevertheless, some advanced ditches possessing
great advantages : we allude to such as may be kept
dry, and suddenly flooded at the will and pleasure of the
besieged. The latter would thereby derive all the bene¬
fit resulting from an uninteriupted communication dur¬
ing the early part of the siege ; and when the ditch falls
into the enemy's hands he may suddenly let the water
into it. These cases, however, are rarely met with It
the nature of the localities be such that it is out of the
enemy's power to drain the wet advanced ditch by ciU-
ing a canal and turning the water into it, the bed of the
ditch may be made in any manner whatever. But
where the possibility of such a thing is at all a matter of
doubt,—and it is impossible to ascertain the fact other¬
wise than by the nicest levellings,—the slope of the
glacis must be produced to form the ditch : in order
that the enemy may not find any cover there when
he has drained and occupied it. It is impossible to
fix the breadth to be given to advanced ditches : it
must depend upon their form ; the nature of the
ground ; and the quantity of earth necessary for the
construction of the works. But the wider they are the
better.
The name of detached works is given to such as are Detached
unconnected with the fortifications of the place, either woiks.
by an advanced covert-way, or in any other manner.
The chief object of these works is, to obtain reverse
fires upon the enemy's approaches at the time of his
attack upon any of the neighbouring fronts : so that he
may be under the necessity of reducing the advanced or
detached work, ere he can undertake the siege of the
place itself. Now the taking ot a detached work is any
thing but an easy operation, if from the nature of the
•situation it can in a mannerbe rendered inaccessible;
and this will be the case if it is situated in the midst of
^ See infràj Field Fortification.
i<'ORTIFICATxON
397
Fortifica- an inundation. Supposing it to be so placed, it will
tion. still be well, in order to secure it from surprise by boats
or rafts, to surround it with a covert-way or dike,
separated from the work itself by a wide and deep ditch.
Those parts of the work which are to afford the reverse
^res above alluded to, should be so constructed as to be
screened from the ricochet fire of the enemy^s batteries ;
aad the detached work should be placed at a distance of
one hundred and fifty, or one hundred and sixty yards,
from the edge of the inundation, to be beyond the range
of the mortars used for throwing stones or small balls.
Its parapet should, moreover, be twenty-four feet thick, to
render its demolition a matter of greater difficulty to the
besiegers.
Besides ground of such a nature as will admit of
being inundated, there are many other situations in
which a detached work may be rendered inaccessible to
the enemy; or at least, in which he shall be compelled
to the developement of extraordinary means ere he can
hope to reduce it. When placed upon a steep rock,
too hard to be either breached or mined and too ele¬
vated for the escalade, it may be considered inaccessible;
and it would, moreover, have the advantage of com¬
manding reverse and plunging fires, from which nothing
within a considerable distance could escape. A de¬
tached work may likewise be deemed inaccessible when
built upon an extent of flat bare rock, on which the
enemy could neither dig trenches nor sink shafts of
mines ; and the difficulty of reducing it will be greater,
if care has been taken during the leisure of peace to
establish underneath its glacis, by dint of labour and
blasting, a good system of defensive mines. The bas¬
tion fort of La Lippe, at Elvas, in Portugal, is of this
nature ; as are likewise the detached works at Luxem¬
bourg: both of which are worthy of being studied by
professional men.
it is not, however, always possible to find situations
which almost of themselves shall render a detached
work inaccessible : it will therefore be necessary to com¬
pensate for any local disadvantage by creating all the
artificial obstacles that can be raised. In the first place,
the work should be revetted with masonry both at the
V
escarp and counterscarp. The former should beat least
fifteen feet high, and crowned at top with a row of in¬
clined palisades as a security against escalade. Behind
the revetment of the gorge (if the work be in the form
of a lunette) a loop-holed gallery should be made, hav¬
ing the crown of its vault on a level with the natural
ground: in order that it may be secured from destruction
by shells. The loop-holes should be as low as possible,
that the fire from thence may be more effective, and that
the enemy may be less able to fire through them into the
gallery. But the most powerful way of adding to the
strength of such works is unquestionably that of subter¬
raneous fortification.
In almost every case the position of a detached piece
is determined by the localities of the ground, by the
nature of the defences of the place, and by the particular
object of the work itself Ifthe latter be intended to have
a reverse fire upon the neighbouring fronts, it may require
to be placed on such elevated spots as command a view
of the acclivities leading to those fronts. If, on the
other hand, the object be to see into the bottom of a
valley, a site must be chosen for the work at the begin¬
ning of that valley. When, in order to fulfil any of
these conditions, the work is necessarily placed too far
from those of the fortress to derive from the latter a
musketry defence, another or intermediate work must Fortifica-
be thrown up halfway between them to render it that
service. And as this intermediate work is defended by
a close fire from the place, and protected against the
first fury of the enemy's attacks by the work in advance,
under the fire of which he must pass to arrive at it, it
need be but a simple flèche, or at most a small lunette.
To prevent, however, its falling by the same attack
which might be directed upon the gorge of the detached
work, it is necessary to palisade its escarp and counter¬
scarp, and to close the gorge with a strong loop-holed
palanque.
There may be cases in which, from the nature of the
ground, the detached work will not suffice to fulfil the
object in view. For instance, when the elevated ground
on which it is to stand, is too broad to enable both its
sides to be sufficiently discovered by the work. It then
becomes necessary to construct two or more works of
the kind ; or as many, in fact, as shall completely occupv
the whole plateau, and have a good reverse view of the
ground by which the enemy must approach to the
neighbouring fronts of the place. It, in short, is pre¬
ferable to occupy the plateau by a series of detached
works, rather than to enclose it with one great exterior
work. For these isolated works, havino- in rear of their
gorges an open space where bodies of troops may con¬
veniently assemble for sorties, and from whence thev
may proceed without the embarrassment and delay of
filing through the barriers of a covert-way, ofler greater
advantages for those important enterprises than can a
continuous exterior work. The retreat into the latter,
when the sortie has effected or lost its purpose, is also
slow and troublesome : whereas the intervals between
detached works are so many broad and safe passages,
through which the troops may speedily retire under
the protection of the fire of those works.
CHAPTER lY.
Inundations.
One powerful means of adding to the value of fort- Immda.
resses consists in the employment of water in inun-
dating the adjacent country to a vast extent, and in
producing in the ditches of the place such sudden and
violent torrents that the enemy's works shall with
great difficulty be able to resist their impetuosity. The
first effect of a bank thrown across a river, is to produce
on the flood side an inundation which will be more
extensive in proportion as the dike or dam is high, and the
slope of the surrounding ground gentle. By this means
the fronts of fortification on the flood side will be in a
great measure covered and rendered inaccessible ;
thereby leaving to the enemy the only remaining alter¬
native of attacking either the fronts on the ebb side, or
those lying intermediately. But if, by a sudden removal
of the dike, all the water is allowed to rush at once to
the ebb side, the river's natural bed being insufficient
to contain it, the countrv must of course be inundated : so
^ y
that, if the enemy has chosen to attack on that side, his
trenches will be swamped and his ammunition de¬
stroyed. Hence, when the waters of a river are judi¬
ciously managed, the enemy will be forced to avoid its
banks both on the upper and lower sides, and to attack
the intermediate fronts : upon vvhich a greater expense
298
FORTIFICATION.
Foitiñca- in defensive dispositions may be better afforded. A^ain,
tion. it sometimes haj)pens that the waters of an inundation,
by risirig" to a certain height, run off the sides and spread
themselves in the country, gradually making the circuit
of the town, (either on one or on both sides,) and find
their way ultimately into the natural bed of the river.
Should the temporary river thus formed be of a good
breadth, all the works which it encloses will be protected
from the enemy's attacks : but this seldom is the case,
as the banks of rivers are usually higher than the dike ;
and the waters therefore flow over the latter, and con¬
tinue their course as usual.
The bridge over a river, for communicating from one
to another part of the town, is usually converted into a
dike by stopping up the arches with sluice-gates: pre¬
cautions must in this case be taken to prevent the under¬
mining which the fall of the water might produce on the
ebb side ; and the piers of the bridge ought to be of suf¬
ficient strength to be able to resist the pressure of the
water. The ck)sing of the arches is, as above mentioned,
effected by two sluice-gates, which fall into grooves made
in the piers, and are worked by levers or screws in such
a manner that they can be quickly and simultaneously
uplifted, when it is required, to let loose the torrent
upon the enemy's attacks. The besieger, who is usually
acquainted with the spot where this contrivance exists,
will of course direct against it a great profusion of
shells ; and it is therefore advisable to have double flood¬
gates under each arch : so that, if one gets damaged, the
remaining one may perform its office. An inundation
would also be useless if it were at all in the enemy's
povver to drain it : that is, to dig a canal into which its
waters might be turned. This, however, may some¬
times be prevented, by constructing a work near the
spot where it is most likely to be done. Such a pre¬
caution is more particularly necessary when the drain,
in emptying the inundation, might at the same time
deprive the place of the water indispensable for the sub¬
sistence of the garrison and inhabitants ; there being
instances of a place surrendering through thirst, which
bv the nature of its works, and strength of its garrison,
might have been expected to stand a long siege.
The advantages resulting from the employment of
water as a means of defence do not consist solely in
inundating the country about the place. Jt is likewise
in some cases possible to introduce water suddenly into
ditches habitually kept dry : whereby all the works, which
the besieger may have executed for the purpose of reaching
the foot of the breach and facilitating the assault, may
be entirelv destroyed. When this torrent has subsided,
and the smaller rubbish of the breach has been removed
by it, leaving only the larger fragments, the breach may
be no longer practicable; and the besieger, to render it
so, must recommence battering and forming his passage:
which—as he will have just reason (o apprehend a fresh
disaster of the same nature—he must make with the
solidity of a real dike capable of resisting the weight of
the torrent, and of sufficient height to cause a reflux of
the waters. But as all this will require much time and
labour, the besieged may leisurely take rnea urts fur
defending the breach with the utmost obstinacy. The
manner, in which these artificial torrents are produced,
is as follows. A dike with gates stretches across the
river at its entrance into the town, which is generally
between two bastions constructed on the opposite sides
of the river; and the dike is made high enough to
O O
allow the inundation to be six feet above the bottom
of the ditch. Then, at or near the place, where the Foitlfica-
main ditch of the fortress branches out from the river, tion
on the ascending side, gates are formed across the ditch
to admit or exclude the water of the inundation ; and
these, which must be made higher than the dike across
the river, to prevent the water from flowing over them,
are provided with a bomb-proof cover to secure them
from the effect of the enemy's shells. Other gates are
formed in like manner at the communication of the
ditch of the fortress with the river, on the descending
side, and serve to retain the waters in the ditch, or to
let them escape, as may be required. The foimer, for
distinction's sake, may be called flood-gates, and tlie
latter ebb-gates.
When the enemy has effected his descent and irrup¬
tion into the ditch, and has commenced his passage
across it, the defenders cease to dispute the passage, and
open the flood-gates, leaving the ebb ones closed. The
ditch will then fill with water, which, washing down the
enemy's epaulement, may compel him to raise his gallery
of descent, and commence, in all probability, a fascine
bridge, to avoid a repetition of the torrent. This bridge
(which is of the lightest kind and moored with small
anchors) may have nearly reached the rubbish of the
breach, and every preparation may have been taken for
the assault; when the besieged, by suddenly opening
the lower sluices or ebb-gates, produces a torrent through
the ditches which will remove a good portion of the
rubbish, and loosen and damage the bridge of fascines.
But a still more violent shock is at hand : the upper
sluices are thrown open, and the waters rush in with an
irresistible impetuosity ; carrying away the bridge, and
probably discouraging the enemy from any further at¬
tempt to overcome so powerful a means of resistance.
A pair of additional sluice-gates may be made some¬
where between the two former, to obviate the inconve¬
nience which might result from an accident happening
to one of those, and also to augment the force of the
current in the ditches on the descending side. The
gates are generally placed across the ditch in the direc¬
tion of the capitals of the bastions, where they are less
exposed to the view of the enemy when he has crowned
theirlacis; and ebb-gates should be made wider than the
o " S
others : in order that the water may be less retarded in
its escape, and any diminution in the force of thecuirent
avoided. In order to secure the advantage of using the
ditches as dry ones during the first days of the siege; and
particularly to aflbrd the means of communicating freely
with the exterior works, and of making repeated and vi
gorous sorties ; it is necessary that the bottom of such
ditches be about one foot above the ordinary high-water
mark in the river. Acunette, or small drain, is dug along
the ditches of the place in order to carry off thewaterjwhich
(even when the gates being closed the great mass of it is
excluded) will inevitably filter through the masonry of the
dikes. To procure to the currents in the ditches all their
desired effect, it is necessary that the sluice-gates be made
to open promptly and give a wide entrance to the water.
Of all the means as yet proposed, to arrive at this desi¬
deratum, the most simple is that contrived by M. de
Bousmard, which, although it has never perhaps been
tried, is very ingenious, and deserves to be here de¬
scribed. He proposes two piers, with a door between
them turning upon a vertical pivot or axis, which is
placed so as to divide the door into two unequal parts.
The pivot is firmly secured at top by a cross beam or
otherwise^ and at bottom by a flat stone into which it is
FORTIFICATION. 299
Fortifica- let. The door being' unequally divided, it follows that
the stream presses more strongly (the volume of water
being greater) on the largest of the wings ; and this, as
it rests against a groove in the quay or pier, naturally
keeps the gate, closed, and excludes the water. But on
the above-mentioned Wgest wing there is a small door
which can be opened by such machinery as is used in
the apparatus of canal locks. The opening of this small
door reduces the surface of resistance to less than that
presented bv the smallest of the wings. The conse¬
quence is that the greater pressure being thrown upon
the latter wing, the gate turns upon its axis or pivot
and o'ives free ingress to the torrent of water.
o o
CHAPTER V.
Defensive Mines.
int's. The Art of mining, as practised in the Ages of Clas¬
sical Antiquity, appears to have undergone no change
for nearlv two Centuries after the invention of gun-
V C*
powder. A Genoese engineer, at the siege of Sereza-
nella, a, d. 14S7, was the first who tried to substitute
the use of this destructive ing-redient for the old me¬
thod, but did not succeed. The celebrated Pedro Na¬
varra, then a private soldier, who was present at this siege,
on being afterwards received into the Spanish service
and raised from the ranks, repeated the experiment with
as little success at the siege of Cephalonia. Not dis¬
couraged by these failures, he tried it again at the
attack upon the Castel del Ovo at Naples, A. d. 1501,
and acquired, if not the credit of being the inventor, at
least that of being the first who had applied this new
means with success. Before Bologna, (a. d. 1511,')
Navarra again tried his mines, but a singular accident
is said to have rendered them abortive : the mines were
sprung and the wall was uplifted ; but, if the tale may
be credited, the whole mass fell again upon its base,
otFering to the astonished beholders no other proofs of
its having quitted its foundation, than the crevices where
the separation had been effected Î The besieged pro¬
claimed a miracle : but Navarra explained the apparent
prodigy, by showing that the charges had been placed
with too great precision under the centre of gravity of
the masonry.
In order that the reader may the more easily under¬
stand the phrases which we shall have occasion to use
in the following pages on modern mining, we shall begin
by a few definitions. Any subterraneous excavation,
made with a view of containing gunpowder for the re¬
moval by explosion of the objects on the surface, is called
a mine. The place where the pow^der is deposited is
stsled the chamber. This chamber is of a cubical form,
and of a size proportioned to the magnitude of the in¬
tended charge. The excavation produced by the explo¬
sion is termed the crater. The line drawn from the
centre of the charge to the nearest point upon the sur¬
face, whether the latter be upon an horizontal or inclined
plane, is technically distinguished as the line of least re¬
sistance. The subterraneous roads conducting to the
chambers of mines are denominated galleries. These
are divided into grand galleries, demi-galleries, and
branches. Gieat galleiies are six feet high and three
wide in the clear ; demi-galleries four feet by three ; and
tiie brandies tiiree by two and a half. The largest of
these galleries may vary in their dimensions according Fortifica-
to circumstances : but for reasons which will be ex-
plained, it would be improper to alter the dimensions
of the branches. The great galleries are the miner's
principal roads ; and every thing is conveyed through
them : the demi-galleries are the communications from
one to the other of these roads ; and the branches are
the small paths which lead from the galleries of com¬
munication to the chambers of the mines.
The galleries which usually constitute a simple sys- System of
tern of deiensive mines are situated as follows. The
gallery of the escarp is so called from being situated at ^
the back of the wall which supports the rampart. The
object of this gallery is to enable the breach to be more
obstinately defended by the explosion of small mines
placed under the rubbish at the moment of assault;
thereby destroying the assailants, and restoring to the
breach its original steepness. It is hardly necessary to
say that when this is done, the enemy is compelled to
batter the rampart anew. This galler\, moreover, serves
to defeat the enemy's attempts to breach by mine, in
the event of his preferring that means to battering with
cannon, or if he should be disposed to employ both.
With respect to dimensions, this gallery of the escarp is See pi. iv.
of the largest above mentioned ; and its situation is shown fi
both in the plan and profile.
Another gallery extending along and underneath the
covert-way is called the counterscarp gallery. Its situa¬
tion has been considerably varied according to the opi¬
nions of the different contrivers of Systems. Some have
placed it underneath the banquette of the covert-way ;
some under the middle of the terrepleiii ; and others again
close behind the counterscarp wall. The latter disposition
seems to be more generally preferred, as most economical,
most easily lighted and aired, and furthest removed
from the influence of the enemy's explosions. The
lighting and airing here meant are obtained by loop¬
holes cut in the revetment of the counterscarp which,
besides, enable a reverse fire to be had upon the enemy
when he may have penetrated into the ditch ; the en¬
trances into this gallery are provided with stout oaken
doors with bolts on the inside. Many authors, however,
object to this situation for the counterscarp gallery : al¬
leging that, when the enemy has possessed himself of it,
the very contrivance for affording a reverse fire along
the ditch, will serve him to keep in check any sorties
which the defenders may make to dispute his sapr or
passage acri>ss the latter. The entrances into this gal¬
lery are most frequently made in the counterscarp wall
near the re-entering angles of the latter ; and, in that
case, a tambour is made upon the terreplein of the
covert-way enclosing the stairs at the re-entering angle.
This measure of security is, however, unnecessary when
the re-entering places of arms are (as in the modern and
Corinontaingne's Systems) provided with a redoubt. Be¬
sides this piecaiUion, it is well to have a caponnière on
each side of the entrances, to flank the accesses to them
along the main ditch and that of the ravelin. When
the soil is dry enough to admit of it, the sat'est way of
communicating into the counterscarp gallery is by a
gallery of communication passing: from that of the escarp
underneath the ditch. This procures, moreover, the
advantage of enabling a branch to be driven from it
under any spot whei^e the enemy may be making his
passage across the ditcli : besides affording security
against any attempt to seize upon the galleries by a
sudden attack.
300 FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica- A g'allery ranning parallel to that of-the counterscarp
at a distance of about forty or sixty yards from it—that
is, about the distance of the foot of the glacis—is called
the envelope. It communicates with the former by
others, situated under the ridges and furrows of the
fflacis, and which are denominated galleries of commu-
nicatioii. The gallery of envelope is omitted in most
Systems, because, presenting an extensive front to the
enemy, it is speedily destroyed by his first explosions ;
and it is urged that mere passages terminating in a
point, or by a portion of envelope, so as to resemble the
letter T, are more advantageous ; as they not only
answer the same purpose of enabling the defender to
commence early his dispositions for intimidating the
enemy ; but the destruction of one portion would not
entail that of the neighbouring one, or facilitate the
enemv's attempts to introduce himself into the galleries
after an explosion. But, in any case, from the envelope
there are other galleries extending into the country to a
distance of about thirty yards ; placed at intervals of
Listening fifty yards ; and called listening galleries, or listeners,
galleries, from their object, which is to enable the besieged to
anticipate his enemy by watching his approach under
ground. The distance to which it is possible to distin¬
guish sounds, must of course depend very much upon
the more or less compact nature of the soil : but, in
ordinary cases, the blows of the excavating tools may be
heard at a distance of thirty yards ; and those of the
hammer in fixing the framework at forty or fifty. The
reason, therefore, for placing the listeners fifty yards
asunder, is obviously to render it impossible for the
enemy to penetrate between them unheard, either from
one side or the other. The means resorted to by the
miner of the besieged to assist him in listening, are va¬
rious. He may lay a plate of sheet iron flat against the
side of his gallery, and apply the ear to it. He may
drive a trepan hole in the most likely direction, and
listen through it ; and if he has any reason to apprehend
that the enemy will attempt to pass under him, a pea,
or any round body, placed upon a drum head, will
vibrate at the blows of the pick and betray the design.
At certain distances along the whole of these galleries
there are ready-made doorways, merely filled up with
loose bricks. These are also called listeners, as they
serve for that purpose, and enable the defenders to drive
branches, without loss of time, in any particular direc¬
tion. To prevent the enemy from obtaining possession
of the whole of the galleries in the event of his succeed-
Zj
ing in getting into a portion of one, care is taken to
partition them off with strong oaken doors, having loop¬
holes with shutters in them, through which a fire may
be directed against the besieger, or stink balls thrown to
smother him. The galleries of communication are like-
CT*
wise separated from the principal galleries by doors of
the same material ; but these slide back into a groove in
the wall, instead of turning on a hinge, which from the
nature of their situation would be inconvenient.
It often happens that no system of defensive mines
has beforehand been made underneath certain fronts of
a fortress, which nevertheless may require such an ex¬
pedient: in order to establish an equilibrium of strength
between them and the remaining fronts. The manner
in which the establishment of such mines is effected ata
moment when a siege is anticipated, remains to be de¬
scribed before any thing is said respecting the charges of
mines. The first thing done is to determine, upon the
p an of the works, the situations which it may be most
expedient to allot to the several galleries. It is unne- Fortifica^
cessary to observe that, here care must be taken not to
run into useless expense and loss of time, for the me^-e
sake of symmetry. The galleries must be made under¬
neath those spots upon which the enemy is obliged to
conduct his saps ; and it would be needless to drive
them in places where, being seen in reverse by some
projecting outwork, he would never attempt to approach.
When these points are settled, the plan thus devised
upon paper is marked out upon the surface of the
ground, and at all the intersections of the lines denoting
the situations of the intended galleries, shafts are sunk.
The reason for sinking shafts at the intersections is, that
any inaccuracy of direction in the driving of the galleries
may thus be the more easily corrected : as, when the
shafts have arrived at the required depth, the galleries
are driven from tlience to meet one another between
every two shafts.
The materials used for sinking the shafts are square PI. iv. fig. 4,
or oblong frames, with a sheeting ol' planks to prevetit
the earth from falling in. The operation is commenced
by placing one of the above frames (with projecting
ends of a foot or fifteen inches length) flat upon the
ground, with two of its sides at right angles with the
line denoting the direction of the intended gallery. The
frame is fixed so as to be immovable ; with pickets or
stakes driven in on each side of the projecting ends.
The miners now commence digging ; and the depth of
the excavation must depend upon the greater or less
tenacity of the soil. In ordinary soil, the second shall
frame may be placed at a depth of four feet. When,
therefore, the miner has dug to this depth, he makes the
bottom of the shaft perfectly even and level, and then
places the second frame (of course without projecting
ends) vertically under the first, and ascertains its position
with a plumb line. This done, he connects the fiist
frame with the second by means of wooden ties of equal
length, nailed to the centres of the sides of the frames.
The sheeting is then introduced between the frames and
the earth ; and wedges are placed between the sheeting
and the second frame to preserve room for slipping in
the planks from the second to the third Any cavities
between the earth and planking are filled up with sods
or sand-bags: in order that the sheeting may press
firmly against the frames. The digging is now recom¬
menced and continued to the same depth : when the
framing, sheeting, and adjusting are repeated. As
long as the excavation is sufficiently near the surface,
the loosened earth is easily thrown up by manual force;
but in proportion as the shaft becomes deeper, other
means are resorted to for its removal. A cylinder, turned
by a winch, like the machine used for drawing water out
of a well, answers the purpose sufficiently, by passing
several times round the cylinder a rope having a basket
or bucket fastened to each ot its ends : by which means
one ascends loaded whilst the other descends to be filled.
When the shaft is sunk to its required depth, the sides
of the two last shaft frames, situated in the direction of
the intended gallery, are removed ; and the excavation of
the latter is commenced, either horizontally, or with the
inclination suited to the object in view.
In the driving of galleries, the means of keeping up
the eanh are much the same as those employed in sink¬
ing shafts ; frames and sheeting being employed for the
purpose. The former of these are composed of two
stanchions, a capsill, and a groundsill : the latter is some¬
times omitted, but such a practice is not to be recom
FORTIFICATION
301
Fortifica mended« There are, however, many cases where sheet-
ium. jjjg. is not altogether indispensable : as when the soil is
sufficiently stiff to support itself without such assistance.
The frames by themselves are then used ; and even these
are often dispensed with in strong soils, and where the
mines are intended for immediate use : it is nevertheless
scarcely justifiable to put men's lives into jeopardy,
merely to economize a few pieces of timber, or the few
additional moments which the fixing of the latter might
require. When these galleries are made, as here sup¬
posed, at a moment of need, it will suffice, in order to
save trouble, to give them four feet and a half of height,
by three, or two feet and a half, of width. When a
branch only is driven from one of the above galleries to
the place where the powder is to be deposited, it may be
made three feet high, by two and a half broad ; there is no¬
thing gained, with respect to time, by making it smaller ;
for if, on one hand, there is less to excavate, on the
See fig. 5. other, the inconvenient posture of the miner, who even
piate IV. ^ gallery of the above dimensions is obliged to work
sitting, will render the progress of the work nearly the
same. But there is an important reason for not increas¬
ing the dimensions of the branches :—that the smaller
they are made, the more readily and solidly may the
mine be tamped, and the less likely will it be that any
part of the charge should find vent along the branch.
The earth is removed from these branches by means of
a small four-trucked cart, having a cord at each end.
In proportion as the first miner excavates, a second
draws the earth towards him with a hoe, and fills the
little cart ; which is then drawn by a third to the en¬
trance of the branch ; where the earth is received and
transported to a greater distance, or to the foot of the
shaft, by a fourth. Four miners thus employed consti¬
tute a brigade. When it is necessary to fix the frame¬
work, the whole four assemble for the purpose. It has
been found, by repeated experiments and by actual ser¬
vice, that brigades of miners, relieving one another at
proper periods, can execute on an average eighteen feet
length of gallery in twenty-four hours ; this supposes,
however, that nothing occurs in the way of obstruction
from the enemy to cause any delays.
The distance, at which the frames are placed in the
driving of galleries, is determined by the same reasons
which regulate the intervals of the shaft-frames. Some
soils, as we have already said, are stiff enough not to
require these supports : but, again, there are others which
are so loose as to oppose almost insurmountable difficul¬
ties to the progress of the miner ; and there are indeed
cases where, the soil being sand or gravel of the loosest
kind, no other alternative remains but to cut out the
gallery like a ditch, open at top, case up the gallery care¬
fully with sheeting, and then fill in the soil over the top.
It must, however, be observed, that a gallery having but
one issue cannot properly be driven beyond a certain
limit, without inconvenience or danger to the miner ;
the air, from want of ventilation, not being proper to
support life. When, therefore, it is necessary to go
beyond that limit, some means must be employed to
produce an artificial current of air. The most common
expedient is that of a forge bellows placed at the top
of the shaft, and having canvass or leathern pipes ex¬
tending into the gallery or branch.^ A trepan hole
may likewise be driven, from the ceiling of the gallery
* But a much preferable machint^, resembling the hydrostatic
bellows, with a very simple and convenient apparatus of pipes, has
been, introduced for the same purpose into the British service.
VOL. VJ.
up to the surface of the ground, for the same purpose. !Fortifica»
When a branch has been driven to the required lengthy
a return is made at the end either to the right or left,
and the chamber is excavated. The reason for making
the chamber in a return is that the mine may be more
solidly tamped ; and this is done in a manner to be p?*e-
sently described.
The quantity of powder with which the mine is to be
charged must of course depend upon the effects required
to be produced, and upon the nature and tenacity of the
soil in which it is to act. The immense number of ex¬
periments made by De Valiere enabled him to arrive with
great accuracy at the conclusion, that a cubic fathom of
soil of ordinary tenacity required ten pounds, ten ounces,
six grains of powder to uplift it. Then, on the suppo¬
sition that the crater of a mine is a paraboloid, having
the diameter of its base equal to twice the line of least
resistance, and the focus of its generating parabola at the
centre of the charge, he calculated the cubical capacity
of the excavation in fathoms ; and, consequently, mul¬
tiplying ten pounds, ten ounces, six grains, by that
number of fathoms, he obtained the required charge in
pounds of powder. In this manner he composed tables,
serving to determine the quantity of powder required to
charge a mine of the above form, when the line of least
resistance is given. Belidor proposes a way of using
these tables, as a means of obtaining much more exten¬
sive effects than those for which they are exclusively
calculated. He supposes that the earth, upon the
explosion of a mine, is compressed to an equal dis¬
tance in every direction from the centre of the charge ;
and to the extent so acted upon by the ignited mass,
he gives the name of a globe of compression. He con¬
siders the line drawn from the centre of the charge to
the edge of the crater, which is the hypothenuse of a
right-angled triangle, having the line of least resistance,
and the semidiameter of the crater for the other two
sides, as the radius jof the globe of compression. Then
he says, globes of compression, like all other globes, are
to each other as the cubes of their diameters or of their
radii. If, therefore, instead of a crater whose diameter
is equal to only twice the line of least resistance, (as
estimated in De Valière's tables,) it be required to form
one in which the diameter shall bear a higher ratio to
that line, it is only necessary to add together the squares
of the line of least resistance in the tables and the
semidiameter of the crater, to obtain the square of the
hypothenuse of that triangle : or, in other words, the
square of the radius of the globe of compression which
would be formed with the charge in the tables corre¬
sponding to that line of least resistance. Find in the
same manner the square of the radius of the required
globe ; extract the square root from each ; then cube
them ; and, by proportion, the cube of the former radius
is to that of the latter, as the charge in the tables is to
that, which would be required to produce a mine having
the given dimensions.
The practical application of the rules above given,
and indeed of any others as yet proposed, is however
very limited ; the effect produced in different soils by
fired gunpowder bearing no constant proportion to the
amount of the charge, and the error becoming very
considerable when the charge is great. Experience also
has shown that no quantity of powder will make a
crater larger in diameter than about six times the Hue
least resistance ; and that the diameter of the globe of
compression in that case will not exceed about eight
2 s
302
FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica- times that line. The case would be different, and effects
tion, would be always nearly in proportion with the ma^ni-
tude of the charpie, were it possible that the whole of
the powder should become igriited at the same instant :
this, however, cannot occur, as its particles ignite suc¬
cessively, and the portion first fired blowing up the
earth above it, allows a certain quantity to escape
through the fissures, either unfired or without producing
any useful effect. The rule given by Belidor for de¬
termining the charge of a mine where the maximum of
the effects of powder is required to be produced, the
line of least resistance being given, is this : multiply that
line, in feet, by 300, and the produce will be the re¬
quired charge in pounds of powder. But the quantity of
powder, thus obtained, much exceeds that which would
have resulted from the employment of the formula
before stated. The magnitudes of mines are now com¬
monly expressed by the number of times the line of
least resistance is contained in the diameter of the
crater ; thus a mine is said to be one lined, two lined,
three lined, &c. according as the said line is equal to
once, twice, three times, &c. the diameter ; and from
experiments recently made in this Country it has been
determined that, in earth of medium tenacity, the charge,
in pounds, may be found by multiplying the cube of the
line of least resistance, in feet, by 0.033 for a one lined
mine, by 0.095 for a two lined mine, by 0.21 fora three
lined mine, &c. ; and these numbers are nearly pro¬
portional to the squares of the diameters of the craters,
when the lines of least resistance are equal. It has been
also found that, when it is intended to destroy a solid
mass of masonry by placing powder within it, the charge
in pounds should be equal to about one-tenth of the
line of least resistance.
The charge being ascertained, the chamber is ex¬
cavated of the required dimensions, and a box of a
cubical shape is prepared for containing the powder.
If the ground be at all damp, it is necessary to calk
and tar this box, the size of which must be such as to
contain, as exactly as possible, the proposed charge. This,
as well as the size of the chamber, may be determined
by considering that a box, of which the capacity is equal
to one cubic foot, will contain 57.6 pounds of powder.
With respect to shape, the spherical would be better for
the purpose than the cubical for obvious reasons ; but
the difficulty of making spherical boxes renders it neces¬
sary to adhere to the other form. The foot cube, above-
mentioned, is the inside dimension. If, therefore, for
instance, it were required to make a box to contain a
charge for four hundred and sixty pounds, it is evident
that its interior capacity must be equal to eight cubic
feet, or that the box must measure two feet every way
on the inside. Inch planks will suffice for the timber
See fig. 7. of the box. Every thing being ready for charging the
plate iv. mine, the box is placed in the chamber, and being firmly
fixed, a wooden trough reaching to its centre is intro¬
duced into it, through a square hole made for the
purpose in the side next the branch. This trough is
destined to contain the canvass powder-pipe or hose, by
which the fire is communicated to the charge. The
size of the trough should be about an inch square
inside. With respect to length, it is continued as far
as the spot where the fire is to be communicated, and
X *
it is made with such bends and angles as may be neces¬
sary. When the box is fixed and the trough is ad¬
justed, the latter is nailed to the ground-sills of the
branch frames to secure it from any movement. The
powder-hose is then laid in it, with its end in the centre Fortifica-
of the box, and with a peg driven through it to prevent
the possibility of its recoiling. The lid of the trough
is now nailed down, and covered with about one foot of
earth, taking care at the same time to guard from damp
or fire the outer extremity of the hose. This done, the
powder of the charge is conveyed into the box in leathern
bags, which the miners pass from one to the other, and
which are emptied by the last into the box. When the
latter is full, the lid is fastened down, and any vacant
space about the box is filled up with sand-bags and rub¬
bish strongly rammed. There is then placed up, against
the box and the space thus filled, (as shown in fig. 6,
which represents a vertical section through the branch
and chamber,) a partition of strong planks firmly butted
against the opposite side of the branch, where other
planks have been put to strengthen the abutment. The
interval between the bracing beams is filled up with
sand-bags, and every thing which comes to hand : this
wadding up or tamping, as it is called, is continued in
the branch to a length equal to once and a half the line
of least resistance, without which the mine might partly
vent itself in that direction.
Now the greatest inconvenience experienced in the
use of mines arises from the smoke of the powder,
which, after the explosion has taken place, penetrates
into the branch and neighbouring galleries, corrupting
the already stagnant air even to endangering the lives
of those who breathe it ; in consequence of which the
men are compelled to abandon the galleries until, by
means of a ventilator,* the air may have been renovated.
This has besides the evil of affording the enemy time to
dig in the crater and reach the tamping or wadding of
the branch without running any risk, since his work is
performed in the open air, where a free circulation car¬
ries off the deleterious matter. Many have been the
means at different times suggested for diminishing this
evil ; we shall however confine ourselves to that which
has been most successful, and which was invented by
the Commandant of the military school of Verdun, M.
de Rugy. The greatest part of the smoke at the
moment of explosion is projected outwards with the
earth removed ; another portion, which has been unable
thus to escape, issues out after the explosion through
the rubbish which has fallen back into the crater ; and,
lastly, a third portion, driven to the bottom of the crater
by the rubbish, and being unable to find vent upwards,
pours through the trough and fills the branch or gallery.
It is not therefore so much the smoke of the charge that
is to be apprehended as that of the powder-hose used
for springing the mine ; the latter smoke being impelled
with violence through the trough into the branch im¬
mediately after the explosion has taken place. The
smoke thus produced by the hose is more than sufficient
to prevent the miner from reaching the mouth of the
trough, owing to its pestiferous qualities : it is more¬
over soon joined by that which comes from the explosion
of the charge ; and the whole united spreads itself
through the galleries to an extent greater or less in
proportion to the magnitude of the charge and compact¬
ness of the soil. It was therefore found necessary by
M. de Rugy to abolish the use of the hose ; and his
contrivance is as follows. In the centre of a small
chain he fastens some match, and at each extremity of
the chain he ties a small cord or string of a length at
* For a description of this ventilator, see Belidor's Treatise on Mines.
FORTIFICATION
303
Fortifica- least equal to that of the trough it will have to pass
tion. through. A double instead of a single trough is made
to communicate with the charge ; and the above chain
and strings being laid in it, the lid is fastened down as
before. When therefore it is necessary to spring the
mine, the match tied to the chain is lighted ; and by
gradually pulling the string it is drawn over a spot close
to the charge, where some loose powder has been
strewed, the ignition of which will ofcourse communicate
the fire to the mine. The use of the string at the other
end of the chain is to enable the latter to be drawn back
again in the event of any thing preventing the explosion
from taking effect, or of the chain hitching any where on
its way. This contrivance has often been found in the
highest degree successful : it preserves the branch alto¬
gether from smoke, when the tamping has been properly
executed, and when care is taken after the springing of the
mine to stop up the mouths of the troughs immediately
with sand-bags. But it has one objection, which is the
great nicety required in making the trough : the inside
must be very smooth, the angular parts properly rounded
off, and the joints well put together, so that nothing
may impede the movement of the little chain. Not¬
withstanding such difficulties, there is no doubt that this
method is preferable to any other, when it is, as is gene¬
rally the case, desirable to make use of the gallery im¬
mediately after explosion.
Before we conclude the present chapter, it may not be
inappropriate to mention some precautions which it is
necessary to observe, in order to prevent accidents whilst
preparing the mine. The men should be obliged to take
off their shoes, for fear of the nails which they may have
on them. The nails for fastening the lids should be of a
different metal from that of which the hammer is made.
The powder should be conveyed in leathern pouches in¬
stead of sand-bags ; lest any grains should get strewed
along the ground, and thus form a train which might be
productive of the greatest disasters. It is likewise recom¬
mended that the sand-bags used for tamping should not
be filled up to the top ; but that a portion should be
left empty, and that the bag be then tied as near the
mouth as possible. This, as the soil will lay loose in
the bag, will render the filling up of chinks infinitely
more easy, and the tamping therefore more compact.
Two or more mines placed near one another may, by
springing simultaneously, produce an effect much greater
than could be obtained from them when fired one after
the other. It may therefore, in some cases, be desirable
to effect this joint and simultaneous explosion ; and the
way to do it is simply to make the hoses of all the charges
of equal lengths. If likewise it be wished that one mine
shall spring before another, it is only necessary to shorten
the hose communicating with it ; but no diminution of
length need be made to allow for the effects of bondings
in the hose, as directed in the works of most French
Authors on Mining. For recent experiments in this
Country have proved that, so far from burning more
slowly, as asserted by those Writers, a bent powder-hose
fires with rather greater rapidity than a straight one of
equal length. But the real difference in the rate of com¬
bustion is too small to require any allowance in practice.^
♦ Almost all the details which belong to the processes of Military
Mining, have during the last fifteen years, been very much simplified
and improved by long practice and repeated experiments, at the
school for the instruction of the officers and soldiers of the British
Engineer Corps, under Colonel Pasley at Chatham. But the publi¬
cation of the notes and rules compiled for the service of that admir-
CHAPTER VI. Fortifica*
tion.
Caseinates. v^
Though it is probable that, during ages to come, few Proper
opportunities will occur for making great improvements situations
in the construction of fortresses ; and though there is
reason to believe that the means of defending places will
never again become equal to those which may be dis¬
played in the attack ; yet these considerations should
not be allowed to discourage the efforts of military men
to give a degree of strength to their works, beyond that
which can be afforded by an exact adherence to the
Systems already in use. Since whatever can prolong,
but for a few days, the defence of a fortress may, in some
circumstances, be productive of the most important
consequences. With these views, therefore, besides the
casemates or covered batteries in the tower-bastions and
flanks of the body of the place, which have been de¬
scribed in the Second and Third Systems of Vauban,
such batteries have occasionally been formed or proposed
in other situations, to cooperate with the artillery on the
ramparts for the defence of ditches. It is plain, indeed,
that casemated batteries, if confined to their ancient site
in the flanks of bastions, must be utterly useless in any
other constructions than the Systems above mentioned :
since they would be masked by the tenaille which, by
covering the curtain and flanks themselves from being
breached, serves too important a purpose to be removed.
But suggestions for a more general adaptation of case¬
mates have, since the publication of the Systems of
Montalembert and Carnot, been offered by French
engineers ; and it appears that some efforts to reduce
♦hese ideas to practice were, during the reign of Napo-
leon, actually made in the fortifications erected in Italy
and at other extremities of the Empire.
According to the author of the Analyse de VOuvrage Proposals
intitulé Réflexions Critiques sur VArt Moderne de For- of modern
tifler, these expedients consisted chiefly in the formation
of casemated batteries within the ramparts of fortresses ; °
and in the affording of a more effectual defence to covert-
ways, with security against the ricochet fire of the enemy,
by means of loop-holed galleries. On the faces of bas¬
tions or ravelins, where it is of importance to direct a
powerful fire upon the works of the enemy, it was pro¬
posed to raise the rampart to a considerable height : but
this, instead of being a mere mass of earth, was to con¬
sist of two or more tiers of strong and well-ventilated
casemates ; formed with masonry along the whole face ;
and having embrasures in the manner of port-holes to¬
wards the front. Each tier of casemates was to rècede
from that below it, according to the nature of the exterior
slope of the rampart : so that, though the lower tier
should be ruined by the enemy's artillery, the upper
would not fall until the side walls should be demolished
far within the face of the work. Behind these casemates
it was proposed to have a vaulted gallery for the passage
of guns, ammunition, &c., under cover along the ram¬
part ; and, on the opposite side of the gallery, to have
other casemates for troops, stores, &c. Into these, also,
was to be finally withdrawn the artillery of the anterior
casemates ; so that the fire might from thence be con¬
tinued even after the latter should be destroyed. Ov:!
able establishment has very properly been interdicted ; and in pra
paring the portion of the present Article which relates to Mining, it
has therefore been resolved rather to abstain from referring specifi¬
cally to these latest improvements in the Art, than to make an un¬
authorized use of the official papers in which they are described.
2 s2
304
FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica- the upper tier of casemates it was recommended that
tion. there should be constructed an ordinary parapet, from
whence a fire of musketry and grenades might be
directed to the bottom of the ditch. These different
tiers of guns would permit the defenders to make a
grazing or plunging fire on the approaches of the be¬
siegers, as circumstances might require, and to oppose a
quantity at least equal to that which could be brought
against them. The artillery, also, being under cover,
the effects of enfilade and reverse fires would be ren¬
dered null : so as to reduce the enemy to the necessity of
employing only those which are direct, or perpendicular
to the face of the work ; and in the casemates the troops
might be securely lodged close to the spots at which
their services would be required. The partition walls
of the casemates were to be loop-holed, and the gallery
of communication secured by barriers at intervals : in
order that, in the event of a breach being made in the
face of a work, it might be defended on each side by a
close fire of musketrv from thence ; and the Author of
the Analyse concludes that it would be impossible to
assault a place fortified in this manner, until after the
whole of one face had been completely destroyed.
Nothwithstanding the benefits acknowledged to be de¬
rived from the covert-way, by the facilities which it
affords to the communications about the works, many
serious objections have been urged against it, chiefly on
the ground of its exposure to the ricochet, which the
traverses very imperfectly prevent: while the steep
counterscarp has also been considered as objectionable ;
by reason of the impediment which it creates to the free
movements of troops, when it may be necessary to send
them from the body of the place to any part of the covert-
way menaced by the enemy. On these accounts some
modern engineers have proposed to dispense entirely
with the covert-way, substituting for the counterscarp
an inclined plane gently descending to the level of the
bottom of the ditch ; and even those who advocate the
preservation of the covert-way, have recommended a
Description formation of this part of the works different in some
of Napo- respects from that which has been hitherto practised,
leonsfort- ^he particular kind of covert-way here alluded to was
r6ss 01 ^
Alessan- executed before the works at Alessandria in Italy ; a
dria, place which, during the reign of Napoleon, was forti¬
fied according to a plan given by General Chasseloup Fortifica-
de Laubat. Alessandria is situated between the rivers
Bormida and Tanaro, which, permitting inundations to
be formed, render it in a great degree inafccessible. The
town itself, which is of an irregular form, was sur¬
rounded by ail enceinte consisting of bastions and cur¬
tains, but without ravelins. The ancient citadel, how¬
ever, which was hexagonal, had those outworks ; its
bastions were constructed with orillons ; and both these
and the ravelins were covered with counterguards.
About the whole, and surrounded by the waters, were
disposed nine horn or crown works, each consisting of
two or more bastions, but without ravelins ; a covert-
way and glacis extended along the counterscarp of the
ditch ; and, beyond these, was an advanced lunette re¬
trenched by a redoubt and protected by its own covert-
way. All these covert-ways were without traverses;
but, for the purpose of concentrating a great quantity of
fire on the capitals, the interior of the glacis on the
longer branches was cut en crémaillère. The re-entering
and salient places of arms were retrenched by redoubts ;
and those in the latter were of a polygonal form, and
having the crest of the glacis carried round them parallel
to each face : by which construction several advantages
were obtained. For, the fires might be directed at plea¬
sure with considerable efficacy, to any required part of
the sectoral space about each place of arms, and might
command in reverse the approaches of the enemy to-
words the re-entering works: while the same places of
arms might be powerfully defended by the crossing
fires from the latter; and the redoubts themselves (which,
from their situation, were not liable to mask the fires
from the principal works) were intended, by their ele¬
vation, to prevent the ricochet fire of the enemy from
taking effect on the branches of the covert-way. Pali¬
sades, which have been hitherto considered as indispen¬
sable for protection against a sudden assault of the
enemy, were here omitted : it being considered that the
covert-way would without them be sufficiently defended
by loop-holed galleries, which were formed for the pur¬
pose behind the escarps of the interior works. These
costly and extensive fortifications were subsequently
destroyed by the Austrian Government.
PART IV.
DESCRIPTION OF THE OPERATIONS OF A MODERN SIEGE ; WITH RESPECT BOTH TO THE
ATTACK AND DEFENCE.
CHAPTER I.
Progress of the Modern Art of Attach-
A general outline of the manner in which the Ancients
attacked and defended their fortresses has already been
given ; and it may be observed that nearly the same pro¬
cesses continued to be employed, until the invention and
use of cannon caused a thorough revolution in the Art
of Sieges. We shall now endeavour, as well as our
limits will permit, to follow the subsequent course of
improvement in the methods of attack, down to the pre¬
sent times ; and it will form the chief object of this rapid
sketch, to trace the means by which the superioiity.
anciently experienced and until a late period preserved. Long reten-»
in the resources of defence, seems at length to have been don of the
completely and irrecoverably reversed. ancient
During the XlVth and XVth Centuries, as the walls attacic ^
of ancient fortresses had for the most part undergone
no alteration, and were consequently discoverable to
their very bases from a great distance, little more was
necessary than to establish batteries at four or five
hundred yards from the place, and to employ them in
breaching: whilst a trench was dug in a zig-zag direc¬
tion towards the broken part of the rampart, in order to
serve as a covered road for the troops in rushing to the
assault. This mode of attack is practised even at pre-
FORTIFICATION.
305
Fortifica- sent, when the walls of a place are considerably ex-
tion. posed. But when, by an improved disposition of the
defensive works, and a due regulation of their reliefs,
the walls were nearly hidden from the sight of the be¬
siegers, the latter were of necessity compelled to bring
their guns to the very counterscarp, in order to see the
wall low enough down for effecting a practicable breach.
The defence now gained an advantage over the attack ;
but it was merely momentary. The Art of gunnery
made great progress towards perfection ; and, when em¬
ployed in the attack of fortresses, nothing is now found
capable of resisting the overwhelming force of the mo¬
dern artillery. Up to about the middle of the XVIth
Century, no regular system of conducting the trenches,
by which the fortifications were approached, seems to
have been followed ; neither were sufficient precautions
taken for protecting the saps in proportion as they
advanced. It therefore followed that considerable loss
of time and of men*s lives resulted to the besiegers from
the success which attended the sorties from the garri¬
son : who continually harassed the heads of the saps
both by day and night, driving the workmen from the
unfinished trenches, filling in the excavations, setting
fire to the gabions, &;c., and carrying off the intrench-
iiiventum ing tools. At the siege of Thionville, a. d. 1558,
, I places of Montluc^ assumes great credit to himself for having first
arms in the gyo-o ested the means of, obviating this evil ; he tells us
' that he made at the end of each zig-zag a little offset
trench to the right or left, and placed troops in it to fire
upon any sorties that might attempt to disturb the work¬
men at the head of the sap. But this expedient was
long employed in too limited a degree to prevent the
frequent recurrence of such interruptions : until, at the
parallels; siege of Maestricht, a. d. 1673, Vauban being fully em¬
powered to conduct the attack according to his own
judgment, abandoned altogether the old routine ; and
taking, it is said, a hint from the operations of the Turks
before Candia,—where being compelled to advance with
the utmost circumspection over a vigorously disputed
ground, the Ottoman engineers had covered their
advance with trenches in every direction—he traced his
zig-zags across the three capitals of the front selected for
the attack, and supported them at proper intervals by
places of arms or trenches of sufficient extent to envelope
the whole of the works against which his approaches
were conducted.
and of i"i- Hitherto the batteries of the besiegers had been
eochv t fiii's. thrown up in directions parallel to the line of rampart,
the artillery of which they were destined to silence by a
direct fire. The accomplishment of this end was, there¬
fore, slow and difficult : as the assailants were under the
disadvantage of opposing breastworks of loose soil to the
well-settled parapets of the fortress. The only means
which they had of silencing or dismounting the artillery
of the place was by biinging down the parapets by the
mass, and thereby depriving the guns of cover. But
before this effect could be produced, their own batteries
were repeatedly levelled ; and hence sieges were of much
longer duration and attended with far greater waste of
lives, than after the introduction of a new mode of
placing the siege batteries : of which we are now to give
some account It was at the siege of Philipbourg, a. d.
1688, that Vauban, who had for some time fully ob¬
served the disadvantage of placing the artillery in the
manner above mentioned, determined to try the effect of
Commmtairei de Montluc, lib. iv. ad a.d. 1558.
erecting his batteries at right angles with the prolonga- Fortifica*
tions of the faces of the works ; and of so regulating the hon.
charge and elevation of his guns, that the shot should
sweep the whole length of the rampart with frequent
bounds, dismounting the guns, and compelling the de¬
fenders to quit the parapet. This mode of firing, which
is called à ricochet^ was found very successful. On
ne chargeoit les pièces de ces batteries qu'à demi charge,
says the Journal of the siege, on à un quart de charge;
et on les pointoit tout le long du chemin couvert des
branches de l'ouvrage à corne et de celui à couronne.
Les boulets, en effleurant les palissades et labourant la
terre, faisoient plusieurs bonds ; et alloient se perdre, en
sautant jusque dans les chemins couverts et dans les
ouvrages détachés du corps de place sur le front de la
grande attaque. Ces sortes de batteries ont plus incom¬
modé les ennemis que toutes les autres. A few years
afterwards, at the siege of Ath, (a. d. 1697,) the advan¬
tage of this new mode of firing was more fully seen,
and its success more complete : for that fortress, of Vau-
ban's own construction and regarded as his master-piece,
was besieged and captured by him, after only thirteen days
of open trenches, and with the trifling loss of two officers
and fifty men killed, eight officers and one hundred and
forty-two men wounded. The total expense incurred in
the siege amounted to no more than ¿¿3570. The Art
of Defence may be said to have never recovered from the
inferiority, into which it fell in consequence of this change
in the employment of the artillery. From this period
we may date the decided superiority of the Attack ; and
there is little hazard in predicting that this superiority
will even yet increase : unless expedients be found for
covering the artillery of fortresses from the destructive
ricochet, and the no less destructive fire of mortars ; of
which the use is now so much multiplied, and the ser¬
vice conducted with such astonishing precision.
CHAPTER 11.
Preparations for a Siege.
When the siege of a place is decided upon, the first step
taken is to make the investment : which consists in seiz¬
ing suddenly upon all the avenues to the place ; carrying
off every one and every thing which, by the negligence of
the garrison, may be found outside the walls ; and cutting
off all communication with the exterior. The works of
the place and the surrounding country are then care¬
fully reconnoitred; anda correct plan made of them, if
the besiegers indeed should not be already provided
with one. The besieging corps are encamped beyond
the range of the cannon of the fortress, in situations
best adapted to the troops of each particular arm.
Lines of circumvallation and countervallation to
cover these encampments are now so little resorted to,
that we shall confine ourselves to the mere explanation
of their nature ; and it is here sufficient to observe that,
generally speaking, they may be omitted in sieges, and
a few forts or redoubts substituted for them in com¬
manding situations. In modern warfare, each of these
lines consists of a chain of redans, lunettes, or other
works constructed at small distances from each other
round the fortress, and generally connected by curtains
either straight or broken. Lines of circumvallation are
those which, facing towards the country, arc intended as
Invest¬
ment.
Lines ef
ciicumval-
lation and
counterval¬
lation.
See piate
iii. fig. 1.
306
FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica- a cover from the attempts of the enemy's movable forces
tion. to disturb the operations of attack and relieve the place ;
and lines of countervallation are made within the above,
at a convenient distance facing the fortress, to check the
enterprises of a strong and spirited garrison. The
finest example that can be cited of the utility of these
lines, is the successful defence made by Csesar within
his intrenchments before Alesia, although attacked in
front and rear by two armies, each more numerous than
his own. But the suppression of these lines simplifies
considerably the operations of a siege ; though it would
be imprudent to proscribe them altogether : since cases
may arise to render their employment an unavoidable
measure. Thus, at the siege of Mantua in Napoleon's
first Italian campaigns, the French army was intrenched
between works facing both the place and the country : its
numerical weakness and other causes rendered the pre¬
caution necessary, and the result fully justified it.
Collection Previous to commencing the attack, care is taken to
oí "mate- provide in the neighbouring woods or forests the mate¬
rials. necessary for the construction of the trenches; mz,
fascines, gabions, pickets, sap-faggots, and hurdles.
Fascines are bundles about a foot in diameter, composed
of the smaller branches of trees, bound together at inter¬
vals with twigs. They are of different kinds: the
smallest are six feet long, and are used for tracing out
the trenches on the ground ; the larger kinds, which are
frequently called saucissons, are twelve feet or eighteen
feet long, and serve to revet the slopes of batteries.
Gabions are cylindrical baskets open at both ends : the
stakes, round which the twigs are woven, being allowed
to project a few inches beyond the basket-work at both
ends ; so that, in placing them, the undermost ends are
driven into the ground, and on the uppermost may be
fastened fascines to augment the height and solidity of
the work. The gabions used in sieges are rather
smaller than those employed in other field works : they
are here generally about eighteen inches wide and two
feet and a half high, and weigh from thirty to thirty-five
pounds. Pickets are made three feet long and sharp at
one end. Three of these were deemed necessary per
fascine. Sap-faggots are bundles of strong branches
placed very close together, strongly tied in two places,
and then sawed to a length of about thirty inches. The
diameter of a faggot is from eight to ten inches ; and a
picket or stake three feet long is placed in the middle for
the purpose of fixing it upright wherever it may be
necessary. These faggots were used to close up the in¬
terval between two contiguous gabions ; but sand-bags
are now preferred for this purpose. The hurdles are
woven on eight stakes, which form the skeleton. Their
dimensions are usually six feet by three. Besides the
above-mentioned stores, a quantity of sand-bags are
prepared beforehand by the engineer department, and
are filled at the moment they are required for crowning
the parapets, or for other purposes. All these stores are
accumulated in one or more places conveniently situated
with respect to the attacks, and which are called the
dépôts. The judicious choice of the spots to be occu¬
pied by the artillery and engineer parks is by no means
unimportant. They should be so situated as to permit
ready and easy communications between them and the
trenches. They should be near water for the conve-
nience of the cattle, and as much as possible screened by
distance or rising ground from the fire of the garrison.
In now proceeding to describe the operations of the
siege, we shall suppose them to be conducted against a
place fortified in Vauban's original manner ; and that Fortifica-
the front of attack consists merely of two bastions and tion.
an intervening ravelin. This supposition is made for
two reasons : 1st, because it is the simplest way by
which a general idea of the manner of conducting sieges
can be conveyed ; and 2dly, because there are more fort¬
resses in existence constructed upon Vauban's First
System than upon any other outline. We shall likewise,
in order to avoid intricacies altogether foreign to our
object, suppose the ground over which the operations
are carried on to be a level plain. These preliminaries
being settled, it will be proper, previously to breaking
ground, to state what measures should be taken within
a fortress, when threatened with a siege.
If the siege of a place is one of the most important Precautio -
operations in war and requires the greatest possible ary duties
talent in the Generals intrusted with its conduct, it may Gover-
easily be conceived that, to resist a well-conducted siege,
requires still greater ability, experience, and cool intre¬
pidity. Some imperfect idea of the duties involved in
the defence of a place, may perhaps be formed from the
following details.
An officer who is sent to take the command of a fort¬
ress, is bound to make himself acquainted with every
circumstance essential to its defence. 1st, He reconnoi¬
tres personally all the ground over which an enemy
may conduct his approaches ; and weighs the advan¬
tages and disadvantages of each spot, so that he may act
accordingly at a fit moment, and profit by every favour¬
able opportunity of making sorties. 2dly, He carefully
examines the advantages and defects of all the fortifica¬
tions, in order to turn the former to the best account,
and remedy the latter as far as may be possible. 3dly, He
makes the necessary requisitions for completing the gar¬
rison in stores of every description, and endeavours to
have an adequate number of troops of the different
arms. 4thly, He prepares a proper distribution of his
artillery, and causes tables to be made of the distances
of all the points about the place. 5thly, From the mo¬
ment at which the fortress is declared to be in a state of
siege, both his powers and duties acquire new extent :
the civil authorities are subordinate to him ; secret intel¬
ligence and espionage without ; a severe police within ;
civil and military administrations, finances, the works of
the defence, the service of the artillery, the distribution
of the troops, the employment of the inhabitants in ex¬
tinguishing conflagrations, and the means of repressing
popular commotions ; all these important cares are his.
The issue and expenditure of provisions and ammunition
demand the strictest attention in order to prevent abuses
arising from negligence or cupidity. And it is likewise
important to keep the state of the provisions a profound
secret previous to, and during the siege, for reasons too
obvious to require mentioning.
Meanwhile the parapets, banquettes, platforms of
guns, &c. are repaired ; every thing is done to facilitate
communication with the outworks ; great quantities of
fascines, gabions, and sand-bags are made and laid in
store. The inundations, where ground permits them,
are also now formed. Telegraphs may be constructed,
and signals concerted. Every object within one thousand
or one thousand two hundred yards of the place, that
could afford cover to the enemy, is levelled with the
ground ; and every possible difficulty is opposed to the
completion of the investment. Detachments of expert
marksmen are stationed in ambuscade by day and night,
as far as six hundred yards from the place, to cut off any
FORTIFICATION. 307
Fortifica¬
tion.
«âttack.
D^'feiice.
persons employed in reconnoitring. Whilst the be¬
siegers are encamping and marking their first disposi¬
tions, every attempt is made to penetrate their views as
t(3 he front which they mean to attack. Care is taken to
watch from the church steeples where they appear to be
fixing their park of artillery : that once ascertained, the
rest can be nearly guessed. From this moment a suffi¬
cient proportion of cannon is concentrated upon the
front attacked ; and the service of the garrison is orga¬
nized : it is divided into three bodies, one of which re¬
poses, another remains in readiness to act, and the third
is on immediate duty. The measures to be taken by
the Governor of a place might of themselves fill volumes :
but we have said as much as our limits justify ; and we
will therefore proceed to the operations of the besiegers.
Fortifica¬
tion.
CHAPTER III.
Operations of a Siege,
Everything being in readiness for breaking ground, a
working party, regulated in respect of numbers according
to the extent of the intended parallel and communica¬
tions, parades at night-fall at the depot. These men
are provided with intrenching tools (spades and pick¬
axes) and fascines. They are marched to the ground,
preceded by an armed force, called the covering party.
When they have reached the spot where the engineers
have previously marked out (with a white line) the place
for the first parallel and the zig-zags, or oblique trenches,
communicating from it to the depot, they are extended
along that line, at intervals from each other of six feet,
which are marked out for them by the non-commissioned
officers. Each workman then lies down upon his belly,
to be the less exposed to the fire of the garrison whilst
waiting for orders to begin to dig. In the mean while
the covering party, drawn up at a convenient distance in
front of the parallel, after detaching small parties nearer
towards the place to give early intimation of sorties, is
likewise ordered to he down. Every thing being thus
arranged, the word is given to begin to work : upon
which the men loosen the earth with the utmost possible
expedition ; throwing it up on the side next the place ;
and taking care to leave one toot of space between the
edge of their excavation and the tracing line. This is
to prevent the earth from crumbling into the trench, and
the space so left is called the berin. As soon as day
begins to dawn, or sooner if the parallel be capable of
affording cover, the covering party is withdrawn from its
exposed situation into it. Should any light-balls be
thrown from the town amidst the workmen, they will
endeavour as soon as possible to extinguish them, either
by shovelling earth upon them, or covering them with
tubs made from commissariat casks sawed in two, a few
of which ought to be kept in the depot ready for the
purpose. For a general idea of the dimensions and
appearance of parallels, and zig-zags of communication,
we refer the reader to fig. 3 and 4. pi. iii., which repre¬
sent profiles of such works.
Meanwhile a good look out from the fortress is kept
throughout the day to ascertain where the enemy pro¬
poses breaking ground ; and as soon as night sets in,
light-balls are thrown in every direction to a distance of
six hundred yards from the place. From the moment
the enemy's design is discovered, the heaviest possible
fire is made upon his workmen from the cannon of the
place. This may perhaps scare more than do harm •
but it will not fail to intimidate the workmen ; and a
sortie performed rapidly and cleverly by a few dragoons,
will, together with the darkness of the night, which mag¬
nifies danger, tend to create confusion and delay the
progress of the work. There being no longer any doubt
as to the front which the enemy has chosen, the works
of the defence will forthwith commence accordingly.
Traverses will be placed along the terrepleins of the
faces, and parados—or covers from reverse fires—on the
flanks. Interior retrenchments (if none permanently
exist) will be commenced in the bastions and ravelin.
Tambours will be made in the re-entering places of
arms of the covert-way, and a double palisade on the
latter extending along the whole front of attack. If
these two last measures be properly taken, it will be out
of the enemy's power to possess himself of the covert-
way otherwise than by the regular sap; as no hope will
remain of his succeeding in attempting it by storm. If
the ravelin be a full one, that is, if its terreplein be on
a level with that of the rampart, the retrenchment made in
it maybe in the form of a small ravelin with flanks. But
if it be a hollow one, no other retrenchment can be made
than a strong tambour of carpentry, with loop-holes in
it, covering the communication or retreat in rear. The
retrenchments in the bastions, if the latter are full, (and
if they are not, it is needless to think of retrenching
them,) may be made in the form of a tenaille; or, if
there is room, in the form of a small front of fortification
extending from shoulder to shoulder, or rather from
points on the faces taken at a few yards from the shoul¬
ders. These retrenchments are made of earth, revetted
with saucissons, and armed with palisades and fraises.
Field-pieces and howitzers are brought into the project¬
ing parts of the covert-way to ricocheter the besieger's
works. Mortars are placed at the gorges of the bastions,
along the curtain and in the ravelins. They may even
be placed with advantage in the ditch, when it is a dry
one.
The oblique communications towards the place now Attack,
commence ; and are driven forward from the first parallel
to the intended site of the second. The prolongations of
the faces of the works and branches of the covert-way
are marked on the first parallel, in order to determine
the situations of the ricochet batteries : these batteries,
and the particular faces of the bastions and ravelins
which are enfiladed by their fire, may be seen in fig. 2.
The time occupied in their construction is generally ifom
forty to fifty hours. Two or three large mortars are
placed in each of these batteries, to throw shells into the
works ; by means of which the besieged is kept in con¬
tinual alarm, and can nowhere find safe cover. It
must not be supposed that there is any absolute neces¬
sity for fixing the ricochet batteries exactly in the first
parallel : they may be planted in any convenient situa¬
tion upon the prolongations of the works ; and it will
be attended with no great disadvantage if that situation
be not so near the place as the first parallel. At the
sieges of Ypres, Fribourg, Möns, Namur, Maestricht,
and Gibraltar, they were of necessity constructed at one
thousand or one thousand two hundred yards from the
works of the place; and they produced, notwithstanding,
a very good effect. Recent experiments have, however,
shown that the shot from such batteries are most effica¬
cious, when the distance of the latter from the work to
be enfiladed does not exceed four hundred yards.
308
F O R T I F I C A T I O xN.
Fortifica¬
tion.
Defence.
Attack.
Defence.
Attack,
Defence.
Attack.
Fi
CT ^
g.
Lig'ht-balls are thrown out from the fortress to enable
the gunners to see and fire upon the ricochet batteries
whilst constructing ; and it may be expedient, in order
to retard their completion, to batter one or two of them
at a time with a good number of cannon, as, for the
reason to be presently given, the besiegers prefer delay¬
ing to unmask their batteries until they are all finished
and ready to open their fire. If the enemy^s guard in
the trenches does not appear to be very strong, a grand
sortie may be tried. If the case be otherwise, small
ones may answer the purpose by frightening away the
workmen occasionally, and thus causing their operations
to be suspended.
The ricochet batteries are finished and unmasked;
and the line of aim, the charge, and the elevation of each
gun are regulated with such a nicety, that they shall be
able to fire by night as well as by day. The unmasking
of all the batteries is done at one moment; in order that
no particular one should draw upon it an undue propor¬
tion of the fire of the garrison, whereby it would soon be
utterly destroyed. The communications to the second
parallel are continued ; but the nearer the place is ap¬
proached, the greater is the vigilance which should be
exercised to anticipate the sorties of the garrison.
The utmost diligence is now observed in forwarding
the works of the defence. The same fire of cannon and
mortars is kept up as in the preceding days. The capi¬
tals continue to be ricochetted and sorties are undertaken
at appropriate moments.
The effect of the ricochet batteries is already visible
from the diminution of the fire of the place ; so that the
second parallel may be undertaken at three hundred
yards from the crest of the covert-way. The second
parallel is to be executed by night, under the protection
of troops stationed in short trenches, which are driven
out from the angles of the zig-zags, towards the right
or left hand, as the case may be ; and as the distance
from the place is now so much reduced that the fire of
musketry and grape may here be fully felt, it is deemed
necessary to use gabions for the construction of this
parallel, in lieu of fascines : which gives to the profile of
the trench, when finished, the appearance exhibited in
fig. 3. The operation of digging the trench behind a
row of gabions placed openly on the ground is called
the flying sap. Some engineers recommend the con¬
structing of a redoubt at each end of the parallel, as a
more effectual prevention against being turned by sor¬
ties ; but it is better to unite the extremities of the two
parallels by a trench well defiladed from the place, as
shown on the left-hand side of fig. 2.
The construction of the second parallel is disputed by
every possible means, and the most vivid fire of all arms
is directed upon it. Small sorties are made during the
night ; and towards morning, when the guard of the
trenches and the working party are much exhausted
with fatigue, a grand sortie of fresh troops is poured out
upon them. The firing at daybreak is continued as
usual.
The second parallel is at length finished in spite of
opposition. The communications forwards are com¬
menced. New zig-zags are marked out and executed to
within one hundred and twenty, or one hundred and fifty,
yards of the covert-way. At this distance it is found
V V
necessary to give additional support to the works of
approach ; and half-parallels are made for the purpose.
Batteries are made at the extremities of these demi -pa-
rallels, for containing howitzers wherewith to dismount
the artillery of the flanks, sweep the branches of the Fortifica-
covert-way, and destroy its palisades. The precaut ions
taken tor repelling the sorties will depend upon the
energy exhibited by the garrison at this period ; but vit
will be well always to keep on each flank of the trenches,
and covered by a breastwork of sufficient height, a body
of cavalry ready to cut off the retreat of the enemy,
should his zeal lead him far enough in attacking the
trenches.
In the defence, the same line of conduct is followed as Defence,
before, counteracting as much as possible every thing-
done by the besieger. The means of resistance are
diligently improved. The damaged parapets are re¬
paired ; as are likewise the traverses, palisades, bridges,
ramps, &c. that may have received injury from shot or
shells.
The batteries in the demi-parallels are finished, and Attack,
their fire is opened. Zig-zags are pushed forward
along the capitals. These zig-zags now necessarily
become shorter, more frequent, and more oblique, in
order to adhere to the condition of avoiding the enfilade
fire of the place. The flying sap is no longer practi¬
cable ; it being impossible, under so close a fire ifom
the covert-way and ramparts, to place the gabions in the
uncovered manner hitherto done. A slower but safer
expedient is now adopted, called the full or single sap.
Its execution, according to the latest practice, is as fol¬
lows. The sappers employed are told off in brigades of
four ; and these are numbered first, second, third, and
fourth. The first sapper rolls before him a large gabion
stuffed full of fascines, to cover him whilst he places a
gabion in the line of the intended trench, and fills it by
excavating a portion eighteen inches in width and as
much in depth. The second sapper, who follows him,
widens the trench to three feet two inches without in¬
creasing the depth, and continues filling the gabions.
The third sapper increases the depth of the trench to
three feet, on a breadth of twenty inches, under the part
excavated by the second sapper ; so that there is left a
step eighteen inches in breadth and as much in height
on the side of the trench which is next to the line of
gabions. The fourth sapper only increases the breadth
of the trench by ten inches, but he digs to the depth of
three feet from the ground : thus the work of the four
men is nearly equal; and cover is more speedily obtained
than by the former method of executing this species of
sap. When the gabions are full, saucissons are fastened
on the top of them to render the work more solid ; and
the trench is then carried to the necessary breadth by
the ordinary working parties of the line. The work of
the sap is of so dangerous a nature, that the sappers are
frequently relieved ; and their exertions are, moreover,
stimulated by a pecuniary recompense, which is increased
in proportion as the danger becomes greater. The ave¬
rage quantity of this kind of work which can be executed
per diem of twenty-four hours is one hundred and sixty
yards in length. When the zig-zags have reached the
foot of the glacis, a sap is driven to the right and another
to the left ; and this being done at the head of each zig¬
zag, the junction of these saps and the extension of the
outside ones, as far as to embrace the whole front, will
complete the third parallel.
This is the most favourable moment for making vigor- Defence,
ous sorties, by issuing suddenly from ail the branches
of the covert-way ; to facilitate which, ladders may be
placed along the covert-way to enable the troops to pass
over the parapet. Every expedient, which the most
FORTIFICATION.
309
Fortifica- intelligent genius and intrepid spirit can devise, must be
tion. tried to delay the junction of the saps which are to com-
plete the third parallel : for, from the moment that this
is effected, all attempts at sorties from any part of the
front attacked will be hopeless. A heavy fire of grape
is directed upon the heads of the sap.
Attack. As soon as the third parallel is completed, batteries
are commenced in it for howitzers, great mortars, and
those for throwing stones or one pound balls, wberewith
to drive the enemy from the places of arms in the covert-
way. By this means all the fire of the place that would
obstruct the crowning of the covert-way will be subdued.
The batteries in the first parallel may now cease firing,
being replaced by those last mentioned. Wiien circum¬
stances render it expedient to storm the covert-way,
steps are made in the third parallel on each side of the
capitals of the bastion or ravelin attacked, that the troops
may be enabled, with greater facility, to "pass over the
breastwork of the parallel when rushing to the assault.
These steps occupy a sufficient length for a company to
go over in line. The cases are rare where such a mode
of attack is justifiable. The loss which always attends
it is incredible. In the attack which we have supposed,
it could not be undertaken with the least prospect of
success, if the covert-way has been provided with a
double palisade. The alternative, therefore, which re¬
mains, is the attack of the covert-way by a continuation
of the former process. From the third parallel, at thirty
yards from each side of the capitals, curvilinear saps are
driven forward in such a manner that when they join,
they shall form an arc towards the place about sixteen
See fig. 2. yards beyond the third parallel. From the centre of this
circular portion, a double sap is driven straight along
the capital to within about thirty-six yards of the crest of
the covert-way. This double sap now branches off into
two single ones, to the right and left, for the formation
of what are termed trench-cavaliers,^ or excavations
having very elevated parapets, with a view of obtaining
a commanding fire of musketry into the covert-way,
and driving from it any troops who might dispute its
crowning. The reason why this distance is chosen for
the trench-cavaliers is, that they may be constructed
beyond the range of hand-grenades, which can generally
be thrown to about twenty-six yards. The defenders of
the covert-way being thus driven from the space com¬
prised between the two foremost traverses, the besiegers
hasten to sap up to the salient angle, and then extend their
lodgement to the right and left along the whole crest of
the covert-way, which the enemy will be obliged to
abandon in proportion as the sap advances. The batte¬
ries destined to extinguish any remaining fire in the
defences are now commenced at the salient angles of
See fig. 2. the covert-way ; these are called counter-batteries. The
breaching batteries are likewise undertaken, as is also
the descent into the ditch.
Defciice. The heaviest possible fire of every kind is kept up
upon the heads of saps, and particularly upon the
trench-cavaliers whilst constructing. A few oblique
embrasures may advantageously be opened in the cur¬
tain for this purpose, the effect of \vhich will be greater,
owing to the difficulty of ricochetting the guns placed
there. Barrels of inflamed combustibles may also be
rolled down the glacis upon the heads of saps. When
A hint for raising these works was taken from the practice to
which the Turks, at the siege of Candia, were obliged to resort to
gain a plunging fire into the bastion of S. André, the fire of which
they, until then, had been unable to get under.
VOI^. VI
by the crowning of the covert-way, the latter is aban- Fortifica^
doned, care is taken to destroy the traverses in it, that don.
they may not afford cover to the enemy ; and this may be
done by exploding some small charges previously
lodged in them for the purpose. The enemy's descent
into the ditch is anticipated ; and oblique embrasures are
made at the extremity of the curtain to pour a fire into
the opening, which he is about to make into the ditch
through the counterscarp wall.
As soon as the batteries on the crest of the glacis are Attack,
ready, they begin their work of counter-battering and
breaching. Expert marksmen are placed all along the
lodgement, to pick off the enemy's gunners, or any one
in fact whose head is seen above the parapets or through
the embrasures, The descent and opening into the
ditch is completed ; and a sap is made across the latter
(if it be dry) to the foot of the breach. If the ditch is
wet, a bridge is made across it by an accumulation of
fascines. Now, if the works within were known not to
be retrenched, the assault might forthwith be given,
should the garrison, upon being summoned, refuse to
capitulate; but as the besieged is supposed to have
retrenched himself, the sap must be continued up the
breach, when the latter has been made quite practicable.
Meanwhile the sap across the ditch is heavily bat- Defence,
tered by the besieged. Dispositions are made for an
obstinate defence of the breaches, by lining their tops
with abattis strongly linked, or by chevaux de frise of
sword-blades kept in readiness to be linked together the
moment the enemy ceases to fire upon the breach. This
was executed by the French at Badajos,* with a success
that will be long remembered. Loaded shells are kept
ready to roll down upon the assailants, as well as barrels
of combustibles. A large fire may be lighted on the
breach, and kept up by a continual supply of fascines
steeped in pitch or grease. The foremost troops des¬
tined to receive the shock of the assailants, are provided
besides their ordinary arms with all possible weapons of
resistance; and when obliged to cede to the overpower¬
ing torrent of fresh assailants, they effect a retreat in
good order to their retrenchments ; behind which they
renew the defence.
If the ravelin is only retrenched by a tambour at the Attack,
gorge, the assault may be given at all three breaches
simultaneously. As soon as the storming party have
cleared the top of the breach, sappers are brought for^
ward to make a lodgement on it with gabions, which
has been fancifully called the magpie's nest. Howitzers
are then brought into this lodgement to answer the fire
of the retrenchment ; upon which likewise a heavy fire
of shells is directed from the batteries on the crest of the
glacis. The interior of the bastion is crossed by the sap
in the usual manner ; the counterscarp of the retrench¬
ment is crowned with batteries by which the parapet is
tobe destroyed; and, this being effected, the assault is
given.
Such are the usual operations in the attack of an
ordinary fortress ; and such likewise is the defence when
a proper resistance is made. The hope of protracting
the latter beyond this period must depend almost en¬
tirely upon the feeling and spirit of the inhabitants.
The siege of Saragossat in the Peninsular War presented
a memorable example of a defence continued, from street
* On the night of the 6th of April, 1812.
f Re/, des Sièges de Saragosse et de Tortose, by General Baron
Rogniat, Pariç, 1814.
2 ï
310 FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica- to street, for twenty-three days after the whole of the works
fiun. place had been penetrated. But such instances of
patriotism are so rare, that they are rather to he admired
than anticipated. The siege which we have been sup¬
posing, would occupy upon a fair calculation nine¬
teen or twenty days, from the first day of breaking
ground.
Protraction When a place is fortified with very salient outworks,
of the de- it becomes convenient to direct the central line of ap-
feiice by proach on the capital of a bastion, and the others on
salient out- Qf collateral ravelins, for the reasons
which have been formerly given. The process of the
attack will, however, be the same as that above de¬
scribed, so far as the completion of the third parallel :
but the sapling must afterwards be conducted only up
the glacis of each ravelin where, at the salient angle of
its crest, counter-batteries are formed as before ; the
approaches on the glacis of the intermediate bastion
being suspended on account of the reverse fires from
the ravelin on each side. Before the construction of the
breaching batteries on the glacis of the ravelin, it may
be necessary to execute a portion of a fourth parallel in
the direction of a line joining the extremity of the
counter-battery on each ravelin, and extending about
midway from thence to the salients of the bastion : in
order to afford cover for bodies of troops, who may keep
down the fire from the works, and protect the sappers
in forming the breaching batteries which are to act
against the ravelins. These latter works being breached,
may be assaulted, and a lodgement may be formed
about half way up each of the breaches, where it will
not be exposed to the fire of the redoubt in the ravelin.
A trench is next driven by full sap from the lodgement to
the counterscarp of the redoubt; and, turning to the
right and left, the sappers extend this trench to about
the middle of the face of each ravelin. In this exca¬
vation, if space permits, artillery may be placed to breach
the redoubt : but should the narrowness of the ravelin
prevent the formation of such a battery, either a portion
of the mass of the ravelin must be destroyed by a mine,
and the redoubt breached, through the opening thus
made, by a battery purposely constructed on the glacis ;
or a miner may be attached to the escarp of the redoubt,
where, under cover of timbers placed on end and lean¬
ing against the wall, he may make an entrance and
place powder in chambers formed under the capital of
the work. This being fired, a breach will be made in
the redoubt, by which an assault may be given. Should
it succeed, the interior of the work will be occupied by a
lodgement of the besiegers ; from which a fire of artillery
may be directed both against the opposite curtain, and
against those flanks of the collateral bastions which
have a view of the intended descent into the main ditch.
Since this redoubt commands the ravelin in which it is
placed, the defenders will be obliged lo abandon any
retrenchments which they may have made in the latter ;
and, subsequently, the redoubts in the re-entering places
of arms, which are also commanded by the ravelins. The
outworks being now in possession of the besiegers, and
there being consequently no reverse fires to annoy them,
the approaches on the intermediate bastion may be com¬
menced by sapping up its glacis, and crowning it with
breaching and counter-batteries as before ; but under
the protection of the troops in the fourth parallel, which
is completed for the purpose by driving a portion from
the extremities of the counter-batteries to join the part
already executed. A place thus fortified may reasonably
be expected to hold out seven days longer than one con- Fortifica-
structed on Vauban's First System.
CHAPTER IV.
Subterranean Attack and Defence,
In the preceding detail of the ordinary processes of Manage-
a siege, we have purposely omitted all reference to the ment and
use of mines either by the assailants or the garrison : of a
because, as such works cannot in every case be em-
ployed ; and as they form rather occasional aids than mines,
component and indispensable parts of the hostile opera¬
tions ; it has seemed useless to interrupt the general
narrative of the attack and defence above ground, and
to distract the attention of the reader, by intermingling
with the main subject any unconnected notices of sub¬
terranean warfare. Moreover, this method of assail-
ment constitutes so distinct a branch of the Art of Sieges,
as well to deserve a separate consideration ; and the
present appearing the most appropriate place wherein to
introduce also some explanation relative to the manage¬
ment and effects of the system of defensive mines, of
which we have, in a former Part, already described the
nature and construction ; we shall devote the Chapter
before us exclusively to a brief sketch of the subterranean
operations, to which both the assailants and defenders
of a fortress may have recourse in order to accelerate or
retard its capture. And here it may at the outset be
observed, that the success of either party will greatly
depend upon the latitude given by the other to his
efforts, either through impotence of means, or want of
equal address and intelligence.
If a fortress has been beforehand provided with such Defence,
a regular system of countermines as we have already
described, the advantage of preparation for a subterra¬
neous conflict should, with proper energy, lie wholly on
the side of the besieged. As soon as his enemy, by
breaking ground, has indicated the front of attack, he
should drive forward branches to meet him from the ends
of the listening galleries even so far as the points at which
the de mi-parallel s are made, with a view of commencing
the work of destruction as far off from the placeas possible.
It is likewise recommended to sink shafts at the ends of
the listening galleries, from the bottoms of which other
galleries may be driven towards one another so as to
fbrm by their junction a second envelope, which may in¬
tersect the line of the besieger's approaches in whatever
way it may be directed. For then, on hearing him at
work, either from this new envelope, or from, the ends
of the above-mentioned branches which have been driven
forward, he may soon be reached, and smothered by a
small charge sufficient to blow in the wall of the gallery
behind him, yet not great enough to produce a crater.
For it is obviously disadvantageous to the besieged that
his mines should produce any craters if he can possibly
manage otherwise ; since they become so many places
of cover where the enemy can immediately make lodge¬
ments. But if a crater is inevitable, it should be made
of the largest possible size, as, by reason of its shal¬
lowness in proportion to its width, it can be more
readily seen into from the place, and consequently will
afford less cover. The besieged having his work all ready
need do no more than listen attentively ; hearing with¬
out being heard; announcing himself only by effects
F o R T I F I
CATION.
311
Fortifica- as pi jmpt as destructive; and rendering'it as difficult
tion. to escape from, as to reach him.
Let it now be supposed that the besieger has begun
Lttack. shafts behind the parapet of his parallel, at
forty yards from the ends of the branches of the be¬
sieged ; and that, in order to avoid destroving his
O ' ^ •/ D
own works upon the surface, he intends advancing
twenty-six or twenty-seven yards before he charges his
globe of compression. Then since miners, as already
explained, can be heard at work as far off as thirty
yards, it is evident that the besieger, as soon as he
shall have driven about ten yards of gallery, must ex¬
cavate the remaining sixteen or seventeen in the hearing
of his enemy. From the moment the latter has heard
him, he drives forward without loss of time, in a parallel
direction, a branch sixteen or seventeen yards long,
which will of course extend beyond that of the besieger
by two or three yards : so that the latter may be imme¬
diately taken in reverse, and smothered by a charge
calculated to destroy a good portion of his gallery.
Here it may be seen that the besieged can, if he takes
care, be always beforehand with the besieger, the nature
of whose work is calculated to occupy much more time
than that of his enemy ; for he has to excavate a large
chamber, lodge a great quantity of powder, (transported
thither by night for greater security from accident,) and
tamp a great length of branch. Now the best thing
which the besieger can do, in this case, from the moment
that he may have reason to apprehend that the besieged
has got into his rear, is to stop short immediately and
charge his globe of compression : the springing of which,
although perhaps rather premature, may nevertheless
crush the besieged in his new works, as well as blow in
his galleries of earlier construction. The miner of the
besieger, however, may avoid by a timely retreat the de¬
struction preparing for him: as he can easily distinguish
that his enemy is tamping and not driving, by the dif¬
ference of sound, which in the former case recedes, and
in the latter draws nearer.
The disadvantages which may result to the besieger
from thus prematurely springing his first globes of com¬
pression are as follows : 1st, The too great proximity of
his own trenches on the surface may entail their destruc¬
tion. 2dly, By his not being perhaps sufficiently near
the ends of the branches of the besieged, neither the
latter nor the envelope will be much damaged. 3dly,
He will not have made the desired degree of progress.
Immediately after the springing of the first globes of
compression, the besieged will go to the ends of those
parts of the branches which may have escaped destruc¬
tion, and drive forward in order to lodge charges under
the borders of the craters. This will easily be done, as
the springing of the globe of compression will have
produced no bad smell in the broken galleries ; and
he will have the start of the besieger, who has to make
a lodgement on the borders of the crater before he can
even commence sinking his shaft. This lodgement may
therefore be repeatedly destroyed by the besieged, if the
sinking: of the shaft be made on the border of the
crater ; and the shaft may as often be choked up by the
earth being blowli into it, if it should be sunk from the
bottom of the funnel The besieger will have to sur¬
mount this difficulty after the springing of each of his
series of globes, in advancing towards the place. Hence
it may be conceived what labour, danger, and loss a
well-countermined glacis must occasion to the be¬
siegers ; and the advantage in favour of the besieged
is probably not overrated in a computation that the Fortifica-
delays resulting from all the chicaneries of a well-managed
subterraneous defence are capable of adding two months
to the duration of a siege. Such is the estimate of
Bousmard, who supports his opinion by citing the ex¬
ample of the siege of Schweidnitz by the Prussians in
1762; and to this may here be added the more memo¬
rable siege of Saragossa, in the last Peninsular War,
the long defence of which, even after the fall of the for¬
tifications themselves, was chiefly owing to the multi¬
tude of mines sprung in the very streets.
Besides the regular systems of mines described in System of
the foregoing pages, there is a more expeditious method
of employing the same kind of means in the defence,
although upon a diminutive scale. And this is by a
system of fougasses, which can be made even when the
time is too short to allow of establishino: n aileries. It
O o
consists in burying under the parts of the surface which
are most likely to be attacked, well calked and tarred
boxes or even barrels full of powder ; and laying in a
trench, which is afterwards filled up, the troughs destined
to convey the fire to the charges, either all at once or
successively. The troughs extend even to within the Seefi^. 21g
works, in order to facilitate the springing of these
expeditiously constructed mines ; to ensure the success
of which, the following precautions ought to be taken.
1st, If the hole in which the powder is to be lodged is
at all damp, it will be well to make it still deeper, and
then fill up the bottom to the required height with loose
stones. This will enable the water, if there be any, to
filter down to the bottom. 2dly, The troughs must be
laid at a depth of six feet, at least, underneath the
surface, to prevent their being disarranged by the fall
of shells ; and if more than one trough is to be laid in
the same trench, they must be separated by at least a
foot of well-trodden earth, so that the first which may
be fired may not shake or disarrange the other. 3dly,
Care must be taken in refilling the shafts* and trenches
to plough up the whole of the surface equally, so that
nothing shall indicate to the enemy the situation of the
trenches and charges. 4thly, The ends of the troughs
and hose must reach to such places within the works as
shall secure them from sudden attacks, and enable them
to be sprung with the utmost coolness at the most
favourable moments. It will not suffice for the security
of these mines that their troughs terminate behind the
banquette of the covert-way : they must be carried
through the counterscarp to be fired at the bottom of the
ditch. Otherwise the enemy, by assaulting the covert-
way, might discover and tear up all these troughs, and
utterly prevent their being employed against him, when
he establishes his lodgement on the crest of the glacis.
The boxes should be placed so as to destroy the double
saps along the capital, the trench-cavaliers, the crown¬
ing or lodgement on the crest of the glacis, and the
breaching batteries. They may likewise advantageously
be sunken in dry ditches both of the outworks aud
body of the place, at spots at which it is most likely
that breaches may be made. Their troughs must be
conducted to the gorges of the outworks or behind the
tenaille, or wherever they may be fired with security.
Those likewise which may be employed for the defence
of the breach, or are placed in the terrepleins of the
works, must have the ends of their troughs within the
redoubts or retrenchments. Each trough must be marked
* In the present case these are usually called wells.
2 T 2
312 t O R T I F I C A T I O N.
Fortifica- with the number that distinguishes the box to which it
tion. communicates ; and the exact place of the latter is cor-
rectly laid down on a plan of the works, so that the
springing may be regulated as occasion shall dictate.
Fouerasses are likewise an excellent means of demo-
lishing any flèche, redoubt, retrenchment, traverse, or
any other temporary work which having, until its cap¬
ture, been of service to the defenders, has then ceased to
be so, and may even be of advantage to the enemy into
whose hands it has fallen. The facility and economy ot
a system of fougasses, and the similarity of effects pro¬
duced by them with those ot regular mines, might, at
first sight, induce a preference to be given to them. But
it must be remembered that though such means may be
successful against an enemy unable to employ mines him¬
self, they are altogether insufficient and even null
against a besieger who has it in his power to do so. F or
ceasing to advance upon the surface, beyond t le in- Fortifica-
fluence of the fougasses, he may drive galleries as far as ^ion-
he pleases ; and not only blow in the counterscarp but
at the same time tear up the troughs without giving an
opportunity of disputing one inch of ground by their
means. It must not, however, be concluded from this
that the employment of these boxes of powder should
be proscribed in the defence of places : they may, on the
contrary, often be appropriately used, conjointly with
regular mines. And if judiciously managed, this mix¬
ture may lead the besieger into a serious error, by
making him mistake their explosion for that of the regu¬
lar mines, and either induce him to take precautions en¬
tailing useless labour, loss of time and powder, or lull
him into a security which may afford the defenders
opportunities to put in execution more powerful means of
destruction.
PART V.
FIELD FORTIFICATION.
CHAPTER I.
General Principles of this Branch of the Art,
Under the term of Field Fortification, in contradistinc¬
tion from the Art of constructing, defending, and assail¬
ing Permanent Fortresses, is usually comprehended the
whole business of disposing and preparing such tem¬
porary works, and improving such natural advantages
of the ground, as may assist and support the operations
of an army in the field, and enable it partially to impede,
or totally to prevent, the advance of an enemy, though
in superior force. In Field Fortification, therefore, every
expedient is good, which effectually conduces to arrest or
retard the progress of an adversary. In this, perhaps,
more than in any other branch of the profession, is the
engineer enabled to display his intelligence : here few
restrictions shackle his inventive genius ; the opportu¬
nities of displaying it are frequent ; and the materials
are commonly abundant. Not so in Permanent Fortifi¬
cation : where the rarity of the occasions which present
themselves for the formation of new works discourages
O
that devotion to the subject which is necessary to the
attainment of excellence ; and where the vast expense
of the constructions operates as a serious check to the
adoption of even the most meritorious suggestions.
It would be an endless undertaking to enumerate the
multitude of objects, which may be classed under this
division of the Military Art. With regard to works thrown
up in a plain open country, certain principles and cer¬
tain rules deduced from experience may be laid down ;
but for the greater part the intelligence of the individual
must be his sole guide in the judicious application and
use of the means and materials which circumstances may
place at his disposal. Barren, indeed, must be that
eounrry which offers none to second a discerning officer
in the task allotted him. A farm-house, a mill, or a
Church surrounded by walls, may with very little expense
be converted into an excellent military post, by loop-
holing the walls, barricading the entrances, or erecting
tuiverses or portions of parapets in those places which
offer a good flanking fire ; or, in a word, by turning to ac¬
count every means of resistance which may present itself.
With regard to those Field-works for which, as we have
said, certain rules may be observed, it will be sufficient
briefly to show that, although in magnitude and import¬
ance they are inferior to the works which constitute per¬
manent fortifications, nevertheless the general rules
which govern the construction of the latter are in a
great 'measure applicable to the former. In the first
place, the immediate object of both is equally to pro¬
cure cover from the assailant's fire, and to place between
him and the defender an obstacle which he must over¬
come. These ends are obtained by excavating a ditch,
and throwing up the earth to form a parapet or covering
mass. The impossibility of carrying about with an
army any implements of construction beyond the mere
pickaxe and spade, naturally imposes limits to the mag
nitude of the works ; and therefore the maximum of
height that it is found possible with these simple means
to give to the crest of the covering mass is twelve feet.
And the same dimensions, twelve feet, must be con¬
sidered the maximum for the depth of the ditch ; this
being the greatest depth from which a man can throw
up the earth to those who are employed above in giving
to the mass its requisite shape.
The reader v/ill find represented in fig. 1, plate v. a Plate v. fig,
portion of the parapet and ditch of a Field-work of the 1-
most common profile : that is with a mere command
of seven feet and a half; and we proceed to give the
nomenclature of its various parts, together with their
uses, in order that the contents of the following pages
may the more readily be comprehended. A B is the
height of the parapet ; a dimension which will depend
upon the nature of the surrounding country ; as it is
necessary that the interior of the work should be entirely
covered from the view of the enemy. B C is the thick¬
ness of the parapet ; and this must be regulated accord¬
ing to the nature of the attack to which the work may be
liable : for instance, if only exposed, by its situation, to
an infantry attack, three feet will suffice ; if the enemy
FORTIFICATION.
313
Fortifica- can bring artillery against it, but have only six-pounders
tioii. }ijs Field train, the thickness of the parapets may be
safely restricted to six feet ; if nine-pounders to nine
feet ; and if twelve-pounders to twelve feet. For experi¬
ments have shown that at a short range a musket-
ball will penetrate into well-beaten ordinary soil about
eleven inches ; a six-pound shot, four feet ; a nine-
pound shot, six feet; and a twelve-pound shot, ten feet.
We have not here reckoned upon a greater caliber than
twelve-pounders, because eighteen-pounders and twenty-
four-pounders are never used in the Field ; although the
former have very lately been considered a part of our
Field train. The height of the ordinary race of men
being considered as constant, the distance of the banquette
a b below the crest A is made equal to four feet or four
feet and a half, to enable the troops to fire conveniently
over the parapet. The base of the slope of the ban¬
quette is generally made equal to twice its height a c ;
and its breadth {a b) is usually three feet. A level space
H L, of about eighteen inches in breadth, called a
berm, is left between the foot of the exterior slope of the
parapet and the escarp of the ditch, for the purposes
mentioned below.
The superior slope AI of the parapet is directed so
that the enemy may be discovered from head to foot when
upon the edge E of the counterscarp ; this slope must
be considered as an evil in one respect, for it is evident
that, if the upper surface were horizontal, the parapet
would be much stronger. To preserve therefore to the
crest A an adequate strength, the maximum depression
of this slope is fixed at one-sixth of its breadth ; and this
limits in some measure the height of the parapet. The
interior slope A 6 is also an unvarying quantity : its
horizontal breadth is made equal to one foot and a half
to give it a strictly sufficient solidity, and at the same
time to enable the troops to approach the parapet conve¬
niently when firing. The exterior slope I H varies with
the nature of the soil ; but in ordinary cases it forms
an angle of about 45° with the horizon. I is called
the exterior crest of the parapet ; A the inner crest
or covering line. The berm H L ought not to be made
wider than one foot and a half, lest it should offer too
great a facility to the escalade ; it might therefore appear
advisable to dispense with it altogether, but it is too
useful in the construction of the parapet to allow of
being suppressed. Moreover it prevents the rolling
down of the earth ; removes to a greater distance the
pressure of the covering mass ; and thereby contributes
to the solidity of the work. This berm, usually con¬
structed upon the natural level of the soil, ought, in
every case, to be at least six feet lower than the interior
crest to prevent the enemy from seeing into the work when
he may have reached the berm. The slopes both of the
escarp LN and counterscarp MO must vary with the
soil, with the means employed to support them, and with
the intended duration of the work. The breadth and depth
of the ditch will vary according to the thickness and
height of the covering mass. When a covering mass is
thrown up without either banquette or superior slope, it
is called an epaulement
The reader being thus acquainted with the nature of
covering usually obtained in Field-works, we may pro¬
ceed, first, to describe the plan or outline of such works ;
next, to touch upon the details of construction ; and,
ultimately, to point out the means whereby defences of a
temporary nature may be strengthened or rendered more
difficult of capture.
CHAPTER II.
Single Field-works,
Of all the works which an engineer may be called
upon to construct during a campaign, the most incon¬
siderable is the redan. This work is open in rear ; and
is therefore only employed to form part of a line of
works destined to cover a camp, to defend the avenues
to a village, dike, bridge, or defile, &c. Its principal
defects, considered as a single work, are that its ditch is
without defence ; and this defect it has in common with
most works of a mere temporary nature. Besides, as it
is invariably found that soldiers when placed behind a
parapet will fire directly before them, that is, at right
angles to the parapet, it follows that there is a large un¬
defended sector in front of every redan. This may in
a measure be remedied by cutting off the salient angle
with what the French call a pan coupe : that is, a por¬
tion of the parapet having its crest perpendicular to the
capital of the work. There is no stated rule for fixing
the length of face of a redan ; though that which is
usually given to it is fifty yards. The redan when thrown
out in front of other works to increase their strength
receives the name of fleche.
The lunette or bastion is a work rather more con¬
siderable than the redan, being composed of two faces
and two flanks. Its object is to enclose more advanta¬
geously the interior space, and permit a more direct fire
upon the sides. The lunette being, as well as the redan,
open in rear, is employed only in cases similar to those
for which a redan would be constructed. This work is
of very common use, owing to its simplicity, facility of
execution, and easy adaptation to any ground. There
is nothing arbitrary in its form and dimensions, which
must be determined by local circumstances : but in ordi¬
nary cases and on level ground, its faces may be fixed at
sixty yards long, and its flanks at ten. The defects of
the lunette are the same as those of the redan.
The French engineers give the name of bonnet de
prêtre to two redans so connected as to afford a mutual
defence. It therefore consists of two faces A B, C D,
and of two flanks A E, EC, usually shorter than
the faces. This work being likewise unclosed in rear,
its application must be subjected to the same restrictions
as in the case of the two former ; it is generally employed
to cover a bridge, and its faces are then defended by
batteries placed on the opposite banks of the river. The
bonnet de pretre is a more efficient work than the lunette,
as its salients are better defended ; it has no dead sector
in front, but the ditches of the faces are unflanked. The
construction of this work may be regulated as follows.
Make the line of the gorge B D equal to one hundred
yards, and the capital IK equal to fifty; at right
angles with 1 K set off I A, I C each equal to twenty
yards; set off IE also equal to twenty yards; join the
flanks- AE, CE, and faces AB, CD. The angles A
and C will by this construction be equal to 72° 30^
and therefore will exceed the minimum prescribed for
such angles : it being a rule in fortification, both per¬
manent and temporary, that salient, that is, projecting
angles, shall never be made of a smaller opening than
60°. The angle A E C will be a right angle whereby
the best possible defence is afforded to the salients A
and C : it being likewise a rule in fortification that
a line which flanks another shall make with it, at
least, an angle of 90°; and this is in consequence
of the incorriiiible habit which is found in soldiers of
Fortifica¬
tion.
The redan.
See fig. 2.
The In net fe.
See fig. 3.
Bonnet de
pretre.
See fig. 4.
314 FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica¬
tion.
The re¬
doubt.
See fig. 5.
firing perpendicularly to their parapet, in spite of all tlie
care which can be taken to make them direct their fire
upon any particular point.
The redoubt is an enclosed work without flanks, and
is usually made of a quadrilateral form. On a flat even
country the redoubt is generally made square ; there
being no reason why one face should be made longer than
another, or one angle greater than another. But on a
varied surface, it is necessary to adapt the shape to the
nature of the country. An opening is left in the middle
of one of the sides for communicating with the exterior ;
and a traverse is thrown up within, to prevent the enemy
from seeing into it. The quadrilateral redoubt is defec¬
tive ; inasmuch as the dead sectors in front of its angles
favour the enemy's attacks upon four different points,
and weaken the defence by dividing the resistance of the
garrison. Endeavours have been made to correct this
defect by giving to the redoubt a circular form; but this
is only substituting one evil in lieu of another. A cir¬
cular redoubt would with equal developement of parapet
circumscribe a greater space, and in this point of view is
advantageous : but its application to the ground is
difficult ; its figure makes the resistance on all sides
equal ; and the distribution of its fires prevents any
particular side (which may be most liable to attack)
from receiving an adequate proportion of defence, at the
same time that it affords a greater fire than necessary
upon other points of difficult access. The angular re¬
doubt, on the contrary, may have its principal faces
directed against the points most important to be defended ;
it is besides, more easily executed and applied to uneven
surfaces. The deadness of the angles may in a measure
be remedied by the expedient suggested for the redan,
that is, by making a pan coupd of six or eight yards in
length. The size of a redoubt is always proportioned to
the garrison which it is destined to contain. For lining
the parapets, the calculation is that each soldier occupies
three feet of front. The interior free habitable space
is regulated by the consideration, that a square fathom
should be allowed for every four men. By interior free
space is understood that comprised within the foot of the
slopes of the banquettes. In the largest sized redoubts
the free habitable space will always be sufficient for the
convenience of the garrisons usually thrown into them ;
and the smaller ones, being seldom occupied, excepting in
moments of actual resistance, it is of little importance—
provided they have sufficient men for the effective lining
of their parapets—whether the habitable space, as it is
called, be equal to that above prescribed. Nevertheless,
all French authors have thought it necessary to lay great
stress upon the mathematical accuracy with which the
capacity of the work is adapted to the number of men
who are to occupy it ; and each has laid down some
rule which he thinks preferable on this account to that
of his predecessor. From the nature of the outline of a
redoubt, it is almost needless to acquaint the reader that
its ditches are without defence, or in other words, dead.
The manner of palliating this evil will be shown in ano¬
ther part of this Essay.
The next enclosed work in order of importance is the
star fort. This is constructed either upon a triangle or
upon a square : in the first case it has six points, and
See fig. 6. in the latter eight. The hexagonal, or six-pointed star
fort, is constructed upon an equilateral triangle ABC
of ninety yards length of side ; by dividing each side
into three equal parts, and describing on the centre one
an equilateral triangle D E F. By this arrangement
Star forts.
the salient E is defended by the fire of the lines A D Fortificci-
and B F ; and the points A, B receive a similar defence tion.
from the faces D E and E F : so that the defect of dead
sectors is much diminished, if not totally removed. This
star fort is a little defective in its flanking ; for the re¬
entering angles being obtuse, the fire from F is not di¬
rected precisely upon E, and we have already stated
how difficult it is to induce troops to fire obliquely. The
entrance m w is made in a re-entering part, being there
less exposed to attack, as it is further removed from the
enemy and protected by a cross fire.
The star fort with eight points is constructed upon a See fig. 1,
square, the sides of which may be ninety yards fong.
Each of the sides is divided into three equal parts ; and
upon the central one is described an equilateral triangle.
In this, as in the last-mentioned work, the salients are
but obliquely flanked : but this defect is not so sensibly
felt as to render it necessary to resort to constructions
foreign to the simplicity indispensable in Field-works,
which it is almost always required to trace out expedi¬
tiously, and often with the aid of no other instrument
than a correct eye. Most of those minute perfections, to
which so much consequence is attached by mere theo¬
rists, and which are perceptible only on paper, would
not prolong the defence of a work one single minute.
It can scarcely be too often repeated that it is necessary
in Field Fortification to avoid that spirit of minutiae,
which is too apt to lose sight of greater objects in run¬
ning into details of little or no importance. Four of the
points of this octagonal fort are less acute, and therefore
more solid than those of the former work : but a more
real advantage, and one which ought to obtain for it a
decided preference over the latter, is that with equal
length of parapet its interior space is greater.
The bastion fort considered as a Field-work should Basfion
be constructed only upon the square or pentagon. The forts, or
distance between the points of the bastions, or in other
words, the exterior side A B of the polygon, may vary ^ '
in length between one hundred and two hundred yards,
which allows of great latitude and facility for the appli¬
cation of this kind of work to almost every site. The
reason why A B cannot be made shorter than the mini¬
mum above prescribed, is, that owing to the relief of the
works, the ditches near the centre of the curtain would
not be discoverable from the parapets, and would conse¬
quently be dead : besides, the flanks would dwindle into
insignificance. The range of common muskets also
requires that the extent A B of the front should not
exceed the above maximum ; for it is an axiom that
" lines, which have to defend a salient point, must not be
further removed from it than will enable the musketry
to range beyond that point, and to take effect upon the
enemy before he reaches it."
Star and bastion forts, and particularly the latter, are
employed in fortifying important posts. Their construc¬
tion ought to be of a solidity approaching to that of
mixed fortifications ; which, though not revetted with
masonry like permanent works, are nevertheless intended
to last several campaigns. These forts will not only
serve as posts of importance, but are also useful as
depots for stores of every description, for which their
spaciousness renders them fully eligible. They should
therefore be so well conditioned as to apprehend nothing
froïn sudden assaults, but should compel the enemy to
break ground before them. A Field-work which is ho¬
noured with a formal attack, or which compels the
enemy to resort to more than ordinary means for its
FORTIFICATION.
315
Fortifica¬
tion.
reduction, is justly deserving of celebrity ; and we need
not hesitate, notwithstanding the inherent defects in their
construction, to class with the latter, our redoubts at
Toulon, the gallant defence of which, in the Revolution¬
ary War, gained so much honour for the British arms.
Fortifica
tion.
CHAPTER III.
Continued Lines,
Lines.
Continued
Lines :
with re¬
dans ;
See fig. 9.
Several works placed in succession parallel to, or sur¬
rounding, a position, generally receive the name of lines.
There are two kinds of lines; continued lines and lines
with intervals. Continued lines consist of an uninter¬
rupted range of parapet. Lines with intervals are formed
of isolated works—whether open at the gorge or enclosed
—placed at convenient distances from each other, and
affording a mutual flanking defence. Continued lines
are mostly employed where a pass is to be closed. And
lines with intervals where it is intended to oppose re¬
sistance to a vigorous attack : because the detached
works which compose them may be more carefully con¬
structed and better defended ; serving as strong points
round which the troops may manoeuvre ; and thus com¬
bining, whilst on the defensive, all those moral advan¬
tages of the offensive which result from the feeling of
superiority. Hence continued lines are best adapted to
frontier defences, and lines with intervals to camps and
fields of battle: nevertheless, the preference ought always
to be given to that, which can be soonest prepared, and
defended with fewest troops.
The different modes of constructing continued lines are
as follows : with redans, tenailles, crémaillères, or bas¬
tions. Vauban, in his lines with redans, placed the
latter at distances of two hundred and forty yards from
centre to centre. This is at present considered too great
a distance ; and it has been proposed to place them at
one hundred and eighty yards, by which the faces of the
redans will mutually derive a nearer defence. This is,
however, at best, but a weak line ; and the frequency of
its employment in war can only have proceeded from
the readiness with which it can be constructed. Another
way of improving upon Vauban's outline is by breaking
the curtain B D into a very obtuse redan BCD. With
this alteration the works assume the name of queue
dhironde, or swallow-tail lines. This construction, al¬
though better than that with redans, is nevertheless far
from being good : for, although the parts of the line
between the redans are defended by the fires from the
faces of the latter, yet upon an equal developement of
parapet the queue d'hironde line presents three salient
points, whereas the redan line has only two ; and as the
points project equally towards the front, they are all
liable to be attacked at the same time. The curtains,
also, of Vaubaifs line, are less exposed to the ricochet
fire, than the branches of the swallow-tailed construc¬
tion. The salients are the principal points of attack,
because they are closer to the enemy ; and because they
See fig. 11. have sectorial spaces in front of them undefended by
direct fires : while they are also easily enveloped by the
enemy's converging fire. A means of correcting the
defect arising from too many points of equal saliency,
would be to carry forward the salient of the great redan
BCD, making its faces perpendicular to those of the
ßmall ones: so that upon a line of cne hundred and
See fig
10.
eighty yards only two points of attack would be oiFered ;
and the salients would moreover be well defended oy
flanking fires.
The tenaille line is composed of redans of equal with te-
dimensions. Their capitals are usually seventy yards
long, and their demigorges one hundred. There exists
so great a similarity between this and the former out¬
lines, that to specify the minute differences in their de¬
fensive properties, which writers on fortification have
remarked and dwelt upon, would be to consume time to
no purpose ; and these lines are here described merely
to complete the usual enumeration. One great fault
common to them all, is, that their long branches are
exposed to the enemy's enfilade fire; and in an open
country this evil will be more sensibly felt in the tenaille
line than in any other.
Lines en crémaillère are composed of a succession ofcre-
faces and flanks perpendicular to one another. The
faces may be made one hundred yards long, and the
flanks twenty-five, still supposing them constructed upon
a flat and open country : for, on an irregular surface,
all the branches may vary considerably in length from
the general dimensions ; the most essential rule being
that the works should conform to the shape of the
ground, and have their salient points on eminences.
The crémaillère line is superior to any other, for the
purpose of uniting principal works placed at too great a
distance for mutual defence. In this case the crémail¬
lères ought to change their direction at the centre a of
the line, whence there will resulta good cross fire before
the middle of the interval.
If particular circumstances should make it requisite Tbe bastioi
to give to a line a more than ordinary degree of strength,
there is no doubt but the bastion outline ought to be
preferred. Its principal advantage is that every part of
the ditch is well seen into and flanked : but the salients
have not all the defence which could be desired. There
are certainly cross fires in front of them, but these
scarcely range beyond the counterscarp and leave great
open spaces X without any at all. This may, in a
measure, be remedied by breaking the curtain, for then
the fire of the half curtains directed upon those spaces X S«« fig- 14.
will render the access to the salients more difficult. The
bastion line is more troublesome to construct than any
other, owing to the quantity of earth which requires
removing between the flanks and the curtain, when the
counterscarp is directed, as in permanent fortification, to
the shoulders of the bastions ; and this may account for
its not being offener employed. It is evident that, if See fi^ 15
the counterscarp were traced, as in other works, in di¬
rections parallel to the faces, flanks, and curtain, the
ditches of the faces would be unseen from the opposite
flanks, the sight being obstructed by the mass of earth
in front of the curtain. When there is not sufficient
time for removing the entire mass—and it seldom See fig. 16.
happens that there is—the evil may be palliated by
sloping away the earth in the direction of the line of
fire drawn from the crest of the parapet of the flank
to the foot of the ditch of the opposite face : whereby
the ditch of the face will be perfectly laid open to
the fire of the opposite flank. Some writers object
to this remedy, as facilitating the descent of the enemy
into the ditch : but it may be observed that the de¬
scent into the ditches of Field-works is in practice usu¬
ally an easy matter ; and those ditches should be
regarded rather as excavations which have served to
furnish earth for the covering masses, than in the lig
316
FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica- of serious obstacles to the enemy's attacks. Besides,
tion. even though the facility of descent should be admitted
to be of great advantage to the assailant, it is evident
that in availing himself of the slopes here mentioned, he
must expose himself to a reverse fire from the flank
behind him, and this is not likely to augment his as¬
surance.
The redan- The line just described is applicable to any surface:
bastion line, ^jj^t which may next be mentioned having its various
parts given in numbers, is unfit for irregular surfaces.
It certainly appears, however, the best that can be used
on an even country, where only a limited length of re¬
trenchment is required ; and though thus restricted in
its application, some notice of it in this place is due to
the inventor. Colonel Dufour, (Director of the Military
Academy of Grave,) to whose excellent Work on Field
Engineering the compilers of the present Article are
See fig. 17. bound to express their obligations. At each end of a
side A B four hundred yards long, erect perpendiculars
AP, B Q. Set off on the latter AD, BE, each equal
to fifty yards, and D P, E Q each equal to thirty yards ;
join D and E ; on D E take D G, E H, each equal to
sixty yards, and bisect D E in C. Draw AG, B H,
and produce those lines indefinitely ; join C and P, C
and Q, and make C M and C N each equal to AG or
B H. Then, in order to obtain flanks sufficiently near
the salients A, C, and B, to afford those points an ade¬
quate defence, let fall from G, M, N and H, perpendi¬
culars G g, Mm, &c. upon the lines of defence M P,
A G, &c., and join the interior extremities m, g, &c. of
the flanks, to form the curtains. This outline is superior
in many respects to any of the former; but it is certainly
rather too complicated, and is moreover inapplicable to
every kind of surface : it can, therefore, be entitled to a
preference over the common bastion line only in the cir¬
cumstances already mentioned ; and when these occur,
its advantages are as follows. Suppose two fronts of for¬
tification on the lines A C, and B C traced upon the
usual principles, it will be found that the redan-bastions
in fig. 17 are more spacious than the ordinary ones, and
that the flank M m is longer in the former than its cor¬
responding flank in the latter would be, which is strictly
conformable to the principles of the Art as it has to
defend the point of attack. G g indeed will be smaller,
but this is attended with no inconvenience, since its fire
is directed upon a point not much exposed. It may,
however, be noticed as some defect, that the fire of the
short flank G g when prolonged in a direct line would
fall within the salient of the advanced bastion at B, and
expose its defenders to the risk of injury from their
own comrades.
CHAPTER IV.
Lines with Intervals ; Teies-de-pont, ^c.
Lines with Lines with intervals are composed of isolated works,
intervals. such as redoubtsj3r redans placed at certain distances
asunder. In determining the situation of these works,
it must be observed thai the intervals between them
should never be greater than two hundred yards ; so
that they may be able to defend one another by a cross¬
ing fire, at an efficient range. The outline of each work
must also be so disposed that the faces which are to pro¬
duce that crossing fire between two works, shall make
with each other an angle not less than, nor inuch exceed« Fortifica-
ing, a right angle. The military world has long been fio«»
divided in opinion whether the preference should be
given to continued lines, or to those with intervals. The
former seem to have been held in highest estimation
until after the commencement of the XVIIIth Century ;
for the greatest number of retrenchments made by the
French and by their opponents during the reign of
Louis XIV., and particularly during the Wars of the
Succession, were continued lines. In our days this
manner of retrenching armies is rejected ; and when
the nature of the country will admit of it, that of iso¬
lated works has the preference. Lines with intervals
have over the other species of lines the following advan¬
tages. 1st, They are more easily applied to the ground,
and made to occupy the points most essential for the
defence ; not being shackled by the conditions which
must be observed in outlines where all the parts are
connected together. 2dly, They require less labour, and
consequently enable the engineer to give a greater
degree of perfection to the works within a determined
time, and with fewer workmen. 3dly, They require fewer
troops for their defence, having a less developement,and
thus allowing a greater force to be directed upon the
most exposed points, or a greater number to be kept in
reserve. 4thly, By this disposition the troops may with
facility pass from the defensive to the offensive, and vice
versa, as may best suit the occasion : whereas, when
lining a continuity of parapet, the same troops possess
no advantages except such as may be derived from a
judicious adaptation of the outline ; and having no faci¬
lity of issuing from behind their cover, are restricted to
ineie defensive operations, which are apt to produce an
unfavourable effect upon the courage of the soldier. It
may be remarked, in conclusion, that continued lines
ought to be employed only in situations of moderate
extent, where a small number of men being sufficient
for their defence, a considerable portion of the army
may be kept in reserve at points favourable for offensive
movements.
In the choice of positions or situations for the en- Choice of
campment of an army, it is evident that elevated ground positions,
should always be preferred, when its extent is not dis¬
proportionate to the number of troops : in order to in¬
crease the difficulties of the attack, and permit the de¬
fenders to see the works and dispositions of the enemy
while their own are wholly or partly concealed. A
superiority of command, also, renders it possible to take
advantage of any movement of the enemy by falling
rapidly on his convoys or attacking his columns on their
march. Positions are, however, often unavoidably taken
up in a plain country ; and it may be observed that no
great inconvenience ensues from the occupation of such
situations, provided they are protected by natural obsta¬
cles, or by works expressly constructed, and that by any
means the enemy is prevented from approaching near
enough to annoy the lines by his fire. But if the posi¬
tion should be commanded within range of artillery, the
most disastrous consequences may be induced : for the
troops being either exposed to heavy loss, or driven from
their posts to obtain shelter behind woods or other cover
against the enemy's fire, the works may be assaulted and
carried before the defenders can be rallied from their
confusion.
Whether in plains or on eminences, the approaches
towards the ground occupied by the enemy should be
well guarded by a chain of outposts, which must sur-
FORTIFICi^TíON.
817
Fortifica round the encampment within view of it and at the dis-
tion. tance of about a mile from it in every direction: so that,
on an alarm being given, there may be time for the troops
iu the lines to put themselves in a posture of defence.
These outposts should be covered by woods, villages, or
houses ; or if no such cover exists, redans, as before
described, must be constructed for their protection.
Within the chain of outposts, and at two or three hun¬
dred paces from the encampment, redoubts or batteries
must be formed : for the purpose of protecting the line by
their crossing fires, and principally to secure the wings
against any attempt of the enemy to turn them, orto get
to the rear of the army, by which the supplies from its
magazines, and its own retreat, should this become ne¬
cessary, might be entirely cut off. The disposition of
these works, next to the choice of the position, demands
the serious attention of the engineer: since on it de¬
pends, in a great measure, the success of the array in
maintaining its ground ; and, consequently, the proba¬
bility that the enemy may be compelled to retreat and
leave the field free for the prosecution of offensive opera¬
tions. When, therefore, thp position is on an eminence
affording a good view of the neighbouring country, and
particularly of the avenues by which an enemy might
approach, the redoubts should be constructed at inter¬
vals on the salient points in front of the line, where they
may defend those avenues by direct and flanking fires
from an artillery sufficiently numerous to prevent the
enemy's columns from advancing without experiencing a
serious loss. As the enemy may attack and attempt to
storm some of these redoubts, they should evidently iefend
each other reciprocally, and be capable of making a
powerful resistance in front. For this latter purpose
they should be placed on the crests of the heights which
they occupy : that they may be able to graze with mus¬
ketry the descending ground about them ; and if, from
the steepness of the slope in any part, this should be irn-
possible, collateral works should be constructed in situ-^
ations where they may see and defend that part by which
an enemy would otherwise advance unmolested against
the princij)al work.
In general, the highest point in the line is the key of
the position ; and, as the retention of this is an object of
the utmost importance, it should be occupied by a re¬
doubt of the strongest kind. This point being a pivot
about which the whole army manœuvres, it is plain that
it should be situated about the centre of the line ; but as,
in some cases, it may happen to be in one of the wings,
then additional precautions will be necessary to prevent
it from being cut off from the other parts of the line :
such as making good communications to it, by which suc¬
cours may be sent in force when it is hard pressed by
the enemy. Such communications should also be made
when the divisions of an army are separated from each
other by woods, marshes, or streams : passages should
be cut through the first, and causeways or bridges formed
over the others ; in order that in every part of the en¬
campment troops may be able (if possible out of the
enemy's sight) to march to each other's support. Na¬
tural obstacles greatly increase the defensive properties
of a position ; and if there should be a river at the foot
of any part of the eminence on which the army is situ¬
ated, and near enough to be subject to the fire of the
artillery, it would be impassable by the enemy and would
completely protect that part of the line. It may be here
observed that an army encamped possesses many advan¬
tages over the garrison of a fortress : for the degree of
VOL. VI.
resistance that can be opposed by the latter is always Fortifica-
known to the enemy, and the permanent nature of th'e
works prevents the plan of operations from being
changed; so that the enemy can regulate his disposi¬
tions accordingly. The case is different with an army
in the field, which can vary its measures with the nature
of the anticipated attack : either by opposing force to force,
or by surprising the enemy ; or by taking advantage of
the localities to prevent his columns from acting together.
It may not be unsatisfactory to close this general British
description of lines of intrenchments with a short account cover-
from the invaluable Memoranda published by Colonel Lisbon.
Jones,^ of the works executed before Lisbon by British
engineers, between the years 1809 and 1812, for the pur¬
pose of protecting that city and the meditated retreat of
the army from Portugal. These celebrated works were
enclosed redoubts disposed in two great chains crowning
the heights which extend between the Atlantic Ocean and
the Tagus : the first or exterior chain was situated about
twenty miles North of Lisbon, or twenty-five miles North
of Fort St. Julian, which forms the Southern extremity
of the Peninsula, and was the proposed place of embark¬
ation. This chain commenced at the point at which the
Zizandra falls into the Atlantic; the works occupied the
waving ridge of heights on the left bank of that river,
and extended to about two miles west of Torres Vedras,
terminating near the Western extremity of the Sierra de
Monte Junto. At the mouth of the little river St.
Lorenzo, about seven miles South of the Zizandra, the
second or principal line of forts commenced ; and
these were constructed on all the salient points antl emi¬
nences of the ridge of heights extending from the Sea to
the Tagus, and passing close to Mafra, Mpntechique, and
Bucellas, which lie successively Eastward of each other,
and through which proceed three of the four great roads
leading from the North to Lisbon. The fourth, or East¬
ern road, runs through Alhandra close to the Tagus.
The whole country between the great roads is billy and
broken, and cannot be passed by an army with its artil¬
lery without much difficulty and delay; and, to secine
the roads effectually on the principal ascents at the passes
of Bucellas, Montechique, and Mafra, were constructed
strong redoubts and batteries for artillery, so disposed as
to enfilade the roads and concentrate their fire upon
particular points of them, at which it was intended to
form mines, deep cuts, or other artificial obstructions
when they might be required. The ridge of Monte
Graça was crowned by one large and several smaller
vrorks ; and these, with the works at Torres Vedras,
served as isolated outposts to the principal line just men¬
tioned : blocking up the approaches, and giving time for
the troops to occupy the line before they could be
attacked in force. A chain of redoubts connected the
Works on Monte Graça with others forming part of the
line, and situated on the ridge at Alhandra : to the South
of this ridge the Tagus is not passable by an army ; and
therefore the works could not be turned by an enemy on
the opposite side of the river. Along the North face of the
ridge just mentioned, and near the summit, on ari extent
of two miles, there was cut an almost perpendicular
scarp fifteen or eighteen feet high, every part of which
was closely flanked by a covered musketry fire, and
also by artillery in enclosed works constructed on the
salient points of the heights : all the flanking works
* Memoranda relçLti^e to the Lines thrown up to cover Lisbon in
1810. By Colonel John T. Jones, Royal Engineers.
2 u
F o R T I F I C 4 T I o N.
Fortifica- were plunged into by larger redoubts on commanding
tiou. Interior peaks. Additional redoubts were, subsequently,
formed between the ridge at Alhandra and that of the
Sierra de Serves at Bucellas; and the valley between
them was blocked up by an abattis with a covered com¬
munication in its rear. The front of this communication
could be swept by artillery from the Alhandra heights,
and closely flanked by musketry from some stone build¬
ings in the sides of the valley.
In the whole line between the Ocean and the Tagus
there were one hundred and flfty-two redoubts mount¬
ing, in all, five hundred and thirty-four pieces of artil¬
lery, while the army to be covered consisted of but fifty
thousand men : a small number when compared with
the extent of the line, which was equal to about twenty-
nine miles, and required above thirty-four thousand men
to garrison the works. But this vast developement is, in
the present case, justified by military men on the ground
of the extraordinary strength of the principal works,
which is considered as rendering them in some respects
fortresses. Colonel Jones, moreover, observes that not
more than one-third of the works would have been re¬
quired to be fully manned at any one period. The
redoubts were generally adapted to the ground, and
were of every capacity : the smallest was constructed for
fifty men and two pieces of artillery ; others could con¬
tain five hundred men and six pieces, and the great re¬
doubt on Monte Graça required one thousand men and
had twenty-five pieces. Some of the works were in the
shape of star-forts, but it was objected to these that the
defence of the ditches was imperfect; and the direct
fire towards the front was insufficient. It may lastly be
observed that there was an enclosed work on the height
between St. Julian and Oeyras, near the proposed point
of embarkation, with independent redoubts and bat¬
teries : the principal work was well flanked and required
a garrison of one thousand three hundred and forty
men.
Têtes-île- Works thrown up in front of bridges to cover and
pont. defend them, constitute what are called teies^de-pont: their
general disposition and shape may vary in a thousand
ways, according to the nature of the localities and to the
importance of the object. The works constructed to
serve as a tete^de-pont are frequently ill-adapted to this
object : being either too small to cover the bridges pro¬
perly from the enemy's fire ; or having so great a deve¬
lopement that a large portion of the army is withdrawn
from active service merely to guard them. A tête-de-
pont ought to be capable of effectually concealing the
bridge ; but it should require for its defence the
smallest possible number of troops, in order that the dis¬
posable forces may be so much the more numerous.
See fig. 18. When the passage is one of importance, it may be ex¬
pedient to give to the tête-de-pont the form of a line with
intervals : that is, upon an arc of a circle whose radius
is one thousand or twelve hundred yards, a disposition
should be made of redans or detached bastions, flanking
each other; and, in rear of these, and covering the im¬
mediate approaches to the bridges, a central work should
be placed ; serving as a redoubt so disposed as to batter
the intervals between-the retrenchments in front, defend
their gorges, and afford a safe retreat to the troops when
driven from the advanced works. A disposition of this
nature will keep the enemy's cannon at a sufficient dis¬
tance from the bridges to prevent any annoyance in
passing the river. If the tete-de-pont is constructed upon
a re-entering bend of the river, the redans or bastions
may be placed in a straight line or one nearly so, which Fortifica-
would improve the defence and lessen the extent of ^
works. In this case, also, the redoubt of the tête-de-pont v
may easily receive a flanking defence from batteries esta¬
blished on the opposite bank, or on islands which are fre¬
quently found in the bends of rivers ; and it is considered
that, on this account, and because the bridge is more effec¬
tually concealed from the view of the enemy, a re-entering
bend or elbow, the concavity of which is on the enemy's
side, is the most advantageous place for a tete-de-pont.
The advanced works should be made capable of con¬
taining about two hundred men ; their gorges should
be secured by a row of strong palisades ; and they
should be provided interiorly with a small redoubt or
blockhouse. Lunettes constructed thus carefully, and
well fraised and palisaded, may be placed at greater
distances from each other than those of ordinary con¬
struction, because being stronger in themselves, they
stand in less need of immediate succour : their salients
may be placed three or four hundred yards apart. A
system of works of this kind, partaking of the nature of
mixed fortification, would be well adapted to cover an
important passage of a river ; and the enemy, unable to
carry them by assault, would be compelled to go through
the formalities of a siege. Indeed, without these con¬
ditions, the army, which may have retreated through the
intervals to shelter itself from the enemy's superior
forces, would have to cross over to the opposite bank,
and abandon to feeble garrisons the defence of the ad¬
vanced works. These garrisons, too weak for a long
resistance, would now betake themselves to a retreat, if
such a measure were still in their power; the approaches
would therefore no longer be covered ; and all the
advantages of the têtes-de-pont would vanish at the first
appearance of the enemy. It is therefore necessary, in
order to oppose an effectual resistance to the progress of
the enemy, that the exterior works should have all pos¬
sible solidity and strength.
When a tete-de-pont has not the defensive qualities
that could be desired, and the retreat of the army to
the opposite bank is a measure of necessity, it may^
be effected in the following manner. The retreating
army is divided into as many columns as there are in¬
tervals between the advanced works ; each column
takes the direction of its allotted interval, and when it has
passed the latter it deploys immediately in rear of it.
Those of the columns which have not room for deploying
either as a first or second line, immediately cross over to
the opposite bank. The fire of the works will open as soon
the space in front of them is sufficientlv unobstructed by
the retreating army. The infantry deployed stands now
alone before the enemy ; the advanced works being eva¬
cuated, and their garrisons retiring through the inter¬
vals of the divisions. The artillery and cavalry, with the
exception of a few guns and squadrons, have already
passed over the bridges. The infantry commences its
retreat en echellon. As soon as the central redoubt is
unmasked, its fire is opened to protect the retreat. When
the enemy is master of the field, the garrison of the re-
doubt retires ; the victors now enter tumultuously into
the abandoned work and hasten to get possession of the
bridges ; but they are stopped by the last tambours
made of strong palisade.s, and defended by one or two
companies of grenadiers, who have volunteered to dis¬
pute the spot until the bridges are destroyed. When
their object is gained, these companies either surrender
themselves prisoners, according as they may have re»
FORTIFICATION.
319
Fortifica¬
tion.
ceived instructions, or make their escape by swimming
or by boats placed at hand for the purpose.
The redoubt, or central work of a tete-de-pont is an
important part which ought not to be negligently con¬
structed ; since it immediately covers the passage, and
ensures the retreat of the last defenders of the works
in advance. The redoubt ought, therefore, to be made
capable of offering the greatest possible obstacles to
the attack. It usually consists of two or three bastion
fronts ; the wings being defended by batteries thrown
up in rear on the opposite bank of the river. The
passages are made in those wings: they should be
about twenty yards wide, and masked by traverses
thrown up within. Inside of these redoubts, others
made of timber in the manner of tambours should be
constructed to cover the immediate approach to each
bridge: the utility of this measure must be apparent
from the foregoingdescription of the manner of effecting
the retreat. Care must likewise be taken when con¬
structing a tete-de-pont, to throw up one or two bat¬
teries for destroying the bridges, in the event of the
enemy's unexpectedly forcing the central work, and not
giving time to cut them away or burn them. Fig. 18
represents a grand tete-de-pont, where all these conditions
have been observed. It often happens that there is but
one bridge to be covered ; in this case the central work
may be much smaller than the preceding one, and be
composed of a single bastion front connected with the
bank by long branches ; or it may be a mere bonnet de
prêtre, or even a lunette defended from the opposite side.
These last two are most usually executed in petty war¬
fare : but nothing can be fixed respecting their dimen¬
sions, both these and their shape being always deter¬
mined by local circumstances.
works.
CHAPTER V.
Details of Construction,
On the re- Having described the shape or outline of the principal
lief of field- works executed in the field, it will be necessary to say a
few words respecting their relief, before we proceed to
show the manner in which they are constructed. A
good relief is not less essential to an intrenchment than
a well-combined outline. The most usual height o-iven
D O
to the covering masses of field-works is seven and a half
feet : this height is chosen in order that a man on horse¬
back may be unable to see over the parapets into the work.
Parapets are nevertheless often made of less height : for
instance, six feet is not a bad relief if there is no appre¬
hension of a cavalry fire; and intrenchments constructed
hastily to procure cover for a detachment, are often made
no higher than four ánd a half feet : but in this case, as
there would not be sufficient cover, it is necessary to ex¬
cavate about one and a half on the inside. The required
solidity of the work, as we have already said, depends
upon the nature of the projectiles which it may have to
resist. But whatever be the thickness of the parapets, it
is necessary that the earth excavated from the ditches be
sufficient for the formation of the covering mass.
Whence it follows, that the breadth and depth of the
ditches must vary with the height and thickness of the
parapets. It may be well to repeat, that the means
usually at hand for the construction of field works will
not permit a greater depth to be given than twelve feet
to the ditches ; and, in order that the latter may be at
all serviceable, they ought not to be less than six feet Fortifica-
deep. Hence, in every field-work constructed solely tion.
with spade and pickaxe, the depth of the ditch will vary
between six and twelve feet, and these dimensions may
be considered as their limits. In calculating the depth
and breadth of a ditch according to the dimensions of
the profile of the covering mass, it must be remembered
that the earth generally augments in volume when
loosened from its natural bed ; and that this increase of
volume sometimes amounts to one-tenth or one-twelfth.
Profiles cannot in moments of need be calculated with Profiles,
mathematical exactness : it would therefore be well if
every officer carried with him in his pocket-book a read}'-
made Table of the dimensions of ditches corresponding
to certain given profiles. If unprovided with such a
Table, the fbllowing approximation will be found quite
adequate to the purpose. Ascertain the superficial con¬
tents of a vertical section taken perpendicularly to the
length of the intended parapet or covering mass. Then
assume the depth of the ditch, which will generally be
the same as the height of the work. Divide the con
tents of the profile by that depth, and the result will be
the required breadth. For instance, if the ditch is to
be six feet deep, and the surface of the profile should
contain one hundred and eight square feet; the required
breadth will be eighteen feet for the upper part of the
ditch. This expeditious formula, indeed, supposes the
ditch to be dug vertically down without slope ; that there
is no augmentation of volume ; and that the ditch has
no greater developement than the parapet : all which
suppositions are contrary to truth. But the ditch being
dug with a slope, the surface of its profile will be dimi¬
nished ; and this decrease of surface will partly compen¬
sate for the increase of volume and excess of develope¬
ment, so that the result will be sufficiently correct for
actual practice. Or, if the eighteen feet above found be
considered as the mean breadth of the ditch, and if there
be added to it such an aliquot part of the given depth
as is expressed by the proportion of the breadth to the
height of the intended slope, the sum will express the
true breadth of the ditch at tbe upper part. Although
we have generally spoken of six or seven and a half feet
as the height of the parapets, it does not follow that,
under some circumstances, still less may not be given to
them ; but then they lose much of their efficacy, unless
the work is situated on an eminence ; and if the height
is less than four feet and a half the berm must be formed
below the level of the natural ground, for the reason
given in describing that part of the work. When para¬
pets have more than the ordinary height given to them,
it is sometimes impossible to direct their superior slopes
upon the edge of the counterscarp. The latter must
then be raised by a mass of earth sloping gently towards
the country upon the prolongation of the superior
slope : or, in other words, by giving a glacis to the work.
When a work is traced upon the ground, that is, jg
when strong pickets have been driven at all the angles
and connected by ropes, or by furrows cut in the ground,
two profiles must be set up on each fine to designate the
form of the parapet, and to point out to the workmen
where they must throw the earth. If the face of the
work is rather long, two profiles may not suffice ; a
third must therefore be added in the alignment of the
former two. These profiles are made of fir laths when
such are to be obtained : in which case they may be set
up with all desirable perfection, representing exactly the
shape of the parapet. In the first place, there should
2 Ü 2
320
FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica- be driven two strong square-headed pickets A and B,
tioiï. denoting the thickness of the parapet ; against the first
(jf these is nailed a lath A C, equal in length to the re¬
quired height of the parapet; in like manner there
rmist be nailed against the second picket a lath of in¬
definite length B ; and then at the extremity C of the
first, a transverse one, to which is given, by a qua¬
drant, or a mason's level, or even by the eye, the in¬
clination which may be deemed expedient : this done,
it may be fastened at the proper point D. The super¬
fluous length of B D must then be sawn off, and the
fourth lath DE placed at an angle of 45^ with the
ground, by nailing it at D, and to the square-headed
picket E. The banquette is profiled in the manner in¬
dicated in the figure.
Profiles may be economized by constructing them
upon the angles ; as then, one profile will serve for two
faces. These angular or oblique profiles have over the
square ones the advantage of designating more clearly
the parapets of the works, which facilitates their con¬
struction and obviates unnecessary removals of soil.
Some degree of habit is requisite in the construction of
these oblique profiles. After having driven into the
ground pickets in a direction perpendicular to the
magistral line of any face of the work at each extremity
of such face, and at distances from one another equal to
the horizontal breadths of the several slopes, as in the
ibrmer profile ; ropes or tracing lines are stretched upon
the ground in the directions of the capitals at each
salient and re-entering angle. Then, by a rope ex¬
tended in a direction parallel to the magistral line
touching any two corresponding pickets, intersections
are obtained with the ropes indicating the capitals ; and
those intersections are marked by other pickets. These
will be the places at which are to be raised the vertical
poles or laths for determining the form of the profile ;
and the same heights must be given them as would have
been given to the parts of the perpendicular profiles be¬
fore described. Vf hen two angular profiles are set up
they will serve for determining those at all the other
angles. It may be well nevertheless to establish here
and there a square profile to rectify the oblique ones,
and to guard against the errors which might creep in.
When laths cannot be obtained, branches of trees, how¬
ever clumsily shaped, may be used to mark the heights,
and then with strings or cords the various slopes may be
indicated by tying them to the ends of the branches.
Besides, when it happens that such means are wanting,
it is seldom necessary to model the parapet with great
nicety ; the essential thing being to get cover, and for
this purpose a good relief will suffice, which may be
had even without any regular profile. When all the pro¬
files are constructed, the space to be occupied by the
parapet becomes known ; then there may be traced, at a
foot and a half from the foot of the exterior slope, the
line representing the edge of the escarp, and at a proper
distance, that of the counterscarp.
în all the works of which we have given a descrip¬
tion, the ditches are usually made of an uniform breadth
throughout, provided the parapet has everywhere the
same height and thickness : it w^ould, however, be well
to diminish the breadth o^ the ditches at the salient, and
widen them at the re-eniering angles ; because at the
former they have more developement than the parapets,
and at the latter the contrary is the case. Whence it fol¬
lows- that, in one instance, the workmen have more earth
than ftbey want, and in the other a deficiency, if in aligning
the counterscarp, the precaution here suggested has not Fortifica-
been taken. Hence, then, the counterscarps of flanked tion.
works will not be made parallel with the escarp, but be
closer to it at the salients. The exact degree of this
approximation at the salients cannot be indicated ; and
must depend upon correctness of eye and judgment in
an officer. In any case it wifl be better to contract the
ditch too much, than to be troubled with a surplus of
soil which would exceedingly embarrass the work, and
must ultimately be conveyed away to a distance with
much labour. It seldom happens that an officer has
time to profile a work before the workmen are set about
it: the latter are usually placed at his disposal before
the work is traced, and he himself conducts them to the
ground. Whilst they are resting^ he quickly determines
his outline by picketing the angles ; and as soon as he
has approximately fixed the middle of his ditch, he
places his workmen there, telling them to what depth
they may begin by digging upon a breadth less than the
presumed one of the ditch. Whilst the men are doing
this, the officer reverts to his traoing; constructs his
profiles ; makes his little calculation to ascertain the
breadth of his ditch ; and finally traces with the pick¬
axe the lines of escarp and counterscarp. Care must be
taken to round off the counterscarp at the salients by
using the breadth of the ditch as a radius, and the angle
of the escarp as a centre.
The disposing of the working parties in such order Distribu-
that the men shall not embarrass one another, and that bon of
the work shall advance in an orderly and expeditious
manner, is a most essential object. The work is por¬
tioned off into lengths of nine feet, measured along the
centre line of the ditch. In each of these divisions is
placed a party of five men, one provided with a pickaxe
and the other four with spades. Two of the spademen
are placed by the side of the pickman, and the other two
are placed upon the berm to pitch the earth further in.
Besides these five, a sixth spreads the earth upon the
mass of the parapet, consolidates it with a rammer, and
forms the exterior slopes ; this man uses alternately the
rammer and spade. Hence there will be s:ix men in each
party, being at the rate of four men per fathom, measured
along the middle of the ditch. Besides these workmen,
sappers, gunners, and other intelligent soldiers should
be employed in making the revetments and other delicate
details. A corporal may have charge of five parties,
and a sergeant may command the fatigue party of the
whole redoubt. In sinking the ditch, it has been re¬
commended to excavate as much at first as two or three
feet in depth with a breadth less than that of the whole
surface of the ground, marked out for it by one or two
feet measured from both the escarp and counterscarp,
and to cut the sides down vertically ; then to excavate
an equal depth with a breadth less than the former, by
retiring: a foot or two from the sides before cut down,
and again to cut vertically, and so to continue till the
required depth is obtained, by which the sides of the
ditch will have the form of steps. These steps are
necessary to ascend and descend by; to prevent the
workmen from excavating too much ; and to assist in
fixing the slopes by the height and breadth given to
the steps. When the whole mass is excavated, the steps
are cut away ; first with the pickaxe, and next with a
flat spade when neatness is required. The good soil
should be carefully preserved for the slopes of the para¬
pets, which must otherwise be formed with earth got
from bevond the ditch : every kind of soil not being
FORTIFICATION.
321
Fortifica- equally good for uniting and becoming compact under
tioa. the blows of the rammer. When works are very hastily
constructed, it is impossible to put away the good soil ;
on the contrary, the covering mass must be formed as
fast as possible with whatever comes to hand, and then
the stratum of vegetable soil, which is generally the best,
is covered over by that of an inferior quality : if the
latter is too gravelly, the upper layer must be removed
within the terreplein to be used afterwards in forming
the exterior of the parapet. In making choice of the
site of the work, it will be well to avoid as much as
possible rocky and gravelly soils, only covered at top
by a slight stratum of good earth. From the com¬
mencement of the work means must be provided to
carry off the rain-water, which, without this precaution,
would stagnate in the terrepleins, and render them un¬
inhabitable. When the work to be constructed is open
at the gorge, a drain may be made towards the latter,
and the terrepleins on each side may have* a gentle
slope towards the gutter. But when the work is an
enclosed one, a small drain must be made either with
flat stones or boards underneath the parapet in that
part of the work which is the lowest ; taking care to
let the spout project sufficiently beyond the escarp to
prevent the latter from being furrowed by the stream.
It is reckoned that one man may (in easy soil) dig up
eight cubic yards per diem of eight hours' work ; but
this is the case only when the excavation is near the
surface, and that one throw will project the earth into
the mass of the parapet : when digging rather deeply and
in a strong soil, the average quantity of work is six
cubic yards per man; and frequently only three or four
yards per man, when it is necessary to place a relay
upon the berm.
Planner of When a work is not commanded by any eminence
defilading within range of musketry or artillery, the plane of
fortifica site may be considered as horizontal, and as coinciding
ground on which the work is constructed ; and
no greater height need be given to the parapets than
will suffice to conceal the interior from an enemy stand¬
ing on the same level plane. But should the enemy be
enabled, from any position possessing superior eleva¬
tion, to direct a plunging fire into the interior of a work
having only the relief above supposed, it is evident, that
to render such a work habitable, it would be necessary
to raise the parapets on the side next to the enemy until
they should conceal the terreplein from his view. In
determining the heights which should be given to the
parapets that they may thus cover the interior, consists
the Art of Defilading : which, for permanent fortifica¬
tions, requires that accurate profiles of the ground
within and about the site of the intended works should
be taken, by going over it in various directions with the
spirit level. These profiles enable the engineer to
determine the height of the several inequalities of the
ground with relation to an imaginary plane of site pass¬
ing obliquely to the horizon through the summits of the
commanding height on any one side, and coinciding
with the terreplein of the work on the opposite side ;
and thus he has it in his power to compute the eleva¬
tions which his parapet should have above the ground
whereon they are to be raised, in order that they may
possess the same command over the oblique plane that
they should have had over a horizontal plane if not
commanded. But in Field Fortification, where the
haste of the service renders such levellings and compu¬
tations impossible, it is necessary to have recourse to a
more simple method of defilading the interior of works ; Fortifica-
and this we now proceed to describe.
When the wofk is to be defiladed from a hill in front,
or when the line of fire from thence is nearly perpendi¬
cular to the direction of the parapet, a tall picket must
be set up on the tracing of that parapet at the part
which is nearest to the hill. Then, a visual ray directed
to a point at the gorge or rear face of the work, eight
feet above the ground, from a point four or seven feet
above the commanding hill, according as the work is to
be defiladed from artillery or musketry, will intersect
the picket in a point indicating the height to which the
parapet is to be raised on that side of the work. It is evi¬
dent that this visual ray representing a line of fire from
the enemy's position on the hill, a parapet the height
of which is thus determined will defilade all the interior
of the work. But if from this operation there should
result a height greater than can be given to the parapet
with the means at hand, the parapet must be raised
only as high as such means will permit ; and then the
interior of the work must be more completely defiladed
by a traverse, the situation of which may be thus deter¬
mined. Finda place on the terreplein of the work where
a visual ray from the point before mentioned, on the
summit of the hill and passing through the crest of the
parapet towards the interior, will meet one at eight feet
above the ground ; and at the spot thus formed the
traverse must be raised : then all the space between the
parapet and the traverse will be defiladed by the former,
and such a height must be given to the latter as will
defilade the part in its rea¿r. This height may be iound
as that of the parapet was found in the former case. If
the height which can be given to the traverse should ni)t
suffice to defilade the whole of the terreplein in its rear,
the situation of a second traverse must be found by the
same process as before. Should there be a parapet on
that side of the work which is furthest from the hill, it
will be necessary also to put the defenders of that para¬
pet below the plane of defilement, in order to protect
them from the reverse fire of the enemy on the hill.
For this purpose the visual ray which determines the
height of the first parapet or traverse must be directed
from the enemy's fire-arm on the hill, not to a point
eight feet above the terreplein of the work, but to one
eight feet above that of the banquette on which those
defenders are placed : the relief of the parapet on this
side having been previously determined by the command
which it ought to have over the ground before it.
If such a work as a redan or a bastion presents its
salient angle to the rising ground from which it is to
be defiladed, the height of the parapet at that angle
must be determined, as before, by two visual rays,
directed to points eight feet above the ground at the
lateral extremities of the gorge; and the crests of the
parapets of the two faces may lie in a plane of defile¬
ment with which those visual rays coincide. Should
such a work be commanded by hills opposite to both
faces, the reliefs of the parapets must be determined by
the coincidence of their crests with two planes of defile¬
ment which intersect each other in the interior of the
work at eight feet above the terreplein, and pass through
the summits of the hills; and at the line of intersection
a traverse must be raised, the height of which may be
found by visual rays directed to points, each situated at
eight feet above the banquette, from the hills in front of
the opposite faces. This traverse should pass through the
salient angle of the work, that it may defilade the whole
322
FORTIFICATION
Fortifica¬
tion.
F ormation
of the revet¬
ments :
with fas¬
cines ;
with hur¬
dles ;
with sod or
turf;
of the interior on each side of it ; but its tracing on the
ground is not necessarily rectilinear. If the two planes
of defilement should not intersect one another above
the terreplein of the work, two traverses must be raised
where those planes respectively approach within eight
feet of the terreplein. Let it be observed, in the last
place, that when a work is entirely surrounded by
heights it may, with most facility, be defiladed by a pair
of traverses crossing each other in the interior.
Earth will not support itself at the interior slope upon
so small a base as it is necessary to give it so that the
troops may approach the parapet with ease when firing.
It is therefore requisite to revet that slope ; and this is
usually done with fascines, hurdles, sods, or sand-bags.
Fascines have been already described under the head of
siege operations. When employed to form a revetment
for the interior of works, the fascines or saucissons are
disposed horizontally ; the first is half buried in the
banquette and is fixed by three pickets driven in with a
mallet : these pickets are three feet long. The second
row of fascines is placed rather within the top of the
first, in conformity with the required slope, taking care
to fasten each fascine with three pickets or stakes, the
two extreme ones being driven through the fascines
underneath in the direction of the slope, and the third in
a direction perpendicular to the slope, in order to connect
the revetment strongly with the soil. The Austrians
substitute for the last-mentioned picket a strong twig
with a hook at one end like an anchor, which embraces
the whole fascine, and is then fastened at the other end
to a stake driven into the mass of the parapet, and
covered over with earth : this gives great solidity to the
revetment. Fascines are laid in the same manner as
bricks or stones in buildings, with the ends of one
course over the centres of the other ; and at the angles
they must] be twisted round to avoid any disjuncture.
When five courses of fascines or saucissons have been
laid down, the upper course nearly reaches the crest of
the work ; this may then be covered with sods laid flat,
with the grass uppermost, to connect them with the earth
of the parapet. The exterior slopes of parapets also are
sometimes revetted with fascines, when great stability is
required ; but in this case the fascines should lie in ver¬
tical planes against the slope, with the lower ends fixed
in the ground at the foot, lest the enemy should use
them as steps to ascend the parapet. A sort of hurdle
revetment also is sometimes formed by planting strong
pickets in the direction of the slope, and then weaving
or interlacing flexible branches round them. These
branches are fastened at the top of the revetment to the
heads of the pickets, in order that the hurdling may not
detach itself from the parapet.
When sods are used for revetting, they are cut in a
rectangular shape, two feet long, one foot broad, and
six inches thick. They are laid by headers and
stretchers, ends over centres, and grass undermost.
This last precaution is necessary, in order that they may
lie flat, and that they may the more easily be pared with
the spade when the revetment is built ; and a stake
ought to be driven through each sod to fasten it to those
which are underneath. To ensure solidity the revetment
should be built only in proportion as the work itself
advances, care being taken to ram the earth well against
the interior sides of - the sods. When the revetment is
finished, all the rough ends of the sods are shaved off"
with a spade having its edge formed in an arc of a
circle, and sharpened that it may cut off the roots more
easily. The sod revetment may be executed with the Fortifica-
greatest perfection ; and it is always employed in pre- fion.
ference to any other where nicety is required. One
man may lay sixteen square yards of sod revetment
per diem of eight hours' work, when he has the sods
ready at hand. The interior of a work is also some-with sand
times revetted with what are called sand-bags : these
are sacks which, when filled with earth, are about two
feet long, one foot broad, and seven inches thick ; they
are disposed in horizontal courses with their sides and
ends following each other alternately in each course like
bricks in a wall ; and the usual precautions are taken to
break joint, or that the junction of every two bags in
one course shall be over the middle of a bag in the
course below it. This kind of revetment is, however,
objectionable, being liable to be washed down by heavy
rains ; and unless well tarred, the bags burst when very
wet. But it often happens that there are neither woods or with
nor meadows in the neighbourhood from which fascines
or turf can be extracted. In such cases the flooring of
the nearest houses may be taken up and the materials
used for the revetments. If this means be also wanting,
a kind of mortar may be made by mixing the most
binding earth that can be found with chopped straw, &c. ;
and this being wetted and well rammed will have such
tenacity, as to allow the required inclination to be given
to the parapet. In no case must the revetment be made
of either masonry or loose stories. The splinters which
the shot would produce on such revetments, are more to
be apprehended than the shot themselves ; because as
they fly in every direction, there are no means of finding
shelter from them.
The slopes of the parapet are not those which alone Revetment
require a revetment : the earth on the escarp of the ß'^carps
ditch, in some cases, requires support; as when, Ihe
work being of importance, the soil is not sufficiently stiff planks,
to remain at a slope the base of which is one-half or one-
third of its height. The escarps of works have some¬
times been revetted with trunks of trees placed horizon¬
tally ; but, disposed in this way, they offer facilities to
the escalade, being somewhat like a flight of steps. It
would therefore be better to place the trunks contiguously,
and on their ends, with a gentle inclination towards
the work. But the best mode of all is to revet with
strong planks supported by frames, the ends of which
are buried in the earth. The figure will sufficiently See fig. 20.
show the nature of this contrivance without further exr-
planation. It must nevertheless be remarked to the
disadvantage of this carpentry work that, as the tie
beams necessarily run into the natural ground, the
parapet cannot be modelled before the revetment is
finished ; it therefore follows that the earth must be
heaped up at a distance from the berm, till it can be
used in building the parapet. This may be considered
as an argument that revetments of the e.scarp scarcely
belong to field fortifications properly so called, but rather
to those of a mixed nature.
When cannon are placed in a field-work, care must be *he ac-
taken to avoid as much as possible making embrasures
tlfílQ^WOirKS
or port-holes in the parapet for the cannon to fire through,
as they weaken the parapet considerably, are marks for
the enemy's shot, and facilitate his entrance into the
work at the tim^of the assault : the small opening which
it is allowed to give them, moreover, limits exceedingly
the space through which the guns should traverse. It
would generally be preferable therefore that the artillery
should be placed so that it may fire over the parapet.
FORTIFICATION.
323
Fortifica¬
tion.
Entrances
into field-
works.
Chevanx-
de-frize.
Bridges
over the
ditches.
Fowder
magazines.
The mass of earth or platform thrown up for this object
is called a barbette» Its surface ought to be about two
feet and a half beneath the crest of the parapet ; but its
extent will depend upon the number of guns for which
it may be intended. A field piece with its appurtenances
requires a space of about eighteen feet by fifteen. Hence
the platform or terreplein of the barbette destined to
contain one gun, will be a rectangle having its length, in
a direction parallel to the parapet, equal to fifteen feet ;
and, in a direction perpendicular to it, eighteen feet. The
ascent to the terrepleins of barbettes is made by ramps
or inclined planes, the base of which should he equal
to six times their height ; and their breadth is obviously
regulated by the length of axletree of the gun-carriages
which are to pass over them. It is not unusual to pro¬
vide against the danger of a side or enfilade fire, by
erecting on each side of the guns a traverse six feet
high at least : and in order that these shall occupy the
least possible space, it is usual to make them of gabions
filled with earth, placed in two or three rows on the
terreplein, and having two courses in height. Gabions
have already been described in the attack of fortresses ;
when used for traverses, and generally for intrenchments,
they should he three feet high and two feet in diameter.
The entrance into a field-work is cut through the pa¬
rapet, and the sides are kept as steep as possible to
diminish the exposure of the interior of the work. The
entrance is not made wider than is absolutely necessary
to afford a passage for the cannon ; and it is closed by
a harrier or cheval-de-frise. A cheval-de-frise is a beam or
prism of timber, the section of which is either a square
or hexagon, with spears passed through it. It may
here he remarked, by the way, that for the defence of
works, chevaux-de-frise are also placed on the herms, in
the ditches, or on the exterior. They are placed in line,
and are linked together by means contrived for the pur¬
pose at each of their ends. The prism is usually about
twelve feet long. The spears or staves are about six
feet long and two inches in diameter, and are made
either round or square. This is rather a complicated
machine, and one which would require proper materials
for its construction, and artificers accustomed to that kind
of work. The facility also with which chevaux-de-frise are
destroyed by a few rounds of artillery, has caused them
to he disused of late : so that they are no longer carried
about with armies, and are scarcely ever employed hut
as harriers at the entrances of a field-work. The required
communication between the counterscarp and such en¬
trances is made by throwing four or five beams across
the ditch, and placing hoards or planks transversely over
them. In a moment of danger these are pulled away,
and converted if necessary into means of strengthening
the entrance harrier. When the ditch is more than
twelve feet wide, a trestle may he placed in the middle
to support the beams. It may sometimes happen that
the bridge is upwards of twenty or twenty-four feet long ;
in these cases more trestles must he employed, and care
must he taken not to place them at a greater distance
from each other than twelve feet. It is absolutely
necessary that the powder of a field-work should in some
way or other he sheltered both from damage by rain
and by the fall of shells. When therefore time and
means are allowed, a splinter-proof magazine may he
constructed in an appropriate part of the work : for
instance, under the mass of a large traverse. But
should these he wanting, a good practice, and one which
has often been tried with success, is to bury the powder
in the mass of the parapet, having placed it in any Fortifica-
common box which may have served for the transport of
ammunition, the cover side serving as a door, to which
a lock may be put if one is at hand ; but whether or
not, a sentry is placed near it to prevent accidents.
CHAPTER VI.
On the Means of adding to the Strength of Field-works.
The ditches of field-works being usually of an in¬
considerable depth, can hardly be regarded as efficient
means of stopping an enemy : for if they are hut six
feet deep, (and the haste with which such works are
usually thrown up will rarely permit them to be deeper,)
he will easily jump into them, loaded as he may be with
arms and knapsack. The dead angles also of those
ditches, where the enemy will he perfectly secure, will
give him time to breathe, rally, and form for the assault.
It is therefore necessary to place obstacles upon the
approaches to those points. Now as the salients are in
all works the weakest points, all the resources of art
must he employed to retard or arrest the enemy^s march
towards them, to throw him into disorder, and keep him
a long time under the fire of the work. The best of Abattis,
all obstacles is an abattis : which is a harrier formed oí fig-2i
strong interlaced branches of trees stripped of their
leaves and smaller parts, sharpened at their extremities,
and presenting outwards a cluster of points. They are
fastened to the ground at the thick end, and screened
from the enemy's sight by an advanced glacis, the slope
of which is upon the prolongation of the crest of the
parapet ; the earth requisite for the purpose is taken
from behind it upon the production of the slope of the
original glacis. Trees or branches thus placed can
with difficulty he removed by hand ; and cannon shot
produces hut little effect in deranging them : the only
effectual method therefore of destroying them would he
to set them on fire. Trous^de-loup are excavations in Trous-ilo-
the form of inverted cones or inverted pyramids, six feet loup,
deep and six feet wide at top ; they are placed in chequer
and six feet asunder, and are sometimes covered with
furze or light branches, to conceal them from the sight
of the enemy. Trous-de-loup are excellent means of
arresting the march and breaking the ranks of the
assailants. The earth resulting from the excavation
being piled up on the sides, renders the ground exceed¬
ingly uneven, and prevents the formation of any kind of
order in the attack : hut, as it is attended with the evil
of raising the ground two or three feet, trous de loup
are only admissible where the parapets of the works
have a command of seven or eight feet over the country :
otherwise, it is necessary so to strew the earth about as
to form no sensible elevation. At the bottoms of these
holes strong stakes are driven in with sharp points up¬
wards ; their use is to prevent the enemy from taking
cover in them against the fire of the works. It is thought
however that active riflemen would make use of them as
covers, from within which they might pick off all who
should show their heads above the parapet. Trous-de-
loup may be employed in several cases : as first, in front
of lines, to render their access more difficult and retard
the march of the attacking columns. Secondly, against
cavalry when any particular part of a front requires to
he screened from its attack. And lastly. Gay de Vernon
324
FORTIFICATION.
haiiows
Inunda-
tioiis.
Fúrtifica- recommends them strongly to be employed in the bot-
tioii. toms of the ditches of field-works.
Crows* feet are pieces of iron with four points divergv
Grows' feet, from a centre, and so made that whichever way the
mass falls, one point will always be presented upwards.
They were formerly very much used, being' strewed over
roads where the passage of the enemy'L cavalry hap¬
pened to be unavoidable. Some recommend strewing
them in quantities over the glacis or on any of the ap¬
proaches to field-works : but for this purpose they are
not so good an expedient as small pickets or stakes
planted in great numbers, and projecting six or eight
Pickets and inches above ground. The harrows used by labourers
would be of preat service, if buried so as to leave only
iheir points above ground.
Whenever local circumstances permit the ditches to
be filled with water to the depth of five or six feet,
this means of defence should not be neglected ; as
not only the defect of dead angles will be completely
remedied, but the enemy will be forced to employ more
than ordinary means to approach the work. If a small
river or rivulet passes within musket range of the
work, the difficulty of access to the latter may be in¬
creased by throwing up some dikes across the course of
the river, thereby spreading an inundation over the
adjacent ground. These dikes are so placed as to be
enfiladed or flanked by the fire of the work ; and when
time and workmen are not wanting, the most exposed
amongst them may be covered or supported by a small
ledan to prevent the enemy from arriving at them and
draining off the waters of the inundation. Experience
has proved that a good dike should not be higher than
nine feet ; hence, from one dike to another, when several
are used, the difference of level between thern should
be only four feet and a half, in order that the most
shallow parts between two dikes shall not be fordable.
Therefore, after fixing the place for the first dike, that
of the others will depend upon the natural slope of the
waters, which must be determined by levelling, or ascer¬
tained by information obtained from the neighbouring
millers. The level of the second dike will be placed
four feet and a half lower than that of the first ; the
third as much lower than the second, and so on with
the rest. Hence it follows that this kind of dei'ence is
inapplicable to a mountainous country, because the
slopes are too great : it is equally so to a country where
the bed of the river is not sufficiently confined, and has
its borders too far apart ; because the dikes, in this
case, would require too considerable a length, which
would entail extraordinary labour in the constructiop,
and difficulty in the defence.
It is impossible to fix a limit for the length ot a dike,
because its construction depends upon the means at disr
posai. In some cases a dike one hundred yards long-
would appear a prodigious undertaking; in other cir?
cumstances the construction of such a dike would be
sufficiently practicable. But as neither the profile of a
dike nor the length of its fall for the evacuation or run¬
ning off of the superfluous water are dependent upon
its length, some details upon the subject may be given.
When a dike is not liable to be battered by artillery, a
thickness at top of four feet and a half will suffice, sup¬
posing the dike to be made, as it most generally is, of
earth. The earth may be taken from the lower or ebb
side ; and if it be not sufficiently binding and lets the
water filter through it, proper earth must be brought
from the neighbouring country wherever it may be
ibund. This will augment the trouble, but is indispens- Fortifica«
able for the goodness of the work. The best way to
prevent filtration is to line the inside of the dike with
clay. When the dike is exposed to çannoii its summit
ought to be proof, that is, about nine or ten feet thick.
Its natural slope may be given to the earth on both
sides the dike ; but for greater perfection, the upper
slope, that is, the one ou the flood side, should be made
the gentlest, by giving its base twice the length of the
dike's height ; to avoid the shock of the stream and
diminish its pressure.
If after constructing the dike with earth according
to the profile above indicated, the waters were allowed
to rise above it and flow over the whole of its length, it
would not be long before the whole dike must be de¬
stroyed, supposing the current were at all rapid. To avoid
this inconvenience, a space is left eight or ten inches
lower than the rest of the dike, ^nd of sufficient breadth
to allow a free passage to all the water of the strei^m*
This part farming a cavity on the top of the dike, iind
constructed more solidly than the rest, is called the fall
or déversoir. This fall is constructed with fascines, that See fig 22
is, after building the dike to a certain height, a double
revetment of well picketed fascines is commenced : this
revetment must not only cover the top of the fall and
the ebb side slope, but must extend underneath, forming
a bed to break the fall of the water and prevent its un¬
dermining the foot of the dike. With respect to length,
this bed is made to extend a little beyond each extremity
of the fall, in order that it may more completely fulfil
its object. To give greater solidity to the bed pf
fascines, the tops of the pickets which are driven through
the mass, may purposely be left a little above ground,
and have hurdle-work interwoven round them. The
pickets or stakes ought to be four feet and a half long.
The same hurdling might be made on the revetment of
the fall ; but if this should appear too laborious, the
extremities of the fascines should at all events be secured
by others placed crosswise and strongly picketed into
the first. The cheeks of the fall are likewise revetted
with fascines, which are placed at right angles with
those of the top of the fall and picketed into them.
When any part of the ground about the accesses to
the work is low and marshy, but destitute of such cur¬
rents of running water as would permit an inundation
to be formed, holes or trenches five or six feet deep and
as many wide may be substituted. These holes and
trenches will effectually stop the enemy ; and he will be
obliged to fill them up before he can arrive at the
counterscarp which they cover. The above-mentioned
breadth will be quite sufficient to render them impassable
for men loaded with arms, ammunition, and knapsacks.
The earth excavated must be carefully and evenly
strewed about, both to prevent its forming small islands
which would assist the assailants, and because any risp
of ground in the vicinity of a field-work may be detrn
mental, owing to the small relief usually given to the
lq.tter. If the localities be such as offer to the enemy
the facility of draining the inundation or sheet of water,
the fioles and trenches above mentioned may be multi¬
plied, as they will contain water and be a serious ob¬
stacle even after the draining is effected.
Palisades for field-works are made of strong branches Palisades,
or rather trunks of small or middle-sized trees, split
into two pr four parts, and generally cut into triangular
prisms haying each side six or seven inches broad ; but
whetfipr tfiey are used inf their natural round stale or
FORTIFICATION.
325
Fortifica- sawn into prisms or split in two^ their efficacy is the
tion. same. Their length is nine feet, and they are sharp-
ened at the upper extremity. The best place for pali¬
sades is at the foot of the counterscarp : because
they are there most screened from the enemy's shot,
and embarrass him most in his attempt to get into
the ditch. If the palisades were placed contiguously,
forming a 'palanque for the defence of the ditch, it
would then be necessary to put them at the foot of the
escarp ; but when merely employed as an obstacle,
which is most generally the case, they should be placed
as above mentioned at the foot of the counterscarp. To
plant palisades, a trench is dug three feet deep, and as
narrow as possible ; and in it they are placed three or
four inches asunder. The earth is then well rammed
down round them so that they shall be firm ; and they
are united at top by a riband or cross beam, against
which each palisade is nailed. It would be still better
if they were likewise fastened at bottom to a cross beam
buried in the ground, for this would utterly prevent
^ them from being torn up separately.
Fraises. Fraises are nothing more than palisades placed hori-
Q ÎÎ 01
ng. zi. 2ontally or slightly inclined to the horizon, with their
points downwards : they are usually placed upon the
summit of the escarp, and then, notwithstanding the
precaution of throwing up a glacis to cover them, they
are soon destroyed by the enemy's cannon. Neverthe¬
less great advantage is gained when he can be forced to
do this ; for during the whole time he is so employed,
his fire, which is ricochet, is returned with interest by
the artillery of the work with full service charge. The
inclination given to fraises is intended to prevent the
grenades, which are thrown into the ditch, from lodging
upon them. Fraises must be placed as nearly conti¬
guous as possible that the enemy may have the more diffi¬
culty in cutting them down with the hatchet, or in saw¬
ing them off. The placing of both palisades and fraises
is a subject which merits to be well weighed : there
being instances in which instead of opposing, they have
contributed to facilitate the assault.* The length of the
fraises ought to be at least ten feet and a half, in order
that they may project four feet and a half beyond the
escarp : about one foot and a half rests on the berm ;
and the remaining four and a half feet are buried in the
mass of the parapet. They are nailed to a cross beam
sunk into the berm ; and that they may be firmly con¬
nected, another cross beam buried in the parapet unites
their superior extremities.
Fougasses. Fougasses are perhaps the best of all means of stop¬
ping the impetuosity of an assailant : but unfortunately
they cannot in every case be employed. When the be¬
sieger is aware that the work is provided with fougasses,
and this he should be suffered to know, his timidity and
circumspection will be extreme. Soldiers who have
once witnessed the springing of one of these small
mines, are in continual apprehension of explosions ; and
a hidden danger which they cannot anticipate produces
upon them a much stronger apprehension than they are
susceptible of feeling at perils of a more serious nature,
when openly encountered. The effects, indeed, which
mines produce upon the moralêof assailants are perhaps
tne greatest advantage which they afford to the defend¬
ers. To establish a fougass, there should be buried, at
the depth of a few feet, a box containing three or four
* See Major Reid's translation of Col, La Marre's Defence of
Badajos.
VOL. VI.
loaded howitzer shells, or else about twenty pounds of Foríífica-
powder. This box is communicated with by a wooden tion.
trough, which is likewise buried in the ground, and is des-
tined to convey the fire to the charge. In order to place
it, a narrow trench is dug, of the required depth ; and
after charging the mine and laying the powder pipe in
the trough, the lid is carefully fastened down. The
trench is then filled up again with earth, taking care to
ram it down well, and scattering about the surplus on
the surface. The well or hole which has been excavated
to contain the charge, is, after the latter has been placed,
filled up with stones instead of earth, to render the
effects of the fougass the more destructive. The trough % 21
passes down the counterscarp under the bottom of the
ditch, through the thickness of the parapet, into the in¬
terior of the work. It is sometimes made to stretch
across the ditch, and is then supported by trestles ; but
this arrangement exposes it to continual accidents. If
the box containing the charge be likely to remain long
under ground, it is necessary to calk and tar it, as well
as the trough, to preserve their contents from damp.
Great care must be taken to guard against precipitation
when about to spring a fougass, otherwise the chances
are that it will explode before the enemy reaches the
sphere of its effects. Fougasses are very advantageous
at the angles of dead ditches, where they may he placed
about ten feet asunder; and also at about ten or fifteen
paces from the ditch, at those points over which the enemy
is most likely to advance. The chief and perhaps only
objection to them is that they seldom act at the precise
moment when the enemy is immediately over them ; unless
therefore there be placed an abattis or some such obstacle
io retard him there until the explosion takes place, his
destruction by this means will be very doubtful.
When an enemy succeeds in getting into the ditch of Defence of
afield-work destitute of flanking defences, he is perfectly dhcli-
safe from every thirig but hand grenades ; and it is not
always that a supply of these can be commanded. It is
therefore of importance that means should be employed
to obviate so great an evil. If the work is a lunette, there Palanquea,
may be placed a palanque^ that is, a row of strong pali¬
sades across the ditch at the angles of the shoulder.
Foop-holes are of course made at proper distances for the
purpose of permitting a cross fire of musketry upon the
salient. For a square redoubt, the simple palanques
above mentioned are inadmissible because theydefeiid only
one side. Double palanques are therefore used, which Caponni-
are placed at two opposite salient angles, so as to sweep
the whole of the ditch and have a cross fire upon the
other two remaining angles. The palanques are covered
at top with thick planking and fascines ; and to screen
them from fire, a bed of earth or manure may be laid
over the top. A double palanque, or covered gallery of
this kind, receives the name of caponnière. The descent
into this caponnière is effected from the interior of the
redoubt, by a passage cut underneath the parapet. The
outer extremity of the caponnière is not made to reach
the counterscarp; for, if so, it would soon afford the
enemy a safe means of crossing the ditch. A portion
of the counterscarp is therefore cut away at the head of
the caponnière to isolate the latter. Tiie small width in
general given to the ditches, and the great quantity of
timber necessary for the construction of the caponnières,
are the reasons of their being seldom employed : they
are, in fact, a means of defence which cannot be re¬
sorted to, otherwise than in cases where there is plenty
of time at command, aijd timber in the neighbourhood,
2 X
326
F O R T I F I C A T I O N.
Fortifica»
tion.
Counter¬
scarp ^alle
ries of re¬
verse fire.
Intelior re-
liuuhfcs.
Block
V
nouses.
Block¬
houses
opposed to
iut'antry
lilil'v «
Block¬
houses
intended
lO resist
cannon.
Another' expedient sometimes adopted, is that of loop-
holed g'alleries underneath the mass of the counterscarp,
for the purpose of havinpr a reverse fire along the ditch.
A communication is made from the interior of the work
into these galleries of reverse fires, by a gallery driven un¬
derneath the bottom of the ditch. If the objection to the
caponnières, arising from the great consumption of time
and timber which their construction demands, be a just
one, it applies much more strongly to these works which,
for the same reasons, can be very rarely executed.
The surest way to support the courage of the defend¬
ers, and consequently to increase the strength of a work,
is to facilitate their means of retreat in ease they should
be overcome ; and thus to procure for them a place of
refuge, in which they may capitulate upon terms the
more honourable in proportion as they have defended
with gallantry the principal work. This may be accom¬
plished by the construction of an interior redoubt, when
the magnitude of the principal work will permit it. In
forming such redoubts, care should be taken to dispose
them in such manner that there shall not be a single
point within the principal work undiscoverable by their
fire'; and their size must be adapted to the numbers for
which they may be required to afford cover. If the
principal wmrk be one of a considerable extent, the re¬
doubt maybe made with earth, like an ordinary retrench¬
ment, that is, with a parapet and ditch. But then a
coîiimand must be given to it over the parapet of the
exterior work, in order that the enemy when standing
upon the parapet of the latter may be unable to see into
the redoubt. The best kind of interior redoubt is that
called a blockhouse, which we are next to describe.
Blockhouses are a species of retrenchment peculiarly
adapted to woody countries : because the materials for
their construction are found upon the spot ; and as these
countries are mostly mountainous, the enemy cannot
without much difficulty transport his cannon with him.
There is besides in such countries difficulty in finding
a site whereon to construct a work of the ordinary
uncovered kind, which may not be seen into and com¬
manded by some neighbouring height. The plan of a
blockhouse is usually that of a rectangle eighteen or
twenty-four feet wide in the inside : but when it is pos¬
sible to give it greater dimensions, its plan is that of a
cross so that its fires flank one another mutually. The
profile of a blockhouse will vary according as it may be
liable to an attack of infantry merely, or of infantry
with artillery. In the former case its sides may con¬
sist simply of rows of contiguous trunks with loop¬
holes made in them three feet asunder. In order that
the enemv may not be able to set fire to the blockhouse,
he must be kept off from it by a ditch, the earth of
which is piled up against the blockhouse as high as
the loop-holes, and is moreover employed to cover
the roof and form also a small glacis round the work.
The oidy dilference between a blockhouse intended to
]'esist artillery and that which has been just described
is, that, instead of a single row of contiguous trunks of
trees or piles, the former is constructed of a double
row; the interval between them being filled with well-
rammed earth as high up as the loop-holes, the whole
composing a wall three feet thick. This work being of
a more important nature than the preceding one, its
inside dimension should be tweiity-four feet, and the tie
beams, owing to their length, must be composed of two
pieces scarfed in the middle, and moreover supported by
strong stanchions reposing on a groundsill.
Ame: lean
field-woikji.
But this description of the mode of erecting block- Fortifica-
houses, being confined to the usual practice of Euro- fkn.
pean service, would be incomplete without some refer¬
ence to the peculiar construction and employment of
similar defences in the forest warfare of North America.
By the universal expertness of the backwoodsmen of
that country in the use of the axe, works of the kind
are constructed with astonishing rapidity, and rendered
capable of opposing a formidable resistance. The
Americans build their blockhouses, like ordinary log-
habitations in their new settlements, of thick, horizontal
trunks of trees, roughly squared ; and several of these
works, disposed like bastions at the angles of an area,
in such order as to flank each other, and connected by a
stockade, or curtain of close palisading of upright trunks
of trees, loop-holed for musketry, compose a temporary
field-fort of no despicable strength. Even when artil¬
lery can be brought against these works, their defenders,
protected by interior traverses of earth, suffer little loss :
while the blockhouses and stockades, being formed of
green timber, do not easily admit of being breached ;
and may equally—as was proved in one instance, during
the last war on the Canadian frontier,—defy any attempt
to set them on fire with red-hot shot. Against mere
musketry or an open assault, it is evident that, if well
defended, the nature of such enclosed and flanked
buildings can leave a garrison little to fear. The Ame¬
rican blockhouses have sometimes an upper story, pro¬
jecting sufficiently over the lower, to afford a plunging-
fire, through the loop-holed floor, upon the assailants
at the foot of the walls.
CHAPTER VÎI.
Attack of Field works.
Having detailed the outline and relief of the various
works thrown up in the field, and having pointed out the
means by which such works may be rendered most difficult
of capture, this Essay may appropriately terminate with
abrief account of the manner in which intrenchments are
attacked. If they are of little strength and importance,
and unprovided with artillery, the assault is given with¬
out any previous cannonading. The light troops sur¬
round the post, directing upon the crest of the parapet a
shower of bullets, to prevent the defenders from showing
themselves, or at least to force them to fire precipitately
and without aim. If nothing protects the access to the
counterscarp of the work, the assailants jump into the
ditch and prepare for the assault; a part of them remain¬
ing upon the counterscarp to keep down the heads of the
defenders. When the troops have had time to breathe
in the ditch, they give the assault, the men helping one
another to climb up to the berm ; whence, with a fresh
effort they rush all together up the exterior slope, fire a
volley, and then move at once upon the defenders to
compel them to surrender. If, instead of the feeble i -
trenchment which we have just supposed, the work to be
attacked were a large field fort, provided with an inte
rior redoubt, armed with cannon, and strengthened with
abattis, trous de loup, fraises, and palisades, destined, in
short, for a long defence, the dispositions for attacking it
would be very different. It must, in the first place, be re¬
connoitred, in order to ascertain, as nearly as possible,
the nature of the obstacles to be overcome, the number
F O R T I F I C A T I O N
327
Fortifica- of cannon, and how they are placed, and likewise every
tion. detail of the ground about the work ; in order that the
measures taken for the assault may be properly executed
even at night. Batteries are then constructed ; and when
ready, the howitzers commence ricochetting with shells,
ploughing up the slopes of the parapets, and demolishing
the fraises, disarranging and cutting up the abattis, dis¬
mounting the artillery, and destroying the troops : while '
the cannon fire with full charge and directly through the
embrasures, converting the merlons into a heap of rubbish
and dismounting the guns. When the cannon of the work
is silenced, the light troops, who until then only occu¬
pied the intervals between the batteries, (not to obstruct
their fire,) now surround the work, enveloping it in
cross fires. The infantry, drawn up in as many columns
as there are salients to the work, move forward, and the
signal of assault is given. The abattis may arrest the
progress of the troops until a passage be cut through it
by the hatchets of the pioneers who march in front ;
and whilst this is being effected the battalions with sup- Fortificó'
ported arms remain exposed to all the fire from the
work, without being able to answer it. The light troops
however should, in the mean time, redouble their efforts
to keep down the enemy's fire. The obstacle being
overcome, the columns again move on in close order ;
the foremost men throw planks over the trous-de-loup,
and prepare the way for the rest ; when arrived at the
counterscarp, the assailants descend into the ditch ; cut
away the palisades if there be any ; rally ; draw breath ;
and then rush to the assault, entering through the em¬
brasures or passing over the parapet. In short, after a
struggle, more or less protracted, the colours of the as¬
sailants are planted on the most elevated part of the in-
trenchment ; the defenders, borne down by numbers,
have ceased to resist; and withdrawing into the redoubt,
there demand a capitulation, which a generous victor
cannot refuse.
EXPLANATION
OF
THE CHIEF TECHNICAL TERMS USED IN MODERN FORTIFICATION.
Abattis, A line "of felled frees with their branches pointed towards
the enemy, to obstruct his advance.
Advanced-work, Any defensive construction placed in front of the
Govert'way, but within range of the artillery of a fortress.
Approaches, See Zig-zags.
Banquette, A step to enable infantry to fire over a parapet.
Barbette, Any raised platform to enable cannon to fire over the
parapet.
Bastion, A principal work in the enceinte of a place, composed of
two faces projecting outwards, and two flanks.
Batardeau, A dam across the ditch of a fortress, to retain or let off
the water at pleasure.
Battery, Any area on which cannon, mortars, &c. are placed to fire
against the enemy's works.
Berm, A narrow path left between the parapet and edge of the
ditch before it.
Blindage. See Splinter-proof.
Blockhouse, A covered building, generally of wood, for defence.
Body of the place. All works within the main ditch.
Bomb-proof. See Casemates.
Breaking ground. Commencing the trenches in a siege.
Camouflet,^ or Stißer. A small mine formed in the earth between
two parallel galleries, to cut off tlie retreat of the enemy's
miner.
Capital, A line imagined to bisect the projecting angle of any
work.
Caponniere. A screened communication between two works.
Casemate. A vault of brick or stone, to cover artillery or to lodge
troops, generally formed in the mass of the rampart, and always
made bomb-proof : that is, of sufficient thickness and strength
in the roof and sides to resist the effect of shells, projected from
mortars.
Cavalier, Any elevated work in the enceinte of a fortress or iir the
trenches of attack, to give a command over the enemy.
Chamber of a mine. The excavation which contains the charge of
gunpowder.
Chevaux de frise. Obstacles composed of horizontal beams, bristled
with pointe<l stakes, sword-blades, &C,.
Circumvallntion. A line of works drawn rouird a fortress to exclude
succour.
Coffer^ A sunken caponniere^ or trerrch for defeirce, geirerally
covered, and lined with brick-work.
Command. The height of one work above another, or above the
natural ground.
Cordon, The horizontal moulding which usually crowns the revet-
ment., which see.
Counter-approaches. Trenches executed during a siege by the de¬
fenders, to outflank those of the enemy.
Counter-arches, Circular walls connecting the tails of counterforts^
or arches built, in tiers, behind a revetm.ent and between the
counterforts, to resist the outward pressure of the rampart. See
Revetment.^ and
Counterfort, An interior massive buttress of brick or stone, to
strengthen the revetment^ which see.
Counterguard. An outwork, covering the face of a bastion or ra¬
velin.
Countermine, A mine used in defence.
Counterscarp. The exterior side of a ditch.
Countervailation, A line of works to prevent egress from a fortress.
Coupures. Ti averses with a ditch in front, formed across the terre-
pleins or upper surfaces of ramparts.
Coven-way. A communication round the works of a place in fioiit
of the ditch, and screened by a glacis^ which see.
Crater. The excavation produced in the earth by the explosion of
a mine.
Crémaillère line., or Indented line. A continuous parapet, forming
a series of alternate branches and crotchets respectively paiallel
to each other. The interior slope of a parapet, when cut so as
to form short faces alternately parallel and í perpendicular to
the capital of the work, is said to be en crémaillère.
Crest, The highest ridge of a parapet.
Crown-work. A double hornwork. See Uornwarh.
Cunette. An open drain running along the middle of a larger
ditch.
Curtain, The connecting line of rampart or parapet between two
projecting works.
Dead-angle. That which is without flanking defence.
328 FORTIFICATION.
Fortifica- Déblai. The earth thrown out in the act of excavating the ditch,
tion. Defilade, To screen the interior of a work, by a proper height of
parapet, from the fire of the enemy.
Ditch. The excavation in front of a work, from which the earth to
form the rampart or parapet is usually obtained.
Demilune^ or Half-moon. See Ravelin.
Detached work. Any defensive construction placed beyond artil¬
lery range from a fortress.,
Embrasure. An opening cut in the parapet for cannon to fire
through.
Enceinte. The main rampart immediately encircling or surrounding
the area fortified.
Enfilade. To sweep the interior of a work by a line of fire parallel
to its front.
Entrenchment. Any defensive cover obtained by excavation.
Epaulement. In strictness, that elevation of earth which forms the
wings of a battery, and covers the guns in flank : but the term
is often, though improperly, used to signify the parapet in ge¬
neral of a battery.
Escarp. The interior side of a ditch.
Face. A line of rampart, usually forming one side of a projecting
angle.
Fascine, A large faggot.
FaussC'braye. A low rampart in front of, and formerly attached
to, the enceinte.^ which see.
Flank. The line of rampart or parapet between the face and gorge
of any woik, which defends either the collateral ground, or
the fronts of works thereon constructed.
Flèche. A simple redan usually constructed at the foot of a glacis.
See Redan.
Fougass. A small mine.
Fraises. See Palisades.
Gabion. A cylindrical basket open at both ends, planted on the
ground to sustain the earth forming a parapet.
Gabionade. A parapet formed of full gabions.
Gallery. Any subterranean passage in mining.
Glacis. A parapet with a gentle slope terminating on the level of
the exterior ground.
Gorge. The interval between the rear extremities of a work.
Hand-grenade. A small shell thrown by hand.
Hornwork. An advanced work composed of two half bastions and
a connecting curtain.
Intrenchment. See Entrenchment.
Investment. The operation of confining a garrison within its de¬
fences
Lines. A general term for any long extent of defensive works.
Lines of defence, are those supposed to be drawn from the projecting
angle of a work to the interior extremity of the flank which is
to defend it.
Loop-holes. Small apertures cut in walls or timber work for mus¬
ketry.
Lunette. An advanced work in the shape of a bastion.
Magistral line. That which is first traced on the ground, or on
paper, to express the contour of the plan of any work. In Per¬
manent Fortification it is supposed to correspond to the cordon
of the revetment.
Main-ditch. The principal ditch in a fortress immediately in front
of the enceinte, which see.
Merlon. The portion of a parapet between two embrasures.
Mme. A subterraneous gallery and recess, to contain gunpowder
for destroying, by its explosion, the enemy or his works.
Grillon. A projection at the shoulder of a bastion, covering the
flank from exterior observation.
Outwork. Any defensive construction between the enceinte, or
main rampart, and the ground immediately beyond the ditch.
Palanque. or Palanka. See Stockade.
Palisades. Rows of strong pointed timbers planted upright in the
earth at small intervals. When not upright, and planted in
the slopes of parapets, these are termed fraises.
Parados. A screen for defence against a fire in reverse, or behind.
Parallel, in a siege, is a trench nearly equidistant in all its length Fortifica-
from the works of the fortress attacked. tion.
Parapet, or Breastwork. The mass of earth which covers the de- v -b, ■
fenders from the fire of the assailants in front.
Pierriers. Small mortars for projecting showers of stones, &c.
Place of arms. Any area destined for assembling bodies of troops ;
sometimes the parallels in a siege are so called.
Plane of defilement, is supposed to coincide with the crest of a
work and the enemy's fire arm on the exterior ground.
Plane of site. The surface of the ground on which a work is con¬
structed, if not commanded ; when commanded, the plane is
' oblique to the horizon, and passes through the summit of the
height.
Postern. A covered passage through the rampart into the ditch.
Ramp. An inclined plane for ascent or descent to a work.
Rampart. The mass of earth which encloses and screens the in¬
terior of a work, and on which its artillery and troops are
placed in the defence.
Ravelin. A principal outwork, projecting in front of the curtain
between two bastions.
Redan. A work consisting of two faces forming a projecting angle,
employed to cover troops, or the entrance to a principal work ,
when two or more are connected by curtains they form lines
of intrenchment.
Redoubt. Any enclosed work undefended by re-entering or flanking
angles. Also, any work constructed within another, to serve
as a place of retreat for the defenders of the latter.
Remblai. The mass of earth accumulated from the excavation of
the ditch.
Rentrant or Re-entering angle. Any angle of a work of which the
vertex points inwardly.
Retrenchment. Any work constructed in the interior of another
to prolong its defence.
Revetment. Any wall sustaining the side of a ditch.
Ricochet. A mode of firing artillery, by which the shot is made to
bound along a plane surface.
Salient angle. The projecting angle formed by the faces of any
work. The ground in front of such angle is in common par¬
lance called the salient of the work.
Sally-port. A gate beyond the ditch.
Sap. The process of executing approaches in siege operations be¬
hind gabions.
Saucisson. A long fascine, which word see. Also the tube or
hose containing ihe gunpowder by which a mine is fired.
Shaft. The vertical descent into a mine.
Shoulder. The angle formed by the face and flank of a work,
Sphnter-proofs. Blinds or covered buildings of carpentry or brick¬
work, of sufficient strength for protection against fragments of
shells, grenades, &c.
Star-forts. Works enclosing areas and having faces disposed so
as to form a series of angles alternately projecting and retiring.
Stockade, or Palanka. A row of trunks of trees or stout timbers,
planted upright, close together, and usually loop-holed for
musketry.
Tambour. A small enclosure of timber or brick-work, pierced with
loop-holes for musketry. Small areas enclosed by parapets
of earth are also so called.
Tamp. To close up the entrance to the chamber of a mine, so that
the explosion may not find vent through the gallery.
Tenaille. À low work in the main ditch of a fortress.
Terreplein. The interior area of a work ; also the upper surface
of a rampart.
Tète-de-pont. Any work constructed on the bank of a river with its
rear bounded by the stream in order to defend the approaches
to a bridge.
Tower-bastion. A tower of stone or brick in the form and situation
of a small bastion.
Traverse. Any mass of earth across the interior of a work for pro¬
tection against enfilade or ricochet fire.
Trenches. The excavations made in a siege for cover against the
fire of the fortress.
Trous-de-loup. Holes or pitfalls with stakes planted at the bottom,
to obstruct the advance of an assailant.
Zig-zags, or Approaches. The trenches by which the besiegers
advance, in oblique directions, towards the works of the fortress.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval At"
chitecture.
Introduc¬
tory re¬
marks.
Division of
cur Naval
history.
Henry VII.
No Dock¬
yards.
Henry
Via.
Admiralty
and Navy
Board
formed.
(1.) It is impossible to contemplate the Naval
power of England, and not to feel a deep interest in
its history and growth. Such an inquiry cannot but
command our attention, mingled up as it is with the
elements of our political power, and forming the founda¬
tion of all that influence which the name of Britain has
for so long a period maintained in the World. The
limits of an Essay., like that upon which we are about
to enter, will not, however, permit us to do more than
glance at a subject connected with so many splendid
names, and so many transcendent events,—with victory
and conquest in their largest sense,—with civilization
and the whole train of the useful Arts,—with all that can
impart an interest to a Nation like our own, and to the
wide and extended empire of Man.
(2.) It has been usual to divide our Naval History
into three periods : the first embracing all that preceded
the reign of Henry VIII. ; the second ending with the
Restoration of Charles II. ; and the last descending
from the time of the Restoration to the present day.
(3.) The first ship actually belonging to the Royal
Navy was the Great Harry, built by Henry VII. in
the third year of his reign, at an expense of ¿£14,000 ;
this Monarch being the first who thought of raising a
Naval force sufficient for the service of the State. Prior
to this our Kings had neither arsenals nor dock-yards ;
and by the Report of the Commissioners for Revising
and Digesting the Civil Affairs of the Navy, (1805,) it
appears, that the permanent Naval force of our Mo-
narchs consisted only of fifty-seven vessels, each carry¬
ing twenty-one men and a boy, as well armed and fitted
for war as the circumstances of the times would permit.
The Cinque Ports were bound by their Charters to fur¬
nish these vessels annually, free of expense, for fifteen
days, after receiving forty days' notice from the Crown.
Whenever a greater force was required, ships were
hired from the merchants at home, or from those of
Dantzic, Hamburg, Lubec, Genoa, and other ports.
(4.) The Naval power of England began to assume
a regular and systematic form during the reign of
Henry VIII. That Monarch formed an Admiralty
and Navy Board, founded the Trinity House, and
established the Dock-yards at Deptford, Woolwich,* and
Portsmouth.t He drew up a code of regulations lor
the Civil government of the Navy, which has formed the
basis of all the instructions from time to lime issued
respecting it. Henry appointed several great officers
for carrying into execution his Naval plans ; viz, a
Vice-Admiral of England, a Master of the Ordnance, a
Surveyor of the Marine Causes, a Treasurer, Comptrol¬
ler and General Surveyor of the Victualling department,
a Clerk of the Ships and Clerk of the Stores. These
officers were commanded to meet once a week at an
Office on Tower Hill, to consult together for the good
order of the Navy, and to report their proceedings
monthly to the Lord High Admiral. Notwithstanding,
* Woolwich is called the Mother Dock by Camden.
f In 1650, there was no mast house or dry dock, nor above
100 shipwrights in this Dock-yard. The first dry dock was formed
in 1655.
VOL. VI. 329
however, this approach to a regularly organized system
in Naval affairs, the ships belonging to the Crown
formed only a part of the Naval force employed in time
of war. The tonnage at this time, according to Mr.
Derrick's Memoirs of the Navy, amounted to 12,455
tons, and the mariners and soldiers to 7730.
(5.) During the reign of Edward VI. encouragement
was given to the increase of seamen by preventing the
trade from being carried on in foreign bottoms. The
fleet at this time was divided into a Summer Guard
and Winter Guard, the former consisting of 2540 tons
and 1730 men, and the latter of 2150 tons and 1516
men. The tonnage at the death of this Monarch
amounted to 1.1,065 tons.
(6.) During the reign of Mary, the fleet diminished
exceedingly. At her death the tonnage amounted only
to 7110 tons, and the ships and vessels to twenty-six.
(7.) Elizabeth attended to the Navy with peculiar
care. She ordered a rigid inquiry to be made into its
condition and the causes of its late decay. She com¬
manded timber to be preserved for ship-building, caused
her magazines to be filled with stores, and ordered
many pieces of brass and iron cannon to be cast. She
encouraged her merchants to build larger vessels for the
purpose of being converted into ships of war, when
necessary ; and what is singular, her Commissioners had
the power of rating them 50 or 100 tons more than
their actual admeasurement. To stimulate her own
ship-buildí>rs¡ she went to Woolwich to the launching of
a new ship, and called her by her own name. She
augmented also the pay of her Naval officers, raised the
wages of her seamen, and invited to her dominions
foreigners who were skilled in the Art of Navigation,
She encouraged, also, the younger branches of her
Nobility to enter the Navy, and settled a part of her
revenue, amounting to ¿£9000 a year, towards its ordi¬
nary supply. Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Haw¬
kins, two renowned Commanders, advised the establish¬
ment of a Chest at Chatham tor the relief of seamen
wounded in their Country's service. The proud titles of
Restorer of the Naval power and Sovereign of the
Northern Seas, were hence justly bestowed upon Eliza¬
beth. At the time of her death, the Royal Navy consisted
of forty-two ships of 17,055 tons burthen, and manned
by 8346 seamen. The fleet by which the Spanish
Armada was defeated, consisted of 176 ships carrying
14,992 men ; but of these only thirty-four ships with 6225
men belonged to the Crown. In the last twenty-five
years of the reign of Elizabeth, the Royal Navy was
almost doubled. The annual expense amounted to
¿£30,000.
(8.) James I. was not negligent of the Navy, in the
former part of his reign, expending ¿£50,000 annually
on it, exclusive of timber amounting to ¿£36,000, yearly
obtained from the Royal forests. According to Sir
Walter Raleigh, it was the practice at this time to
build ships by contract. In 1609 Commissions were
appointed to rectify many abuses which had insensibly
crept into the Navy. In 1610 the Prince was built, of
64 guns and 1400 tons buithen, being the largest ship
2 Y
Naval Ar¬
chitecture,
Edward VI.
Encourage¬
ment given
by him.
Mary.
Diminution
of Navy.
Elizabeth.
Encouraged
the Navy.
Her perso¬
nal exer¬
tions.
Encouragé
her Nobility
to enter the
Navy.
James I
Large ship
constructed.
330
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar- hitherto constructed in England. This Royal ship
chitecture. was double built, and most sumptuously adorned within
and without, with all manner of curious carving, paint¬
ing, and rich gilding, being in all respects the greatest
and goodliest ship that ever was built in England ; and
this glorious ship the King gave unto his son Henry
Prince of Wales.* The great workmaster in building
this ship was Mr. Phineas Pett, sometime Master of
Arts of Emanuel College in Cambridge.^'t In 1619,
Ship- ^ we find a reference made to the Wardens and Assist-
wrights Shipwrights' Company, respecting the sur-
ompany. ships at Deptford ; and in the Naval Minutes
of Mr. Pepys it is observed, that " the Shipwrights'
Hall did anciently view and approve of the draught
of the ships that were to be built for the King, and
to survey them in the building.'^J In 1620 the King
in his Speech to the Parliament affirmed, that ¿^20,000 a
year had been saved in the Naval department; and in
1623 the ordinary expenses of the fleet were reduced
from about ¿^54,000 a year to ¿^30,000. At the death
of King James, the Navy consisted of thirty-three ships,
measuring 19,400 tons, proving that an augmentation of
the dimensions of ships had taken place.
Improve- (9.) Sir Walter Raleigh in his Discourse on the in-
ments. vention of shipping, and on the improvements that
had been made therein in the reigns of Elizabeth and
James, remarks, that " in my own time the shape of
our English ships hath been greatly bettered. It is
not long since," he continues, " the striking of the top¬
mast hath been devised. Together with the chain-
pump, we have lately added the bonnet and drabler.
(Sails.) To the courses we have devised studding
sails, sprit sails, and top sails. The weighing of
anchors by the capstan is also new. We have fallen
into consideration of the length of cables,§ and by it
we resist the malice of the greatest winds that can
blow. We have, also, raised our second decks." These
different inventions seem to mark an era of active
mechanical improvement.
(10.) Thirteen years after Charles I. ascended the
Charles I. throne, a fleet of sixty sail was equipped. Before the
ofThe^Seas ^^^il War broke out, the King built at Woolwich a ship
built. called the Sovereign of the Seas. Of this " famous
vessel," it was said that " she measured 128 feet or
thereabouts, by the keel, her main breadth 48 feet, and
in height, from the bottom of the keel to the top of her
lantern, 76 feet." It is mentioned of her, as a circum¬
stance worthy of note, that she bore five lanterns, the
biggest of which would hold ten persons upright."
That she had also three flush decks, a forecastle, half-
deck, quarterdeck, and roundhouse. Her lower decks
had thirty ports for cannon and demi-cannon ; middle
tier thirty for culverines and demi-cannon ; thiid tier
twenty-six for other ordnance, forecastle twelve, and
* It is mentioued as a remarkable circumstance, that the
Prince went at three o'clock in the morning to her launching,
and named it after his own dignity.
f A circumstance worthy of notice here is, that Mr. Pett, in
1613, remarked, that he " began to victual all the shipwrights and
workmen employed."
I Mr. Pett was elected and sworn Master of the Shipwrights'
Company in April 1606, on which occasion, he says, they kept a
feast with a great number of their friends, at the King's Head, in
New Fish-Skeet; and by the new Charter, granted in 1612 for
incorporating the Shipwrights of England, he was also ordained
the first Master.
§ The cables before this time are said to have been only 78
fathoms long; at the present time they are 101 fathoms long.
two halfdecks have thirteen or fourteen port?, more Naval Ar-
within board, for murdering pieces, besides ten pieces chitecture.
of chase ordnance forward, and ten right aft, and many
loopholes in the cabins for musket-shot. She hath two
galleries besides, and all of most curious carved work,
and all the sides of the ship carved with trophies of
artillery and types of honour, as well belonging to sea
as land, with symbols appertaining to Navigation ; also
their two Sacred Majesties' badges of honour ; arms with
several angels holding their letters in compartments, all
which works are gilded over, and no other colour but
gold and black. Upon the stern-head a Cupid, or child
bridling a lion ; upon the bulk-head, right forward,
stand six statues in sundry postures ; these figures re¬
present Concilium, Cura, Conamen, Vis, Virtus, Vic¬
toria. Upon the hawsers of the water are four figures,
Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Eolus ; on the stern Victory
in the midst of a frontispiece ; upon the beak-head
sitteth King Edgar on horseback, trampling on seven
Kings."*
(11.) To this vessel, the largest that ever had been This ship
built in England, and said to have been designed only occasioned
for splendour and magnificence, some have attributed
those loud complaints against Ship-money, which marked s^ip.
this Monarch's eventful reign. By building the Sove- money,
reign of the Seas it is, however, admitted that Charles
rendered a great service to the Navy, by setting the
example of increased dimensions, to which all the
successes of the English over the Dutch in 1653 were
ascribed. In the year 1633 the Navy consisted of fifty
ships,t measuring 23,695 tons, carrying 1430 guns, and
maimed by 9470 men. On the breaking out of the State of
Rebellion in 1641, the number was reduced to forty-two Royal
ships, with a burthen of 22,411 tons. Prince Rupert
quitted the Kingdom in 1648 with twenty-five ships,
none of which ever returned. It has been said that
Cromwell could command at the beginning of his
usurpation only fourteen ships of war, some of which
carried but 40 guns. The first frigate was built in
1649, by Mr. Peter Pett, for a privateer for the Earl
of Warwick. Mr. Pett adopted the idea from a French
frigate he had seen in the Thames. J
(12.) The vigorous exertions of Cromwell raised the Common-
Navy, however, in six years, to 157 ships, carrying wealth.
4390 guns and 21,910 seamen, exclusive of the
and men for four ships then building. Of these, forty-
six were foreign built, mostly captured in the Dutch
* " On the 14th of May, 1635," says Mr. Pett, 1 was com¬
manded by His Majesty to hasten into the North, to provide and
prepare the frame-timber, plank, and tree-nails for the great new
ship at Woolwich. I left my sons to see the moulds and other
necessaries shipped in a Newcastleman, hired on purpose to trans¬
port our provisions and workmen to Newcastle. The frame, as it
was got ready, was shipped and sent in Colliers from Newcastle
and Sunderland. The 21st December, 1635 we laid the keel in
the dock. She was launched 13th October, 1637, and named the
Sovereign of the Seas."
Engravings were made of this ship by Payne, on two plates
joined, 3 feet long, and 2 feet 2 inches high. The original picture
is said to have been painted by Vandevelde.
In the list of the King's ships for 1633, the armament of the
Prince Royal is distinguished by an odd number, namely 55 guns.
f At the present moment, exactly two hundred years after the
date specified above, in a time of profound Peace, and when un
thought of reductions have been made, the Navy consists of 574
ships.
J It would appear from Mr. Pett's monument, in St. Nicholas
Church, Deptford, that he was the inventor of frigates ; this, how¬
ever, was not the case.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
331
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Charlea II,
Ability of
Charles for
Naval
aâkirs.
Construc¬
tion of two-
deck ships.
War. During the reign of Charles I. the length of
the keel began to be regarded as an element proper to
be entered in the official lists ; but at the period now
under review, the breadth and depth also were inserted.
In the list for 1652 we find a lOO-gun ship first men¬
tioned, and, singularly enough, called the Sovereign.
The length of her keel was 127 feet, breadth 46 feet
6 inches, depth 19 feet 4 inches, and tonnage 1141
tons.^
(13 ) Cromwell was so sensible of the respect paid
by foreign States to the Naval power of this Country,
that, instead of reducing his Navy at the conclusion of
the War in 1654, he ordered ail the ships to be repaired
and put into good condition ; he also ordered new ones
to be built, and the storehouses and magazines to be
replenished as in a time of the greatest danger. Sixty
ships were either built or building between 1646 and
1653; and the pay of the sailors was raised from 19s.
to 24s. a month. Estimates for the maintenance and
support of the Navy were for the first time laid before
Parliament, and the Protector obtained an annual grant
of <^400,000 for that purpose. During the short and
feeble Adrninistiation of Cromwell's son, the Navy, it
is probable, somewhat declined, the funds being diverted
to various other purposes.
(14.) There seems some diversity of opinion respect¬
ing the actual amount of the Navy at the time of the
Restoration. According to some authorities the whole
fleet consisted but of sixty-five ships and vessels of all
sizes. Mr. Derrick, however, is inclined to believe the
actual amount to have been 162 ships and vessels, with
a tonnage (as stated in Columna Rostrata^ p. 251) of
62,594 tons. In the second Dutch War in February,
1665, it is known the English fleet at sea, and ready for
sea, consisted of 114 sail, besides fire-ships and ketches.
(15.) According to Mr. Pepys, King Charles II.
possessed a transcendent mystery in all maritime
afl^airs." For the first ten years of his reign he was un¬
doubtedly very intent on augmenting our Naval power.
He nominated the Duke of York Lord High Admiral ;
and, by the advice of Mr. Pepys, a Committee was
appointed, over which the Duke presided, Mr. Pepys
acting as Secretary. The powers formerly granted to
the Admiralty and Navy Board were recalled, the Lord
High Admiral undertaking the supreme management,
with the aid of three new Commissioners, the Comp¬
troller, the Surveyor, and the Clerk of the Acts. Seventy-
six ships of the line, stored for six months, were called
into active sea pay, besides merchantmen, and a nume¬
rous train of ketches, smacks, yachts, &c., with more than
12,000 seamen. At this time, also, there were thirty
new ships building, and an abundance of Naval stores.
(16.) In 1663 and 1664 a stimulus was given to our
ship-builders by the Dutch and French having built
ships of two decks, carrying from 60 to 70 guns, ca¬
pable of stowing four months' provisions, and having
their lower guns four feet above the water. The
English frigates at this time were what was then
called Dunkirk built," narrow and sharp vessels, and
hence incapable of carrying their guns little more than
three feet above the water, and only ten weeks' provi¬
sions. Sir Anthony Deane, a keen observer of Naval
affairs, and the most accomplished ship-builder at that
time in England, endeavoured to correct these defects, by
* In the list of the Navy for 1651, the armament of the Revo¬
lution was distinguished by an odd number, mz, 85 guns.
causing two ships to be built capable of carrying six
months' provisions, and having their guns 4J feet above
the water.
(17.) From 1660^ to 1670 the charge of the Navy,
according to the Lord Keeper Bridgman, had never
amounted to less than ¿^500,000 a year. It is remark¬
able, however, that, in 1665, Lord Clarendon told the
Pailiament that the Naval and Military stores were
entirely exhausted. This is one among many instances
of the conflicting testimonies met with in the Public
Accounts of the Country, of which our own day is not
without examples.
(18.) In 1673 the Duke resigned his high office,
and from that time until May 1679, the affairs of the
Admiralty were managed by the King himself. The
vicious habits of this Monarch wasted in dissipation
those sums which ought to have been employed in main¬
taining the Navy ; and so sensible was the Parliament
of this, that ¿^300,000 was not voted for the Naval service
in 1675, without making particular restrictions respect¬
ing the appropriation of the money. In 1677, also,
¿^586,000, voted for the building of thirty ships, was
subjected to like injunctions. From 1672 to 1684, the
affairs of the Navy were managed by a Commission,
but so badly were they conducted, that the Naval force
at sea had declined to twenty-two ships, none of which
were larger than a fourth-rate ; whilst the vessels in
harbour were totally unfit for service, and falling rapidly
into decay. Several of the ships had been reported by
the Navy Board to be in danger of sinking at their
moorings. The magazines of stores were also reduced
to less than ¿^5000 value. Sir Anthony Deane, one of
the Commissioners of the Navy, resigned in 1680 or
1681, foreseeing the condition to which the Navy would
be reduced. In 1684 the Duke resumed the manage¬
ment of Naval affairs, assisted by the able advice of
Mr. Pepys, but the ships continued to decline till the
King's decease.
(19 ) It is remarkable, however, and the circum¬
stance ought to operate as a salutary caution in every
after Age, that the power and energy of the Duke could
not arrest this declension ; nor for a whole year after he
had become King, could he, with the whole weight of
his new authority, check the progressive decay. He
resolved therefore to suspend all the ordinary modes by
which the business of the Navy had been conducted by
the Navy Board, and to call into his aid other persons,
on whose experience and industry he could rely. These
he joined to a select number of the old Commissioners,
in effecting his work of reformation. A part of these
members, six in number, was required to sit constantly
at the Board, and among them was the able and con¬
scientious Sir Anthony Deane. Three members of the
Board superintended the Dock-yards at Chatham, Ports¬
mouth, and Woolwich, and the remainder, with the aid
of Lord Falkland, were occupied in adjusting the ac
counts. Of these Commissioners, Mr. Pepys has re¬
marked, That they were men possessing a practised
knowledge of every part of the works and methods of
the Navy, both at the Board and in the Yards ; a general
mastery in the business of accounts, vigour of mind,
and improved industry and integrity qualities, we
would add, which, in every Age, cannot but be of the
first importance to the public service.
* In 1660 the Dutch gave his Majesty a yacht called the Mary.
This is the earliest time at which the name Yacht is to be found
in our Naval records.
2 Y 2
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Charge for
the Navy.
Extrava¬
gance of
Charles.
Navy ma¬
naged by a
Commis¬
sion.
James II.
33-2
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Inquiry
into decay
tí the
Kavy.
Arrange¬
ments of
Stores.
Improved
condition
of the
Navy.
VVilliam
and Mary.
Several
large ships
built
Dock-yards
Infernal
machines.
Aniiii.
(20 ) The first inquiry of the new Commissioners was
into the rapid decay of the thirty ships voted to be built
in 1677. Some of these vessels were completed the fol¬
lowing year, but others not until 1682 ; and it appeared
that their decay did not result so much from the haste
with which they had been built, as from the omission of
the necessary and ordinary precautions for preserving
them. The labours of the Commissioners were so
entirely satisfactory, that on the close of the Commission
on the 12th of October, 1688, there remained only three
ships to be examined of the whole number originally
proposed to be repaired. Added to this, stores for eight
months instead of six were left in the magazines, dis¬
posed in the most admirable order, and ready to be
applied to the proper ships. The value of the stores
so laid apart for each particular ship, together with
those on board the ships at sea, amounted to above
¿^280,000. The Commissioners also left in store a
further reserve of wood, hemp, pitch, tar, rosin, can¬
vass, iron, and oil, of above <£100,000 value ; and more
new magazines were created in the course of this time
than had ever existed before. Thus the Navy was
raised from its feeble and abject state, to a degree of
prosperity unparalleled in any previous period of its
history. Among other prudent regulations, the Com¬
missioners abolished the irregular supplies of stores
which the boatswains and carpenters of ships had
hitherto controlled, and fixed one uniform establishment
of sea-stores for a ship of each rate. On the abdication
of King James, the Royal Navy consisted of 173 ships,
having a burthen of 101,892 tons, mouating 69S0 guiis,
and carrying 42,003 men
(21.) The Revolution of 1688, which happily accom¬
plished so many important changes, left the code of Naval
regulations established by the Commissioners in the pre¬
ceding reign unaltered. The actors in that important
scene wisely left untouched a system which had produced
so many important results. Accordingly, an Act was
passed in the second year of the reign of William and
Mary, for building seventeen ships of 1100 tons each,
and carrying 80 guns; three of 1050 tons, and car¬
rying 70 guns each ; and ten of 900 tons each, car¬
rying 60 guns, making thirty ships in the whole. The
first-mentioned ships had three decks, which mode
of construction continued till the War of 1756. In
the following year money was voted for a Dock-yard
at Plymouth, and also for building additional dry and
wet docks at Portsmouth. In 1693, with a view of
creating an abundant stock of Naval stores, the sum of
£1,926,516 was granted to their Majesties, together
with £23,406 for finishing the Naval yard at Plymouth,
also £10,908for building tour bomb-vessels, and £68,400
tor constructing eight 40-gun ships. About this time,
vessels called Machines or Infernáis were first employed
as fire-ships ; their inventor is said to have been M.
Meesters. Advice-boat», so called officially, are said to
have been employed for the first time in 1692, before
the Battle of La Hogue, in order to gain intelligence
ot what was taking place at Brest.
(22.) At the accession of King William, the Royal
Navy consisted of 173 ships, admeasuring 101,892
tons ; and at his death it had augmented to 272 ships,
with a tonnage of 159,020 tons, the increase being more
than one-half, both as to the number and the tonnage
of ships.
(23.) In the early part of the reign of Queen
Anne, the Country was visited by a most desolating
storm * The Navy suffered a great loss, and the House of Naval Ar-
Commons with the greatest promptitude addressed her
Majesty, desiring her to give immediate directions for re- _
pairing it, and for building such capital" ships as she
thought fit. Orders were accordingly given to that
effect ; but it is somewhat remarkable, observes Mr. Der¬
rick, that no money was directly voted by the House in
this reign for the building of ships, though in Novem¬
ber 1705 a sum was granted for ordnance stores, and
carriages for eight new ships, built in lieu of part of
those lost in the great storm. The Navy at this time Navy very
was exceedingly popular, and the many disasters it met popular,
with served as a plausible ground for augmenting it. The
seamen of the Royal Navy were particularly encouraged,
the utmost care being taken of the sick and wounded,
and prize-money being speedily paid : regulations which
came home to the generous hearts of the sailors, and
inspired them with new ardour in their Country's
cause. The earnestness of the House of Lords in
favour of the well-being of the Navy may be gatliered
from the following extract of an Address of that body in
March 1707 :
" It is a most vndovhted maxim^ that the honour,
security, and wealth of this Kingdom does depend upon
the protection and encouragement of Trade, and the
improving and right managing its Naval strength.
Other nations, who were formerly great and powerful
at sea, have, by negligence and mismanagement, lost
their Trade, and have seen their maritime power en¬
tirely ruined. Therefore we do in the most earnest
manner beseech your Majesty, that the sea affairs may
always he your first and most peculiar careV
At the time of the Queen's death, in 1714, the Royal
Navy consisted of 247 ships, bearing 167,219 tons.
(24.) In 1715, the year following the accession
George I., a general survey was made of all the stores Survey of
in the different Dock-yards, which were distributed as stores,
follows ;
At Deptford £90,544
Woolwich 60,174
Chatham 186,855
Sheerness 35,246
Portsmouth 182,076
Plymouth 109,833
Total ... £664,728
From 1715 to 1721 inclusive, the sum of £1,052,395
was voted for extraordinary repairs and the rebuilding
of ships. From 31st of March, 1713, to 31st of Decem¬
ber, 1721, there were either built or rebuilt thirty-four
ships of the line, three of which carried 100 guns, and
twenty-five ships of 40 guns and under. In 1719 new
dimensions were established for several classes of ships.
The Navy on the whole declined in this reign in a small
* This storm was the mostiremendous ever known in the History
of^ifthe World. It began about the middle of November, and did
not reach its greatest height until the morning of the 27th. The
Eddystone Lighthouse was blown down at this time. A General
Fast was appointed in consequence of the storm. The Queen issued
a Proclamation, ordering that all the widows and families of such
officers and seamen as had perished by the storm in her Majesty's
service, should be entitled to her bounty in the same manner as if
they had been actually killed in battle. De Foe, the author of
Robinson Crusoe, was suffering in Newgate at this time, and com¬
posed the Siorm, being a collection of the most remarkable casual¬
ties which happened in this great tempest.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
333
Naval Ar- degree, and at the death of the King consisted of the
chrtectnre.^ following ships :
Rates or Classes. Guns. Number. Burthen in Tons,
1st 100 7 12,945
2d 90 13 20,125
3d 80 16 21,122
70 24 26,836
4th 60 18 16,925
50 46 33,829
Ships of the line .... 124 131,782
Of 40 guns and under 109 39,080
233 170,862
Notwithstanding the decrease of number, there is still
an increase of tonnage, showing that a gradual augmen¬
tation of magnitude was insensibly taking place.
George II. (25.) George II. ascended the throne in 1728, and
General 31st of July of that year, another general survey
survey of stores was made in the several Dock-yards, and the
stores. total amount found to be ¿^636,756. For the last six
years of the preceding reign, no money was voted for the
building and repairs of ships, and the same omission took
place during the first and second years of this reign. A
ten years' Peace had seemed to render any grant un¬
necessary.
Alteration (26.) In 1743, the establishment of ships' guns was
of ships* altered by order of the King and Council and in the
succeeding year all prizes taken by his Majesty's ships
were declared by the King's Proclamation to be the pro¬
perty of the captors for the time to come.
(27.) In 1744 or 1745, general complaints were made
that our ships were not built of sufficient strength, nor
their guns carried sufficiently high above the water.
They were also said to be very crank, and their weight of
metal inferior to those of the enemv, whose batteries were
said to be always open." The Lords Commissioners
of the Admiralty, therefore, gave directions to the flag
Scheme of officers, the Surveyor of the Navy, and the master ship-
dimensions of the Dock-yards to prepare a scheme of dimen-
âiiri soririL« v i i
lings. sions and scantlings, and also a draught for a ship of each
class ; and from these draughts and plans the elements
then judged to be most correct were deduced. The
♦ In the proposition of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
for the foregoing establishment, they mention that since the year
1733, but especially since 1st January, 1740, the dimensions of
ships of your Majesty's Navy have been much increased. W e do
therefore humbly propose that the number and nature of guns di¬
rected by your Majesty's Order in Council of 31st January, 1733,
may be established on such ships of your Royal Navy as have
been ordered to be built or rebuilt since 1st January, 1740, or shall
be hereafter built or rebuilt, with this exception, that whereas
the ships of 50 guns are now built of such large dimensions that
they can conveniently carry 22 guns of 24-poun(iers upon the lower
deck, and as many of 12-pounders upon the upper deck, with 4
guns of 6-pounders upon the quarterdeck, and 2 guns of 6-pounders
upon the forecastle, the same may be established upon them, instead
of those proposed in the year 1733."
By the draughts established for building ships in 1745, those of
64 and 58 guns had port-holes for 70 and 60 guns as follows :
64 to carry 70. 58 to carry 60.
Lower deck 26 24
Upper deck 28 26
Quarterdeck ........ 12 8
Forecastle 4 2
70 "eo
These establishments of guns, and the various changes which they
have undergone in different periods of our Naval History, are well
worthy of the attention of him who aims at a general and compre¬
hensive view of this important subject.
ships built according to this establishment were found to Naval Ai>
carry their guns well, and acquired the name of stiff chitecture.
ships ; but they were said to be fully formed" in their
after-part. In the War of 1756 some further improve¬
ments in the draughts were made, and also a further
augmentation of dimensions. The following Table will
show the progressive additions made to the Navy during
this reign
Ships of the Ships of 40 guns q, , .
line. and upwards. • ® ^ •
Date.
December 1st, 1730.. 124
January 1st, 1739 . . . 124
June 25th, 1742 125
December 31st, 1744 . 128
May 26th, 1748 140
January 1st, 1750 .. . 126
January 1st, 1756.. . 142
114
104
146
174
199
156
178
238
228
271
302
339
282
320
(28.) The reign of George III. was destined to see George III.
our Naval power rise to unparalleled splendour. At the
accession of that upright and conscientious Monarch, on
the 25th of October, 1760, the Royal Navy consisted of State of the
127 sail of the line having a burthen of 182,829 tons, Navy,
and 285 ships of 50 guns and upwards, with a tonnage
of 138,275 tons. In the War of 1762 twenty-six sail of
the line and eighty-two smaller ships and vessels were
built in the merchants yards. Twenty-four sail of the
line and twelve smaller ships also were launched in the
King's yards between the declaration of War in 1756
and the proclamation of Peace in 1763. According to
Beatson, forty-two sail of the line, French and Spanish,
together with sixty-nine vessels of 50 guns and under,
were either taken or destroyed by the English during
that War. Of these, twenty-one sail of the line were
added to our Navy.
(29.) During this War a resolution was wisely adopted
♦ A Naval uniform was first established in 1748 by George II.,
and, according to Mr. Locker, resulted from a Club of sea officers,
who met every Sunday evening at Will's Coffee-house in Scotland
Yard, for the purpose of watching over their rights and privileges ;
and who determined among other matters, " that a uniform dress
was useful and necessary for the commissioned officers, agreeable
to the practice of other nations. A Committee was hence appointed
to wait upon the Duke of Bedford and the Admiralty, and ask, if
their Lordships approve, that they will be pleased to introduce it to
his Majesty."
When it was determined to establish the uniform, Mr. Forbes,
then Admiral of the Fleet, was summoned to attend the Duke of
Bedford, and being introduced into an apartment surrounded with
various dresses, his opinion was asked as to the most appropriate.
The Admiral said, red and blue, or blue and red, as these are our na¬
tional colours ^*No," replied his Grace ; " the King has determined
otherwise. For having seen my Duchess riding in the Park a few
days ago, in a habit of blue faced with white, the dress took the
fancy of his Majesty, who has appointed it for the uniform of the
Royal Navy."
Before 1748, Mr. Locker remarks, "every man dressed as
seemed good in his own eyes. Some of the crack Captains carried
it so far as to have a special uniform for their own ships. My late
gallant father, who went to sea in 1746, used to tell us, that Captain
Windham, and all the officers of the Kent of 70 guns, in which he
embarked, wore grey and silver, faced with scarlet ! Such foppery,
however, at that period, was not unfrequently combined with
check shirts and petticoat trowsers,"
" In the Hall at Greenwich may be seen," continues Mr. Locker,
" every variety of cut and complexion of dress. Nottingham, Ra¬
leigh, and Torrington expand their dignities in courtly costume
Lawson, Harman, and Monk frown in buff belts and jerkins.
Sandwich, Munden, and Benbow shine forth in armour ; while
Rooke, and Russell, and Shovell, the heroes of a softer Age, aie
clothed in crimson and Lincoln green, surmounted with the flowing
wig, which then distinguished alike the men of the robe and of the
sword."
334
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
of ships.
Zealous
efforts of
the Court
of Direc¬
tors.
Naval Ar öf ïiot building any more 80-gun ships with three decks,
chitecture. or any 70 or 60-gun ships. Ships of 74 and 64 guns on
two decks were built instead of those of 80 guns, and
New scale 50-gun ships with a roundhouse, for the accommodation
of flag officers in time of Peace, instead of ships of
60 guns. The first 74 and 64-gun ships that were
built proved too small for their weight of metal, but
those constructed towards the latter part of the War
were of larger dimensions. In 1766 very great improve¬
ments were made in Plymouth and Portsmouth Dock¬
yards.
(30.) In the armament which took place in 1770, in
consequence of the dispute with Spain respecting the
Falkland Islands, a large proportion of the ships ordered
to be fitted for sea were found very defective ; and
had a War of long continuance taken place, the most
serious consequences might have ensued. An insufficient
number of shipwrights in the Dock-yards, together with
an improper limitation of their working hours, seemed
to have been the cause.
(31.) At the commencement of the American War in
1775, we had 131 ships of the line and 209 vessels of
50 guns and under. The Navy was augmented with
every possible rapidity, particularly with frigates, sloops,
and other small vessels.
(32.) In 1779, the Court of Directors of the East India
Company passed a resolution to present three ships of
74 guns to the Crown.* The Naval force continued to
receive very rapid augmentations, as well by captures from
the enemy as by building. No exertions, indeed, it has
been remarked, could possibly be deemed extravagant,
when the activity of our enemies was considered.f
The supplies voted by Parliament very far exceeded
those of any former period. At the signing of the Pre¬
liminaries of Peace in 1783, there were 174 ships of the
line, and vessels of 56 guns and under amounting to 443,
the total tonnage being 500,781 tons. Thus it appears,
that the Navy at this period exceeded what it was at the
end of the War in 1762 by thirty-three sail of the line,
having a tonnage of 71,070 tons, and of other vessels by
152, with a tonnage of 86,405 ; making a total increase of
185 ships, and a total augmentation of tonnage amount¬
ing to 157,475 tons. The French, Spanish, and Dutch
ships taken or destroyed by the English in the course of
this War amounted to twenty-six sail of the line, and
sixty-one vessels of 54 guns and under, besides sloops
and vessels of other kinds.
Dimensions (33.) During this War, almost every class of ships of
of ships in- 44 guns and under was considerably increased in dimen-
creased. sions, when any new ones were ordered to be built ; and
* We are no friends to the privateering system, regarding it as
little better than a licensed system of plunder and fraud, but it
would be improper to omit in an historical account like the present,
a notice of the extraordinary exertions made by the traders of Liver¬
pool at this period. According to Mr. Chalmers, (see his Estimate
of the Comparative Strength of Great Britain^ that port alone
fitted out, at the beginning of the War with France, between the
26th of July, 1778, and the 17th of April in the following year,
120 privateers, each armed with from 10 to 30 guns, but mostly
with from 14 to 20. From an accurate list, containing the name
and appointment of each vessel, it appears that these privateers
measured 30,787 tons, carrying 1986 tons, and 8754 men.
f The War with Spain commenced in 1779, and with Holland in
1780. In August, 1779, the combined fleets of France and Spain,
consisting of sixty-six sail of the line, besides frigates, &c. entered
the Channel, and appeared oif Plymouth. This formidable fleet
was a proof of the immense activity of our enemies in augmenting
their Naval force during the Peace, and particularly so when we
consider their losses during the preceding War
Great
power of
Navy at
this time.
at the latter end of 1778, the greatest part of the second- Naval Ar-
rates were established with eight additional guns for ^l^i^^cture,
their quarterdecks, thereby making tLem98-gun ships.
(34.) In June 1783, several masters in the Navy Ships in
were appointed to superintend the state of the ships in ®^dinar}'.
ordinary at Chatham, Sheerness, Portsmouth, and Ply¬
mouth. In the following' year, the Navy Board wisely
ordered that every individual ship built or put into good
condition, should in future have a large proportion of
the principal parts of her furniture and stores in readi¬
ness, and duly arranged in store for her, so that the re¬
mainder might not require more time to provide than the
necessary period for her equipment would admit, however
short that time might be. In addition to this important
regulation, another originated with Lord Barham, of
creating an establishment of stores of a great variety
of kinds, as general magazines at each Dock-yard, and
also at the other Naval stations, both at home and
abroad. This arrangement resulted probably from the
difficulties experienced in procuring some articles, and
the high prices paid for others during the War ; and the
same, doubtless, must have been the case, in a greater or
less degree, in most of the preceding Wars. Since
that time the advantages of the plan have been abun¬
dantly proved. The following Table furnishes an ac¬
count of the value of the principal articles in store at
the several Dock-yards on the 31st of December, 1792 :
Unappropriated. Appropriated. Total.
Deptford .. ¿^180,388 ¿^38,170 ¿^218,558
Woolwich . 164,406 25,144 189,550
Chatham.. 213,305 164,999 378,304
Sheerness . 50,699 21,108 71,807
Portsmouth 317,414 131,210 448,624
Plymouth . 326,880 179,259 506,139
Total .¿^1,253,0^ ^559,890 £hSl2,9S2
On January 1st, 1802, three months after the signing
of the Preliminaries of Peace, the unappropriated stores
remaining in the magazines at the several Dock-yards
were as follows :
Deptford ¿^308,093
Woolwich 600,656
Chatham 423,697
Sheerness 99,400
Portsmouth 567,243
Plymouth 611,819
Total ^2,610,908
On comparing the value of the stores in the several
Dock-yards at different periods, it will appear, that the
magazines have been increased in a greater ratio than
the ships, great as the increase in the latter has been.
The confederacy among the Northern Powers, and the
embargo in the Russian ports, in November 1800,
would have been attended with the most serious conse¬
quences, had not the magazines been previously well
stored. This instance alone proves the wisdom of the
plan. Old ships were selected in this year, and after¬
wards fitted for the reception of ships' companies and
stores, during the time ships were in dock refitting. Pre¬
viously to this arrangment, serviceable ships, not in
good condition, were made use of for the purpose, which
did them considerable injury. These were denominated
Receiving ships.
(35.) Task work was introduced into the Dock-yards Task and
in 1775, and job work in 1784. The former of these job work.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
335
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Disputes
respecting
its adop¬
tion.
Magazines.
110-giin
ships built.
Activity in
our Dock¬
yards at
the French
Revolution.
Lengthen¬
ing of
ships.
Increasing
thickness
of their
bottoms.
General im¬
provement
in vessels of
all kinds.
Ships of
120 guns
built.
Augmenta¬
tion of
seamen's
wages.
tárms applies to new work, and the latter to repairs or
old work. These plans were adopted in order to accele¬
rate the work in the Dock-yards, and particularly with
regard to the shipwrights. When task work was first
introduced, notwithstanding the plan appeared very ad¬
vantageous to the workmen, it was resisted by the ship¬
wrights ; and the reason assigned was that when any
piece of timber proved defective or unfit for use, after
having been fashioned to its intended shape, no compen^
sation was provided for the workmanship performed.
It was at length directed that the workmen should be
paid a daily rate of wages for the time that might be lost
in the conversion of unsound materials, and in the per¬
formance of some extra works ; it was likewise ordered
that they should have assistance in the heavy work of
getting in the beams. Notwithstanding these conces¬
sions, the shipwrights persisted in their refusal to work
by task until the year 1788, when it is said to have
been adopted at their own solicitation. Equal reluctance
was displayed by the men in adopting job work, but it
was finally carried into effect in the same year as piece
work. The first ship repaired by job in Plymouth yard
was the Gibraltar of 80 guns.
(36.) In 1787, it was directed that ships lying up in
good condition should have the works of their magazines
and store-rooms completed, in order to be the sooner
ready for sea. In 1790, two ships of 110 guns each
were ordered to be built, of the burthen of 2332 tons.
These ships were to have 32-pounders on their main
decks.
(37.) To give an idea of the prodigious activity which
prevailed in our Dock-yards, when the circumstances of
the French Revolution compelled us to arm, it may
he stated that on the 1st of December, 1792, there were
only twelve line of battle ships in actual commission as
fighting ships, but by the 1st of September, 1793, that
number was augmented to seventy-two.* In like man¬
ner, at the former period, there were only thirty ships
from 50 to 20 guns each in commission ; but at the latter,
this number was increased to 104. It was remarked,
that no delay arose for want of stores, in consequence
of the important measures adopted at the end of the
War in 1783
(38.) In IV 93, two very important improvements
took place, viz, the lengthening of ships very con¬
siderably ;t and the giving 44-gun frigates, and those
down to 32 guns, four, instead of three-inch bot¬
toms. The object of the first change was with a view
of making them sail better ; and of the second, to enable
them to resist with greater effect any bearing on the
ground. At this time, it is said, there was scarcely a
class of ship or vessel whose plan of construction was
not improved.
(39.) In 1794, the Caledonia of 120 gnns, and 2602
tons burthen, was ordered to be built, and to carry 32-
pounders on her main deck. This ship seems to have
communicated an impulse to ship-building ; she was built
by Sir William Rule.
In 1797, seameffs wages were raised as follows :
öt. S» ci.
Able from 1 40 to 196 per month
Ordinary 0 19 0 to 1 3 6
Landsmen, (a new class) 126
* Of these, two were of 110 guns, five of 100 guns, twenty-one
of 98 a.nd 90 guns. The total tonnage of ships of the line was
234,136 tons.
f The Fnnce, a 90-guu ship, was taken into dock at Portsmouth,
and lengthened 17 feet.
The following Table will show the progressive in- Naval Ar-
crease of ships of the line, and of ships of 56 guns and <^hitecture.
under :
Jan. 1. Jan. 1. Jan. 1. Oct. 1.
1795. 1797. 1799. 1801.
Ships of the line 145 161 176 180
Of 56 guns and under. , 454 530 627 684
Total ^ 691 ^ 864
Thus the number of ships and vessels at the con- Great in¬
clusion of the War in October 1801, exceeded the num- crease in
ber at the close of the War in 1783 by 247 sail. On nainber
the 1st of August, 1799, the number of ships of the ^ ^
line in commission amounted to 154, which was the
maximum at any part of the War. Of the ships be- Ships cap-
longing to the enemy, and taken or destroyed by the
English in the course of the War, there were of the line ^ ^
and down to 54 guns inclusive, 86; of 50 guns 3;
of frigates 206; and of sloops and small vessels 275;
making a grand total of 570. The English ships taken
or destro5^ed by the enemy, were of the line to 54 guns
inclusive, 5 ; of 50 guns, 1 ; of frigates 12 ; and of
sloops and small vessels 41 ; making a total of 59. The
conquests of the English were therefore nearly as ten
to one when compared with those of the enemy,
(40.) In 1803, the Country was called on to renew a Renewal of
War which, if it had been tremendous before, was now
calculated to unfold with redoubled horrors its awful
and desolating effects. On the 15th of May, the Royal
Navy consisted of 177 ships of the line, and of 56 guns in^isoT^
and under 593, making a total of 770 On the 1st of and 1805.
January 1805, the total amount was 649 ; and on the
1st of October of the same year there were in commis¬
sion of the line and to 54 guns inclusive, 124 sail ; of
frigates 158, and sloops, including hired armed ships
and vessels, 416 ; making a grand total of 698. It
was, indeed, a season of the most extraordinary activity, ^ual com-
and the most remarkable energies were called into mission,
action. From 1808 to 1813 there were seldom le.ss
than from 100 to 106 sail of the line, from 130 to 160
frigates, upwards of 200 sloops, besides bombs, gun-
brigs, cutters, schooners, &c. in active service. To this Great num-
enormous service were to be added another 500 sail in
ordinary, employed as prison, hospital, and receiving employed
ships, all performing offices tending to make our Naval in ordinary,
arm more powerful and efficient. Thus a thousand
pendants floated proudly in the wind, the united bur¬
then of the whole amounting to 800,000 or 900,000
tons. Our wide and extended commerce supplied
an abundance of prime seamen, and the perpetual
activity of our public and private yards served to
keep every part of this gigantic machine in the most
perfect order. A glorious succession of brilliant vie- Brilliant
tories placed the Naval supremacy of the Country on results,
the most transcendent height ; and so well was this
superiority maintained, that at the close of the most
awful and sanguinary War which History had ever
recorded, the accumulated Navies of the whole World
bore but a small proportion to ours.
(41.) These great and transcendent exertions were Entire re-
aided by corresponding energies on shore. An entire
renovation of the Civil departments of the Navy, and of
the mechanical labour in the Dock-yards, served to infuse ments of
new life into a system, which, with even all its energies, the Navy,
had become impaired by corrupt systems of manage¬
ment. The period from 1803 marks, indeed, a new
era in our existence as a Naval people. The Earl of
St. Vincent, who had rendered so great services to his
336
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Great ser¬
vices of
the Earl of
St. Vincent,
in reform¬
ing the
Civil de¬
partments
of the Navy.
Commis¬
sioners ap¬
pointed to
inquire into
abuses.
Subjects of
the Re¬
ports.
Country by the victory obtained near the Cape which
gave to him his glorious title, not only had the merit of
training up a body of first-rate seamen, and introducing
the most effective modes of discipline at sea, but he also
directed his keen and scrutinizing eye into the Dock¬
yards at home and abroad. It was evident to every
Naval man, that there was an extravagant expenditure
and an improper mode of conducting the public business
in these great establishments; but it required a mind of
a fearless cast and of great and comprehensive powers to
grapple with its multiplied details. Such a man was
Lord St. Vincent.* Commissioners were appointed to
inquire into our great Naval establishments; and these
able ment entered on their important task with a
boldness and decision which at once removed every
suspicion of partiality, and neutralized every claim of
private friendship. They acted as public men ought at
all times to act, with no other object in view than the
public good.
(42.) The different Reports of the Commissioners
related to the Naval Dock-yards abroad, which it had
been long suspected were nurseries of extravagance and
fraud ; to the peculations practised on those splendid
foundations of charity which the piety and patriotism
of former Ages had established for the relief of our
gallant seamen ; to the supply of blocks for the Navy ;
to the cooper's contract ; to the subject of prize agency ;
to the Sixpenny Office; to the frauds in labour at
our Dock-yards,Í and to the reporting ships as sound
* The Writer of this Essay, living in the neighbourhood of a
Naval arsenal, when quite a boy, remembers well the deep tone of
indignation manifested by almost every one connected with our
Dock-yards, when these important and necessary inquiries were
begun.
f The Commissioners were, Vice-Admiral Sir Charles M. Pole,
Bart., Ewan Law, Esq., John Ford, Esq., Captain Henry Niebülls,
R. N., and William Mackworth Praed, Esq.
I Much of our successful advancement in the mechanical arts
resolves itself into a question of wages. It appears that in our
Dock-yards, the daily pay of the artificers, when first established in
the XVIIth Century, must have been very considerable for the
times. The settled change in the expense and mode of living, how¬
ever. had reduced that pay below what was necessary for their sup¬
port, and had removed every objection to an increase, arising from
an expectation of a return to the former state of things. When a
rate of pay becomes insufficient from causes of a sudden and extra¬
ordinary nature, temporary means may be resorted to ; but when
the cause is permanent, temporizing expedients, so far from being
useful, generally end in conceding to importunity more than, if
granted at a proper time, would have been gratefully received. It
appears from the history of our Dock-yards that many extraordinary
anomalies have existed in this important particular at different
times. Previous to 1793, the shipwrights were limited in their
earnings to 2s. a day in Winter, and 3s. 4^ in Summer, ihe
time of their being employed heing^ in both cases, the common hours
of the yard. In 1793, on the contrary, their earnings were limited,
both for Summer and Winter, to the constant sum of 4s. 2i/.
per day, the time when they were employed being increased, by
their being required to work their dinner-time, by which an hour
and a half additional labour was obtained. But the common hours
of work in Winter being fewer than those in Summer, the pay
should not have been the same in both seasons In 1794, the
same limit of earnings was continued, but the additional hour and
a half was conceded. This gave an increase of lOci. a day in
Summer, and Is. b\d. a day in Winter, beyond the limit of prices
prior to 1793. One of the inferences dediicible from these absurd
arrangements is, that the workmen must have been considered as
capable of earning, by the same exertions, as much in a less time
as in a greater. The Comi«issioners remark, " that the men could
only be made to appear to have earned their full stint in these
unequal times of labour, by falsifying the accounts ; or, as the
officers were left to propose such prices as they might think fit, by
their increasing the valuation of the different articles in the same
proportion as the Navy Board increased the rate of working, or
that were unsound;* to our Naval Hospitals; to the
Victualling departmerit ; to the receipt and expenditure
of stores ; to the Treasurer of the Navy, which led to
the resignation and impeachment of Lord Melville ; to
the issue of Navy bills, and to the purchase of hemp,
masts, and fir, for the use of the Navy. All these
Reports reflect the greatest honour on their distinguished
authors. It required no little per.severance, no little
fortitude to pursue in all their detail the great ques¬
tions which they embraced. Wrapped up in official
forms, concealed in all the mystery which men inter¬
ested in perpetuating frauds know so well how to
assume, it required a keen and penetrating eye to de¬
tect the evils which a long continuance of bad govern¬
ment had introduced. It was, indeed, time to look into
our public departments, and when the service of the
Country required so enormous an expenditure, to see
that it was properly applied. There is a natural tend¬
ency in every thing human to become corrupt; and it
is the part of a wise and good Government, by rigid and
wholesome checks, to endeavour by every means to
prevent i't. According to Dr. Colquhoun, the different
Naval charges during the reign of George HI.
amounted to ¿^116,641,862. What a field for pecula¬
tion and fraud must this enormous sum have afforded Î
In the single year 1813, there was expended for Naval
purposes alone ¿^21,212,011 sterling.
(43.) It may be proper to remark with regard to
those Reports which relate more particularly to the
Dock-yards, that many abuses doubtless arose from
the imperfect regulations and the heterogeneous orders
from time to time issued to the officers of the different
yards The regulations addressed to the officers in the
XVIIth Century, may have been, and probably were,
suitable to the then confined state of the Navy; but as
the Navy increased, additional instructions were framed
to suit its new and more enlarged conditions. These
stint of enrnings " The case of the Antelope of 50 guns, built at
Sheerness at this time, afíbrded a practical example of the truth of
this position. On a comparison of the expense attending the per¬
formance of the works by job, with the sums which would have
been allowed if the same works had been performed by task, there
appears to have been an excess upon the articles performed by job
of nearly one half.
* Every one knows the unfortunate catastrophe that befell the
excellent and worthy Flinders. Having entered, as he informs us,
the great Gulf of Carpentaria, and surveyed all the projecting
capes, creeks, bays, and islands of its Eastern side, it became neces¬
sary to calk the ship, when to his great mortification,—and to an
ardent mind like his, what mortification could be greater —the officers
reported her to be in such a rotten state as to be wholly unfit to en*
counter bad weather, and that should she get on shore under any
unfavourable circumstances, she must immediately go to pieces ;
that she was too far gone to bear heaving down on any account ;
but that in fine weather, and barring accident, she might run six
months longer. Flinders however determined to complete the sur¬
vey of the Gulf, and at the end of three months, he was compelled
to make another examination of his vessel at Port Jackson. Here
the Investigator was found to be so excessively rotten, that she was
reported " not worth repairing in any Country, and impossible, in
this Country, to be put in a state fit for going to sea." She was,
therefore, condemned and sold.
Who, knowing the sufferings and indignities Flinders afterwards
endured at Port Louis, but will place them to the account of the
careless and ignorant officers who surveyed the " North Country
built ship of 334 tons" in which he sailed ^ The Governor, De
Caen, treated him as an impostor and a spy ; seized all his books,
papers, and charts ; placed him in a miserable chamber containing
only a truckle bed without curtains, a small table, and a rush-bo't-
tomed chair, with a grenadier in the room to watch over him. In
this miserable way this virtuous and excellent officer remained a
close prisoner for nearly four months.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Immense
Naval ex¬
penditure
during the
reign of*
George IIL
Imperfect
instructions
issued to
the Dock¬
yards.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
337
Conse¬
quence of
»lepriving
the master
Naval Ar-j were often found to be contradictory, and in many in-
chitecture. stances the regulations of the different yards disagreed.
" ~ ' Earl Howe and Sir Charles Middleton, when they pre¬
sided at the Admiralty and Navy Boards saw the ne¬
cessity of revising and digesting these orders, and the
latter had made some progress in so useful a work
when he quitted office. Hence the Commissioners re¬
commended that no time should be lost in reviewing
what had been done, in order that the Civil departments
of the Navy might, in future, be conducted with order,
regularity, and economy.
(44.) The depriving, by successive regulations, the
master shipwrights, their assistants, the foremen, and
the quartermen of the privilege of taking apprentices,
shipwrights, soon led to some remarkable results. Parents no longer
&c.oftaking thought of sending sons to the Dock-yards who had
apprentices, received anv tincture of a liberal education, since the
only persons they could be bound to in order to learn
the practice of ship-building were the working ¿.hip-
wrights ; and even some regulations were made respect¬
ing the privilege these men enjoyed, which had a tend¬
ency to lessen the attention they might be expected to
give to instruction. The natural result hence followed,
that only the very lowest class of the people, and those
least likely to have received any education, were induced
to enter the Dock-yards. In such a state of things it
was hardly to be imagined the superior officers of the
yard would feel any interest in the advancement of
young men. Accordingly we find in the Report of
Naval Revision, that not one of the apprentices en¬
tered in this way had been brought into the mould
lofts/' where the drawings for ships are executed, and
where something like an approach to the principles of
the Art might be attained. The reason assigned was,
none of the apprentices could be found of suitable
education so that being without the means of im¬
provement in the Dock-yards, they could not but
remain in the same state of ignorance as when their
apprenticeship began. It can scarcely be neces¬
sary to add," continue the Commissioners, " that un¬
less this part of the present system shall be altered,
even good working shipwrights will hardly be found in
our Dock-yards ; and it would be vain to expect order
and regularity in the conduct of the business, accuracy
in the accounts, or professional skill in those who must,
at no great distance of time, come, of course, to be
intrusted with the management of every thing respecting
the construction of the ships by which this Country is
to be defended." Supposing this course to have been
persisted in, it could not but have led to the most disas¬
trous results ; it was, in fact, cutting up the very roots
of our Naval greatness. In looking forward," say
the Commissioners, unless some means be taken for
* These are the official words of the Report. We cannot but
observe, however, that prejudice must have had some share, perhaps
a large share, in this opinion. It can hardly be supposed but that
among the mass of apprentices in our Dock-yards, some might have
been found worthy of the distinction of entering a mould loft.
" Genius," says Washington Irving, " delights in hatching her
offspring in by-places;" but it requires the eye of genius fre¬
quently to discover it. Had the experiment been tried of a public
competition, after suitable notice, among these uneducated youths,
there can be little doubt but many would have been found capable
of promoting their own intellectual advancement. The great prin¬
ciple of competition remains to be tried in our public departments.
The advantages resulting from such a state of things would be
immense. At the moment at which we are writing this Note
nothing but a dull and melancholy depression is to be met with in
the working departments of our Dock-yards.
VOL. VI.
the improvement of the education of apprentices, we Naval Ar-
must not expect a succession of officers or artificers chitecture.
equal to those now in the Dock-yards." v—
(45.) This important Report led to the establishment Establish
of the School of Naval Architecture at Portsmouth in
1811. It was conceived by the Commissioners that by
training up a race of men devoted to Naval Archi chihTcturel
tecture, both in its theory and practice, under the eye of
an able Mathematician, important results might fairly be
anticipated ; and the Government, entering with earnest¬
ness and liberality into their views, endeavoured, by
every imaginable means, to promote them. The Jour¬
nals of the day announced that the whole was open to
competition. At the head of the Institution was placed
the Rev. Dr. In man, a learned Mathematician, who, in
his early .days, had obtained the highest honours at
Cambridge, and evinced an eminent capability of con¬
ducting an undertaking of this kind. During the seven
years the students remained at the establishment they
were called upon to pursue the study of Geometry in
an enlarged way, to carry its beautiful and refined prin¬
ciples into Natural Philosophy, and to enter on the
Differential and Integral Calculus. The theory of
Naval Architecture was diligently studied, some of the
best Continental writers on the subject being diligently
read. At the same time the practice of the Art was
entered on, and the young men were taught the laying
off of ships, and how to prepare every necessary drawing.
An excellent practical shipwright (Mr. Fincham) in¬
structed them in all the details of labour at the dock-
side ; and the adze and the saw were required to be
worked with the ardour and spirit of the humblest
operative. The object was to make them good theo¬
retical and practical shipwrights, and the Country has
a right to expect that they should be so. Of the stu¬
dents admitted at the different public examinations from
1811 to 1822, some have retired from the service, some
have died, and twenty-six remain, three of whom have
become builders' assistants, others are foremen in the
different Dock-yards, and seven remained unprovided
for in 1833.^
* We throw into a note a brief notice of the Ordonnance of
Charles X. of France, dated 28th March, 1830, relative to the
organization of the Royal corps of Naval engineers. (Génie Mari¬
time.) It is to consist of the following :—
Francs.
One inspector-general each 15,000.
c at Brest, Toulon,) «non
Five directors of Naval ) and Rochfort, j
constructions |^at Cherbourgand| 7000
Ten engineers of the first class 5000
Twelve engineers of the second class 4000
Twelve sub-engineers of the first class .... 3000
Twelve sub-engineers of the second class ., 2400
Five sub-engineers of the third class 2000
in all 57 ; and of a number of cadets, to be regulated according to
the demands of the service, each to receive annually 1200 francs.
These cadets are to be taken from among those students of the
Polytechnic School who are declared worthy of admission into the
public services. They are then to pursue tor two years at the Poit
of L'Orient, (under the direction of an engineer of the first or second
class, to be nominated by the Minister of Marine,) a complete course
of the application of theory to Naval Architecture ; to exercise
themselves in making drawings of ships of war, and in the details
of their masting, sails, fittings, and equipment ; to make calcula¬
tions of displacement, of stability, of the centre of giavity, and all
others relative to the theory of Naval Architecture ; to investigate
the nature of steam-engines and all other machines which may be
useful either in the arsenals, or on board ships of war; to design
ornamental work, and to study the English Language.
At the expiration of two years, the cadets will be subjected to
2 z
338
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Advantages
resulting
from the
employ¬
ment of
such men as
Brunei at
our Naval
stations.
(46.) It must not be omitted in closing this very
brief review of the eventful reign of George III., that we
owe to the liberal views of Earl Spencer, who at one
time presided at the Admiralty, the devotion of the
great talents of Bentham, Brunei, and Barrallier to the
public service. That distinguished Nobleman encou¬
raged these eminent men to undertake works most
beneficial to the Navy. Before this period, while steam-
engines and other powerful machines were abundantly
applied in all our manufactories, by a singular fatality
they had been wholly neglected in our Dock-yards.
Instead of our Naval establishments being schools of
practical science, and affording the most perfect patterns
of mechanical skill, a dark and imperfect system pre¬
vailed of employing only the unaided strength of men
and horses. Steam, with all its multiplied applications
and powers, was entirely unknown, and docks were
pumped, and the heaviest weights raised by mere animal
strength. Such men as Brunei cannot but impart new
light and intelligence wherever they appear. Born to
invent and command, they are destined at every step to
add new trophies to the intellectual dominion of Man.
Matter assumes new forms, and with the wand of a
magician, they seem to rule the elements with it.
Hence the unrivalled block-machinery at Portsmouth,
exhibiting the most perfect mechanical refinements, and
challenging the admiration of the whole world. Had
other men, possessing only perhaps a small portion of
Brunei's transcendent powers, been encouraged to turn
their attention more particularly to Naval Architecture,
who could estimate the triumphs that might have ac¬
companied them ? It is impossible for a mind accus¬
tomed to the higher walks of human thought, to descend
to a lower walk of inquiry, without the latter receiving
some benefit from the power thus applied to it. At this
an examination in the various branches of instruction they have
received. Those who are qualified are immediately to receive the
appointment of sub-engineers of the third class, their seniority of
rank being fixed by the results of the examination. The sub-
engineers of the first and second classes cannot be promoted to the
first class until they have made a voyage of at least one year.
Specific rules also are laid down respecting the employments of these
sub-engineers when on shipboard , these are the details of stowage,
the arrangement and effects of the means employed in moving the
top masts, top-gallant mast and yards, and also in furling and un¬
furling the sails, on the working of anchors, on the effects which
the shocks of waves and the motions of pitching and rolling have
on the combination of the various parts of the structure ; and,
generally, on every subject relative to Naval construction. They
shall keep "watch on deck with the most experienced officer on
board having charge of a watch.
The following Table of comparative rank is worthy of attentive
consideration.
Officers of the Naw. ?' ^aval Admi-
Officers of Naval
Engineers. nistration.
Inspector-general. Rear- admiral.
rAfter the Rear-'j
Director of Naval J admirals and I Commissary-ge-
Constructions. j before thePost-j neral.
y captains. J
Post-captain(Ca-l ^ ,
pitainedevais. i Commissary of the
sean.) J
I Commander (Ga-
{ pitaine de fré-
I gate.)
Istl f Sub-commissary,
Lieutenant. } 1st class.
I Ditto, 2d class.
(Mate. (Enseigne 1
( de vaisseau.) I Principal clerks.
Midshipman. j
Engineer, 1st class,
Ditto, 2d class.
Sub-engineer,
class.
Ditto, 2d class.
Ditto, 3d class.
Cadet.
Uniforms are established for the Naval engineers.
moment we fear the amount of really active practical Naval Ar-
Science in our Dock-yards is but small. chitecture.
(47.) Our limits will not permit us to give an ac-
count of many important particulars relating to the George IV.
Navy and Naval improvement which occurred during
the closing years of the reign of George III., and
that of George IV. The Peace brought with it the
repose so much desired ; and public men as well as
private individuals, no longer having their minds ex¬
cited by the feverish anxieties of War, had leisure to
turn their thoughts to many objects of great importance
to our maritime power. Hence many salutary regula¬
tions, and the adoption of many important changes,
which time has proved to be beneficial, and which it
must be our desire to see further perfected and improved.
We may refer in this way in terms of the strongest
commendation to the labours of Sir Robert Seppings, Improve-
which will be particularly elucidated in other chapters, ments of
The labours of that eminent man, and the immense
benefits he conferred on our marine, can never be for- and^oTlfers.
gotten, either by the lover of mechanical improvement
or the lover of his Country. The introduction of chain
cables by Captain Brown has deprived a lee-shore of
many of its terrors. Iron tanks, by augmenting the
supply of fresh water, have contributed very greatly
to the comfort of seamen, and by enabling our fleets
to keep longer at sea, have increased their efficiency
in a prodigious degree. The Truscott pump has re-Qtherim-
moved the dangerous necessity of getting water-casks provements
on deck ; and the abolition of the practice of sending hi the ser-
King^s stores from the Dock-yards in boats belonging to
ships of war, required, as they often were, to do so in tem¬
pestuous weather, has preserved the lives of many gallant
seamen. The powder also, which by an ancient and dan¬
gerous practice was sent on board unfilled, is now received
into a ship ready prepared for action. The store-rooms,
which at one time exhibited scenes of the greatest irre¬
gularity and disorder, present at the present time every
thing that can gratify the lover of Naval discipline and
order. The wings, or intervals, between the ship's
sides on the orlop decks, so necessary to the vigilance
and labours of the carpenter during action, and which
in seasons gone by were filled with the midshipmen's
and quarter-master's hammocks and chests, bags and
lanterns,—a receptacle of filth and foul air,—are now
kept perfectly clear and clean, as they ought to be.
(48.) The science of signals, which has contributed so Improve-
mainly to our brilliant victories, has also in these latter ments iu
times been greatly improved. A system which enabled the signals,
immortal Nelson to communicate to his whole fleet in
the short space of three minutes his splendid and memo¬
rable sentence England expects every Man to do
his Duty," cannot but be advantageous. The ships
which sailed for India in 1789, possessed merely flags for
indicating the most ordinary messages, such as seeing the
land, discovering a strange ship, or calling an officer
on board. In the War of 1793, Lord Howe's system of
tabular signals was employed ; and from that time their
advance was rapid. In 1795, signal-posts were esta¬
blished on the South coast of England, to indicate the
approach of the enemy's cruisers, and to give timely
information to our seamen. The land telegraph, con¬
necting the Admiralty with all the sea-ports, produced a
celerity of movemeni quite unknown in former times.
The semaphore at present employed in this way was
adopted from the French. The sea telegraph was the
invention of Sir Home Popham.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
339
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
WilliamIV.
Abolition
of Navy
andVictual-
ling Boards.
Change of
officers at
the Dock¬
yards.
One gene¬
ral account
opened at
the Bank
for the
Navy.
Officers
connected
with the
Civil de¬
partments
of the
Navy.
Navy es¬
timates.
Estimate
for 1833-
1834.
(49.) By an Act passed in the second year of the
reign of King William IV., a very remarkable change
took place in the administration of the Civil depart¬
ments of the Navy. The offices or departments of the
principal officers and Commissioners of the Navy, and
of the Commissioners for victualling the Navy, and for
the Care of Sick and Wounded Seamen, were entirely
abolished ; the powers and authorities heretofore vested
in these Boards being transferred to the Admiralty.
By the same Act, the duties hitherto performed by Com¬
missioners at the several Dock-yards and other Naval
and Victualling establishments at home and abroad,
are in future to be executed by officers called Superin¬
tendents ; the Commissioners of the Admiralty and the
Superintendents being empowered to administer oaths
and execute the duties of Justices. With regard to the
important article of expenditure, it was enacted that one
general account should be opened at the Bank of Eng¬
land for Naval services ; and annual accounts be made
up and certified, together with rigid annual inspections
of all monies remaining with the Treasurer of the Navy,
his cashiers and clerks. Monthly accounts also are to be
furnished from the several Dock-yards. The Admiralty
also is enjoined to make up an annual account of ex¬
penditure, under the heads of service specified in the
Appropriation Act, the Commissioners of Audit being
empowered to examine the same, and to lay a copy
thereof before Parliament
(50.) At the present time the various officers con¬
nected with the Civil departments of the Navy are the
following : seven Commissioners for executing the office
of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, with two Secretaries, and
senior and junior clerks. Several principal officers,
viz, a Surveyor of the Navy, an Accountant-General, a
Storekeeper General, a Comptroller of the Victualling
of the Navy and of thé Transport Service, Physician of
the Navy, and a Civil Architect. Connected with the
Navy Pay Office, there is a Treasurer of the Navy, with
various subordinate officers relating to the Wages, the
Bill, Ticket, and Allotment branch, the Navy Bill
branch, the Victualling Bill branch, &c.
(51.) The Navy estimates, in future, are to be ar¬
ranged as follows :
Nos. Required for the Service of the year 1833-1834.
1. Wages 4 '""f ]• 955,220 0 0
O ( of the ordinary, yard, craft,&c. 83,570/ '
I of seamen and marines 403,6501
Abate " Old stores" ... 7,830 [
^38,004 0 0
395,820
of the ordinary, yard, craft,&c. 42,184]
3. Admiralty Office 104,070 0 0
4. Navy Pay Office 21,725 0 0
5. Scientific branch* 22,109 0 0
* It is worth while to give in a note an abstract of the scientific
branch ;
Royal Naval College and School for Naval Archi- £. s. d.
tecture —
Royal Observatory 2,750 4 0
Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope 1,020 0 0
Nautical Almanack 1,100 0 0
Chronometers 1,700 0 0
Rewards, experiments, &c 1,000 0 0
Hydrographical department 11,199 12 0
Extra pay for exploring the Quorra and Southern
Continent 239 4 0
Libraries and Museum at Haslar and Plymouth
Hospital 1,100 0 0
Gratuity to Mr.Grant for his Biscuit Manufactory . 2,000 0 0
Total £22,109 0 0
Nos. £ s. d, ^ y X
6. His Majesty's establishments at home 114,970 0 0 ^
7. His Majesty's establishments abroad 23,422 0 0 ^
8. Wages to artificers, &c. employed in His Ma-
jesty's establishments at home* 438,426 0 0
9. Wages to artificers, &c. employed in His Ma¬
jesty's establishments abroad 26,905 0 0
10. Naval stores, &c. for the building and repair of
ships, docks, wharfs, &c.f 423,000 0 0
11. New works and improvements in the yards, &c. 63,700 0 0
12. Medicines and medical stores 31,500 0 0
13. Miscellaneous services 50,380 0 0
Total for the effective service .., £2,713 431 0 0
14. Half-pay to officers of the Navy and Royal
Marines! 871,858 0 0
15. Military pensions and allowances 533,403 0 0
16. Civil pensions and allowances 220,342 0 0
Total for the Naval service •.. £4,339,034 0 0
For the Service of other Departments of
Government.
17. Army and Ordnance departments (convey¬
ance of troops, &c.) 200,800 0 0
— Colonial department — — —
18. Home department (convict service) 118,300 0 0
Grand Total .... £4,658,134 0 0
* The wages to artificers and labourers at home to those abroad,
are to each other in about the ratio of sixteen to one.
f The mode of disposing of old ships and stores in his Majesty's Dutch
Dock-yards by what is called Dutch Auction, deserves an explana- Auction,
tion. The article to be sold is put up by an officer at some price
previously fixed on. He then progressively lowers the sum, until
some one says mine, when it is knocked down to the speaker, or he
becomes the purchaser. Certain conditions are in most cases en¬
tered into by the purchaser, in the case of ships, that they are to be
broken up within twelve months of the day of sale. This was the
case with the San Antonio, Phaeton, and Virginia in the succeeding
Table. Copper bolts marked with the King's broad arrow f are
also to be returned, the purchaser receiving a fair value for them in
return. The following Table will give the particulars of a sale of
several ships of war, on the 11th of July, 1827, at Somerset House,
in presence of three Commissioners of the Navy.
Name of ship.
Guns or
class.
Ton¬
nage.
P<ace where
the ship was
lying.
Price at
which it
was put up
by the
Commis¬
sioners.
Price at
which it
was sold.
Pheasant ..
22
365
Deptford
£1400
£250
Bann
Sloop
466
Chatham
2000
1600
Belette ....
Brig
386
Ditto.
2000
1210
San Antonio
74
1700
Portsmouth
3000
Í 2990
Phaeton ...
46
944
Ditto
8500
3430
Argus'
Brig
387
Ditto
2000
2000
Grecian ....
Cutter
145
Ditto
900
720
Scout
Brig
382
Ditto
1500
1010
Quail
Cutter
82
Ditto
700
440
Virginia ...
38
1066
Plymouth
3500
3050
Peterel ....
Sloop
365
.
Ditto
1400
730
I The original Orders in Council bestowing half-pay on Naval
officers, required them to reside in the sea-ports, and to assist in fit¬
ting out ships. Half-pay was hence a payment for service per¬
formed in time of Peace.
Admirals and Captains were first appointed Generals and Colonels
of Marines in 1759, soon after the Battle between Hawke and Con-
flans. The first General of Marines was Admiral Boscawen, and
the first Colonel Sir P. Brett..
The Naval sinecure offices amount only to the annual sum of
£7750 ; and every name in the subjoined list is distinguished by
the most brilliant services. It is the honour of being associated
with the great commanders who have held these posts, more
than the actual emoluments arising from them, that render them
2 z 2
340
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar- This account, it should be remembered, has reference
chitecture. to a period of profound Peace, of rigid and unrelenting
economy, and when every means are taken to re'duce all
the public establishments to a minimum of expense.*
Our limits will not permit us to give more than a
objects of honourable ambition. It is worthy also of record, that
no offices whatever are executed by deputy in the Navy.
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French
Marine
Budget
* The following is an abstract of the Budget of the French
Minister of Marine and Colonial Afíairs for the year 1829
Francs.
Salary of the Minister, of Directors and subdirectors,
Prefects of Marine, officers on shore, équipages de
ligne on shore, Marine artillery, Naval engineers,
Officers having charge of Commissariat, Chaplains,
Medical staff, Professors in Navigation Schools, of
persons employed in felling timber in French Gui-
anne, Storekeepers, &c. Officers of Hulks, and per¬
sons employed in the Royal Foimderies 11,791,876
Pay of General Staff at sea, of the crew of one ship of
the line, ditto of the crews of 127 vessels, containing
brief analysis of this important statement, referring to Naval Ar-
the Navy l^iStimates themselves for more detailed in- chitecture.
formation. v-—
(52.) The establishments at home connected with Naval esta-
the Navy consist of Naval yards, Victualling esta- biishments
blishments, Medical establishments, transport
establishments, Marine barracks, and Marine
infirmaries.
(53.) The Naval yards are at Deptford, Woolwich,
Chatham, Sheeriiess, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Pem¬
broke, Deal, North Yarmouth, and Kingstown. The
Victualling establishments are those of Deptford, Sheer-
ness, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Haulbowline, Brixham,
Staddon Point, Alilor, Deal, and Dover. The Medi¬
cal establishments are Haslar and Plymouth. The
Transport establishments are Deptford, Portsmouth,
Leith., and the Cove of Cork. Marine barracks are
found at Woolwich, Chatham, Portsmouth, and Ply¬
mouth ; at which places also are the Marine infirm¬
aries.^ The total sum voted for the financial year
Franca.
12,410 men, and expense of clothing the de
ligne, fuel for the troupes de la marine, barracks, &c. 7,863,800
Expense of Marine hospitals for sick mariners 1,181,500
Ditto of provisions 6,834,500
Pay of workmen, expense of ship-building, materials,
and artillery 23,621,300
Expense of docks, &c 3,800,000
Expense of the galley slaves 312,400
Miscellaneous expenses . 692,000
Expenses of the Army and Navy in the colonies.... 6,000,000
Total .. 63,109,976
In 1823 a Royal Ordonnance was promulgated for establishing a
distinct body of seamen to serve on ship-board or in the Naval
arsenals, to be called équipage de ligne. This body is divided into
separate corps, each corps being composed of a permanent Staff' of
ten persons, and of four companies of 150 men each.
All the Officers of the Royal Navy, from the rank of Enseigne de
vaisseau to that of Capitaine de frégate inclusive, ntust be employed
in the équipage de ligne, and serve in it two years successively,
unless they receive orders to the contrary from the Minister of Ma¬
rine. Every seaman belonging to the équipages de ligne must he
instructed and rendered fit to perform all duties whatever which
relate to the manœuvring, piloting, serving at the guns, or repairing
of a vessel, together with the manual exercise as a Marine on ship-
hoard or in the Naval arsenal. The men of the equipages de ligne
are employed in all vessels from a ship of the line to a 16 gun brig
inclusive. See Goldsmith's Statistics of France, London, 1832.
The amount disbursed annually in the Navy establishments of
the United States is about three millions and a quarter of dollars, a Lursemeuts
considerable portion of which is devoted to its gradual improve-
ment, by the accumulation of stores, the creation of dry docks, and
file building of additional vessels. States
The following is an account of the principal elements of expen¬
diture for 1829.
Dollars. Cts.
Pay and subsistence of the Navy afloat ... 1,160,068 09
Ditto ditto shore stations 161,830 26
Pay of superintendents, artificers, &c 62,222 56
Provisions 461,636 83
Medicines and hospital stores 25,772 60
Repairs and improvements of Navy yards .. 148,989 09
Ordnance and ordnance stores 26,262 61
Gradual improvement of the Navy 444,395 98
Repairs of vessels 470,945 68
Labourers and fuel for engine 1,660 45
Pay and subsistence of the Marine corps ., 117,329 19
These various sums, together with other different expenses, form
a grand total amount of 3,308,745 dollars 47 cents.
* It was once the practice to employ officers of the Army in the
Marine service, and the Marines themselves were privates of the
Army. In all the great actions before Cromwell's time, and during
the time of the usurper, soldiers were constantly embarked as
Marines.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
341
Naval
establish¬
ments
abroad^
Officers of
Naval Ar- 1833—34 for the pay of the various officers connected
chitect^re. these establishments, taxes, and other incidental
expenses amounted to ¿^114,970.
(54.) His Majesty's establishments abroad consist of
Naval yards. Victualling establishments, Medi¬
cal establishments, and transport establish¬
ments.
(55.) The Naval yards are at Gibraltar, Malta,
Canada, (Kingston and Montreal,) Halifax, Newfound¬
land, Bermuda, Antigua, Jamaica, Sierra Leone, and
Fernando Po, Cape of Good Hope, and Trincomalee.
The Victualling establishments are at Gibraltar,
Malta, Halifax, Bermuda, Jamaica, Bahamas, Bar-
badoes, Ascension, Sierra Leone, Fernando Po, Cape
of Good Hope, and Rio de Janeiro. The Medi¬
cal establishments are found at Malta, Halifax, Ber¬
muda, Jamaica, and Cape of Good Hope. A single
Transport establishment exists at Gibraltar. The total
sum voted for the financial year 1833—34 was <£23,422,
(56.) We can only give a brief enumeration of the
Portsmouth officers of one of each of these establishments. Taking
Dock-yard. Portsmouth Dock-yard as the first and most important
at home, we in the first place remark, that it is go¬
verned by an Admiral Superintendent, the other prin¬
cipal yards having only a Captain Superintendent pre¬
siding over them.^ The officers next in rank are a
master attendant and assistant; a master shipwright
and two assistants ; a storekeeper, store receiver, sur¬
geon and assistant, a chaplain, timber converter, boat¬
swain, and warden, together with twenty-seven clerks.
Also masters for the smiths, sail-makers, riggers, and
rope-makers ; ten foremen of the yard ; two conduc¬
tors of the wood and metal mills ; foremen for the
millwrights, metal mills, rope-makers, and smiths ; two
assistant timber converters, and twelve measurers.
(57.) Of the Victualling'establishments, we select
Deptford, which has a Captain Superintendent, a store¬
keeper, a master attendant of the wharf and assistant ;
a surgeon and assistant; fourteen clerks; a master
cooper, master miller, and master baker ; a warden ;
two foremen of coopers, and four foremen oí stores,
together with an engineer.
(58.) Of the Medical establishments we take that of
Plymouth Hospital, which is governed by a Captain
Superintendent, who attends, also, to the Victualling
establishment, assisted by two lieutenants ; there is also
attached a physician, a surgeon, an agent and steward,
a dispenser, a chaplain, three clerks, and four hospital
mates.
(59.) To the Marine barracks are attached a bar¬
rack master, barrack sergeant, and barrack clerk ;
and to the Marine infirmaries belong a surgeon and
two assistants, a purveyor, a chaplain, and a quarter¬
master.
(60.) Of the establishments abroad, we take the
Naval yard at Malta, which has an Admiral Superin¬
tendent, a Naval storekeeper, a master attendant,
master shipwright, clerks, boatswain, and foreman of
shipwrights. To the Victualling establishment at the
same place there is attached an agent victualler and
clerks ; and to the Hospital, a surgeon, dispenser, hos¬
pital mate, chaplain, and clerk.f
* The Superintendents of the Dock-yards were formerly Civil
situations, the persons filling them being styled Commissioners.
They are not at this time so considered. The alteration took place
on the 1st of June, 1832
f Where there is no Superintendent, the Commander in Chief
Victualling
establish¬
ment at
Deptford.
Plymouth
Hospital.
Marine
barracks.
Navalyard
at Malta.
(61.) For the wages of shipwrights, other artificers, Npal Ar-
and labourers employed in the Dock-yards at home,
during 1833—34, there were paid the following sums;
^ ® Wages of
Woolwich £53,500 ship-
Chatha*m 65,500 wrights,&c.
Sheerness 28,000 at seve-
Portsmouth 108,400 vards°^ *
Plymouth 113,000 ^ *
Pembroke 21,000
Deal 1
Haulbowline .J
Making a total of.. £390,000
(62.) The question of labour in the Dock-yard s has Important
occupied much of the attention of the Admiralty and of
the late Navy Board. While the Country loudly
called for retrenchment, the members of these Boards
were anxious to effect it with the least possible priva¬
tion to individuals. In January 1830, it was resolved
that the payment of chip money should cease, and that
no more men or apprentices should be entered in the
yard, in lieu of others dying or discharged, until the
number should be reduced to 6000, the number to be
preserved during Peace. As soon as the number
should be brought down to 7000, thé men were to be
allowed to work the whole of Wednesday, and when
reduced to 6500 to work six days in the week. These
arrangements prove the anxious desire of the Admiralty
for the welfare of the workmen. The following Table
will give the total establishments borne on the books of
the Dock-yards at home in the years mentioned in it.
Inferior
Officers. Workmen. Apprentices. Total. Total uum-
Jan. 1, 1830 .. . 213 7068 648 7929 berofwoik-
Jan. 1, 1831 ... 197 6560 633 7390 men and
Jan. 1, 1832 ... 172 6505 524 7201
(63.) During thé year 1833, however, an entire Great
change of system has taken place in the Dock-yards change in
respecting labour, with the view of economizing the con- «y«teni
sumption of the public stores. The jobbing, or contract
plan hitherto adopted has been abolished, and the men
have been placed under an entirely new system of classi¬
fication. The practice of contract work grew out of the Abolition oí
necessities of the War, when extra labour was almost contract
daily called for ; but the system has been found pro-
ductive of great public loss. It has been said, and we
believe with great truth, that when men are paid
according to the quantity of work done, they are not
very scrupulous about the conversion of materials, and Waste of
thus an immense waste of public stores has been the materials,
consequence. To remedy this evil, the present Board
of Admiralty resolved to return to the old plan of fixed
allotted work and daily pay ; and there existing no
necessity for urgent despatch in time of Peace, the pre¬
sent has been selected as a proper period for effecting a
change. At the same time, also, it was resolved that
superannuations should be abolished.
(64.) As a curious and important document respect-
is, as far as may be in his power, to see that every officer punc¬
tually obeys the orders and instructions he shall have received
from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. The Commander
in Chief in such a case is to conform to the established rules and
general practice of the Navy. He is also to receive from the store¬
keeper, and every other person intrusted with the charge of
money, three general statements of their respective accounts quar¬
terly, which he is to examine and certify.
34â
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar- ing the distribution of labour in thé Dock-yards, and
chitecture. showing the relative importance of the different trades
employed in them, we add the following valuable Table
drawn up by the Navy Board on the supposition that the Naval Ar^
workmen were reduced to 6000. We regret that our limits chitecture.
will not permit us to dilate upon this important document.
Table of
the distri¬
bution of
workmen.
Description.
Dept-
Wool¬
Chat¬
Sheer-
Ports¬
Ply-
Pem¬
Total.
ford.
wich.
ham.
ness.
mouth.
mou th.
broke.
Blockmakers
• •
1
1
2
3
3
• a
10
Boys, House
• •
• •
20
• •
20
20
• •
60
Ocham
• #
3
6
3
8
8
2
30
Wheel
• ♦
• •
• •
• •
• •
12
• a
12
Braziers, tinmen, and apprentices
2
4
6
4
8
8
a a
32
Bricklayers and apprentices
• •
6
8
6
12
12
• •
44
Labourers
• •
2
3
3
4
4
• a
16
Calkers and apprentices
• •
16
30
40
50
50
14
200
Coopers
1
1
1
4
1
1
• a
9
Engine repairers
• •
3
• •
• •
• •
• a
• a
3
Founders
• •
• •
• •
• •
2
a •
a •
2
Hemp-dressers
« •
• •
• •
• »
• •
16
• a
16
Joiners and apprentices
• •
44
80
43
106
100
40
413
Key-bearers (ropery)
• •
• •
1
• •
1
1
• a
3
Labourers, storehouse
19
11
14
10
14
14
3
85
Yard
4
40
80
40
100
100
40
404
as boatmen
Line and twine spinners
• •
• •
• •
• «
f •
14
• a
A
Locksmiths and apprentices .......
• •
1
2
1
2
2
a a
8
Masons and apprentices
• •
•
2
2
10
10
10
34
Messengers
2
4
5
4
6
6
2
29
« •
2
2
2
• •
;2
a a
8
Plumbers and apprentices
1
2
4
2
4
4
a a
17
Painters, glaziers, and apprentices .. 1
14
16
20
Grinders >
1
6
20
4
81
Labourers j
Pitch heaters
• •
1
1
1
1
1
1
6
Riggers
• •
20
20
40
50
50
a a
180
Labourers ................
• •
6
6
12
13
13
a a
50
Sailmakers and apprentices
20
1
36
1
36
36
1
131
Sawyers
• •
60
80
60
100
100
60
460
Scavelmen
1
10
10
10
20
20
a a
71
Shipwrights and apprentices
3
200
500
300
650
650
200
2503
2 as house
carpenters.
80
50
Smiths and apprentices
1
50
110
120
50
461
Spinners and apprentices
• •
• •
136
• •
136
136
a a
408
Warders
3
10
13
18
20
20
6
90
Wheelwrights
• •
I
2
1
3
2
1
10
Workmen at Wood mills
• •
• •
• •
• •
20
• •
a •
20
Metal mills
• •
• •
• •
• •
40
• a
a a
40
Millwright's shop
• •
• •
• •
• 9
40
• a
a a
40
Total
58
505
1163
675
1610
1555
434
6000
Of the shipwrights above stated, mz, 2500,* a con¬
siderable number will be employed as house carpenters,
(that description of artificers having been abolished) and
in other inferior trades ; the object being to retain as many
shipwrights as possible at the same expense as persons
* The 2500 shipwrights here alluded to, would complete annually,
fit for launching, fifteen 120-gun ships; twenty 80-gun ships;
twenty-six seventy-fours, thirty-six double-banked frigates of 52
guns, or seventy corvettes of 28 guns.
In the reign of Charles I. Mr. Phineas Pett speaks of hiring and
victualling the shipwrights and calkers, on several occasions, and
of their being discharged when the work for which they were hired
was performed. The victualling of workmen forms a singular
contrast with the customs of the present day. It is not known
when this practice was given up. It is supposed that there was a
small permanent establishment of artificers in each of the existing
Dock-yards for ordinary purposes.
In the reign of Queen Anne, the maximum number of ship¬
wrights in the several Dock-yards amounted to 2574, exceeding
the number admitted at present to be necessary ; the minimum
number during that reign was 1678.
In the period from 1744 to 1805 inclusive, the greatest number
of shipwrights were employed in 1800, amounting to 3776. The
least number was in 1755, amounting to 2305. In 1803 the num¬
ber was 2878.
of those descriptions would be paid in working at their
own trades.
(65.) The annual expense of warders, watchmen^ « -
and rounders, in the Dock-yards last adverted to, cartes! ^
amounted for 1833—34 to ¿^11,676, a great but neces- watchmen,
sary sum. While this Essay has been passing through &cj
the press, an important change has been made, A regu- New system
lar and systematic Police has been established* in the
* It appears that a Central Board of Police was strongly recom¬
mended by the Select Committee of the House of Commons on
Finance, in their 28th Report, printed in June 1798. It was there pro¬
posed to bring under regulations by licenses, all dealers in old and
second-hand ship's stores, old iron, and other stores, and several
other dangerous and suspicious trades, the uncontrolled exercise of
which, by persons of loose conduct, is known to contribute to the
concealraent'and multiplication of crimes. Dr. Colquhoun, how¬
ever, remarks in addition, that salutary as this Central Board must
certainly be in controlling and checking the Naval plunder, in
common with the general delinquency of the whole Country, it
would seem indispensably necessary, under circumstances where
the moving property is so extensive, and where there exist so many
resources and temptations leading to the commission of crimes, to fix
on some one person the responsibility of carrying the laws into effect,
and of controlling and overawing the various classes of delinquents,
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
343
Naval Ar- Dock-yards of Chatham and Sheerness, and doubtless
chitecture. extended to the other yards. The former history
r Dock-yards is indeed a history of plunder and
deiforme"' ^ that, in later times, things have been
lyin the better; but the plunder of several tons of copper, even
Dock-yards, within the last two years, no traces of which were de¬
tected before the metal had reached Birmingham, proves
there is still something defective; something which a
vigilant Board of Admiralty ought to correct.
(66.) We have now before us a printed copy of the
Prevention Police Instructions, the fundamental principle of which
of crime the is the Prevention of Crime a principle salutary in
d^le\o calculated, if followed out in all its conse-
observed.^ quences with energy and effect, to produce the most
beneficial results. It does not appear that the arrange¬
ments are yet perfect respecting this important change ;
but the admission of the necessity of a change, the be¬
ginning that has been already made in breaking up the
old system, the putting new and altered powers into
motion, cannot but be advantageous.
Classes and (67.) The Royal Navy is divided into the following
denomina- classes and denominations.
1. Rated ships, viz.
First rate, all three-decked ships.
Second rate, one of his Majesty's yachts, and all two-
decked ships of 80 guns and upwards.
Third rate^ his Majesty's other yachts, and all ships
of 70 ffuns and less than 80.
O
lions of
Royal
Navy.
whose attention is directed to the Dock-yards as a means of
obtaining plunder. In the Work on the Police of the Metropolis,
we find a section named, A Local Police for the Dock-yards.
* Dr. Colquhoun remarks, that the abuses, frauds, and embez¬
zlements are multifarious, and are perpetrated through the medium
of a vast variety of agencies, which naturally divide themselves into
two distinct branches.
The first relates to frauds committed by the connivance and
assistance of 'clerks, storekeepers, and inferior officers in the Dock¬
yards, and other repositories, and in ships of war and transports, in
receiving and delivering Naval, Victualling, and Ordnance stores ,* in
surveys, in returns of unserviceable stores, in what is called solving
of stores, in fraudulent certificates, in the sale of old stores, and innu¬
merable other devices.
The second branch relates to the actual pillage of new and old
cordage, bolts of canvass, sails, bunting, twine of all sorts, fear¬
nought and kersey leather and hides, old and new coppers, locks,
hinges and bolts, copper bolts and nails in immense quantities,
bar iron, old iron, lead and solder, ship's plank, oars, timber of
small sizes, blocks, qiiarterstuff, candles, tallow, oil, paint, pitch,
tar, turpentine, varnish, rosin, beer and water casks, iron hoops,
biscuit bags, beer, bread, wine, brandy, rum, oil, vinegar, butter,
cheese, beef, pork, &c.
Many vessels in the coasting trade, and even ships of foreign
nations, it is said, touch at Portsmouth and Plymouth, merely for
the purpose of purchasing cheap stores.
The artificers in the Dock-yards, availing themselves of their
perquisite of chips, not only commit great frauds, by often cutting
up useful timber, and wasting time in doing so ; but also in fre¬
quently concealing, within their bundles of chips, copper bolts, and
other valuable articles, which are removed by their wives and
children, (and as has appeared in judicial evidence, by boys retained
for the purpose,) and afterwards sold to itinerant Jews, or to the
dealers in old iron and stores, who are always to be found in abun¬
dance wherever the Dock-yards are situated.
Among the multitude of persons concerned in these fraudulent
transactions, some are said to keep men constantly employed in
untwisting the cordage for the purpose of removing the King's
mark, or coloured straw, which is introduced into it as a check
against fraud ; while others are, in like manner, employed in
cutting the broad arrow out of copper bolts, nails, bar iron, and other
articles, on which it is impressed, so as to elude detection.
These remarks are from the Doctor's Work on the Police of the
Metropolis, edition 1806, and relate to a time of War. Things are
very much mended now, but we decidedly approve of a local
Police for the Dock-yards.
Fourth rate, ships of 50 guns, and less than 70.
Fifth rate, ships of 36 guns, and less than 50
Sixth rate, ships of 24 guns, and less than 36.
2 Sloops and bomb vessels.
3. Gun brigs, cutters, schooners, and other small
vessels.^
(68.) These different classes and denominations are
doubtless very proper, and experience has proved, that
many advantages result from ships of diflTerent magni¬
tudes ; but there can be no possible reason why ships
of the same rate should vary so much in size. When
Nelson was off Cadiz with seventeen or eighteen sail of
the line, he had no less than seven different classes of
74-gun ships, each requiring different masts, sails, yards,
&c., so that if one ship was disabled, the others could
not supply her with appropriate stores. No state of
things could possibly be more deplorable than this, and
to an acute and sensitive mind like Nelson's, it must
have been a source of the deepest regret. In the reign
of James I. the classes of ships were, ships royal, great
ships, middling ships, small ships, and pinnaces.
Ships were first distinguished by rates in the reign of
Charles I.
(69.) The Royal Navy on the 1st of October, 1833,
consisted of 557 ships of all classes. Of these, fourteen
were of 120 guns, five of 110 guns, three of 108 guns,
twelve of 84 guns, ten of 80 guns, nine of 78 guns, six
of 76guns, sixty-two of 74 guns, seven of 52 guns, fifteen
of 50 guns, sixty-two of 46 guns, twenty of 42 guns, and
twenty-two steamers ; the remaining ships varying from
30 to 4 guns.f
Naval Ar*
chitecture,.
Erroneous
system
which for¬
merly pre¬
vailed.
Amount of
the Royal
Navy on the
1st of Octo¬
ber, 1833.
* Whenever any of His Majesty's ships or vessels are fitted as
steam-vessels, troop-ships, surveying-ships, fire-ships, prison-ships,
hospital-ships, store-ships, and victualling-ships, or for any other
temporary service, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty may
assign to them such rate or class, not above a fourth-rate, as they
may judge proper.
j- The French Navy in 1831 consisted of the following:—thirty-
five ships of the line of three rates, forty frigates of three
rates; twenty-three corvettes of from 18 to 32 guns; fifty-seven
brigs of fiom 8 to 20 guns; eight bombs; galliots and cutters,
eighteen of 8 guns ; forty-one of 4 guns ; twelve steam-boats,
sixteen armed store-ships, thirty-two armed transports, and two
yachts, amounting in all to 284 vessels fit for sea, whether Sin
commission or lying in ordinary. At the same time, also, there
were twenty ships of the line and twenty-six frigates building, be¬
sides several corvettes, brigs, steam-boats, and store-ships. There
were also to be put on the stocks in 1832, three ships of the line,
two third-rate frigates, three corvettes, and five steam-boats.
In 1830 the United States' Navy consisted of seven sail of the
line, all of which were laid up in ordinary ; seven frigates of the
first class, of which three were in ordinary and four in commission ;
three frigates of tVie second class, of which one was a receiving-ship,
one in actual service, and one in ordinary ; fifteen sloops, of which
two were in ordinary, and the remainder on different foreign sta¬
tions ; seven schooners, of which three were in employ as receiving-
ships, one in ordinary, and two in commission. There were also
five ships of the line and seven frigates in such a state of forward¬
ness that they could be ready for sea in three months. There are
seven Navy yards maintained by the Government in different States
of the Union. In the Secretary's Report an allusion is made to
the construction of two dry-docks, " seldom rivalled in beauty and
solidity." The expenditure on each has been 500,000 dollars. A
great progress has been made in constructing buildings for the
accommodation of officers of the yards, in storehouses, sheds,
wharfs, walls, and shipways. Rope walks also are contemplated.
The vessels in ordinary have been covered at most of the yards, to
shelter them from sunshine and storms. The purchase of timber
and stores under the Act for the gradual increase of the Navy,
remaining in the yard, amount to a million and a half. The amount
of property on hand for repairs is almost a million. The ordnance,
provisions, &c., amount to upwards of a million and a half.
French
Navy in
1831.
Navy of
United
States in
1830.
344
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Number of
ships in
commission.
Classes of
officers in
the Royal
Navy.
(70.) Of these there were in commission 126, viz.^
five three-deckers, varying from 104 to 120 guns, eight
second and third-rates, varying from 74 to 84 guns;
seven fourth-rates of 50 guns ; eight fifth-rates, varying
from 36 to 46 guns ; sixteen sixth-rates, varying from
24 to 28 guns ; thirty sloops, varying from 16 to 20
guns ; and nineteen 10-gun brigs ; the remainder being
small vessels carrying from 2 to 8 guns. The sailors
required for this force amount to 20,000, and the Ma¬
rine« 9000. The Marines thus amount to nearly half
the seamen. In 1793 they amounted to only one-
seventh ; but in the latter part of the War the propor¬
tion rose to considerably more than one-fifth.
(71.) The Officers of his Majesty's Navy are divided
into three classes, viz.^ Commission officers. Warrant
officers, and Petty officers.
The Commission officers are of the undermentioned
denominations, and take precedence and rank in tiie fol¬
lowing order :—Flag officers, Commodores, Captains,
Commanders, and Lieutenants.^
'Warrant officers are of the following denominations,
which also represent the order of their respective ranks :—
To rank with Lieutenants, of the
Navy, but to be subordinate to them.
1. Masters,
2. Secretaries,
3. Physicians,
4. Chaplains,!
5. Surgeons,
6. Pursers,
7. Mates.
8. Second masters.
9. Assistant-surgeons.
10. Gunners.
11. Boatswains.
12. Carpenters.
The Petty officers arranged according to their ranks
are the following :—
1. Schoolmaster. 3. Masters at arms.
2. Clerks. 4. Ship's corporals.
(72.) The following Table contains an analysis of
the various classes and denominations of the officers and
men for l*he several rates of our ships, and furnishes a
good idea of the beautiful economy that prevails in
this great and important particular.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Classes for
Distribu¬
tion of
Seizures.
III. <
IV.
Ranks and Ratings.
Captain ..
Commander
All other Lieutenants ..
Master
Chaplain
Surgeon
Purser
Second Master
Assistant Surgeon ....
Gunner
Boatswain
Carpenter
Mate
Midshipman
Master's Assistant ..,
Schoolmaster
Clerk
Master at Arms ...
Admiral's Cockswain
Ship's Corporal
Captain's Cockswain .
Quarter Master ......
GunnePs Mate
Boatswain's Mate ....
Captain of Forecastle .
Captain of the Hold ..
CO
»
ij
o
>>
%
CO
CO
CÖ
.....
u
-.-t
Ship's Cook ...
Sail Maker .,.,
Rope Maker ...
Carpenter's Mate.
Calker ... ......
Armourer . ...,.
First
Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Sixth
Rate.
Rate.
Rate.
Rate.
Rate.
Rate.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
X
• • •
1
• •
1
• •
1
• •
1
•
1
• •
«
7
6
)
5
4
3
. I
1
1
1
1
1
. 1
1
1
1
1
1
. 1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1 24
20
16
10
8
6
)
. 6
6
6
4
4
4
1
1
1
1
1
. 1
1
1
1
1
1
. 1
1
1
1
1
1
! 2
2
2
2
2
1
. 1
1
1
1
1
1
. 12
12
9
6
5
3
4
3
2
2
2
. 8
7
6
4
3
2
. 3
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
h 1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
]
1
1
1
1
1
• X
1
1
1
1
1
Sloops.
No.
« •
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
3
2
2
2
(3
O
Bombs
-öS
P O
No.
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
I
1
1
1
s 'S T3
OUj 5
No.
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
No.
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
I
1
♦ Relative rank of Officers of the Navy and Army.
1. Admirals of the Fleet with Field-marshals of the Army.
2. Admirals with Generals.
3. Vice-admirals with Lieutenant-generals.
4. Rear-admirals with Major-generals.
5. Commodores with Brigadier-generals.
6. Captains after three years from the dates of their first com¬
missions for rated ships with Colonels.
7. All other Captains with Lieutenant-colonels.
8. Commanders with Majors.
9. Lieutenants with Captains.
10. Masters with Junior Captains.
t It is very gratifying to read the strict and earnest injunctions
enforced on the attention of the Chaplain in the Admiralty Instruc¬
tions respecting his important duties. To instruct, to be attentive,
to be very assiduous, are terms applied to all the different branches
of his duty ; displaying an anxious concern for the religious, moral,
and intellectual welfare of all on board.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
345
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Distribu¬
tion of our
Naval
forces.
Classes for
Distribu¬
tion of
Seizures.
Ranks and Ratings.
V.
VI.
VII. i
VIII,
Captain of the Maintop .
Captain of the Foretop .
Captain of the Mast .. .
Captain of the Afterguard
Yeoman of Signals ....
Cockswain of the Pinnace
Sailmaker's Mate
Calker's Mate
Armourer's Mate
Cooper ......
Volunteer of First Class
^Volunteer of SecondClass
Gunner's Crew
Carpenter's Crew
Sailmaker's Crew
Cooper's Crew
CO
u
a>
Ü
m
o
PH
tn
cn
cá
O
ta
ö
o
u
O)
CO
First
rate.
Second
rate.
Third
rate.
Fourth
rate.
Fifth
rate.
Sixth
rate.
100 Men
and up¬
wards. 2
O
Under œ
100 Men.
Bombs
Gun-brigs,
Schooners,
and Cutters.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
I
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
8
7
6
4
4
3
3
2
1
1
4
4
4
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
25
22
20
13
10
8
6
4
1
2
18
16
14
12
8
6
4
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
I
1
2
2
2
2
I
1
1
Able Seaman
Yeoman of Store-room . .,,
Ordinary Seaman
Cook's Mate
J3arber ....a............
Purser's Steward inVessels in
which a Purser is allowed
Captain's Steward
Captain's Cook .
W ard or Gun-room Steward.
Ward or Gun-room Cook ..
Steward's Mate
Landman
Boy First Class ..
Boy Second Class
• • ft • •
Total . .,
The num¬
bers in¬
cluded in
' these ra- ^
tings are
in
First-rates
Second-rates
Third-rates
Fifth-rates
1st Class ,
2d Class
3d Class
( 1st Class.
*l2d Class
f 1st Class
•|2d Class
Fourth-rates . 1cto
J 1st Class
12d Class
{1st Class
2d Class
3d Class .
rist Class ,
ciT J 2d Class ,
Isd Class,
^th Class,
Bombs
T3 . o Í 1st Class ,
Brigs, &c
529
479
429
356
306
351
301
259
159
139
119
59
29
9
47
37
33
13
16
27
17
Making the
total war
complement
of
Naval Ar¬
chitecture,
r900
850
800
700
650
650
600
450
350
300
280
175
145
125
135
125
95
671
60 j
501
;
6
5
4
2
ft •
1
13
12
10
7
10
9
6
2
5
2
18
17
16
11
3
2
1
1
1
ft •
211
194
174
131
111
91
68
50
37
21
(73.) At the present time we have Admirals' flags
flying at the Nore, Portsmouth, and Plymouth, in the
Mediterranean, the West Indies, Halifax, and New¬
foundland, in South America, the East Indies, Lisbon,
Cape of Good Hope, and coast of Africa, and on par¬
ticular service. In all ten Admirals.^ These are the
* In 1812 we had two Admirals' flags flying in the Baltic, one at
Leith, one at Yarmouth, four in the Texel and Scheldt, one at
the Nore,j one in the Downs, one at Portsmouth, one at Plymouth,
one Guernsey and Jersey, one in Ireland, three in the Channel
fleet ; one on the coast of Portugal, seven in the Mediterranean,
one at Newfoundland, one at Halifax, one at Jamaica, one at the
Leeward Islands, one on the coast of Africa, two in South
America, one at the Cape of Good Hope, and one in the East Indies :
in all thirty-four.
The duties of a Commander in Chief are twofold—those relating
to general service, and to the Civil establishments. They will be
found in the Admiralty regulations and instructionr and embrace
a vast variety of important objects. Frequently a Commander in
Chief has to undertake matters of a diplomatic nature, and some¬
times he has to act on his own responsibility on circumstances of
the greatest moment. This must of course be on foreign stations.
The admirable letters of Lord Collingwood show his case with
what ability he conducted some of the most delicate and important
negotiations. In all the varied duties connected with his extensive
command in the Mediterranean, after the Battle of Trafalgar, he
showed himself a profound, and provident, and truly English-
hearted statesman.
V07 . VI.
present Naval stations. In former Wars, much unplea¬
sant litigation arose among the flag-officers of his
Majesty's fleet, in consequence of the limits of the dif¬
ferent stations not having been properly defined. Since
that time, however, the Admiralty have so marked the
boundaries of each command, that any future dispute
seems impossible. These limits may be seen in vol. v. of
Brenton's Naval History^ p. 348, &c.
(74.) At the present time also there are on the Navy Admirals at
List one Admiral of the fleet, forty-six Admirals, fifty-five
Vice-admirals, and sixty-four Rear-admirals.
Their rates of sea-pay and of half-pay per diem are
the following :—
Sea-pay.
Admiral of the fleet ^6 0 0
Half-pay.
3 0
2 2 0
1 12 6
5
0^
Admiral 5 0 0
Vice-admiral 4 0 0
Rear-admiral or Commodorel
of the first class, Captain 0 0 1
of the fleet 1
(75.) There are also 799 Post Captains, oi whom fifty-
four are actively employed. Their sea-pay is by the
* In the reign of James II. Admirals and Captains of the Navy
received only very small pay, but were allowed in addition a certain
retinue, and for tlue men composing it so much a day, with the
value of their provisions. Those allowances led to great abuses.
3 A
346
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Commande
ers.
month, and is governed by the rate of the ship they
command. A Captain of a first-rate in commission
receives <^61. per month, and the other rates,
down to the fifth, diminish (omitting some trifling
fractions) by a common decrement of an eighth part of
that sum, thereby giving to the Captain of the last men¬
tioned rate a monthly pay of ¿^30. IBs. 8. The Captain
of a sixth-rate receives a sixteenth part of ¿^61. 7s. 4g?.
less than a Captain of a fifth-rate. It would be cu¬
rious to know what circumstances led to the determi¬
nation of these fractional decrements. A different scale
of arrangement takes place in the pay of these officers
when on half-pay. Each of the first hundred as they
stand on the general list of officers in seniority receive
14s. 6d. a day; each of the next 150 a daily half-pay
of 12s. Qd. and to the remainder 10s. ßd. per day.^
(76.) Of the Commanders there are 881, of whom
110 are employed on active service. The latter receive
an eighth part of £61, 7s. Ad. (omitting a fraction) less
than the Captain of a fifth-rate. Of this class of officers
when on half-pay, each of the first 150 on the list receive
10s. a day, and the remainder 8s. 6cZ.t
By an Order in Council dated 22d February, 1693, the extravagant
number of servants previously allowed was abolished, and the
officers were allowed a number about equal to the present establish¬
ment. This wise and salutary plan, which excluded all profits on
servants, and assigned an adequate rate of net pay, was, however,
rescinded by Order in Council of 18th April, 1700, which esta¬
blished the following rates of pay, and reestablished the following
extravagant number of servants :—
Pay. Servants.
Admiral of the fleet £5 Ö 0 50
Admiral 3 10 0 30
Vice-admiral 210 0 20
Rear-admiral 115 0 15
and at these rates the pay of the flag-officers remained for upwards
of 100 years, till, by Order in Council of 23d April, 1806, an
alteration took place. It was computed in the Appendix to the
Order in Council of February, 1693, that the annual saving to the
Public on the reduction of the servants, would be on each officer
as follows :—
Admiral of the fleet £1014 0 0
Admiral 557 14 0
Vice-admiral 304 4 0
Rear-admiral 177 9 0
* The Admiralty instructions to Captains respecting the fitting
of ships, their stores and provisions, their books and accounts,
their discipline, pilotage, and sick quarters, &c. &c. &c., form a
body of knowledge of a most important kind ; and we regret that
our limits will only permit us thus briefly to allude to them.
f In every sea-port of France, the resort of ships of war, a
Maritime Prefect is established, who is generally either a Vice or
Rear-admiral. His functions correspond with those of a Port-
admiral in England.
Francs per ann.
The Maritime Prefects receive, when not em¬
ployed at sea. 18,000
Vice-admiral 15,000
Rear-admiral (Contre amiral) 10,000
Post Captain (Capitaine de vaisseau, 1st class) . 5,000
Captain (Capitaine de vaisseau, 2d class) 4,500
Commander (Capitaine de frégate) 3,500«
When at sea, the officers receive a supplementary pay of one-
fifth of the above, besides a daily mess allowance, which varies
with the service or station on which they are employed.
The pay and allowances of officers as well as men, and also
all payments whatever made on account of the service of the
Navy, are subject to a deduction of three per cent, for the sup¬
port of the sick, and for granting pensions to Naval invalids.
There never has existed in France any special asylum for aged or
invalid seamen, similar to Greenwich Hospital. It is true, however.
Naval invalids, after thirty years' effective service, when supplied
with certificates of good character, and supported by high interest,
may be admitted into the H6te¿ des Invalides at Paris, and it is
also true that there are special Hospitals for the sick belonging to
the Navy, while in service, at Biest, Toulon, Rochefort, L'Orient,
and Cherbourg.
■B P' •
I- P '
I P ■
■Í P- •
'I'W P ' •
f P-•
Lieute¬
nants.
Suro-eons,
O
Pursers.
Chaplains.
(77.) The rates of pay of Post Captains and Com- Naval Ar¬
manders for the different rates and sloops and bombs, chifecture.
may be represented by the following series, wherein 'p
denotes the Captain's pay of a first-rate.
p. . . Captain of a first-rate,
vj— of a second-rate.
of a third-rate,
of a fourth-rate,
of a fifth-rate,
of a sixth-rate.
commander of sloops and bombs.
(78.) The Lieutenants amount to 3207 ; 658 of these
being on active service.
(79.) There are 496 Masters, of whom 98 are ern- Master«,
ployed.
(80.) There are 12 Physicians belonging to the Navy, Physicians.
712 Surgeons for service, and 318 Assistant Surgeons.
92 Surgeons and 108 Assistant Surgeons are on active
service.
(81.) The Pursers amount to 635, of whom 89 are
on service.
(82.) The active list of Chaplains amounts to 37.
(83.) As a proof, also, that the Admiralty are not
unmindful of their important duties as regards the qua¬
lities of ships, and consequently their improvement, the
following series of questions forms a part of the in¬
structions issued to every officer on his taking the com¬
mand of a ship.
^A Report of the Sailing and other qualities of
day ofj His Majesty's Ship , as found on
18 4 strict observation thereof, between the
[ of and this date.
Feet. Inches,
Her complement of men is
Her light draught of water was stated!Forward.,.
tobe jAft
The draught of water which was esti-1 „ ,
mated by the builder to be her best >. * * *
trim
The draught of water found, on trial, to"j
be her best sailing trim, with three I Forward...
months' provisions and stoies on (Aft
hoard J
The draught of water found, on trial, to\
be her best sailing trim, with as much I Forward,..
provisions and stores on board as she (Aft
can conveniently stow j
The necessary quantity of iron ballast
for her.
The quantity of water she stows in her J In iron tanks
fore and main holds \ln casks ..
Tone.
With three months'
provisions and
stores on board .
With as much provi¬
sions and stores on
hoard as she can
conveniently stow
Draught of water] • •
(Foremost .
t Height of ports . ] Midships..
t Aftermost .
. (Forward...
Draught oí water< *
f Foremost .
Height of ports .< Midships ..
t Aftermost
Feet
Inches,
(On lower deck .■
On middle deck.
How armed
No.Pdrs. Weight, Length.
Cvt. Q)6 Ft In.
f Guns ....
1 Carronades
(Guns ....
(Carronades
On main deck . '
(Carronades
On quarterdeck * *{ *
^ (Carronades
On forecastle...I
^ ( Guns ....
{carronades
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
347
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
w
tí
o
O
• ^
S
êS
cö
♦ ^
rtí
CO
0)
rtí
Cm
O
(-1
O)
Oí
h*
o3
rtí
Q
How many days of the following-jProvisions,
articles does she stow for her com- > Bread ....
plement of men ? 3 Spirits .. ,
Does she ride easy at her anchors ?
How many degrees does she heel^ with a freshv
breeze, under single-reefed top-sails and top- >
gallant sails ? 3
How many degrees does she heel, with a strong"!
breeze, under double-reefed top-sails, without j-
top-gallant sails ? 3
How does she carry her lee-ports ?
Does she roll easy or uneasy in the trough of I
the sea ? f
Does she pitch easy ?
Is she, generally speaking, an easy or uneasy )
ship ? J
How does she in i with all sails set
general carry >with treble-reefed top-sails 1
her helm ? ,.. j and courses ? j
How does she steer P
How does she stay ?
How does she wear ?
Is she weatherly or leewardly, compared with)
other ships P j
How does she behave lying-to P
Under whole or sin-'
gle-reefed top¬
sails and top-gal¬
lant sails
Under double-reef-)
ed top-sails.... Í
'Under double-reef-1
ed top-sails and>
top-gallant sails J
Under close-reefed^
top-sails and I
courses 3
Large, under all sail that could
with propriety be set.
Before the wind under similar cir¬
cumstances
is her best point of sailing com
tí
Q O
Í3 O
Oí
^»tí rtí
M K)
tí tí
Tí 'S
tí
• M
f-t te >-
<u ^ u
tí ^ ^
33 CO ÎM
cS <tí „tj
^ ^ CO
Knots Fathoms.
Close-hauled
with
smooth water
There must therefore be an immense body of valua¬
ble knowledge now buried in the innumerable returns
that have been made to these questions, and from which
the hand of industry might deduce some important results.
(84.) Since the Peace, many keen and angry discus¬
sions have taken place respecting the best mode of
building our ships of war ; and several experimental
squadrons have been sent out, composed of ships built
by different projectors. Nothing decisive, however,
seems to have resulted from these attempts ; and Naval
Architecture, considered as a Science, seems now to re¬
main nearly as it did before. New plans have also been
adopted for the internal fittings of our men of war ; and
in the case of the Thunderer, recently commissioned by the
gallant Captain Wise, no cabins are permitted on the two
gun-decks, the whole space being left free for fighting,
(85.) The appointment of a new Surveyor of the
Navy has led to the greatest changes in the forms and
dimensions of ships hitherto attempted. The vessels in
which Nelson and Duncan fought can hardly be com¬
pared with the magnificent vessels now building in our
Dock-yards. The following Tables will furnish an ac¬
count of their principal elements.
Dimensions.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Experimen
tal squa¬
drons.
Appoint¬
ment of a
new Sur¬
veyor of the
Navy.
<:
rtí
03
rtí
• ^
Close-hauled
with a
head sea.
What is her best point of sailing compared)
with other ships ? j
Comparative rate of sailing compared with other!
ships ? j
Is she, generally speaking, a well-built and^
strong ship, or does she, on the contrary, >
show any symptoms of weakness ? 3
Remarks, stating the grounds of such of the present)
answers as may differ from those of the last Re-1
port, and any other observations tending to form >
an accurate judgment on the qualities of the!
ship * j
Captain. Master. Carpenter.
Particulars.
Names of the Ships and "Vessels.
London.
92Guns.
Castor.
36Guns.
Vernon.
50Guns.
Rover,
Corv.
iSGuns.
Snake,
Brig.
16 Guns.
Ft. In.
Ft. In.
Ft. In.
Ft. In.
Ft. In.
Length of deck
» • • • • •
205 6
159 0
176 0
113 0
100
0
Do. of keel for tonnage
170 4
133 7|
144 6i
90 1
76
9L
Bieadth for ditto
53 6
42 6
52 0
35 0
32
0
Exrreme breadth
54 4
43 0
52 SJ
35 4
32
4
Depth in hold ..
23 2
13 6
17 1
16 9
14
10
Burthen m tons.
. .No.
2598
1283
2082
587
418
Ft. In.
Ft. In.
Ft. In.
Ft. In.
Ft. In.
Calculated light f Forw.
15 2
12 8
• • • •
9 5
8
14
water line -... 1 Aft..
18 3
15 6
• • • •
12 3
12
0
Ascertained line^
1 Forw.
• • • •
12 8
13 6
• • • •
8
1
when launched.
[Aft..
• • • •
15 2
17 6
• • • «
12
4
Constructed load
Forw.
23 3
19 I
20 9
14 0
13
6
line .........
[Aft..
24 3
20 1
21 9
15 0
14
9
[Fore.
8 2
8 8
10 6
7 0
6
3
Height of ports . «
Mids.
7 0
7 8
9 0
6 0
5
3
[Aft..
8 2
8 6
9 9
6 2
5
4
Dimensions
of their
masts and
yards,
(86.) The next Table gives the dimensions of their masts and yards.
53 (Fore mast
^ < Main mast
(Mizen mast.......
Bowsprit
Top mast
Top-gallant mast ..
Lower yard
Top-sail yard
Top-gallant yard ..
Top mast.........
Top-gallant mast ..
Lower yard
Top-sail yard
Top-gallant yard ..
I Top mast ........
Top-gallant mast ..
Cross jack yard ...
Top-sail yard
Top-gallant yard ..
Driver boom
Driver gaff........
Jib boom
¡ Sprit-sail yard
aj
M
o
Ph
London.
Length.
Yds. In.
36 28
39 32
27 8
25 1
20 34
10 12
30 13
21 18
14 8
22 34
11 17
34 28
24 20
16 9
16 17
8 8
24 20
16 12
12
23
17
3
7
6
17 18
21 18
Diameter.
In.
36|
40
241
361
20|
lOi
2R
13i
8#
20|
24|
154
10
13i
81
154
104
64
13a
12a
I5f
13|
Castor.
Vernon.
Rover.
Snake.
Length.
Diameter.
Length.
Diameter.
Length.
Diameter.
Length.
Diameter
Yds.
In.
In.
Yds.
In.
In.
Yds.
In.
In.
Yds.
In.
In.
29
13
27i
30i
35
7
36
22
8
21
22
8
21
32
0
38
24
38
24
23
24
9
23
23
2
20
27
9
24
19
20
17
• •
• •
« • • •
19
19
28
22
0
344
21
14
31
21
14
12
23
17
0
17|
19
23
13
0
12|
14
6
13
9
6
H
8
15
11
6
12
6^
7
12
74
25
6
28
4
21|
17
30
15
18
6
124
19
9
12
21
12
m
14
15
9
14
18
9
12
12
7|
13
12
9
21
6
10
0
7
19
6
17|
22
21
14
27
144
14
6
13
10
9
9
24
llj
7
6
7|
7
12
74
28
26
19|
32
8
22|
15
20
24
164
18
6
124
21
20
24
24
16
18
11
14
18
9
14
20
15
10
9
10
18
H
10
0
7
14
13
llf
16
10
11
3
10
♦ • i
1 •
• • • •
7
24
7^
I3|
7
6
7
6
64
• • i
» •
• • • •
21
20
23
18
15
16
18
11
• •
» »
• • • •
14
20
8|
15
13
91
12|
11
18
6
« •
• «
# • • •
9
8
H
17
21
7
33
44
• • *
1 •
• • • •
19
19
19
12
12
24
10
19
0
134
15
3
16
19i
10
9
0
7|
12
12
10
15
0
121
12
16
0
154
11
0
10
10
0
94
19
9
21
12
13^
14
15
11
14
18
9
Dimensions
of the new
ships.
3 a2
348
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Tactics.
Undoubted
claims of
Clerk»
Importance
of tactics.
(87.) Such are the elements of some of the ships
built or building in our Dock-yards, under the new
state of things ; and others on a still larger scale are
spoken of. The Americans, acting on a principle of
policy, taught us the necessity of augmenting the dimen¬
sions of our ships of war ; and the vessels which our
Dock-yards now produce, prove that the lesson has not
been taught in vain. The increased expense arising
from augmented dimensions, however, ought to render us
cautious not to carry this principle beyond its necessary
and proper limits.
(88.) The great problem of breaking an enemy's
line, owes its origin entirely to Mr. Clerk of Eldin.
That splendid discovery ranks with many other great
events which influence the fate of nations, and impart a
new aspect to the affairs of men. By its ready and
admirable adoption on the 12th of April, 1782, by
Rodney, it led to the most decisive and brilliant results ;
and other commanders, following up the same great
principle, have likewise gained from it an unfading
renown. It must have been a source of the purest plea¬
sure to Mr. Clerk, to have witnessed the complete suc¬
cess of the theory on which he had so long and so deeply
meditated ; and, moreover, to have received as its richest
fruits, the public admission made of his transcendent
merits, by the most illustrious commanders of his time.
Within the last two or three years, however, a keen and
bitter controversy has sprung up on the subject ; and
attempts have been made to dislodge Mr. Clerk from
the high position to which public opinion had elevated
him. The appearance of an eloquent and powerful
Paper in the List volume of the Edinburgh Review*
embracing the whole scope and compass of the inquiry,
has fortunately tended, in a high degree, to strengthen
the entrenchments which time, and the unequivocal
testimonies of the greatest minds, had raised up around
him. Had Mr. Clerk been professionally connected
with the Navy, so great a master of tactics, aided by all
the results of a large experience, could not but have
attained to its very highest honours. How often, in the
history of knowledge, have great and important dis¬
coveries originated in quarters, from which they could^
have least been expected ; and how rich and varied have
been the benefits thus resulting to mankind !
(89.) An attention to tactics cannot but be of the very
first importance to a Naval commander. To neglect
their cultivation is to give every advantage to the enemy,
and to throw away that science which ought to be
our guide. Our youngest seamen should be taught
their rudiments, and a complete knowledge of them both
in theory and practice should form a necessary part of
Naval education. The subject is replete with the deep¬
est interest in theory, and in its practice, is connected
with the highest glory and renown. Naval tactics, it is
true, have a limit in the possibilities of Navigation, and
are, therefore, much less capable of variety of stra¬
tagem than the operations of armies ; but, although the
Naval warrior cannot place his fleet in ambush, nor at
all times press the foe in his weakest part, it must not
be thence inferred that there is no room left for the exer¬
cise of skill. The remark of Nelson just at the com¬
mencement of the splendid Battle of the Nile, " Where
there js space for an ' enemv's ship to swing,
Sir Howard Doiij^las has published a reply to this Article in a
work entitled Naval Evolutiom^ London, 1832 ; but we are bound
to say that it does not appear to us satisfactory.
there must be room for a British ship to anchor,"*
proves that, in his case at least, the ready eye of
genius was capable of seizing on whatever could con¬
tribute to glory and success. To devise and execute an
unexpected manœuvre is, in fact, to secure the battle.
This cannot be taught by books—the moment of
invention is the moment of execution.
(90.) On the important subject of impressment there
has been much discussion during the Peace ; but though
the practice is so much condemned, no one has been able
to suggest an adequate remedy. There can be no doubt
that its employment is painful, and to be justified only
by imperious circumstances. It is absolutely necessary,
however, on the breaking out of a War, that the English
fleet should be the first to get possession and command
of the Channel ; but how this can be done without the
aid of impressment, has never been satisfactorily shown
by those who contend for its entire abolition. It is an
ancient prerogative of the Crown, on the maintenance of
which mainly depends our Naval supremacy.
(91.) According to Steel's Lists^ the number of sta¬
tions at which we had press-gangs during the late War
varied from forty-five at the commencement, to thirty-
four at the close of the War; and at these different sta¬
tions there were employed from eighteen to twenty-five
Captains, and from forty-seven to fifty-nine Lieutenants,
with a number of men amounting on an average to not
less than twenty at each station. It has been stated
also, that during the late War there were never less than
five line of battle ships, and sometimes eight, one 50-
gun ship, three frigates, and five sloops, employed for
the purpose of securing impressed men.
(92.) It is a circumstance most gratifying to record,
that the waste of life in the trying and difficult enter¬
prises of the past War, by no means amounted to what
might have been anticipated. For example
There were on) ^ whereof
board the ships j Jan. 1,1811, tol38,581
of war in all I
parts of the Vjan. 1,1812, to 136,778.-
World, seamen I
and marines 1 Jan. 1,1813, to 138,324.
amounting, J
The average of the crews being 137,894, and the ave¬
rage deaths, by disease, accident, and battle, 4,554,
gives a rate of mortality of little more than one in 30^
Sussmilch, Göttliche Ordnunq^ vohiii. p. 60. supposes the ave¬
rage measuie of mortality for all Countries, taking town and vil¬
lages together to be one in 36. According to Crome, the mor¬
tality in Silesia, from 1781 to 1784, was one in 30, In Guelder-
land, from 1776 to 1781, it was one in 27, and the same respect¬
able authority states, that in the richest and most populous States of
Europe, where the inhabitants of the towns are to the inhabitants of
the country in so high a proportion as one to three, the mortality may
be taken as one in 30. In several of the traOes of the metrópolis, the
members oí which, like the sailors, aie between the ages of sixteen
and sixty, the average "mortality is greater than among seamen.
In the Naval instructions it is judiciously observed, that, "as
cleanliness, dryness, and good air are essentially necessary to health,
the Captain is to use his utmost endeavours to obtain these comfoits
for the ship's company as much as possible. The ship is always to
he pumped dry ; the pump-well is to be frequently swabbed, and a
fire let down to dry it, (proper precautions being taken to guard
against accidents ;) and if the weather should prevent the lower
deck ports from being opened for a considerable time, fires are to
be made in the stoves, and by means of them and of wind sails the
lower decks are to be kept as dry and as well ventilated as possible.
The Captain is to be particularly attentive to the cleanliness of the
men, who are to wash themselves frequently, and to change their
linen twice every week. They are never to be suffered to sleep in
wet clothes or wet beds, if it can possibly be prevented, and they
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Impress¬
ment,
Stations of
press-
gangs.
Small
waste of life
in the
Naval ser¬
vice.
there
died of
disease,
drowned,
and
killed in
• battle.
m 1810,5183
^in 1811, 4265
in 1812,4211
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
349
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Geographi¬
cal position
of England
favourable
to her Na¬
val povi er.
Her fieets
ill future
Wars can
act in great¬
er masses.
Her im¬
mense
Naval su¬
periority.
a result of a very remarkable kind, w^hen we consider the
diversified circumstances of climate, and giving a happy
close to a review of the gigantic growth of our Naval power.
(93.) The position of England at this moment in a
Naval point of view is very remarkable. By her im¬
mense maritime superiority, she wields with ease the
sceptre of the ocean. The fleets which may be preparing
in the ports of those who look upon her Naval supre¬
macy with jealousy and fear, are probably destined in
future Wars to add to her own strength. Any idea
of effecting a maritime coalition against her is de¬
stroyed, by her remarkable geographical position.
UAngleterre^ says M. de Pradt,* occupe une position
centrale entre le Nord et le Midi de l'Europe; les
escadres de ces deux divisions du Continent ne pour¬
raient donc se réunir qu'à la portée des cotes de VAn^
gleterre et en passant sous ses canons ; et ces escadres,
quelles ser aient-elles ? Celles de la Russie ? par où sor¬
tiraient-elles? A Héligoland, VAngleterre ferme le
passage du Sund ; à Gibraltar, à Malte, elle intercepte
tout ce qui navigue dans la Méditerranée, comme tout ce
qui entre dans cette mer ou qui en sort. De Plymouth,
elle bloque Cherbourg et Brest ; ses côtes correspondent à
celles de la Hollande, et, par ce rapprochement, la Bel¬
gique et la Hollande sont tenues en respect par la seule
présence des ports Anglais: une coalition maritime
contre VAngleterre est donc matériellement impossible ;
moralement, elle l*est plus encore. When France pos¬
sessed Canada, Louisiana, the Antilles, and settlements
in India, it might have distracted in some degree the
fleets of the English ; but now that the colonies of the
French are so much reduced, the British fleets in future
Wars will be enabled to act in greater masses than at
any antecedent time. It hence becomes the policy of
England, now that she has so triumphantly ascended to
the very summit of maritime greatness, to consolidate
her Naval power by every possible means. Favoured
by Nature in so many ways, she cannot but maintain
her superiority if she be true to herself. The ves¬
sels of a hundred different Countries wave their flags
upon the Thames," says Dupin, and nevertheless
are often, but particularly after bad weather, to shake their clothes
and bedding in the air, and to expose them to the sun and wind."
The following Table, taken from James's Naval History of the five
great Naval victories of the last War, of the numbers killed and
wounded, proves that sea-fights aie not nearly so destructive as land
battles. In the single Battle of Talavera there were 4714 killed
and wounded, being only 145 less than the whole number killed
and wounded in the Naval battles alluded to. At Talavera, also,
there were only 18,500 men engaged, whereas in the five Naval
fights they amounted to upwards of 61,000.
Date of the
Naval victory.
Name of the Admiral
who commanded
the fleet.
On board
the
fleet.
Number
of men
killed.
Number
of men
wounded.
June 1, 1794.
Earl Howe.
17,241
290
858
Feb. 14,1797.
Earl St. Vincent.
9,900
73
227
Oct. 11, 1797.
Lord Duncan,
8,221
203
622
Aug. 1, 1798.
Lord Nelson.
7,401
218
678
Oct. 21,1805.
Lord Nelson.
18,725
449
1241
1 Totals ...
61,488
1 1233
3626
Total killed and wounded..
4859
* Appel à V Attention de la France sur sa Marine Militaire par
M. de Pradt, Ancien Archevêque de Malines, Paris, 1832 Certes,
says M. de Pradt, les armées de f Europe n'ont que trop su itouver
le chemin de Paris; mais comment ses vaisseaux trouveraient-ils
celui de Londres ?
there the British flags alone surpass in number those of
so many other nations. If the citizen of London is
justly proud at the sight of so many fleets of merchant
ships, daily arriving from the sea, or descending the
river,—these, to export the products of the national
industry, those, to import the produce and treasures of
the most distant climes,—he cannot contemplate the
busy activity that surrounds him, without feeling that
he owes it all to the sovereignty of the sea. Nor are
these evidences of unbounded and increasing wealth
confined to the metropolis alone. He perceives Edin¬
burgh on the shore of the most beautiful gulf of
Scotland ; Dublin on the spot most convenient for a
rapid communication between London and Ireland ;
Quebec on the banks of the St Lawrence ; Calcutta on
the borders of the Ganges; Halifax on the Northern
coast of America ; and the City of the Cape on the
Southern extremity of Africa—the Cape of Storms,*
which must be doubled in order to connect Europe with
India;—in a word, in all parts of the World, the central
points ofthe British power participate in the benefits of the
commerce ofthe sea; and by these benefits contribute to
the splendour, the wealth, and the power of the Country."
(94.) " In England, in Scotland, and in Ireland too,
not only the Capitals just alluded to, but a multitude of
cities of the first rank are built on the sea-coasts, or on
the borders of large navigable rivers. Hence Liver¬
pool, Bristol, Hull, Dundee, Aberdeen, and Glasgow,
Belfast, Cork, and Waterford, become united by com¬
merce with all the cities and all the manufactories
of the interior; the interests of the maritime ports
blending thus in harmony with all the great and
transcendent interests of the Country. No other Coun¬
try, also, is so wonderfully intersected with roads and
canals ; there being no point within the three King¬
doms, from which one may not, in four and twenty
hours, arrive at one or other ofthe seas which surround
them." The commerce and Naval power of England
hence mutually feed and protect each other. Commerce is
atoncethe prodiicerof wealth, and the copstant, unwearied,
nursery of seamen ; so that in the season of peace, the
national enterprise is kept up, and a race of men are
prepared by previous hardships, and by encountering
Tropical whirlwinds and the icy seas of the Poles, to
maintain the glory and renown of preceding wars.
(95.) As the growth of our Naval power has been gra¬
dual, advancing by slow but certain steps from one con¬
dition of greatness to another, so has its administration
on shore not been without obstacle and difficulty. Our
Dock-yards, in no instance, present an example of an
establishment that is perfect. It remains yet to be seen
what a perfect Dock-yard should be ; one that shall em¬
brace magnificent basins, and be surrounded by spacious
wharfs and quays ; and have its most laborious duties
performed by machines planned and executed by men
capable of imparting to them the latest improvements in
Mechanics. In former times, the various parts of the
same Naval establishment were scattered ; nor does the
principle of concentration, so necessary for economizing
time, and for uniting in a focus all the powers of a
great department, seem ever to have been contemplated.
Shi|)s were built at one place, their victualling stores
were received from another; their water at a third;
their beer at a fourth, and their ordnance and powder
* Cabo Tormentoso, so called by Bartholomew Diaz, a Portu¬
guese. John I. of Portugal gave it the more inviting name of
The Cape of Good Hope."
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Her com¬
merce.
and Naval
power mu¬
tually assist
each other.
Further
steps to he
made ; our
Dock-yaids
not perfect.
350
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
j^íaval Ar¬
chitecture.
Kvils of a
divided
system
Those evils
now under
coirection.
New Vic
tualling es¬
tablishment
at Ply¬
mouth.
from a fifth. Instead of one eye presiding' over and con¬
trolling all the necessary elements for the speedy equip¬
ment of a numerous fleet, separate and sometimes con¬
flicting interests were called into action ; delays of mes¬
sengers impeded the advancement of one ship, whilst
currents and contrary winds, not then subdued by steam,
occasioned stoppage in another. "No wonder, in such a
system of things, that our gallant seamen—a St. Vin¬
cent, or a Nelson,—sometimes in the ardour of their
zeal, and impatient to meet the foe, bestowed words of
bitter condemnation on our Dock-yards.
(96.) These evils, however, since the Peace, have gra-
duallybeen under correction. In the two great Naval sta¬
tions of Portsmouth and Plymouth, advantage has been
taken of locality to bring the different departments more
into union. The Victualling Office at Plymouth, which a
few years ago was placed in a narrow and inconvenient
place remote from the Dock-yard, is now brought almost
into juxta-position with it, forming the Eastern side of the
beautiful natural basin of Hamoaze, whilst the Dock-yard
and gun-wharf form the Northern. Here, in this new crea¬
tion of the Kennies, is to be found every thing requisite
for the victualling of a fleet. Amp-le storehouses, corn-
mills, and bakehouses of enlarged dimensions,^ slaughter-
Until within the last few years, all the flour and biscuit con¬
sumed in the Navy was furnished by private contract. The most
flagrant impositions and frauds were but too generally the conse¬
quence of this mode of supply, in defiance of all the vigilance of the
heads of departments. The flour and biscuit were stipulated to be
of the second best quality ; but instead of this, the former was ge¬
nerally mouldy, damaged, or of a very inferior description to that
bargained for ; while the latter was usually compounded of bad
flour, bean meal, old worm-eaten biscuits ground down, and various
other cheap or unwholesome materials. To obviate these frauds.
Government, a few years ago, erected steam-mills at Deptford and
Portsmouth, for the purpose of grinding flour for the Navy ; and a
very superior and cheaper article being the result, it was determined,
in addition to grinding the flour, to attempt also the manufacture of
biscuit from it, at these establishments. The impossibility of ac¬
commodating and effectually superintending the multitude of bakers
required to knead the dough in the usual way, by hand, so as to
effect the supplying of the whole Navy, would have rendered this
praiseworthy effort, in a great measure, abortive, had not the inge¬
nuity of Mr. Grant, storekeeper at Portsmouth, obviated the diffi¬
culty. By the attachment of a few simple pieces of machinery to
the engine driving the flour-mill, the dough is now worked, rolled
out, and stamped into biscuits, with an ex[)edition inconceivable, and
with a saving of two-thirds of the number of bakers required to
perform these processes by hand. The flour and water are first put
into a trough, through which passes an iron spindle, armed with
eighteen knives, in two rows, ù e. nine in each row, on opposite sides
of the spindle. A strap connected with the engine turns the
snindle round, and by means of the revolving knives, the flour and
water are in a few minutes worked into dough fit for being stamped
into biscuits. The dough is now taken piecemeal from the trough,
and shaped by hand into longish rolls upon two movable baking-
boards, supported by small iron pillars, having castor wheels at the
top : these pillars are in three rows, extending from the trough to
the two rolling machines ; and along the castors upon their tops
the baking-boards are pushed by hand, towards the rollers, under
which the dough is rolled out into thin cakes, by their back¬
ward and forward swinging motion. The baking boards are now
pushed out by hand from under the rollers, and slided along three
other rows of pillars, connecting the two rollers with the two cut¬
ting machines, each containing forty-two hexagonal dies, under
which they are momentarily placed, and eighty-four biscuits are thus
cut out by a single stamp of the two machines. The kneading,
rolling, and stamping portions of the machinery being separate, can
consequently be put in separate motion or at rest at the will of the
baker. By the machinery at Portsmouth, under Mr. Grant's su¬
perintendence, 160,000 pounds of biscuit can be manufactured in
twenty-four hours ; constituting a day's ration for the crews of
twenty sail of the line ; and with eight or ten such pieces of
machinery, biscuit rations may be daily manufactured for 160,000
men, being the greatest number of seamen and marines employed
during the hottest period of the late War. The biscuit is free from
houses, cooperages, brewhouses, all under the eye of an Naval Ar-
intelligent and active superintendent,* cannot but pro- chitecture.
duce, aided as it must be by the application of steam to
Naval power, the most astonishing- results.f Other im¬
provements will doubtless take place in the Dock-yards
themselves ; machinery will be more extensively em¬
ployed; railways will be laid down; Science will gain
a greater ascendency ; the true principles of labour will
be better understood ; and thus by one improvement
added to another, and a rigid economy in all the depart¬
ments of the State, the Naval power of England shall
rise higher and higher in the scale of greatness, main¬
taining her transcendent superiority in spite of all the
rivals who endeavour to pull her down.
Equidistant Ordinates.
(97.) Ships disclose a variety of parts whose solidi¬
ties and surfaces require to be computed with preci¬
sion and care, but whose mixed and uncertain forms
can only be reached by approximation. If we take by
way of examples the surface of the water section, the
figure of the immersed volume, the portions of the
vessel plunged at times beneath the sea in the acts of
roiling and pitching, or raised above the waves by their
buoyant power, we shall find forms both of a solid and su¬
perficial kind, incapable of reduction to any regular figure.
(98.) Various methods have been devised by Mathe¬
maticians for computing the areas and solidities of figures
of this kind, by the aid of equidistant ordinates referred
to a common axis. These modes of calculation are
found to approximate with more or less certainty to the
desired end ; and much of the accuracy, whatever rule
be employed, will depend on the increased number of
the ordinates themselves.
(99.) There are two rules commonly employed in
these kinds of calculation, distinguished for their sim¬
plicity and accuracy. The first may be exhibited under
the form of (S -j- 4 S -[- 2 s)
3
EquidistaBt
ordinates.
Methods of
computing
irregular
figures.
Two rules
commonly
employed.
flintiness, and in every respect more palatable than that made by
hand, in consequence of being more thoroughly kneaded. From
the rapidity of the manufacture, also, no more biscuit need now be
baked than is required for immediate use, from the supply by this
process being as certain as it is rapid, so that our seamen will always
in future have fresh-baked and wholesome biscuit served out to
them, even on foreign stations, instead of the stale, mouldy, worm-
eaten, and unpalatable contract trash generally furnished during
the War, which had often been baked for years before issued. It
is only those who have been doomed to the penance of the contract
flour and biscuit that can duly appreciate the great boon confeired
on our brave seamen by this project of the Government ; the above
articles now supplied to the Navy being very superior in quality to
those furnished for the merchant service-—such, indeed, as are fitting
for any gentleman's table ; and all this at a much lower cost than
the former contract supplies.
In addition to the usual King's mark of the broad arrow, the
word " Machinery" is stamped upon the biscuits By the Naval
estimates for the years 1833—34, it appears that Mr. Grant has re¬
ceived the sum of ¿£2000 for his ingenious invention.
* Captain Phipps Hornby, R.N. C.B., one of the gallant heroes
who commanded in the famous action off Lissa, 13th March, 1811.
f Frequently during the last War, and doubtless in all pre¬
ceding Wars, ships were wind bound for a considerable time in
the harbour of Hamoaze, entirely ready for sea, commanded by an
ardent Captain, but una"ble to move. Now, the moment a ship is
ready, a steamer can take her down the harbour, and, it necessary,
carry her at once out to sea. Not long before this note was written,
its writer saw the Caledonia, a first-rate of 120 guns, taken down
by two little steamers, one lashed on her larboard bow and the
other on her starboard quarter. The great ship was moving with¬
out a sail, her numerous crew were motionless, enjoying the scene.
It seemed like two infants bearing a giant to some great labour.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
351
Naval Ar- where X represents the sum of the extreme coordinates,
chitectare* S the sum of all the even ordinates, s that of the odd or-
dinates, and i the common interval between the ordi¬
nates. In this rule it is essential that the uniform la-
minm^ into which the area or solidity be divided by the
equidistant ordinates, should, whether those ordinates be
lines or areas, be in all cases an odd number. This rule
is founded on the supposition that each portion of the
curve passing through the extremities of three successive
ordinates, is a portion of a conic parabola ; and hence
the error arising from its general application will only be
the spaces intercepted between such parabolic segments
and the given curve.
(100.) Another rule was brought into practice by
Atwood, wherein he supposed arcs of a cubic parabola
to pass through every four successive ordinates, the
number of ordinates being a multiple of 3 -j- 1. This
rule he exhibited under the form of
(S + 2 P + 3 Q)
O
wherein S represents the sum of the first and last or¬
dinates, P the sum of the 4th, 7th, 10th, &c. ordinates,
Q that of the 2d, 3fl, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, &c. ordinates,
and z the common interval among them.
(101.) In the application of either of these rules to
the important objects before us, care must be taken that
the ordinates be sufficiently multiplied as to admit of
no sudden transitions in their lengths. Should such an
instance occur, and it may do soin the practice of Naval
Architecture, a new abscissa should be adopted, to
embrace, with the aid of new ordinates applied to it, the
areas or solidities of such irregular parts.
The dis¬
placement
varies be-
tvreen the
limits of the
light and
load water
lines.
No inva¬
riable rela¬
tion be¬
tween the
light and
load dis¬
placements.
The Displacement.
(102.) It is a maxim in Hydrostatics that any floating
body, whatever be its dimensions and form, will always
displace a volume of the fluid in which it is immersed,
exactly equivalent to the weight of the body ; and the
truth of the principle will be evident when we consider
that the upward vertical pressure of the fluid supporting
the body is exerted in precisely the same way, whether
it acts on the body or on the volume of fluid previously
displaced. To discover the total weight of a ship,
therefore, it is only necessary to ascertain the weight of
water she displaces when she floats in equilibrium ; the
question hence becomes one of ordinary mensuration, to
find the number of cubic feet contained in the body
below the plane of flotation, having its figure and
necessary dimensions given.
(103.) The displacement of a ship is, however, a
variable quantity contained between the limits of the
light and load water lines, the first representing its
minimum state, or the weight of the hull just as she is
launched, and the second its maximum condition, when
the vessel has received her masts and yards, her rigging,
sails, ballast, water, provisions, and men, guns, powder,
shot, boatswain's and carpenter's stores, &c., and in
fact, all that she may require to fit her for the great
purposes of war. Between these two limits, therefore,
there maybe every imaginable variety of displacement, and
hence it is not unusual to estimate the displacement even
of a single inch, both at the light and load water lines.
(104.) There seems to be no fixed and invariable
relation between the light and load displacements, even
in ships of the same class ; and among different classes
the differences are very remarkable, though here and
there coincidences may be met with worthy of attention,
but which, nevertheless, seem more the result of acci¬
dent than of any settled design.
(105.) In the following Table we have given the dis¬
placements of several classes of ships, derived from Mr.
Edye's excellent Naval Calculations; and in order more
clearly to show the relation of the two, we have intro¬
duced the actual light and load displacements in the
first and second columns, representing the former by the
constant quantity, 100, in the third column, and placing
in the fourth, the proportional numbers for the corre¬
sponding displacements at the load water line.
(106.) Among some of these ships there exists a re¬
lation worth adverting to. The 120 and 92-gun ships,
for example, are both related as 100 : 187 ; the 80-gun
ship and the small vessel, the Eover, as well as the
razee 26, and the 10-gun brig, and between one or two
others there exists a close approximation. The greatest
difference in the two displacements exists in the 52-gun
ships, and the least in the razee of 50. The contrast
between these two vessels, considering how small is the
difference in their fighting forces, is very remarkable,
and shows what immense powers of capacity and stow¬
age a skilful architect may impart to his vessel, while he
preserves unimpaired her fighting powers.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Displace¬
ments of
several
classes of
ships.
Relations
between
particular
ships.
Rate of Shit)
Light Displace¬
Load Displace¬
Proportional
ment in Feet.
ment in Feet.
Numbers.
First....
120
86,098
160,614
100
187 i
80
65,296
124,977
100
191 i
74
56,287
104,920
100
186 î
Razée
50
50,673
87,154
100
172 1
52
36,074
75,420
100
209 i
46
26,725
50,755
100
190
26
24,430
44,805
100
183
28
13,568
27,277
100
201
Corvette.
18
10,344
21,371
100
207 !
Gun-brig
18
8,068
16,035
100
199 i
10
5,693
10,404
100
183
Schooner
3,983
7,338
100
184
Cutter
2,835
5 725
100
202
Class of New Ships.
»
London .
. .92
77,420
144,532
100
187 ¡
Castor ..
..36
33,026
63,861
100
193
Vernon..
..50
48,510
89,747
100
185
Rover ,.
..18
10,430
19,899
100
191
Snake ..
..16
8,050
1
15,234
100
189
(107.) The proportional relations of the load dis- Diopoi-
placements of different classes of ships are ffiven in the
IT D i)laceni ents
next Table, adopting 1000 as the representative of a^fthese-
ship of the first class of 120 guns,
' Rate of Ship. i'foportional Numbers for
^ the Displacement.
veral rates«
120
1000
80
778
74
653
Razee .,.. .
. . , 50
543
52
470
46
316
26
279
28
170
Corvette
18
133
Gun-brig ....
18
99
10
65
Schooner ...
46
Cutter
36
352
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Importance
of the dis¬
placement.
How it is
applied.
Displace¬
ment as-
sij^ned to
the com¬
puted
weight.
Height of
lower deck
ports.
New Class of Ships.
London 92 890
Castor......... 36 398
Vernon 50 559
Rover, corvette .18 124
Snake, brig 16 95
(108.) To determine the displacement of a ship is
a great and important problem. The forms of ships
already constructed very frequently guide the Naval
Architect in estimating the displacement cf a new
vessel ; but cases may arise wherein he may feel dis¬
posed to have recourse to first principles, and reascend-
ing to the elements of his Art, to compute from the
dimensions and specific gravities of the different mate¬
rials to be employed in composing his vessel, her com¬
plement of men, her guns, the vast variety of her stores,
and the absolute amount of her weight. This it will
be obvious must be a laborious process, and requiring
immense processes of calculation ; but such obstacles
will have little influence with him who is destined to
extend the boundaries of the Art.
(109.) Having, however, this weight, whether de¬
rived from former vessels, or by the method last adverted
to, the Naval Architect will proceed to assign to it a
displacement capable of giving him the stowage, the
velocity, and the qualities necessary for fighting with
ease and security her guns, even in a troubled sea. It
would appear as if this latter element has in very many
cases been singularly neglected, and that the lower deck
ports have been so near the water as to afford room for
great apprehension, or at least to impair the fighting
powers of the ship, by the necessity that existed of fre¬
quently closing them. Among the ships now actually
existing in our fleets, the height of the midship ports
of a first-rate of 120 guns appears to be but 5 feet
6 inches, and of a 74, but 5 feet 8 inches above the
water ; whereas in the new class of the London of
92 guns the midship ports will be elevated 7 feet,
and in the Vernon 9 feet. So the old corvette of
18, which had her midship ports only 4 feet 11 inches
above water, in the Rover will have them 6 feet.*
* The height of the midship ports is from the circumstances of
construction at a minimum elevation above the water, the fore and
after ports being much higher. In the second column of the an¬
nexed Table we have the excess of the height of the fore ports
above the midship ports ; and in the succeeding column the height
of the alter ports above the same.
Excess of Height of Excess of Height of
Class of Ships. Fore Ports above After Ports above
Midship Ports. Midship Ports.
Ft. In. Ft. In.
120 14 10
80 2 9 0 10
74 1 10 01
Razée 50 1 0 0 1
52 12 10
46 0 10 0 10
Razée 26 O 11 15
28 0 3 0 6
Corvette 18 0 8 O 11
Gun-brig.... 18 0 8 1 1
10 0 5 0 4
Schooner 12 0 2
Cutter 27 09
New Class.
London 92 12 12
Castor 36 10 010
Vernon 50 1 6 0 9
Rover corvette 18 10 0 2
Snake brig ..16 10 01
This is so important a consideration, and the mode of Naval Ar-
computing the necessary displacement corresponding to chitecture.
a given weight, is now so completely understood, that
it would be unpardonable in the present state of our Importance
knowledge, to construct any ship without a due atten-
tion to so important a principle. It is proper to give a
ship the requisite stability with as little ballast as
possible, which will enable the constructor to reduce the
displacement, and may facilitate the sailing and work¬
ing of the vessel. Hence every weight introduced into
a vessel should be kept as low as possible. In the case
of a merchant-ship it is manifest that if the weight
of the hull, rigging, and necessary stores be known, and
the amount of displacement also, the weight of her
cargo may hence be determined.
(110.) Bouguer, whose mind seems to have been App^^ma-
directed in so many ways to simplify all the processes of
computation in Naval Architecture, imagined that a
close approximation to the displacement might be ob¬
tained by considering the ship's body a semi-spheroid,
to which perhaps it assimilates more closely than to
any other body. The content of a spheroid being ^
X
of its circumscribing parallelopiped, he supposed the dis¬
placement might be obtained by estimating the same
fractional part of the rectangular solid contained by the
three principal dimensions of the ship at the water's
surface. In the case of sharp ships, he modified the
fraction to —, but it would seem that the results ffive
28
considerably less than the true displacement.
(111.) The state of Naval Architecture at the pre- More accu¬
sent time, however, requires the application of more "in¬
accurate rules. We have already alluded to formulae,
which, applied to a body like a ship, are capable ot
aftording the solidity of the whole or any part of it im¬
mersed ; and so accurate are the practical modes now
adopted by the ship-builder, that the error in the total
weight of a ship of 3000 or 4000 tons, is often less than
half a ton. The finding the displacement of a ship is,
however, only an ordinary problem in mensuration, and
to a geometrician cannot present the smallest difficulty.
(112.) The sheer and body plans are necessary, in gh^er and
order to find the displacement. Suppose A B C D, body plans
plate i. fig. 1, to represent the sheer draught of a ship, "«(pessary
arid W w the load water line for which the displace-
ment is to be calculated. In this line take two points,
E and F, each within a few feet of the stem and stern ;
and let the interval E F be divided into such a number
of equal parts, that the number of points of division, to¬
gether with the extreme points E and F, may either be
represented by an odd number, or be a multiple of
3-|-l. Through these points, let perpendiculars, 1, 1 ;
2, 2 ; 3, 3 ... . 26, 26 ; 27, 27 ; 28, 28 ; be drawn to the
water line, and the vessel will be divided into vertical la¬
minae, of equal thickness. Moreover, let O P Q, fig. 2,
represent the body plan of the same ship, the lines 1,1;
2, 2 ; 3, 3 ; 4, 4 ; &c. representing transverse vertical
sections extending to the outside of the ship, at the
several stations 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. in the sheer draught, fig.
1 ; those on the right hand, being the vertical sections
before the midship section, and those on the left, the
vertical sections abaft the same section. Moreover,
below the load water line W w, let several horizontal
There are only two differences in the Table, it will be remarked,
which are equal, namely, the Razée 46, and the London 92 guns.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
353
Naval Ar- 22, 33, 44, &c. be drawn parallel to it, at some
chitecture. constant distance, suppose a foot from each other, both
in the sheer and body plans. These sections will divide
the body of the ship into horizontal laminae of uniform
thickness. Sometimes, however, the thickness of the
horizontal sections in the upper body exceed those in
the lower body, the form of the ship requiring the hori¬
zontal sections to be increased in the lattei. If now the Naval Ar
half breadths on the several horizontal lines of the sections chitecture.
in the body plan be carefully measured, by means of the
scale of the drawing, the numerical results will be found
as in the annexed Table. These half-breadths may also
be found by means of fig. 3.
Table of Ordinales,—Vertical Sections of Middle Body, Common interval 6 feet.
i
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
1
16.05
19.31
21.33
22.7
23.6
24.13
24.48
24 72
24.85
24.9
24.9
24.9
24.9
24.9
1
2
10.73
14.88
17.91
20.24
22.00
23.21
23.96
24.44
24.73
24 93
24.95
25.00
25.00
25.00
2
3
6.5
10.12
13.33
16.10
18.46
20.26
21.6
22.55
23.24
23.72
24.04
24.25
24.44
24.65
3
4
3.88
6.34
9.06
11.82
14.,32
16.44
18.17
19.5
20.5
21.35
22.00
22.38
22.77
22.9
4
5
2.35
3.83
5.71
7.86
10.17
12.28
14.14
15.64
16.92
17.95
18.8
19.43
19.9
20.21
5
89.84
128.26
161.58
191.00
215.97
235.53
250.34
261.22
269.17
275.41
279.58
282.35
284.76
286.01
15 ,
16
<z>
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
1
24.9
24.9
24.9
24.85
24.84
24.83
24.76
24.7
24.53
24.23
23.72
22.87
21.18
18.55
1
2
25.00
25,00
25.00
25.00
25.00
24.9
24.86
24.53
24.05
23.36
22.42
21.01
18.83
15.00
2
3
24.65
24.65
24.65
24.51
24.34
24.06
23.52
23.08
22.32
21.34
20.03
18.14
15.29
11.14
3
4
23.04
23.08
23.00
22.78
22.53
22.1
21.44
20.62
19.58
18.32
16.63
14.36
11.34
7.65
4
5
20.38
20.39
20.25
19.96
19.56
18.8
18.17
17.2
15.96
14.41
12.55
10.25
7.56
4.54
5
286.74 286.91
286.45
284.95
283.20
279.75
275.17
268.66
259.65
248.04
232.53
210.88
180.00
135.87
1
2
—•T
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
1
2.35
3.83
5.71
7.86
10.17
12.28
14.14
15.64
16.92
17.95
18.8
19.43
19.9
20.21
1
2
2.13
3.38
5.06
7.00
9.12
11.23
13.04
14.54
15.85
16.98
17.84
18.55
19.0
19.23
2
3
1.95
2.96
4.45
6.19
8.12
10.15
11.89
13.44
14.8
15.9
16.74
17.5
17.94
18.27
3
4
1.72
2.64
3.96
5.5
7.24
9.16
10.83
12.4
13.68
14.32
15.68
16.52
16.95
17.3
4
5
1.51
2.26
3.38
4.72
6.24
7.92
9.54
11,07
12.38
13.5
14.42
15.24
15.71
16.1
5
6
1.33
1.95
2.91
4.03
5.31
6.8
8.26
9.78
11.0
12.2
13.2
13.85
14.35
14.8
6
7
1.18
1.72
2.47
3.41
4.43
5.67
6.96
8.21
9.44
10.55
11.35
12.05
12.6
13.04
7
8
1.04
1.48
2.08
2.81
3.52
4.54
5.57
6.47
7.45
8.2
8.75
9.43
9.9
9.9
8
9
.9
1.26
1.68
2.22
2.68
3.32
4.01
4.4
4.7
4.7
4.7
4.7
4.7
4.7
9
10
.8
1.15
l.,32
1.67
1.92
2.24
2.60
2.72
2.85
2.85
2.85
2.85
2.85
2.85
10
11
.72
.81
1.00
1.2
1.28
1.42
1.58
1.62
1.62
1.62
1.62
1.62
1.62
1.62
11
10.55
15.86
22.99
31.56
40.7
50.92
60.43
68.78
76.12
82.26
86.78
91.2
93.9
95.59
1.33
1.39
1.46
1.55
1,58
1.64
1.72
2.15
2.19
2.20
2.21
2.22
2.23
2.23
101.72
145.51
186.03
224.11
258.25
288.09
312.49
332.15
347.48
359.87
368.57
375.77
380.89
383.83
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
o
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
1
20.38
20.39
20.25
19.96
19.56
18.8
18.17
17.2
15.96
14.41
12.55
10.25
7.56
4.54
1
2
19.48
19.5
19.28
19.02
18.58
18.0
17.13
16.13
14.9
13.25
11.35
9.1
6.37
3.78
2
3
18.511
18.54
18.38
18 08
17.62
17.0
16.12
15.04
13.81
12.15
10.23
7.95
5.53
3.16
3
4
17.60
17.64
17.45
17.15
16.65
15.98
15.08
13.96
12.72
11.1
9.15
7.0
4.77
2.63
4
5
16.38
16.42
16.23
15.38
15.35
14.64
13.74
12.6
11.35
9.72
7.88
5.94
3.95
2.08
5
6
14.88
14.95
14.75
14.32
13.8
13.08
12.16
11.07
9.86
8.24
6.52
4.91
3.2
1.56
6
7
13.04
13.24
12.9
12.28
11.77
11.14
10.2
9.3
8.14
6.74
5.4
4.04
2.56
1.15
7
8
9.9
9.9
9.7
9.3
8.68
7.9
7.17
6.63
5.95
5.1
4.26
3.16
2.0
.78
8
9
4.7
4.7
4.7
4.7
4.7
4.63
4.5
4.24
3.93
3.58
3.16
2.35
1.48
9
10
2.85
2.85
2.85
2.85
2.85
2.8
2.7
2.6
2.44
2.27
2.08
1.58
1.00
10
11
1.62
1.62
1.62
1.62
1.62
1.5
1.46
1.4
1.3
1.23
1.14
.93
1
96.52
96.79
95.6
93.25
90.57
86.56
81.42
75.63
68.8
59.96
50.1
38.93
25.5
12.73
1
!
2.23
2.23
1.99
1.96
1.92
1.87
1.83
1.78
1.72
1.67
1.62
1.5
1.61
2.92
Î
i
i
385.49 385.93
384.04
380.18
375.69
368.18
358.42
346.07
330.17
309.67
284.25
251.31
207.11
151.52
1
i
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
VOL. VI.
354
WAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture
Of After Body. Common interval \ feet
Of Fore Body. Common interval, Z feet
Naval ÄT"
chitectur&f
Pieces aft
incJuding
Post and
Rudder.
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Middle
areas.
1
2
3
4
5
Pieces for¬
ward inclu¬
ding the knee
of head.
Whole lialf
horizontal
areas.
109.72
.8
3.8
7.51
10.6
12.87
14.69
16.05
1
1
3856.38
18.55
16.4
13.30
8.72
.8
149.06
4115.17
67.95
• •
2.13
4.0
5.81
7.53
9.25
10.73
2
2
3713.13
15.00
12.54
9.2
4.84
• 4
103.67
3884.75
41.36
1.43
2.34
3.32
4.42
5.44
6.5
3
3
3401.77
11.14
8.7
5.72
2.22
• •
67.21
3510.34
26.93
« •
.9
1.43
2.00
2.55
3.24
3.88
4
4
2962.51
7.65
5.42
3.12
• 4
4 •
39.30
3028.73
19.00
• «
.74
1.02
1.32
1.62
2.0
2.35
5
5
2412.40
4.54
2.9
1.36
« 4
0 %
19.27
2450.67
Areas from
ord. 1 to
ord. 5.
♦ •
19.52
34.85
49.80
63.65
77.53
89.84
• •
135.87
108.54
75.43
30.30
••
1
« •
u
.tS
CO
CO
, a>
o
^ g
, o
o
aj
Fw câ
-M
C
O
N
• pH
O
«(
w I-
■♦J
Ul
ce
Ol
cö
O)
o o
^ s
"G
íá O)
o ^
c
N
}-i
O
19.00
17.77
15.91
15.46
13.55
13.17
13.53
12.08
10.91
10.7
10.31
Areas ñom
ord.5 or i
to ord. 11.
Pieces be¬
low includ¬
ing the
keel and
false keel.
Whole half
areas ofthe
vertical
sections.
7
6
5
4
3
4 4
.74
1.02
1.32
1.62
• 4
.73
.97
1.23
1.45
4 •
.68
.92
1.13
1.3
• •
.67
.87
1.04
1.18
4 4
.62
.8
.97
1.08
a •
.62
.75
.87
.97
• 4
.6
.72
.82
.89
• •
.58
.67
.74
.82
4 •
.57
.63
.65
.75
• •
.55
.58
.64
.68
• •
.55
.58
. 6
.62
• •
4.7
5.77
6.78
7.67
15.71
1.28
1.29
1.3
t,31
15.71
15.66
41.94
57.88
72.63
2
2.0
1.76
1.55
1.43
1.28
1.13
1.00
.92
.8
.75
.65
8.96
1.32
87.81
1
2,35
1
1
2412.40
2.13
2
2
2256.88
1.95
3
3
2100.80
1.72
4
4
1952.41
1.51
5
5
1763.44
1.33
6
6
1571.87
1.18
7
7
1337.98
1.04
8
8
1016.86
,9
9
9
593.80
.8
10
10
374.48
,72
11
¡11
213.74
10.55
1.33
101.72
1
4.54
3.78
3.16
2.63
2.08
1.56
1.15
.78
12.73
2.92
151.52
2.9
2.38
1.89
1.5
1.1
.74
6.51
3.36
118.41
1.36
,87
.83
3.5
79.76
7.07
5
4.96
37.97
4.96
19.27
16.27
12.26
9.74
6.98
6.68
5.13
4.6
11.08
7.81
11.60
2450.67
2290.92
2128.97
1977.6i'
1783.96
1591.72
1356.64
1033.54
615.79
392.99
235 65
Diraensioris
of preced'
ing Table
enable us to
find the dis¬
placement
both by ver¬
tical and
horizontal
sections.
Vertical
sections.
."Fixample of
f»ne vertical
fcction.
(113.) The dimensions contained in the preceding
Table will enable us to obtain the displacement, both by
the vertical and horizontal sections into which the ship
has been divided. If we adopt, in the first place, the
vertical sections, the area of each must be found between
the load water line W w, and the lowest horizontal line
which has been drawn, by means of one of the formulae
before given ; and to this must be added the small areas
below the last-mentioned line, consisting of the remain¬
ing curvilineal areas of the section, together with the
areas of the sections of the keel and false keel. These
results will enable us to obtain the entire half areas of
all the vertical sections from E to F. If now either of
the formulas be applied to the successive areas, the half
displacement will be found between the foremost vertical
section Ff and the aftermost E e. The solids before
the section F f and abaft the section E e, are then to
be separately computed by applying one of the formulae
to the small horizontal areas at the extremities. These
three solids added together will give the half displace¬
ment by means of the vertical sections.
(114.) To give an example of the mode of computing
one of these vertical sections, we take the main section
16
0. This section, in common with all the others, it has
been found convenient to divide into two portions, deno¬
minated the upper and lower spaces, for the purpose of
ensuring greater accuracy in the computations, the hori¬
zontal sections being estimated at the interval of one
foot for the former, and 0.25 feet for the latter. We
shall apply to these spaces the first formula.
Upper Space,
Extreme Ordinales. Even Ordinales.
1 24.9 2 25.00
5 20.39 4 23.08
Odd Ordinales.
3 24 .6.5
2
45.29 == 2
48.08
4
49,30 — 2 8
192.32 n= 4 S
and since - ==: 1, we shall have
(2 + 48 +2s) (45.29-f 192.32 -h 49.3) x 1
ó
= 286.91,
which is the semi area of the upper portion of the main
section.
Lower Space.
1. . .20.39
U.. . 1.62
22.01 = 2
Even Ordinales.
Odd Ordinales.
2. . .19.50
3...18.54
4...17.64
5. . .16.42
6. . .14.95
7...13.24
8. . . 9.90
9... 4.70
10... 2.85
52.90
64.84
2
105.80 = 2
259,36 = 4 S
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE,
355
chitecture. and since - we shall have
3 4
i 1
(2 + 4 8+2«) g = (22.01 + 259.36+ 105.8) x ^
96.79,
which is the semi area of the lower portion of the main
section.
Hence the entire semi area of the main section will
consist of the
Semi area of the upper space .... ^ 286.91
Semi area of the lower space 96.79
Semi area to the keel =: 0.79
Semi area of the section of the keel 1.44
Semi area of the main section .... 385.93
(115.) In this manner may the semi areas of all the
vertical sections be obtained, the successive results of
which are entered in the lowest horizontal line of the
Table.
(116.) To apply these semi areas for the purpose of
finding the displacement, it may be remarked, in the
first place, that the ship being divided transversely into
three portions, denominated the middle body, the after
hody^ and the fore hody^ the solidity of each must be
computed.
Middle Body, or part comprised between the vertical
sections E e, F/.
The solidity of the middle body we purpose cal¬
culating by means of the formula
(S + 2 P + 3 Q)
Extreme Areas.
1. .101.72
28. .151.52
253.24::=: S
8
Third Class
of Areas.
2. .145.51
3. .186.03
5. .258.25
6..288.09
8. .332.15
9. .347.48
11. .368.57
12..375.77
14. .383.83
15. .385,49
17..384.04
5338.60:= 2P 18. .380.16
20. . 368.18
21.. 358.42
23.. 330.17
24..309.67
26. .251.31
27.. 207.11
Second Class
of Areas.
4. .224.11
7. .312.49
10..359.87
13. .380.89
16..385.93
19. .375.69
22. .346.07
25.. 284.25
2669.30
2
5660.23
3
16980.69= 3Q
and since~ = 2.25, we shall have
o
(S -I-2P + 3Q) ^ == (253.24 + 5338.6+16980.69)
X 2.25 = 50788.1925,
which is the half displacement of the middle body.
Fore Body, or part before the vertical section F/ Naval Ar.
We shall compute this by the same formula. ctoect^^.
Extreme Areas. Even Areas, Odd Areas.
1. ..151.52 2...118.41 3. .,79.76
5... 4.96 4.. . 37.97 2
156.48=2 156.38 159.52 = 2«
— 4
625^52 =: 4 S
«
and since - = 1, we shall have
«
(2 + 4S + 2S)5 = (156.48+ 625.52 + 159.52)
O
X 1 = 941.52,
which is the half displacement of the/ore body.
After Body, or part abaft the vertical section E e.
This we shall compute by means of the formula
«
(S+4S + 2s)5.
Ó
Extreme Areas. Even Areas. Odd Areas.
1...101.72 2...87.81 3...72.63
7... 15.71 4...57.88 5,..41.94
n7.43=:2 H4.57
171.19 2
I 229.14 = 2 s
684.76 —4 S ———
I
and since - =0.61, we shall have
ó
(2 + 4S + 2s) ^ = (117.43+ 684.76 + 229.14)
Ó
X 0.61 = 629.113,
which is the half displacement of the after body.
(117.) Hence the whole semi displacement will con¬
sist of the
Half displacement of the middle body.. . = 50788.19
Half displacement of the fore body = 941.52
Half displacement of the after body =: 629,11
Halfdisplacement of stern port and rudder =: 87,46
Half displacement of head before the ) _ i a i a
rabbit f -
Half displacement of the ship 52460.42
(118.) Such is the mode of computing the displace¬
ment by means of vertical sections. Let us now pro¬
ceed to estimate the same by means of horizontal sec¬
tions. To accomplish this, the area of each horizontal
section must be found, and we select as an example
that of the load water line.
(119.) This load water line^ is divided, by means of Example of
the assumed points E F, into three portions, denomi- an horizon-
nated the middle space, the fore space, and the after
space. The area of each of these must be computed by
means of the proper formula.
Middle Space, comprised between the points E F.
This portion we shall compute by means of the formula
(S+2P+3Q)
* We add in a note the absolute areas in feet of the light and
3 b 2
356
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Extreme Ordinates.
1.. 16.05
28..18.55
34.60
Second Class of
Third Class of
Ordinates.
Ordinates.
4..22.70
2.
.19.31
7..24.48
3 .
.21.33
10..24.90
5.
. 23.60
13..24.90
6.
.24.13
16..24.90
8.
.24.72
19..24.84
9.
.24.85
22..24.70
11.
.24.90
25..23.72
12.
.24.90
195.14
O
14.
15.
.24.90
.24.90
17.
.24.90
390.28=
2P18.
.24.85
20.
.24.83
21.
.24.76
23 .
.24.53
24.
.24.23
26.
.22.87
27 .
.21.18
429.69
Fore Space, or part before the point F. Naval Ar-
^ ' chitecture.
This portion we shall compute by means of the for-
mula (I -f 4 S -j-
Extreme Ordinates. Even Ordinates.
1..18.55 2..16.40
5.. 0.80 4,. 8.72
Odd Ordinates.
3, . 13.30
2
19.35 =
25.12
4
26.60 rr 2 s
100.48 = 4 S
and since - =1, we shall have
4 S 2 s) —
o
1289. 07 — 3 Q
: (19.35 + 100.48 + 26.60)
X 1 = 146.43.
If to this there be added the area of the section of the
stem and knee-head, amounting to 2.63, we shall have
for the total semi area of the fore space, the quantity
149.06.
After Space, or part abaft the point E.
This portion we shall compute by the same formula.
3 i
and since — = 2.25, we shall have
(S -f- 2 P + 3 Q) = (34.6 -1- 390.28 + 1289.07)
8
x 2.25 = 1713.95 x 2.25 = 3856.3875,
which is half the area of the middle space.
load water lines for the several classes of ships, together with the
proportional numbers, assuming the area of the light water line at
100.
Extreme Ordinates. Even Ordinates.
1. . .16.05
7... 0.80
16.85 == I
2. ..14,69
4.. .10.60
6. .. 3.80
Odd Ordinates.
3 ..12.87
5... 7.51
29.09
4
20.38
2
40.76 = 2 s
116.36 = 4S
Class of Ships.
Area in
Feet of
the Light
Water
line.
Area in
Feet of
the Load
Water
line.
Proportional
Numbers.
120
80
8662
7409
10096
9065
100
100
117
122
74
6420
7517
100
117
Razée
50
52
46
6016
5436
3920
7190
6777
5143
100
100
100
120
125
131
Razee corvette ..
Corvette
26
28
18
3753
2774
2376
4734
3144
2960
100
100
100
126
113
125
Gun-brig
Schnonpr
18
10
1911
1488
1118
2392
1842
1447
100
100
100
125
124
129
Cutter.
924
1200
100
130
New Glass of Ships.
London
92
8484
9866
100
116
Castor
36
4840
6036
100
125
Vernon
50
6198
7782
100
126
Rover
18
2187
3034
100
139
Snake
16
1760
2401
100
136
3856.3875
149.06
109.7217
Here it may be remarked, that the ratios of the areas of the light and
load water lines are precisely the same in the 120 and 74-gun ships,
and that the new class of the London approaches extremely near to
them. The Razée corvette of 26 and the new class Vernon are
likewise identical in this particular. The 52-gun ship, the Castor
of 36, the 18-gun corvette, and the 18-gun brig, are also precisely
the same. The nearest approach to equality in these areas is in
the corvette of 28 guns, and the greatest disparity exists in the
new class of the Rover of 18 guns.
and since — — 0.61, we shall have
ó
(2 + 4 s + 2s) ^ = (16.85 -f 116.36 + 40.76)
Ó
X 0.61 = 106.1217.
If to this there be added the area of the section of the
post and rudder, amounting to 3.6, we shall have
109.7217 for the total semi area of the fore space.
(120.) Hence the entire semi area of the load water
line will consist
The semi area of the middle space. . . =
semi area of the fore space =:
semi area of the after space .... =
semi area of the load water line . = 4115.1692
(121.) In the same way may the semi areas of all the
other horizontal sections be obtained, the successive re¬
sults being entered in the last vertical column of the
Table.
To apply these areas to the displacement, it is to be
remarked, that the body of the vessel is supposed to be
divided into two portions, denominated respectively the
upper body and the lower body^ each of which we shall
proceed to compute.
Upper Body.
Extreme Areas.
1 4115.17
5. .2450.67
Even Areas.
2. .3884.75
4. .3028.73
Odd Areas.
5. .3510.34
2
6565.84 =1 6913.48
4
7020.68
27653.92 = 4 S
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
357
Naval Ar i
chitecture. and since — = 1, we shall have
3
v24-4 s + 2s) 1 = (6565.84 + 27653.92
Ó
+ 7020.68) X 1 - 41240.44
for the semi displacement of the upper body.
In like manner we proceed to the computation of the
Extreme Areas.
1..2450.67
2 . 235.65
2686.32=2
Lower Body.
Even Areas.
2. .2290.92
4..1977.61
6. .1591.72
8.. 1033.54
10.. 392.99
Odd Areas.
3. .2128.97
.5. . 1783.96
7. . 1356.64
9. . 615.79
7286.78
4
5885.36
2
11770.72 = 4 s
29147.12= 4S
and since ô" ~ ^ shall have
ó
(I + 4 s 4-2s) L =:(26S6.32 + 29147.12-f 11770.72)
3
X 0.25 = 10901.04 cubic feet
for the semi displacement of the lower body.
(122.) Hence the whole semi displacement by hori- Naval Ar-
*
zontal sections will be
Semi displacement of upper body.... =
Semi displacement of lower body.... =
Semi displacement of solid below
lower body =
Semi displacement of keel and rudder, &c. =
Semi displacement by horizontal sec-1
tions J ""
chitecture.
41240.44
10901.04
107.13
217.18
52465.79
(123.) To ensure accuracy, a mean of the displace¬
ments calculated by the vertical and horizontal sections
should be taken, amounting in the present instance to
52463.1. Hence the whole displacement will be
104926.2; or dividing by 35 the number of cubic feet
of sea-water in a ton, the absolute displacement in tons
will be 2998.89 tons.
(124.) To show in what way the displacement is
made up by the ditferent weights, constituting the hull
and stores, &c. of each vessel, we have drawn from Mr.
Edye's Naval Calculations the following important par¬
ticulars.
A mean of
the vertical
and hori¬
zontal sec¬
tions should
be taken.
Table to
show in
what way
the dis¬
placement
is made up.
Weight of the various Articles composed in the Hull of each Ship and Fessel.f
Number of guns ....
120
80
74
Tons.
Cwt.
Tons.
Cwt.
Tons.
Cwt.
W eight of timber ..
2197
10
1653
11
1406
2
iron•••• ••••••••
136
0
119
10
109
4
copper bolts
47
14
40
0
37
13
— copper sheets (1.)
17
19
14
12
12
14
— mixed metal nails
2
18
2
5
2
2
— pintles and braces
2
11
2
3
I
15
— lead of all sorts ..
9
0
8
9
8
0
oakum .........
16
1
13
10
11
10
—' barrels of pitch (2.)
5
7
4
6
4
12
— barrels of tar (3.)
11
13
11
7
11
5
— whiting andwhitel
lead J
9
10
6
12
6
8
— linseed oil (4.) ...
1
5
1
5
1
5
— three coats of paint
9
10
4
16
4
5
Ship's weight when)
launched,..../
2466
18
1882
6
1616
15
Eazée.
50
52
1
46
Razee
Corvette.
26
28
Tons. Cwt.
Tons. Cwt.
Tons. Cwt.
Tons. Cwt.
Tons Cwt.
1255 10
904 0
690 13
615 6
358 14
96 13
67 0
53 7
39 0
23 5
36 13
23 0
15 0
13 10
8 5
11 18
11 7
9 4
7 14
5 10
1 14
1 18
1 12
1 10
0 18
1 15
1 15
1 9
1 0
0 11
7 10
7 2
5 4
4 9
4 10
9 7
6 10
4 18
4 1
4 0
3 18
3 17
2 18
1 17
1 5
11 5
7 0
4 13
4 2
2 7
6 8
4 12
2 12
2 7
2 4
1 5
1 1
0 18
0 16
0 6
4 2
3 10
2 15
2 8
2 2
1447 18
1042 12
795 3
698 0
413 17
Corvette.
18
Brig.
18
Brig.
10
Schooner.
Cutter.
Tons. Cwt.
Tons. Cwt,
Tons. Cwt.
Tons. Cwt.
Tons. Cwt.
238 0
175 4
132 18
89 10
68 12
16 15
15 10
8 0
7 10|
5 IJ
5 2
4 17
3 11
2 15
1 17
5 2
3 19
3 3
2 12
2 1
1 1
0 121
0 m
0 8Î
0 6|
0 111
0 51
0 5
0 4J
0 4|
4 7
4 2
3 0
2 3
1 2
3 12
3 0
2 0
1 12
1 8
1 3
1 4
0 15
0 15
0 11
1 18
1 15
0 15
0 111
0 iOi
1 12
1 5
0 15
0 13
0 5
0 ^
0 3
0 2
0 H
0 Of
1 15
1 13
0 131
0 9i
0 7|
281 3
213 10
156 8
109 6
82 7
* It is but rarely that the load water line is parallel to the keel,
and the same may be said of the light water line. In the different
classes of ships which follow, the excess of the after load draught
above the forward load draught is given in the second column, and
similar diff'erences of the light water draught are recorded in the
last.
Class of Ships.
Excess of after load
draught above for¬
ward load draught.
Excess of after load
draught above for¬
ward light draught.
Brig
Ft.
In.
Ft.
In.
120
1
5
2
4
80
3
3
4
7
74
2
10
4
1
52
1
0
2
10
46
1
8
4
9
28
0
5
2
2
.18
0
7
1
10
,.18
3
3
4
10
Class of Ships.
Brig 10
Schooner. .10
Cutter
Excess of after load
draught above for¬
ward load draught.
Ft.
In,
Ft.
1
1
2
2
6
2
6
10
6
Excess of after load
draught above for¬
ward light draught.
In.
5
11
6
In every instance, excepting the cutter, the difference of the
after and forward light water draughts exceeds the difference of the
corresponding load water draughts. In calculating the load or
light displacements, it is manifest in carrying down the successive
horizontal planes, that a portion of the vessel must remain, re¬
quiring a separate computation, in all cases where the two draughts
of water are not precisely the same. Actual
f We throw into a note some numerical results connected with the weight of
weights contained in the preceding Table, on account of their great certain im-
importance to the ship-builder. Such results illustrate in a high portant eie-
degree the statistics of ship-building, and are also of great value in ments.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture
" Weight of the Masts and Yards^ and of the Spare Gear, Rigging, and Blocks^ of the Sails, Cables, and Anchors,
Water, Provisions, and Men ; of the Powder; Gunner''s. Boatswain's, and Carpenter's Stores ; of the Guns and ^
Shot, and weight of the Boats when ßtted for Foreign Service.
80
74
Razée,
50
52
Tns.Ct Qr.
Tns. Ct.Qr.
Tns.Ct.Qr.
Tns. Ct.Qr.
51 18 2
136 14 0
38 14 0
34 2 0
37 1 3
27 11 0
27 11 0
27 11 0
16 11 3
12 12 0
12 12 0
12 12 0
28 6 0
26 19 0
28 10 0
25 4 0
17 4 0
16 18 0
17 15 0
16 5 0
11 2 0
10 12 0
10 12 0
10 0 0
7 5 3
6 0 2
6 14 0
6 1 0
4 7 0
3 14 1
4 5 0
3 14 0
29 15 0
25 4 0
25 4 0
25 4 0
36 11 0
30 17 0
30 17 0
30 17 0
17 8 0
15 5 0
15 5 0
12 10 2
Tons. Cwt.
Tons. Cwt.
Tons. Cwt.
Tons. Cwt.
247 0
196 0
100 0
187 0
385 0
260 9
175 0
220 0
78 0
52 0
45 0
38 0
241 15
214 18
134 3
113 0
78 0
65 0
48 0
45 0
27 2
22 2
18 0
16 0
51 15
48 0
46 0
39 0
224 5
178 7
1.50 18
125 4
25 0
20 161
18 12
13 18
98 12
79 17
80 12
58 2
5 2
5 2
5 2
4 31
2 No.
2 No.
2 No.
2 No.
1 3
1 3
1 2
1 3
1 10
1 10
1 10
1 10
1 10
1 10
1 10
1 5|
• • • •
• • • •
0 10|
m • • •
0 9|
0 9i
0 9i
0 9|
1
Brig.
18
Brig.
10
Schooner.
Tb ¿.Ct.Qr,
7 9 2
Tns.Ct.Qr.
4 5 2
Tns.Ct.Qr.
6 8 0
7 3 1
5 15 1
1 18 2
3 0 2
5 0 0
4 10 0
2 0 0
1 11 3
1 5 2
4 1 0
10 8 0
3 10 2
Tons. Cwt.
47 0
32 0
8 10
2 4 3
3 5 0
2 16 0
10 0
1 4 2
0 17 1
1 16 0
7 1 0
2 14 0
Tons. Cwt.
25 0
19 0
6 0
1 3 0
2 2 0
1 8 2
0 6 3
1 5 0
0 16 0
0 8 1
6 6 3
2 2 3
Tons. Cwt
30 0
11 0
4 0
23 14
6 10
6 8
14 7
5 17
8 14
2 2
4 12
1 8
12 5
8 7
4 2i
21 17
2 15
22 2
8 21
1 10
6 0
4
0 lié
2 H
• • • •
0 lOj
• • • •
Yawl
, 1 3
i
o • • «
0 16
0 8
^ 1 5i
H * *^4
1 ....
I 0 7^
1
• • • •
• • • •
0 9
0 9|
• • • •
• • • •
0 13
0 7|
Number of guns .. ♦.
Lower masts and!
bowsprit j
Topmasts and yards)
aloft }
Spare gear and booms
¿„J {Standing (5.) ..
Running
(Blocks
Ship's sails (6.)
Spare sails (7.)
Hempen cables (8.) .
Iron cables (9.) ...
Anchors
120
18
12
6
4
0
0
3
0
Iron ballast and tanks
Water
Coals and wood ....
Provisions, spirits,!
and slops j
Men, chests, &c. ...
Gunner's stores ....
Boatswain's and car-1
penter's stores .. j
Guns, &c
1 Powder, &c
I Shot and cases
; Launch
Cutter
Barge .,,
Pinnace..
Jolly-boat
Tns.Ct.Qr.
52 12 1
37 1 3
16 11 3
29 6 0
2
3
19
4
32 10 0
37 3 0
20 16 2
Tons. Cwt.
373 0
410 15
100 0
296 4
102 6
39 12|
54 0
329 18
33 5
125 14
5 8
2 No.
1 10
1 10
0 9|
46
Tns.Ct.Qr.
21 12 3
18 12 3
7 10 2
14 13 0
11
5
3
2
13
26
10
7 0
8 0
15 2
2
0
0
0
5
1
2
1
Tons. Cwt.
107 10
110 0
32 0
69 4
27 3
12 11
31 0
80 7
11 18|
45 10
4 31
2 No.
1 3
Com¬
modore.
1 10
1 10
• • • •
0 9i
Razée
Corvette.
26
28
Tns. Ct.Qr.
Tns.Ct.Qr.
21 5 1
9 2 0
18 12 3
8 15 2
7 10 0
4 2 0
14 13 0
12 10 0
11 7 0
6 10 0
5 8 0
4 4 0
3 17 0
2 2 3
2 6 0
1 9 3
9 13 0
6 19 0
26 2 0
15 18 0
8 11 0
4 5 2
Tons. Cwt.
Tons. Cwt.
84 0
81 to 55
106 0
55 5
21 0
15 0
59 0
31 15
20 0
18 2
11 10
7 10
31 0
16 0
68 8
31 3
9 5
4 18^
38 15
30 3
• • • •
2 No.
• d • •
1 3
0 14|
Cutter.
2 Cutter
gigs.
0 14J
1 6
1 10
1 5Í
0 94
• • « •
• • • «
0 91
Corvette.
18
9 2 0
8 15 2
4 2 0
16 0
4 0
5 1
1 13 1
6 19 0
6
4
2
4 5 2
77
50
10
0
Q
0
28 10
14 7
6 5
14 10
21 17
2 15
22 2
0 103
0 8
Cuiter.
Tns.Ct.Qr
5 9 2
2 12 0
>3 13 0
1 17 0
0 5 1
• • • •
3 90
1 72
Tons Cwt.
32 0
4 5
2 0
3 2
2 15
0 18
4 12
3 8
0 11
2 10
0 16
0
0 13i
0 41
(125.) As the various particulars contained in the pre¬
ceding Table are necessarily separated into two great
divisions, one of which comprises the weight of the hull
when launched, and the other the different weights re¬
ceived on board, we throw their aggregates into the suc¬
ceeding Table.
assisting the computer in estimating the amount of actual expenditure, a matter of the greatest moment to a Naval Country, and
particularly so at a time when such gigantic vessels are constructing.
Number of guns '
120
/
80
74
Razée.
50
52
46
Razée
Corvette.
26
28
Corvette.
18
Brig.
18
Brig.
10
Schooner.
Cutter.
(1.) Number of sheets of 128 oz.
1166
1800
1472
1329
1350
1000
850
790
850
797
580
652
550
copper sheathing j32 oz.
3572
2050
1734
1706
1650
1170
1130
600
613
301
200
80
• •
Number of treenails
64,458
35,103
27,019
25,380
23,500
20,826
17,300
14,540
13,050
11,193
8,316
7,100
3,250
(2.) Number of barrels of pitch ,
50
45
43
37
36
25
18
12
11
11
7
7
5
(3.) Number of barrels of tar ...
109
106
105
105
66
44
39
22
18
16
7
5f
5
(4,) Number of gallons of lin-1
sped oil
400
400
400
400
320
282
256
96
60
48
32
23
11
(5.) Number of fathoms of ropel
from f to 18 inches in cir->
30,250
32,400
27,152
29,200
28,700
20,728
21,370
19,031
19,350
10,709
7,335
« • • «
t
cumfeience J
1
hlumber of blocks«
940
940
934
934
934
893
893
848
848
576
399
* • • •
• •
(6.) Number of yards of canvass)
in ship's sails j
12,517
12,947
10,784
11,130
10,824
7307
7381
4796
5096
3547
2740
2790
4140
(7.) Number of yards of canvass!
7584
7844
6650
6876
6690
5066
5140
3322
3720
2847
1916
1750
.589
m spare sails * J
BrsStm.
BrsStm.
BrsStm.
BrsStm,
BrsStm.
BrsStm.
Brs. Stm.
BrsStm.
Brs. Stm.
BrsStm.
BrsStm.
Brs. Stm.
BrsStm.
(8.) Number of hempen cables..
5 1
5 1
5 1
5 1
5 1
4 1
3 1
3 1
3 1
2 1
1 1
0 1
• •
(9.) Number of iron cables
3 1
3 1
3 1
3 1
3 1
3 1
3 1
3 1
3 1
1
3 1
2 1
3 0
1
3 1
\
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
359
Number of Guns....
120
80
.
74
Razée.
50
52
46
Razee
Corvette.
26
48
Corvette.
18
Brig.
18
Brig.
10
Schooner.
Cutter
i
Weight of the hull!
when launched .. J
Weight received onl
board «... j
Tons. Cwt.
2466 18
2142 5
Tons. Cwt.
1882 6
1723 14
Tons. Cwt-
1616 15
1359 11
Tons. Cwt.
1447 18
1044 8
Tons. Cwt.
1042 12
1067 16
Tons, Cwt.
795 3
670 9
Tons. Cwt.
698 0
582 0
Tons. Cwt.
413 17
370 11
Tons. Cwt.
281 3
326 16
Tons. Cwt.
213 10
242 18
Tons. Cwt.
156 8
126 6
Tons. Cwt.
109 6
94 17
Tons. Cwt.
82 7
76 8
Total weight when)
complete J
4609 3
3606 0
2976 6
2492 6
2110 8
1465 12
. ........
1280 0
784 8
607 19
456 8
282 14
204 3
158 15
(126.) In the following Table will be found the weight
V# eight of a cubic foot of timber in a green and seasoned state, at
of thBber°° present used in ships and vessels of war, derived also from
Mr. Edye's Naval Calculations, This Table will assist
the ship-builder in determining the weight of the timber
materials necessary in computing a ship's displacement.
Names of Timber.
green and
seasoned.
Indian teak, p™ or
seasoned, about the >
same
goon
Elm
Ash.
Green.
Seasoned,
lbs.
oz.
lbs.
oz.
71
10
43
8
49
14
36
0
63
12
60
10
• •
•
52
15
* •
•
26
4
48
3
36
0
32
0
28
4
45
0
34
4
48
12
35
8
44
12
30
11
66
8
37
5
60
0
53
6
58
3
50
0
The Malabar teak is the heaviest, and the Rangoon
the lightest of all Indian teaks used in ship-building.
The average weight of the timber materials in a ship
or vessel of war is about 50 pounds to the cubic foot ;
and for the masts and yards about forty pounds.
(127.) It is often necessary to know the amount of
raent"of an the displacement for a single inch in depth, both at the
chatlight light and load water lines. In like manner, it is useful
andloadwa- know the displacement of one foot of the midship
section at the same lines. The results for the different
classes of ships in tons are inserted in the next Table,
from Mr. Edye's Naval Calculations.
Displace-
ter lines.
Class of Ship.
Displacement
of one inch at
the light line.
Displacement
of one inch at
the load line.
Displacement
of one foot of
the midship
section at the
light line.
Displacement
of one foot of
the midship
section at the
load Jine.
Guns.
Tons Cwt.
Tons Cwt.
Tons Cwt.
Tons Cwt.
120
20 12
24 0
16 10
29 17
80
17 12
21 11
15 18
26 13
74
15 5
17 17
12 7
21 3
Razée 50
14 6
17 2
n 14
18 4
52
12 18
16 2
8 9
17 6
46
9 6
12 5
8 4
14 4
Razée corvette 26
8 18
11 10
6 10
12 15
28
6 12
7 9
5 1
9 7
Corvette .... 18
5 13
7 0|
3 10
7 5
Gun-brig .... 18
4 10
5 13
3 11
6 10
10
3 10
4 7
2 10
4 8
Schooner .......
2 13
3 10
1 13
3 6
Cutter
2 4
2 17
2 4
3 15
New Ceass of Ships.
London ..
...92
20 4
23 9|
16
0
27
2
Castor ...
...36
11 12
14 7i
9
14^
12
12
Vernon ..
... 50
14 15
18 lOi
10
14|
19
12
Í Rover ....
.. 18
5 4
7 5
4
o
7
2
Snake ...
•
.. » 16
4 8
5 14i
4
0
6
12A
(128.) It may also be useful to advert to one or two
circumstances more which influence the amount of dis¬
placement. In what we have before said, the consider¬
ation has been limited to the conditions of a ship at rest
in still water; but it has been observed, that when the
ship and the water are relatively in motion, either by the
ship being at rest, and the water in motion, or by the
ships moving and the v/aters being at rest ; or again
by the ship and water moving with unequal velocities
or in different directions, the depth to which the ship
sinks must be determined in connection with other con¬
siderations. When a vessel is at anchor also in a strong
tideway, or at sea under a press of sail, she must sink
several inches deeper than when at anchor in still water.
Komme observed a frigate which was lashed to a sheer
hulk in the river Charente sink two inches deeper when
the velocity of the stream was great, than when its
motion was only just sensible.
(129.) This may be accounted for on the principle,
that when a particle of water is impressed with motion,
and passes along the surface of a body, it no longer
exerts a pressure equally in all directions, as in the case
of water in a state of rest, but has a greater tendency
to escape in the direction of its motion than any other,
and hence causes a less vertical pressure on the surface
of the body than when at rest. The total pressure of
the particles of water in contact with the body being less
than before, and having been, when at rest, exactly
equivalent to sustain the body, that body must of nece.s-
sity sink deeper, until a balance is obtained between the
vertical pressure and the weight. The pressure of a
particle of water in motion is proportional to its depth
below the surface of the water, minus the depth due to
the velocity estimated in the direction of its motion.
Bernoulli, the Abbé Bossut, and Komme proved these
principles by experiment.^
* The following simple and decisive experiment was made by
Romme. He had two tubes, one of them straight, as a b, and the
other curved, as c d fig. 4, but both having open ends, and ca¬
pable of receiving a float, /, the lower part of which was cork, and
the upper a graduated rod. These tubes with their floats were first
plunged into still water, and the divisions corresponding with the
upper orifices of the tubes observed. The tubes were then placed
in running water, the current being in the direction h i, and the
bent tube c d e, with its lower end turned in the same direction.
The floats in both tubes were then observed to have sunk an inch
below their position in still water. The bent tube was in the next
place turned so as to present its orifice to the current, when the
float rose an inch above the position it had in still water. The
same tube was then placed with the lower end perpendicularly to
the direction of the current, when the float sunk an inch below its
position in still water. Romme measured the velocity of the cur¬
rent, and found the water ran 70 feet in 30", or that its velocity
was that due to an inch and a line nearly, corresponding with the
distance the floats in the tubes were elevated or depressed in the
experiments. Other experiments in currents of diffèrent velocities
produced similar results. In some instances the depression and
elevation of the floats were as much as five or six inches, being al¬
ways the height due to the velocity of the current. He ascertained
also that the results were the same, to whatever depth the tubes
were plunged into the water.
Displace¬
ment aug¬
mented by
motion of
the ship and
tide.
How ac¬
counted for.
360
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Iiaval A
chitecture.
Difference
oí immer¬
sion of
ships in
fresh and
salt water.
(130.) It is but seldom a ship of war floats in fresh
water, though a merchantman may often do so. We,
however, insert in the next Table the difference in the
immersions of several ships in fresh and sea water, and
from which it appears, that a ship of 120 guns sinks
nearly six inches deeper in the former than in the latter.
The difference also produced in the two load lines from
the two specific gravities is worthy of attention. In the
ship just adverted to, it amounts to 143 tons 8 cwt.
In the last column we have given the quantity necessary
to raise or immerse the ship an inch at the load or sea
line. This useful Table is due also to Mr. Edye.
.
35
pC a
= <3
= -s
5 i
ci
Pi ¡2;
No.
120
74
46
28
18
10
Cutter.
« 5
• "-I ci
J- Xi
0) ■4-'
^ l-
OJ J
05 .
M
il
a
•1^
a;
. ei
S ^
^ m
H Pi .S
Inches.
f; i
^ J
35
3^
2X
Ä g
1 3
Difference in the two
Load Lines from the
Specific Gravity of
Fresh and Salt Water.
Tons. Cwt.
Equal to 143 8
93 14
45 6
24 6
14 6
9 6
5 2
0) a (3J rtî
a
O
'S Hi
S Ü 03
, 03 C Cß
>-» tí I—(
S i °
Tons. Cwt.
24 0
17 17
12 5
7 9
5 13
4 7
2 17
Displace¬
ment de¬
duced from
different
specific gra¬
vities of wa¬
ter.
Mechanics, a mode by which this maybe accomplished ^^^^1
with respect to both of the planes just mentioned, by f itectuge.
what is termed the theory of moments : and it is ob- tt -i. „
. •. « , .. r»! i« tdow it may
vious that with regard to the position or the centre of be found.
gravity of the displacement longitudinally, we shall have
three separate computations to make, two relating to
the middle and fore bodies of the vessel, and to be
esteemed positive^ and a third as respects the after body,
to be regarded as negative. The general Table of
ordinates will furnish us with the necessary elements
for this purpose.
(134.) To estimate the moment of the middle body,
we must, in the first place, obtain the resulting pro¬
ducts recorded in the last column of the next Table.
(131) The displacement maybe deduced from the
different specific gravities of the water in which a vessel
floats. For suppose s and h' to be the specific gravities
of fresh and salt water, and D and D' the correspond¬
ing displacements ; then by a well-known principle in
Hydrostatics
D s D' Ä',
and 5 : s' : : D' : D.
Hence s'—s : s' : : D —D' : D.
Now, since it requires the application of a given weight
to change the displacement D' into D, it is manifest
the actual displacement may be found by knowing this
weight, and the values of s and s'. Thus suppose it
required an additional weight of 25 tons to bring a ves¬
sel down, when floating in salt water, to the load line
she possessed when swimming in fresh water, a cubic
foot of the former weighing 1026 ounces, and of the
latter 1000, we shall have
oz. oz. tons. tons.
26 : 1000 :: 25 : 961.54
for the actual amount of the displacement sought.
On the Centre of Gravity of the Displacement,
(132.) In attempting to find the centre of gravity of
the displacement, a point involving so many important
considerations with regard to the stability, it is manifest
when the vessel is floating in equilibrium, that it must
be somewhere found in the vertical longitudinal section
which passes through the middle of the sternpost and
stem ; and that the question becomes therefore reduced
to the finding its position with regard to two coordinate
planes, one of which has reference to the position of the
point with regard to the length of the vessel, and de¬
noted by E e in the figure, and the other with regard to
its depth below the other coordinate plane W w.
(133.) We have already explained ir> our Treatise on
STumber of
! Transverse
Vertical
Sections.
Half Areas of the
Distances of the
Vertical Sections
comprised be¬
tween the Sec¬
tions 1 and 28.
Vertical Sections
from the Pri¬
mitive Section
E e.
Resulting
Products.
1
101.72
0
0.0
2
145.51
6
873.06
3
186.03
12
2232.36
4
224.11
18
4033.98
5
258.25
24
6198.00
6
288.09
30
8642.70
7
312.49
36
11249.64
8
332.15
42
13950.30
9
347.48
48
16679.04
10
359.87
54
19432.98
11
368.57
60
22114.20
12
375.77
66
24800.82
13
380.89
72
27424.08
14
383.83
78
29938.74
15
385.49
84
32381.16
16
385.93
90
34733.70
17
384.04
96
36867.84
18
380.18
102
38778.36
19
375.69
108
40574.52
20
368.18
114
41972.52
21
358.42
120
43010.40
22
346.07
126
43604.82
23
330.17
132
43582.44
24
309.67
138
42734.46
25
284.25
144
40932,00
26
251.31
150
37696.50
27
207.11
156
32309.16
28
151.52
162
24546.24
And to apply these resulting products to the formula
(S + 2P-j-3Q)
8
we shall further obtain
Extreme Products.
1... 0.0
28...24546.24
Second Class of
Third Class of
Products.
Products.
4... 4033.98
2.
.. 873.06
7...11249.64
3.
.. 2232.36
10...19432.98
5.
.. 6198.00
13...27424.08
6.
.. 8642.70
16...34733.70
8.
..13950.30
19...40574.52
9.
..16679.04
22...43604.82
11,
..22114.20
25...40932.00
12.
..24800.82
14.
..29938.74
221985.72
15.
..32381.16
2
17.
..36867.84
18.
..38778.36
443971.44=
2P 20.
..41972.52
21.
..43010.40
23.
..43582.44
24.
..42734.46
26.
..37696.50
27.
..32309.16
474762.06
1424286.18=:3Q
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
361
^îtecturé. and since ^ = 2.95, we shall have
(S +2P + 3Q) - sa (24546.24 + 443971.44
8
+ 1424286.18) X 2.25 = 4258808.685
for the moíTient of the half middle body.
(135.) To compute, in the next place, the moment
of the fore body, it is to be observed that the dis¬
tances of the successive vertical sections in it must still
be estimated from the primitive plane E e, and there¬
fore gives for the interval between the section passing
through the point 2 in the fore body, and that plane,
165 feet. Hence we shall obtain the followini? result-
ing products.
Number of the
Transverse Ver¬
tical Sections.
Half Areas of the
Vertical Sections
comprised between
the Sections F/
and 5.
Distances of
the Vertical
Sections from
the Primitive
Section E e.
Resulting
•Products.
28.1
151.52
162
24546.24
2
118.41
165
195.37.65
3
79.76
168
13399.68
4
37.97
171
6492.87
5
4.96
174
863.04
To apply these resulting products to the formula
(2) -f 4 S + 2 s) -,
we shall have
Extreme Products.
1. .24546.24
5.. 863.04
Even Products.
2 . 19537. 65
4.. 6492.87
Odd Products.
3..13399.68
2
25409.28~S 26030.52
4
26799.36=:2s
To apply these resulting products to the formula
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
(2 + 4S+2S) -,
we shall have
Extreme Products. Even Products,
1... 0.0 2. ..160.69
7. . .172.5 4.. .317.76
6. ..143.29
Odd Products.
3...265.83
5. . .307.00
172.5=2
621.74
4
572.83
2
1145.66 = 2 s
2486.96 = 4S
and since — = 0.61, we shall have
(2 + 48 -f Ss)! = (172.5-J-2486.96 + 1145.66)
O
xo.61 = 2321.1232,
which is the moment of half the after body exclusive of
the post and rudder. And since the moment of the
post and rudder amounts to 1141.35, we shall have for
the entire moment of the semi after body, the quantity
3462.4732.
(137.) Now since by the conditions of the primitive
plane E e, the moments of the middle and fore body are
regarded as positive, and that of the after body is
negative, we shall have for the absolute amount of the
moments.
104122.08t=4S
Moment of the half middle body.
Moment of the half fore body. ..
Moment of the semi after body ..
Absolute amount of the moments . =: + 4414151.5718
= + 4258808.685
= 4- 158805.36
+ 4417614.ÔïâT
= — 3462.4732
and since - 1, we shall have
ó
m
(2.|.4S-f 2s)-¿ = (25409.28+ 104122.08
Ó
-f 26799.36) X 1 = 156330.72
for the moment of the half fore body, exclusive of the
knee of the head amounting to 2474.64. Hence the
entire moment of the half fore body will amount to
158805.36.
(136.) To estimate the moment of the after body,
the distances of the vertical sections in it must in like
manner be estimated from the same primitive vertical
section E e. This will give the resulting products in
the last column of the next Table.
Number of
Transverse Ver¬
tical Sections.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
VOL. VL
Half Areas of
the Vertical
Sections com¬
prised between
E e and 7.
101.72
87.81
72.63
57.88
41.94
15.66
15.71
Distances of
the Vertical
Sections from
the Primitive
Section E e.
0.0
1.83
3.66
5.49
7.32
9.15
10.98
Resulting
Products.
0.0
160.69
265.83
317.76
307.00
143.29
172.50
(138.) And since by well-known considerations, the
position of the centre of gravity with regard to the
primitive vertical plane may be found by the formula
M
jj, where M represents the sum of the moments,
and D denotes the corresponding displacement, and
that we have already found D= 52460.42. we shall
hence have
M 4414151.5718
= 84.14,
D
5^^160.42
which is the distance of the centre of gravity of the dis¬
placement before the primitive section E e. And since
the distance from this same section to the middle point
of the load water section is 81,50 feet, it is manifest
that the centre of gravity of the displacement is before
the middle of the length of the load water section,
when measured from the after part of the rabbet of the
sternpost to the fore part of the rabbet of the stem,
2.64 feet.
(139.) To proceed in the next place to the computa¬
tion of the depth of the centre of gravity of the dis¬
placement below the plane of the load water section,
we must compute separately the moments of the upper
and lower bodies. The preparatory products for the
former of these are given in the next Table.
3c
Position of
the centre
of gravity
of displace¬
ment with
regard to
the length,
and with
regard to
the depth»
362
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
,A.r
ui* Number of the Half Areas of the
cnneciurer Water Sections. Water Sections.
Î
2
3
4
5
4115.17
3884.75
3510.34
3028.73
2450.67
Distances of the
Water Sections
from the Load
Water Section.
0
3
6
9
12
Resulting
Products.
0.0
11654.25
21062.04
27258.57
29408.04
And to apply these resulting products to the formula
(2 + 4S + 20 3,
we shall have
Extreme Products. Even Products.
!.. 0.0 2. .11654.25
5..29408.04 4. .27258.57
29408.04^2 38912.82
4
Odd Products.
3. .21062.04
2
42124TÖ8=2s
155651.28-4S
and since — = 1, we shall have
ó
(2 + 4S-f-2s)- = (29408.04 + 155651.28
D
4-42124.08) X 1 =227183.4
for the moment of the half upper body.
(140.) Pursuing the same course for the half lower
body, we shall in the first place obtain the results of
the next Table.
Number of the Half Areas of the
Water Sections, Water Sections,
Distances of the
Water Sections
from the Load
Water Section.
Resulting
Products.
1
2450.67
12.00
29408.04
2
2290.92
12.75
29209.23
3
2128.97
13.50
28741.10
4
1977.61
14.25
28180.94
5
1783.96
15.00
26759.40
6
1591.72
15.75
25069.59
7
1356.64
16.50
22384.56
8
1033.54
17.25
17828.56
9
615.79
18.00
11084.22
10 •
392.99
18.75
7368.56
11
235.65
19.50
4595.17
To apply these successive products to the formula
(i:+4S+2s)g,
we shall have
Extreme Products.
Even Products.
Odd Products.
I...29408.04
2...29209.23
3...28741.09
n... 4595.17
4...28180.94
5...26759.40
6...25069.59
7...22384.56
34003.21 =
S 8...17828.56
9...11084.22
10... 7368.56
88969.27
107656.88
2
430627.52 = 4 S
177938.54 = 2«
€
and since - = 0,25, we shall have
o
(X + 4S-f 2 .5) - = (34003.21 -f 430627.52
Ó
+ 177938.54) X 0.25 = 160642.3175,
which is the moment of half the lower body,
(141.) Hence the sum of all the moments of the
immersed body will be :
Moment of half the upper body. . . == + 227183.40
Moment of half the lower body.. . = + 160642.3175
Moment of half the solid below") oioi ir-
the lower body J ' * ^
Moment of half keel, rudder, &c... = + 6767.90
Total sum of all the moments. . = 4- 396714.7875
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
M
And since as before the function ~ represents the dis¬
tance of the centre of gravity of the displacement below
the assumed plane of the water section, we shall have
M _ 396714.7875
D ^ 52460.42
= 7.56 feet
for that distance.
(14.2) It forms a useful subject for investigation in
many important points connected with ship-building, to
be enabled to compare the centre of gravity of the
load water section so often referred to, with the centre
of gravity of the displacement, reckoned in the same
horizontal direction ; and also the centre of gravity of
the midship section, with the corresponding position of
the same point of the immersed volume. The same
process must be employed for obtaining the centre of
gravity of the surface as for the solid ; and in the same
manner as for the solid, the moments of the load water
line must be separated into the middle space, the fore
space, and the after space, and each have its proper
sign of plus or minus prefixed to it, according as it is
situated with regard to the primitive section passing
through the point E.
Its position.
Useful to
compare
centre of
gravity of
load water
section with
centre of
gravity of
displace¬
ment.
Number
of the
Ordinates.
Ordinates of the
Load Water
Section in the
Middle Space.
Distances of
the Ordinates
from the
Primitive
Ordinate PL
Resulting
Products.
1
16.05
0
0.0
2
19.31
6
115.86
3
21.33
12
255.96
4
22.70
18
408.60
5
23.60
24
566.40
6
24.13
30
723.90
7
24.48
36
881.28
8
24.72
42
1038.24
9
24.85
48
1192.80
10
24.90
54
1344.60
11
24.90
60
1494.00
12
24.90
66
1643.40
13
24.90
72
1792.80
14
24.90
78
1942.20
15
24.90
84
2091.60
16
24.90
90
2241.00
17
24.90
96
2390.40
18
24.85
102
2534.70
19
24.84
108
2682.72
20
24.83
114
2830.62
21
24.76
120
2971.20
22
24.70
126
3112.20
23
24.53
132
3237.96
24
24.23
138
3343.74
25
23.72
144
3415.68
26
22.87
150
3430.50
27
21.18
156
3304.08
28
18.55
162
3005.10
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
363
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
To adapt these resulting products to the formula
(S + 2P + 3Q)
we shall have
Extreme
Products.
!.. 0.0
28. .3005.1
3005.1=8
Second Class
of Products.
4.. 408.60
7.. 881.28
10. . 1344.60
13. . 1792.80
16 .2241.00
J 9., 2682,72
22.. 3112.20
25..3415.68
Third Class
of Products.
2.. 115.86
3.. 255.96
5.. 566.40
6.. 723.90
8 .1038.24
9. ,1192,80
11..1494.00
12..1643.40
14. . 1942.20
15. .2091.60
17. .2390.40
31757.76=2P 18. . 2534.70
20..2830.62
21..2971.20
23.. 3237.96
24. .3343.74
26..3430.50
27..3304.08
15878.88
2
35107.56
3
105322.68= 3Q
and since
T
2.25, we shall have
Si
(S + 2P + 3Q) (3005.1 + 31757.76
8
+ 105322.68) X 2.25 = 315192.465,
which is the moment of the middle space.
(143.) In a similar manner we must proceed to the
computation of the moments of the fore space.
Number of
the Ordinates.
Ordinales of the Distances of the
Load Water Ordinates from
28.
1
2
3
4
5
Section in the
Fore Space,
18.55
16.40
13.30
8.72
0.80
the Primitive
Ordinate E
162
165
168
171
174
Resulting
Products.
3005.10
2706.00
2234.40
1491.12
139.20
Applying these resulting products to the formula
(2 + 4 S+ 2 s) we shall have
à
Extreme Products. Even Products.
1..3005.10 2. .2706.00
5.. 139.20 4. .1491.12
Odd Products.
3.,2234.10
2
3144.30 = 2 4197.12
4
4468.20= 2 s
16788.48 = 4S
and since - = 1, we shall obtain
Ó
(2 + 4 s J- 2 s) g = (3144.30 +16788.48+4468.20)
X 1 = 24400,98
for the moment of the fore space. Adding to this the Naval Ar-
moment of the stem section amounting to 462.93, we ^l^^^®cture«
shall have for the whole moment of the fore space the
quantity 24863.91,
(144.) In the same way we must proceed for the mo¬
ments of the after space.
Number of
the Ordinates.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Applying these resulting products to the formula
Ordinales of the
Load Water
Section in the
after Space.
Distances of the
Ordinates from
the Primitive
Ordinate E
Resulting
Products.
16.05
0.0
0.0
14.69
1.83
26.88
12.87
3.66
47.10
10.60
5.49
58.19
7.51
7.32
54.97
3.80
9.15
34.77
0.80
10.98
8.78
(2-j-4 s + 2s)
we shall have
Extreme Products. Even Products.
1 0.00 2 26.88
7 8.78 4 58.19
6 34.77
Odd Products.
3 47.10
5 54.97
8.78=2
119.84
4
102.07
9.
479.36 =4S
204.14 = 2s
2
and since - = 0.61, we shall obtain
3
«
(2+4 s + 2s)- = 422.29
S
for the moment of the after space, exclusive of the post
and rudder, amounting to 47.70. Hence the entire
moment of the after body will be 469.99.
(145.) The moments of the middle and fore space
being'regarded as positive, that of the after space must
be esteemed negative. Hence we shall have
Moment of middle space = + 315192.465
Moment of fore space — + 24863.910
+ 340056.375
Moment of after space = — 469.990
Absolute amount of the moments of) ,
the water section \ +339586.385
(146.) Now, by the last column of the general Table
of ordinates it appears, that the semi horizontal area of
the water section amounts to 4115.17 ; and hence the
function
M 339586.385
D~ 4115.17 "" "■
(147.) The centre of gravity of the load water sec- Position of
tion is thus found to be 82.52 feet from the ordinate 1 ; centre of
and since the distance of the middle point from the
same ordinate is 81.50, the distance of the centre of section?
gravity of the load water line before the middle is 1.02
feet.
(148-.) Thus it appears, that the centre of gravity of
the load water section is not so far before the middle as
3 c 2
364
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Positions of
centre of
gravity of '
displace¬
ment in
several
classes of
ships.
the centre of gravity of the displacement itself, which is
a principle to be observed in the construction of ships.
(149.) We throw into the next Table the positions
of the centre of gravity of displacement in the several
classes of ships : first, with regard to the centre of the plane
of flotation ; secondly, as to its position above the lower
side of the keel ; and thirdly, as regards its depth below
the load water line. These important elements have
been drawn from Mr. Edye^s admirable Tables.
Moments in the Middle Boby.
Class of Ship.
Distance
of the
Centre of
Gravity of
Displace
ment before
the Centre
of Flota¬
tion.
Distance
of the
Centre of
Gravity of
Displace¬
ment above
the lower
side of
the Keel.
Distance
of the
Centre of
Gravity of
Displace¬
ment below
the Load
Water
Line.
Guns.
120
Ft.
2
In.
H
Ft.
16
In.
Si
Ft.
8
In.
7
80
I
n
14
111
8
44
74
1
m
14
H
8
04
Razee
50
1
n
13
Si
7
24
52
2
H
13
31
6
7|
46
3
9i
12
6i
5
91
Razee corvette...
26
2
3
11
Si
6
04
28
1
10
10
fis
^8
4
10|
Corvette
18
2
3è
10
91
4
24
Gun-brig
18
1
74
8
"4
4
04
10
1
3i
8
a
91
Schooner
3
H
7
3|
3
R
Cutter
1
11
»
8
04
3
04
New Class of Ships,
London
92
3
5
15
5i
8
31
Castor
36
3
7|
13
54
6
Vernon
50
3
9i
14
34
6
"4
Rover
18
3
34
10
2
4
4
Snahe .. ••.....
16
3
H
9
10|
4
2|
immersion
and emer¬
sion.
Navai Ar
chitecture.
Extreme
Products.
1. .0000.00
28. .5052.78
.50.52.78=== S
Second Class
of Products.
4.. 841.50
7..1683.54
JO. .2678.94
J 3. . 3622.32
16. .4527.90
19..5385.42
22. .6258.42
25. .6720.48
31718.52
2
63437.04
Third Class
of Products.
2 . 199.38
3.. 461.52
5 1065.60
6..1373.70
8. .2010.54
9. .2369.76
11. .3003.60
12. .3320.46
14..3924.18
15..4226.04
17. .4817.28
;2P18..5093.88
20. . 5671.50
21..5966.40
23. .6515.52
24..6701.28
26..6543.00
27..6102.72
69366.36
3
208099.08=3Q
and since
8
2.25, we shall have
3i
(S + á P + 3Q) —(5052.78 + 63437.04
8
+ 208099.08) X 2.25:== 622325.025,
which is the moment of the middle body.
Moments in the Fore Body.
Extreme Products. Even Products.
1..5052.78
7.. 5.22
5058.00 = 1:
2. .4,521.48
4. .2871.12
6.. 651.88
Odd Products.
3. .3713.42
5. .1841.10
8044.48
4
5554.52
2
11109.04 = 2s
The nearest approach of the centre of gravity of dis¬
placement to the centre of flotation is in the cutter, and
the next to it is the 18-gun-brig. The two points are at
the greatest distance in the Vernon.
On the Centres of Gravity of the Solids of Immersion
and Emersion,
Centres of (150.) It is not only of importance that the true
gravity of amount of the solids of immersion and emersion should
solids of be calculated, but the positions of their centres of gra¬
vity also, in order to discover if they are found in the
same transverse section, or at the same common dis¬
tance before the aftermost section. Supposing the result
of the computation should prove this not to be the case,
such alterations must be made in the body as the re¬
sults seem to require.
(151.) To determine in the first place the distance
forward of the Immersions Centre op Gravity, we
must remember there are three systems of moments to
compute ; viz, those in the Middle Body, the Fore
Body, and the After Body.
32177.92 = 48
i 2
and since - = -, the sections here being now supposed
o o
to be two feet apart, we shall have
(2 +4 s + 2 ) 5 = (5058.00 + 32177.92
«5
+ 11109.04) X I =32229.97,
Ó
which is the amount of the moment in the fore body.
Moments in the After Body.
Extreme Products. Even Products.
1 0.00 2 39.93
7 0.44 4. ...69.77
6. ... 14.18
Odd Products.
3.... 67.05
5. .. .41.43
0.44=2
123.88
4
108.48
2
216.96 = 2s
495.52 = 48
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
365
Naval Âr- i
chitecture. and since - = 0.61, we shall have
(2 + 4S + 2s)ä = (0-44 + 495.52-t-216.96)
O
X 0.61 = 434.8812,
which is the value of the moment in the after body.
(152.) Now, since the moments in the middle and
fore body are to be regarded as positive^ and that in
the after body as negative^ we shall have
Moments in the middle body . ... —-(- 622325.025
Moments in the fore body = 32229.970
-(- 654554.995
=~ 434.8812
Moments in the Fore Body.
Moment in the after body
Hence whole moment of the im¬
mersion
}
+ 654120.1138
And since the solid content of the immersion has been
found to be 7860.9703, we shall have
Position of
centre of
gravity of
immersed
volume be¬
fore section
1.
M 654120.1138
D
7860.9703
= 83.21 feet,
which is the distance of the centre of gravity of the im¬
mersed volume before section 1 of the middle body.
(153.) A similar mode of proceeding must be pur¬
sued for finding the distance forward of the Emersions
Centre of Gravity.
Moments of the Middle Body.
Extreme
Products.
1. .0000.00
28..3947.94
3947.94=8
Second Class
of Products.
4.. 716.22
7. . 1778.40
10. .2792.34
13. .3774.24
16. .4717.80
19..5661.36
22..6478.92
25..6406.56
32325.84
2
Third Class
of Products.
64651.68=
2.
3.
5.
6
8.
9.
11.
12.
14.
15.
17.
2P18.
20,
21.
23.
24.
26.
27,
. 155.94
. 412.80
.1097.52
1452.00
. 2128.14
.2463.84
.3145.20
.3459.72
.4088.76
.4403.28
.5032.32
.5346.84
.5962.06
.6266.40
.6553.80
. 6683.34
.6058.50
.5260.32
69969.^
3
209909.34 = 3 Q
and since — = 2.25, we shall have
8
(s-f 2P4- 3 Q)—= (3947.94 + 64651.68
8
+ 209909.34) x 2.25 = 626645.16,
which is the moment of the middle body.
Extreme Products. Even Products.
1.. 3947.90 2. ..33.53.80
7.. 21.05 4. .2027.76
3968.95=2
5842.52
4
Odd Products.
3 .2778.84
5. . 1246.10
Naval Ar*
chitecture.
4024.94
2
8049.88 = 2s
23370.08 = 4 8
and since —
3
2
3
, we shall have
(2-1-4 S -f 2s)- = (3968.95 + 23370.08
3
+ 8049.88) X |-= 23592.61,
3
which is the amount of the moment in the fore body.
Moments in the After Body.
Extreme Products. Even Products.
1...0.00 2...25,71
7.. .2.18 4. ..39.88
6...11.25
2.18 = 2
76.84
4
Odd Products.
3. . .32.27
5. . . 26.20
^.*47
9
116.94 i=2s
307.36 = 48
and since - = 0.61, we shall have
(2 + 4S+2s) \ = (2.18+307.36+ 116.94)
O
X 0.61 = 260.1528,
which is the value of the moment in the after body.
(154.) Two of these moments being positive, and
the remaining one negative, we shall have
Moments in the middle body ^4" 626645,16
Moments in the fore body = + 23592.61
-f 650237.77
= - 260.1528
Moments in the after body
Hence whole moment of the
emersion .
+ 649977.6172
And since the solid content of the emerged volume
= 7815.3119, we shall obtain
M 649977.6172 ,
D~ 7815.3119" ■
which is the distance of the centre of gravity of the
emerged volume before section 1 of the middle body.
(155.) Since then the centres of gravity of the solids
of immersion and emersion are found so very nearly in
the same plane, differing ouly-j-^^ths of a foot, the con¬
struction, so far as regards this very important particular,
may be esteemed correct.
(156.) Hence it follows, that the centre of gravity of
the displacement is 0.95 feet before the mean distance
of the centres of gravity of immersion and emersion ;
and the latter point 0.67 feet before the centre of gravity
of the load water section.
(157.) Unless these centres of gravity be found as
nearly as possible in the same transverse vertical plane,
a ship is liable to revolve round different horizontal
axes, producing irregular motions and impulses,— cir¬
cumstances by no means to be desired. Nor should
this property belong to one inclination only, but for every
angle through which a vessel revolves. In the case
Position of
centre of
gravity of
emersion
before see
tion 1.
If these
centres be
not found
in some
vertical
plane, the
ship will re¬
volve round
different
axes.
366
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Stability.
Necessity
of investi¬
gating it ill
a very ge-
neial point
of view.
Relation
between
iimnersed
and whole
;ing
body.
Thriie
kinds of
tíípaili-
briura :
Stability,
instability,
liidiifer-
euce.
The first
most con¬
cerns the
ship¬
builder.
of the Bulwark of 76 guns, the centre of gravity of
her immersion at an angle of ten degrees' inclination,
was only six inches in a fore and aft direction from
the centre of gravity of the emersion, her character for
regular and easy motion being of the best kind. In
some other cases, however, where ships have been re¬
marked for their uneasy motion, as to this diagonal
pitching, these centres have been removed from the same
plane three or four feet. Accordiisg to Mr. Morgan this
very important principle was first attended to in the con¬
struction of English ships.
♦
Stability.
(158.) The question of stability is divided naturally
into two branches, named Hydrostatic stability, or the
stability of a floating body at rest, and Hydrodynamic
stability, or the stability of a floating body in motion.
(159.) The Naval architect should investigate the
subject in the most general point of view, and by making
himself acquainted with the singular relations which its
application to bodies of different forms disclose, be
enabled to investigate with confidence the stability of
a ship of any kind, whether destined for commerce or
the purposes of war.
(160.) A slight acquaintance with Hydrostatics will
conviui-e us that a relation exists between the part of a
floating body immersed in the sea, and the whole
amount of its magnitude, dependent on the relative spe¬
cific gravities of the fluid and solid mass. A body may,
indeed, be immersed in a fluid in many diflerent ways
so as to preserve this relation entire, but there may not
be one position in wliich it will permanently rest; nor
can a state of quiescence be at any time obtained, until
the vertical lines which pass respectively through the
centres of gravity of the whole body and its immersed
volume completely coincide.
(161.) A floating body assumes three kinds of equi¬
librium when these centres of gravity are in the same
vertical line : 1st, the equilibrium of stability, or that in
which the solid permanently floats in a given position.
2dly, the equilibrium of imtabiUty, or that in which
the body spontaneously oversets, unless sustained by
some external force ; and which kind of equilibrium takes
place, when a needle or any other sharp pointed body is
attempted to be raised on a smooth horizontal plane.
And 3dly, the equilibrium of indifference, occupy¬
ing a kind of limit between the other two, when the
solid rests on the fluid indiiferent to motion, haviní^ no
tendency to right itself when inclined, or in any way to
increase its inclination.
(162.) The first of these conditions is that which
most concerns the ship-biiilder thoroughly to under¬
stand. Among the great variety of bodies which per¬
manently float on the surface of a fluid, experience tells
us there ate some mote easily inclined from a quiescent
position than others. Many bodies, after undergoing
an inclination, return to their original positions with
greater readiness and power than others; and this is
particularly observable among ships at sea. where the
same impulse oí the wind produces a much greater inclin¬
ation from a vertical positi n in one vessel than in another.
Hence it is, that in order to form a due estimate of the
resistance to inclination, and to be able to compute the ab¬
solute stability for different angles of inclination. Mathe¬
maticians have been induced to investigate rules, by which
the stability of ships may be computed prior to their con¬
struction, when their dimensions and weight are known.
(163.) There have been many beautiful essays pub¬
lished on the stability of floating bodies, some treating
it theoretically and adorning the subject with the richest
flowers of analysis, whilst others have aimed at a more
practical character. The name of Atwood is rendered
immortal in the annals of ship-building by two admirable
Treatises on the stability of floating bodies, published in
the Philosophical Transactions for 1796 and 1798. In
these Papers he demonstrated, that a more accurate
attention to the forms and dimensions of the solids
immersed and emerged in consequence of the inclina¬
tion was absolutely necessary ; and leaving the consi¬
deration of infinitely small angles of inclination, which in
so many cases leads to erroneous or inconclusive results,
created a formula for finite angles of inclination, and
which required as a fundamental condition, a rigid
attention to the form of the body. Before entering on the
consideration of this formula, we.shaU, however, briefly
advert to a few remarkable particulars deduced by Mr.
Atwood, respecting the equilibrium of floating bodies.
(164.) in the first place, the total number of posi¬
tions of equilibrium of a floating body, movable round a
fixed axis, is in all cases an evennumber ; and secondly,
that the number of positions of equilibrium of stability,
is equal to the number of ])Ositions of equilibrium of
instability ; so that in turning round an invariable axis,
the body must alternately pass from a position of stability
to one of instability. There must in every body be at least
one position of equilibrium of absolute stability, and one
of absolute instability.
(165.) There are some relations depending, more¬
over, on the form and specific gravity of tlie body,
which it is proper to advert to more particularly. If we
take, by way of example, a square parallelopiped,
floating freely on a fluid's surface, it will be found
that so long as the specific gravity of the body is
confined between the limits of zero and 0.211, the
solid will permanently float on the fluid with a flat
surface upward, parallel to the horizon. That when
the specific gravity rises to any magnitude be¬
tween the limits 0.211 and 0.25, the parallelo¬
piped will float permanently with a flat surface upward,
but inclined to the horizon at diflerent angles, whose
limits are zero, corresponding to the specific gravity
0.211, and 26° 34' corresponding to the specific gra¬
vity 0. 25. If, again, the specific gravity be found
8 9
between the limits 0.25 = — and—, the parallelo-
32 32
piped will float with one angle only immersed beneath
the surface, its diagonal being inclined to the vertical at
various angles, depending on the specific gravity, the
limits being 18° 26', corresponding to the specific gra-
8
vity and zero corresponding to the specific gravity
Naval Ar»
chitecture.
Different
wa}s in
which the
subject oí
stability has
been com¬
puted.
Investiga¬
tions 0Î
Atwood.
Positions of
equilibrium
deduced by
Atwood.
Investiga¬
tion of a
square pa¬
rallelo¬
piped.
N umerical
limits con¬
nected with
its floating.
9
32'
32
As soon, nowever, as the specific gravity is in-
()
creased beyond --, the solid will permanently float with
32
one' of its diagonals vertical, until the specific gravity
23
reaches the limit of —If again the specific gravity
23 24
be augmented to any quantity between — and —-,
32 32
the
floating body will repose with its diagonal variously in¬
clined, the limits being zero, corresponding to the spe-
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
367
Naval Ar^
chitecture.
^3
Impoiíant
íor the
younjT Na¬
val archi¬
tect to pur-
sue this
subject.
Some in-
stanci. s.
cific gravity —, and 18® 26' corresponding to the spe-
24
cific gravity —, three angles of the solid being in this case
32
immersed beneath the fluid's surface. If, moreover, the
specific gravity be augmented to a quantity between the
24
limits — and 0.789, the solid will float with a flat sur-
ó¿í
face upward, inclined to the horizon at sundry angles
depending on the specific gravity, the limiting angles
being 26® 34^ corresponding to the first specific gravity
24
—, or 0.75, and zero corresponding to the other spe-
cific gravity 0.789. Finally, when the specific gravity
reaches a magnitude between the limits of0.789 and unity,
the assumed specific gravity of the fluid, the solid will float
permanently with a flat surface parallel to the horizon.
(166.) Hence we infer, that while the square paral¬
lelepiped floating on the fluid's surface, has revolved com¬
pletely round its longer axis, or through 360®, it has pas.sed
through either sixteen or eighteen positions of equili¬
brium. When the specific gravity is found between the
limits 0.211 and 0.281, or between 0.719 and 0.789,
the number of those positions will be sixteen, eight of
which are positions of permanent, and the remaining
eight of unstable equilibrium ; the two kinds of equili¬
brium succeeding each other alternately, as the solid
revolves. In case the specific gravity should be of any
value not included within these limits, the solid in com¬
pleting its rotation will pass through eight positions only
of equilibrium, four of which are of permanent and four
of unstable equilibrium.
(167.) A number of singular properties might be
given depending on the forms of bodies and their dif¬
ferent specific gravities, and which it would be useful for
the young Naval architect to investigate ; but our limits
will only permit us to refer to one or two. In the case
of a cylinder placed on a fluid with its axis vertical, if
the diameter of the base has to the axis a greater ratio
than ^2: 1, no value can be given to the solid's specific
gravity, which will cause it to float in a state of insen¬
sible equilibrium ; or in other words, there is no specific
gravity separating the cases in which the cylinder will
float permanently, from those in which it will overset
when the axis is placed vertically. The cylinder under
these circumstances must always float permanently with
its axis vertical. When, however, the diameter of the
base has to the length of the cylinder, a less ratio than
: 1» two values of the specific gravity may be found,
which form limits to the cases in which the solid floats
with stability or oversets. If the specific gravity be
given, the relation of the cylinder's length to the dia¬
meter of the base may be fixed which limits the cases of
stability or instability of floating with the axis vertical.
If, for example, the specific gravity be 0.75, and the
diameter of the base has a greater ratio to the axis than
3
- : 1, the cylinder will float permanently with its axis
vertical ; but if the ratio be less, the cylinder will overset.
(168.) If we take the case of a parabolic conoid,—
a body connected with the immortal name of Archi¬
medes, we shall find in the first place that when the
axis is to the parameter in a less ratio than 3 : 4, no
specific gravity can be found which will make the
solid float in the equilibrium which is a limit between
the stability and instability of floating. Secondly, that
x/
if the specific gravity of the solid bears a greater ratio Naval 1
to that of the fluid, than that w^hich the square of chitectu
the difference between the axis and three-fourths of the
parameter has to the square of the axis, when that axis
is placed vertically, the solid will float with stability in
that position. Thirdly, thai if the specific gravity of the
solid has a less ratio to the specific gravity of the fluid
than that which the square of the above difference has
to the square of the axis, the solid will overset when
placed on the fluid with its axis vertical, and will settle
permanently with its axis inclined to the vertical line.
If the specific gravity of a parabolic conoid be less
than the limit just referred to, and the axis be to the
parameter in a greater ratio than 6 to 8 and less than
15 to 8, it will float permanently on the fluid with its
axis inclined to the horizon, and with its base wholly
visible above the surface. These beautiful properties
we owe to that admirable analysis, which, in the hands
of Archimedes, was cultivated with such transcendent
success. Too much neglected by the moderns, it is
refreshing to turn occasionally to these splendid remains
of ancient genius. The investigations of Archimedes
are contained in the second book of his tract, De Us quce
in húmido vehuntur,
(169.) In order to place before the young ship-builder
a few connected results on this interesting and import¬
ant subject, we throw into the next Table Mr. Atwood's
comparative stabilities of several bodies. Some ele-
ments, it will be perceived, are adopted by him as com - suits of
mon, such as the breadth of the water section denoted piopertie
by 100, the distance of the centres of gravity of the entire ififfoio
body, and of the immersed volume, represented by 13,
the area of the section of the displaced volume denoted
by 3600, and the angle of inclination 15®. From these
assumptions he deduces the numerical values recorded
in the two last columns.
Form of the
Body.
U
01
a
O)
rCÎ
«M
O
O
U
PQ
Sides of the vessel
parallel to the
plane of the
masts above and
below the water
section.
Sides of the vessel
above the w ater
section projecting
outwards 15°,
and parallel to
the masts below
the same section
Sides of the vessel
above the water
section, inclining
inwards 15°, and
parallel to the
masts below the
same sectiom
100
100
100
Cm
O
w
(U
u
>> (U
T3 g
O 5
W ^
'a
M
00
fí
CD
a; ^
.C <u
.a
Cm
O CtH
<u o
s .tí .CI
t/5 rt t3
X ^ d
Pü d
0)
tt>
o "
o rd
•d o
a; ^
<u
0) u
Ä d
^ 'S.
o.22
d'«
0)
13 3600
13
13
3600
3600
d Ù
C d
'o ^
c
a
M Oj
pqPn
QJ
o o
^cä
bD d
C o
c:-"
•v
N -a
. o
O W
Cm 0)
OÄ .
^ ■:
3 CM "J
■ O ■
d
"d
o
^ I
CJ,
»
15°
15°
15'
E <u
3 .d
2.84
<u
H
.3 S 2
^ o
Îi .5 M
^ c
S äJ «
w
>, g c
' " CQ IÍ5 —
> 3
d "E .Ci
g 3
d Cm
O
g "3 en
O
üS d
U5
G) CM ■
- O
O)
U
d
d
CO
i3
56.8
3.21 64.2
2.53
50.6
368
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naral Ar¬
chitecture.
Table continued.
Form of the
Body.
Breadth of the Water |
Section. 1
Distance of the Centres of
Gravity of the Whole Body,
and the immersed Volume.
1 Area of the Section of the
displaced Volume.
Angle of the Body's Inclina¬
tion from the Perpendicular.
Numerical Value of G Z, or
the Measure of the Body's ^
stability.
Comparative Measure of the
Wind's influence acting on the
Sails of the Body at the mean
distance of 50 from the Axis,
in Tons.
Sides of the vessel
above and below
the water section
inclining out¬
wards 15°.
100
13
3600
15°
3.59
71.7
Í ■ -
Sides of the vessel
above and below
the water section
inclining inwards
15»
100
13
3600
15°
2.21
44.2
Sides of the vessel
forming an isos¬
celes wedge at an
angle of 30°, its
vertex immersed
in the water.
100
13
3600
15°
2.86
57.0
Sides of the vessel
forming an isos¬
celes wedge at an
angle of 60°, its
vertex immersed
in the water.
100
13
3600
15°
2.92
53.4
Sides of the vessel
forming an isos¬
celes wedge at an
angle of 30°, its
vertex above the
water.
100
13
.3600
15°
2.86
57.0
Sides of the vessel
above the water
section parallel
to the masts, and
inclining out¬
wards 15° below.
100
13
3600
15°
3.21
/
64.2
Sides of the vessel
above the water
section parallel to
the masts, and in¬
clining inwards
15° below.
100
13
3600
15°
2.53
50.6
Sides of the vessel
forming the uni¬
form surface of a
cylinder.
100
13
3600
15°
2.63
52.5
Sides of the vesse
formed by aro
of a conic para¬
bola.
; 100
13
3600
15°
2.84
52.8
(170.) The numbers which give the measures of the
comparative stabilities afford some interesting materials
for examination. A comparison of numbers 2 and 9,
of 3 and 10, and of 6 and 8 disclose the remarkable
fact, that wnether t\ie sides which spring from the
water section, incline outwards above, or outwards
helow^ the measure of the stability is the same ; or whc- Naval Ar¬
ther the sides incline inwards above, or inwards below, chitecture.
the stabilities are still equal to each other. Whether the
transverse section be, moreover, a rectangle, an isosceles
wedge having its sides inclined to each other 30°, and
with the vertex either above or below the water's sur¬
face ; or whether the same section be a conic parabola,
the measures of the stabilities are identical. The dili¬
gent inquirer may draw from the same Table other im¬
portant information. Such are the curious and interest¬
ing results which even a brief examination of the sub¬
ject aflPords. To the Papers of At wood we would add
the masterly Treatise of Dupin read before the Institute
of France, and enriched by all the resources of Modern
Geometry. It is a subject which the Naval architect
should delight to dwell on, as one replete with the
deepest interest, and lying at the foundation of his
noble profession ; which opens, moreover, an immense
field for the finest applications of analysis, discloses rela¬
tions of a singularly curious kind between forms and
specific gravities, and in every point of view deserves
an attentive philosophical examination.
(171.) To those of our readers who may, however,
be unable to follow Mr. Atwood through the analytical
investigations necessary for computing these various
stabilities, the same may be prosecuted experimentally,
and a method for doing it may be seen in the Annals „ „ ,
of Philosophy for 1824. A reference to Colonel Beau-
foy*s Tables will show how closely the results of experi- ments.
ment approximate to those of theory.
(172.) But we must hasten to its application to Applicatioa
ships, the main and essential object of this Treatise, '
It is a fundamental position that the resultant of the ships"
force which the water exerts in supporting a ship, and
in resisting its tendency to heel, passes through the
centre of gravity of the displacement, and that the
direction of this effort is at right angles to the wateres
surface. It is for this reason a vessel, free and at rest,
must have its centre of gravity in the resultant of the
force of the water which supports it. When the ship
heels, there is a tendency arising from the vertical pres¬
sure of the fluid acting upwards on the side of the
vessel which is most immersed in the fluid to restore it
to the position it had when at rest. The amount of this
force is to be regarded as the measure of the stability.
(173.) Whenever a ship is inclined in the sea from Solids of
an upright position, a prismatic solid is emerged on one immersion
side, to be denoted in the present investigation by E, emer-
and another prismatic solid immersed on the other,
which we shall represent by I. These two solids, how- the inclma-
ever dissimilar they may be from the peculiar figure of tion of the
the ship, must of necessity be equal, the volume of the ship,
displacement remaining unaltered. The solids, more¬
over, being formed by the mutual intersection of two
planes, one of which is the load water plane when the ship
is floating upright, and the other a load water plane
when she is inclined, the intersection must of necessity
be a right line. From the circumstances, also, which
influence the motion of the ship, this line must, more¬
over, be parallel to the axis of rotation, which is a right
line passing through the centre of gravity of the vessel
from head to stern. Let the line separating the im¬
mersion from the emersion be therefore denoted by x.
Let G (pl. i. flg. 5) also be the centre of gravity of Investiga-
the whole ship, F that of its displacement when the ship h®"
floats upright, and Q the representative of the sam«
point when the ship is laterally inclined. Let Q T \ M
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
369
Naval Ar- be a vertical line passing through the centre Q ; and
-hitecture. through F and G draw F T and G V at right angles to
Q M, and through G draw GO parallel to QM, in¬
tersecting F T in O.
(174.) Since, by the heeling of the ship, the vo¬
lume E is taken from the displacement on the one
hand, and I, which is equal to it, is added to the dis¬
placement on the other, the bulk of each volume being
supposed to be concentrated in its centre of gravity, the
former volume may be conceived to be transferred to I.
The horizontal distance of the centres of gravity of the
two volumes being denoted by 6, the moment resulting
from the translation of E will be 6 E, or 61.
(175.) Now when by the action of the wind the
ship is made to heel through the angle AS«, or its
equal F G O, the buoyant power of the fluid is trans¬
mitted upwards through the line Q M, with a force
equivalent to the weight of the ship, or its equal
the displacement D. The effort, therefore, made to
right the ship, or to make it turn round a longitudinal
axis passing through G, is proved by Atwood to be
D xGV=:DxFT-DxFO.
And since D X F T is the horizontal moment of the
dis])lacement in consequence of the removal of E to I,
it is equal to the horizontal moment of E, that is to 6 I.
Hence the preceding expression becomes
D X G V= 61 - D X FO
-6I-DxFGx sinF GO.
And if we represent F G by a, and the sine of the incli¬
nation of the vessel, or F G O, by s, we shall obtain the
ireneral formula
Formula of
Atwood for
stability.
D X GV 61 - Das (T.)
(176.) This theorem, which is due to Atwood, enables
us to find the stability of a floating body, whether that
body be symmetrical with regard to the axis of motion,
as is always the case in a ship, or whether symmetry of
form does not exist, or the body be homogeneous, or the
contrary. It is from this formula that Atwood derived
the various positions of the floating parallelopiped be¬
fore alluded to.
(177.) The line separating the volumes I and E must
evidently be a right line, being formed by the inter¬
section of two planes, that of the load water line when
the ship is upright, and that of the load water line when
the ship is inclined. This line, moreover, must be
parallel to the axis of rotation, or to a right line pass¬
ing through the centre of gravity of the ship, from head
to stern. Let therefore the line separating the immer¬
sion from the emersion be denoted by o?, and a longi¬
tudinal plane be supposed to pass through it, perpendi¬
cular to the water's surface. Suppose also Z to denote
any section A S « of the solid I, perpendicular to .r, and
let ? be the corresponding section B S 6 of the emerged
soM E. Moreover let W, w be the horizontal distances
of the centres of gravity of the sections Z and z Ifom
this longitudinal vertical plane. Then by the ordinary
principles of Mechanics, we shall obtain
x
fZWd
I
for the horizontal distance of the centre of gravity of
the immersed solid I from that plane, and
y zwdx
E
VOL. VÏ.
for the horizontal distance of the centre of gravity of Naval Ar
the emerged solid E from the same plane. Hence chitecture.
, f ZW dx f z wdx
h — L« .
I ^ E '
or since by the conditions of a floating body I E, we
shall further obtain
_ f ZW dx+f zwdx
I
or
h Ï J* Z W d X y zwdx.
Consequently the general expression denoted by (1.)
will become
D X G V =/Z Wda; -¡rf xwdx — Das (II.) Anotherex-
whieh is another expression for the stability of a ship.
(178.) This formula is susceptible of some modili- ^
cations by supposing the heeling of the vessel to be
evanescent. In this case by denoting the half breadth
of the ship at the water' surface by t/, we shall have
y y. s y s y'^
Z==: 2
2
and
2
W = w= - y;
O
and the general formula (11.) becomes
2
DyGY:^--J s y^dx — Das..., (ÍIL^ Another
form for the
If the indefinitely small angle be regarded as constant, preceding
this last expression for the stability becomes formula,
? y 2/^ cT — Da.
When the displacement is given, the stability is mea¬
sured by
13
a.
which is the case when two ships of equal displace¬
ment are inclined at some small constant angle.
2 ^ Formula for
-J y^ d X the meta-
The function — tentie.
I)
is the height of what is commonly called the meta-
centre above the centre of gravity of the displacement.
In this case the stability will be measured by trie
height of the metacentro above the centre of gravity of
the ship.
(179.) In any case where the centre of gravity of
displacement might coincide with the centre of gravity
of the ship, the value of a becomes zero, and the sta¬
bility at any small angle of inclination will be
2 p J Formula
J s y^ d X, for any
^ smaU angle
and supposing this small angle to be constant, we shall of inclina-
have
^y 2/^ á <r. .. . . ,.. (IV.)
(180.) These latter formulae, however, must be em-
ployed with caution, and in no case can they be relied nrmstijc em-
on as measures of the stability, excepting at the very ployed with
instant when a ship begins to heel. In the case of an caution.
an
370
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar- ordinary inclinalion of five or ten degrees, the relation
chitecture. of the stabilities in two separate cases might be very
different from what the formula (IV.) would give, when
the centres of gravity of the whole ship and the displace¬
ment coincide ; or what may be derived from the pre¬
ceding formula (III.) when the centre of gravity of the
ship is higher than that of the displacement For in
either case the values of W, w, might neither be equal
to each other, nor to and the values of Z and 2
may also very much differ from
2y
Example to
prove the
necessity of
caution.
A single
computa¬
tion of the
stability at
one angle
not suffi¬
cient.
To deduce
from for¬
mula (IÏ.)
the actual
stability.
(181.) By way of illustration, suppose two vessels,
A and B, figs. 6 and 7, to be so constructed, as to have
identical load water lines, and the centres of gravity of
the whole ship and the displacement to coincide ; the
sides of one of the vessels falling out above and below
the water's surface, and the sides of the other falling in.
Now, although the most ordinary mechanic must at
once perceive that the stabilities of these bodies are not
the same ; and that the same impulse of the wind on
equal masts and sails may in the two cases produce
very different effects,—in one instance producing perfect
security, and in the other extreme danger,—yet according
to formula (IV.) the stability of each will be the same.
Thus may the Naval Architect who is really desirous of
advancing his art, draw from these analytical forms, mo¬
tives for caution; and, moreover, learn, that although for-
niulœ may sometimes be sanctioned by high names, and
for along time be current in the world, yet unless founded
on legitimate facts and on that unyielding Geometry
which allows nothing to escape its power, they ought at
once to be rejected, or received only as approximations,
iintii others founded on better principles can be found.
(182.) It is not a single computation of the stability
at one given angle, that can satisfy the desires of the
scientific ship-builder. It must be found for three or
four angles of heeling, as 2°, 5°, 7°, 9°, &c., in order to
satisfy him whether the vessel he is about to construct
has a sufficient stiffness at each successive angle, and
whether at the same time she performs her motion of
rolling with ease. In such a case some fine and ap¬
proved model of the same class is commonly selected as
a standard, in order to assist the constructor in his con¬
ceptions. A Naval Architect well acquainted with the
details of his profession, may even from the principal
dimensions and form of the sides between wind and
water, make a tolerable estimate of the vessel's stability,
by knowing the principal dimensions and form of the
sides between wind and water.
(183.) But to deduce at once from the general formula
J^WZdx-j- fwzdx^-Yyas
the actual stability of a vessel, some angle of heeling, or
inclination must be fixed on. Suppose, for example, it
be 9°, and that an inclined load water plane he drawn,
forming transversely with the horizontal plane of the
same kind an angle equivalent to this quantity. In the
great majority of cases, the solids of immersion and
emersion formed by these planes will not be equal, their
common intersection, excepting in particular construc¬
tions, falling on the lee side of the middle of the load
water line. Hence an interval of or -/^ths of a foot
is assumed on one side of the middle point of the load
water line on the body plan, for the intersection of the
two planes.
(184.) To compute the solids of emersion and immer¬
sion recourse must be had to the sectorial areas formed
by the vertical sections of the body with the solids here
adverted to. Each of these sectorial areas may be
regarded as made up of a triangle and a curvilineal
space, the latter being without sensible error regarded as
a parabolic area. Having computed the whole of the
sectorial areas, the actual solidities of immersion and
emersion must be computed by the proper formulae.
(185.) If the results of these computations should
prove the solidities of immersion and emersion to be
unequal, some other point must be assumed for the in¬
tersection of the inclined and load water lines, and the
preceding computation repeated until the two solidities
are found equal. To assist us in determining this
point, let A represent the computed difference of the
solids of immersion and emersion, and a the area of
the inclined load water plane. Moreover, let x be the
perpendicular distance of the true inclined load water
line from that just assumed. Then it is manifest, that
without any very sensible error ß a? = A, and conse-
A
quently, a? = —, both of which functions are known.
a
Hence the value of the fraction ~ beiuff set off at ri^ht
« o ö
' CL
angles to the load water line first assumed, will give the
position of the true one, as required.
(186.) Supposing, therefore, the position of the true
inclined load water line to be at length attained, we may
proceed to the final calculation of the stability. The in¬
tegral of the function W Zd x maybe obtained by means
of the sectors already alluded to. The different values of
Z and z necessarily result from that process of compu¬
tation, and the values of W and w may he found as
follows. Suppose S B D, fig. 8, to represent one of the
sectors, SD the upright load water line, and S B that
which is inclined. Joining DB will divide the sector
into the triangle and supposed parabolic area before
alluded to. Bisect B D in E, draw EC perpendicular
to B D, and make E F equal to two-fifths of it. From
E and F let fall E G and F H at right angles to S B.
Then will two-thirds of S G he the distance of the centre
of gravity of the triangle S D B from the point S, mea¬
sured on the surface of the water ; and S H will be the
distance from the same point of the centre of gravity of
the curvilineal area D B C. Hence
SG X SBD -I- SH X BCD
O
will give the value of W Z for this sector. And thus
may the value of W Z be found for every sector. The
application of one of the formuiie for equidistant ordi-
nates hence determines the integral of W Zd x,
(187.) A like method is pursued in determining the
integral of the same function when its elements are
made to represent the more curved parts of the im¬
mersion that lie near the stem post and stern. Ina
similar manner the value of wz dx may be found.
(188.) With regard to the remaining function Daä,
the value of the displacement D has been already conl-
puted, and a is known from the fixed inclination of the
vessel. The element a, depending on the true position
Naval At>
chitecture.
How the
solids oi'
emersion
and immer¬
sion may
be com¬
puted.
What must
be done if
those
solids are
not found
to be equal
When an
equality is
found be¬
tween them,
how the
stability
may be
computed.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
37!
Naval Ar-of the centre of gravity of the vessel, can only be
chitecture. found by rigorous calculations, which we shall hereafter
explain, or by reference to another ship of the same kind.
Hence the value of all the functions constituting the
second member of the equation
DxGV= y* ZW dx -jr / z w d oo — T> as
are known, and thus the true measure of the stability is
obtained. Let it be borne, however, in mind, that
tedious as the processes of calculation may be found,
the constructor must repeat them, until he finds at every
reasonable inclination, that the stability is neither too
small nor too great, and that the changes produced by
rolling are such as shall satisfy both him and the gal¬
lant men who may hereafter navigate the vessel on the
sea.
Actualcom- (189.) The first step in the computation we shall
putation. illustrate is that of the solidities of immersion and emer¬
sion. Each of these will be divided as before into the
middle body, the fore body, and the after body, these
several parts being calculated by means of the proper
formula.
Toßnd the Content of the Immersion when heeled to 9°.
Tofindtho Areas op the Sections in the Middle Body.
content of
the immer-
fciion.
Extreme Areas.
1. .24.47
28. .31.19
55.66 = S
Second Class of
Third Class of
Areas.
Areas.
4..42.16
2. .33.23
7..46.75
3. .38.46
10..49.61
5. .44.40
13. . 50.31
6. .45.79
16. . 50.31
8. .47.87
19. .49.87
9.. 49.37
22. .49 »07
11..50.06
25. .46» 67
12. .50.31
385.35
2
14. .50.31
15..50.31
17. .50.18
770J'0=:
2 P 18. .49.94
20..49.75
21. .49.72
23 .49.36
24. .48.56
26. .43.62
27. .39.12
840.36
2521.08 = 3Q
and since
3i
2 ' wti shall have
(S-i-2P-f3Q)y ^1)5.66 + 77U/ÍO +2521.08)
X 2.25= 7531.74,
which is the solid content in the middle body.
Areas of Sections in Fore Body.
To find in ihe next place the solidity of the fore body
we shall employ the formula
(1 + 4 s+26)4
Ó
Sxtreme Areas.
1. .31.19
7.. 0.03
31.22 = 1
Even Areas.
2. .27.57
4. . 17.09
6.. 3.79
48.45
4
Odd Areas.
3. .22.37
5..10.83
33.20
2
Naval Ar.
chitecture.
66.40 =2«
193.80=4 3
i 2
and since - =-r-, the sections here being now supposwi'
à ó
two feet apart, we shall have
(2: -1 4 S + 2s)
= (31.22 + 193.80 -f 66.40)
Ó
X 1= 194.28,
O
which is the solid content ui the fore body.
Areas op Sections in After Body.
In like manner, by applying the same formula to the
after body, we shall have
Extreme Areas.
1. .24.47
7.. 0.04
24.51 = I
Even Areas.
2..22.93
4. . 12.71
6.. 1.55
Odd Areas.
3.. 18.32
5.. 5.66
37.19
4
23,98
2
47.96 = 2 6-
148.76 = 4 8
and since —= 0.61, we shall have
(2 + 4S+2S)5 = (24.51 + 148 76 -f 47.96)
à
.X 0.61 = 134.9503
for the solidity in the after body. Hence the total
amount of the solid of immersion will be 7860.9703
cubic feet.
To find the Content of the Emersion when heeled to 9®.
(190.) By a similar process of computation we shall To find the
obtain the solidity of emersion.
Areas op Sections in Middle Body.
Third Class of
Areas.
2. .25.99
content ot
the emer¬
sion.
Extreme Areas.
1..17.19
28. .24.37
41.56 — S
Second Class of
Areas.
4..39,79
7. .40.40
10. .51.7L
13. .52.42
16. .52.42
19,. 52.42
22 .51.42
25..44.49
3. .34.34
5.. 45.73
6. .48.40
8. .50.67
9. . 51.33
XL. 52.42
12. . 52.42
14..52.42
15. .52.42
17. .52.42
788.14 = 2P 18. .52.42
20.. 52.29
21. .52.22
23..49.65
24..48.43
26.. 40.30
27. .33,72
394.07
2
847.68
3
2543.04 =: 3Q
3 D 2
372
jvAval architecture.
chitecture. and since SJ.25, we shall have
o
3 %
(S + 2P + 3Q)^' = (41.56 + 788.14 + 2543.04)
O
x 2,25 =7588.665
for the content in the middle body.
Areas of Sections in the Fore Body^
Extreme Areas,
I, .24.37
7. . 0.12
24.49
Even Areas.
2. .20.45
4. . 12.07
6.. 2.68
35.20
4
Odd Areas.
3. . 16.74
6.. 7.33
24.07
2
48,14=
140.80 = 4S
and since ~ the sections here being now supposed
3 3
to be two feet apart, we shall have
(2 + 48 + 2 s) - = (24.49 + 140.8 + 48.14)
O
X - = 142.29,
o
whicn IS the solid content in the fore body.
Areas of Sections in After Body.
In like manner for this portion of the emerged volume
we shall have
Extreme Areas.
I..17.19
7.. 1.98
19.17=2
Even Areas.
2. .14.05
4. . 7.63
6.. 1.23
Odd Areas.
3..10.16
5.. 3.58
22,91
4
13.74
2
27.48 = 2 .9
91.64 = 48
and since - = 0.61, we shall have
O
(2 + 4S + 2s)-'Ëâ (19,17+91.64+27.48) X0.6I
ó
= 84. 3569
1.. 282.69
28. .400.56
683.25=8
4. .641.25
7.. 750.05
10. .803.92
13. .815.02
16. .815. 02
19. .807.98
22. .801.99
25 .738.91
6174.14
2
--
12348.28;
2 .447.46
3. .558.52
5. .691.93
6..726.73
8. .773.11
9. .799.13
11..811.13
Í2..815.02
14. .815.02
15..815.02
17. .812.92
;2P 18. .809.03
20.. 805.99
21.. 803.04
23. .799.23
24..783.74
26. . 663.97
27. . 562.86
Nava! Ar¬
chitecture.
13293.85
3
39881.55= 3 Q
3 i
and since ~ = í¿.25, we shall have
S
(S+ 2P + 3Q)
3¿
(683.25 + 12348.28
+ 39881.55) X 2.25= 119054.43,
which is the value of the integral dx in the
middle body.
(192.) In the same manner, to obtain the values of
Z W in the fore body, we shall have
1..400.56
5.. 0.01
400..57= 2
2..297.42
4.. 55.19
3.52.61
4
3. . 173.18
2
346.36 = 2 s
1410.44 = 4 S
and since — = 1, we shall have
3
(2 + 48+ 2 s) 4- = (400.57 + 1410.44 + 346.36)
o
X 1 = 2157.37
for the value of the integral y Z W á in the fore
body.
(193.) So also for the values of Z W in the after
body, we shall obtain
1.. 282,69 2..254.53 3..181.65
7.. 0.01 4. .106.70 5.. 37.29
6.. 4.60
282.70 = 2
365.83
4
218.94
2
437788 = 2
1463.32 ±: 4 S
for the solidity in the after body.
Hence the whole amount of the solid emerged by the (2 + 4 S + 2 i)
heeling of the ship 9®, will be 7815.3119 cubic feet.
(191.) Let us in the next place endeavour to obtain
tatioa of the value of J Z W d j? for the three parts into which the
immersed part is divided.
of Wdx, values of ZW in the immersion of the middle
body are obtained as follows ;
and since — = 0.61, there results
S
Compu-
: (282.7 + 1463.32 + 437.88)
X 0.61 = 1332.179
for the integral of J* Z d x in the after body.
O t/ /%
Hence the value of J ZW dx for the whole im¬
mersed volume will be 122543.979.
(194.) Proceeding in the same manner for the emeä
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 373
î^aval Ar- gjoN, we shall obtain the following results for the values
chitecture. z W in the middle body.
1.. 164.16
28. .280.47
444.63=8
2..305.97
3 ..461.88
5.,. 708.63
6..771.27
8.. 835.98
9..857.22
11.,881.91
12..888.67
14..890.09
15..890.09
17..889.72
12937.62=2P18 ..887.48
20.. 883.61
21..880.69
23 ..819.02
24..778.57
26. .591.53
27 ..457.05
4. .580.42
7..804.99
10..869.36
13..889.99
16..890.09
19..885.08
22..858.23
25..690.65
6468.81
2
13679.38
3
41038. 14 = 3 Q
3 i
and since — = 2.25, we shall have
8
(S + -2 P + 3Q)^ = (444.63 -J- 12937.62 +
8
41038.14) X 2.25 =: 122445.8775,
which gives the value of/ z w d X m the middle body.
(195.) In like manner to obtain the values of 2 w in
the fore body, there will arise
1..280.47 2. .186.03 3. .99.04
5.. 0.12 4. 30.47 2
280.59 =2
216.50
4
866.00 = 4 8
198.08 = 2«
and since
1, we shall further obtain
+ 484-2«)-- = (280.59 + 866.00 + 198.08) x
ó
1 = 1344.67
for the value of f z w d x m the fore body.
(196.) And lastly, for the values oï z w in the after
body, there will be
1 .164.16
7.. 0.12
164.28 = 2
2. . 121.42
4.. 48.83
6.. 3,15
3. . 77.42
5. .22.55
173.40
4
99.97
9
199.94 = 2 «
693.60 = 4 S
Numerical
value of
this func¬
tion.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Computa¬
tion of tile
function
Y) as.
Whole va¬
lue of the
stability.
(198.) Finally, to compute the value of vhe function
Da«, the amount of the displacement D has been found
to be 104926.2, and s the natural sine of 9° = 0.15643.
Of the remaining element a it may be remarked that it
is made up of two parts, one of which is the height of
the centre of gravity of the vessel above the load water
line, and the other is the distance of the centre of gravity
of the displacement below the same line. The first of
these quantities, by a comparison with another ship of
the same kind, is found to be 0.93 feet, and the value of
the latter we have calculated to be 7,56 feet. Hence
a = 0.93 + 7.56 = 8.49 feet, and Da« = 393151.5104,
and the general expression
Dx GV=/ZWíZ¿r+/»ludx-Da«=107628.2863,
which is the numerical measure of the stability at an in¬
clination of 9°.
(199.) By some, the preceding computations may be
regarded as tedious, and they may prefer Bongueras for-
2
inula f y^dx before alluded to, on account of its
greater brevity ; but let it be remembered, that no la¬
bour can be considered as too great, in order to secure
to a ship of the humblest class the requisite stability.
The history of ship-building unfortunately presents too
many instances of ships having been constructed with
insufficient stability.* M. Romme, for example, in his Frequent
Art de la Marine,, has adduced the remarkable instance instances of
of the French ship Le Sdpion of 74 guns. As soon as
this ship floated in deep water, it was immediately ap-
parent that she wanted stability, and to ascertain it, the fident sta-
guns were run out on one side, and run in at the other, bility.
The vessel in consequence heeled 13 inches ; and by
adding the weight of the men to the same side, she was
afterwards brought down 24 inches. A difference of
opinion, it appears, existed among the Naval engineers
as to the cause of this want of stability ; and that the
error was not accidental, but arose from some faulty
principle of construction, may be inferred from the cir¬
cumstance that the same defect existed in two other ships
of war, VHercule and Le Pluion, The chief engineer
asserted that the requisite stability might be imparted to
Le Scipion by altering the quality and disposition of
her ballast. The original amount of ballast had been
84 tons of iron and 100 tons of stone ; and by the new
arrangement these were to be augmented to 198 tons of
iron and 122 tons of stone. But as a ship of war does
not admit of any alteration in the amount of her dis¬
placement to compensate for the additional weight of
ballast, on account of the necessity which exists of
keeping her ports at a proper height above the water,
the stock of water with which the ship had been
])reviously supplied, was diminished by 136 tons, the
excess of weight of the new ballast over the old.
This arrangement must have had the effect of lower¬
ing the centre of gravity of the vessel, and thereby
of increasing its stability ; but on trial it was found not
and since — = 0.61, there will lastly arise
3
(I + 4S-|-2s) — = (164.28 + 693.60 -f 199.94)
3
X 0.61 = 645.2702
for the value of Sz w d x in the after body.
(197.) Hence the value of J* z w d X for the whole
emerged volume will be 124435.8' 77.
* Chapman remarks, that in the year 1628, when the Wasa of
80 ^uns, half cartauers, or 24-pounders, sailed from Skeppsholmen
to Stockholm, with only the three topsails, in a light South-West
wind, intended for an expedition to the Baltic, this ship did not
proceed further than Blockhusudden, or about fifteen or sixteen
cables' length from Skeppsholmen, when it upset, and sank ten
fathoms, so that all below the main cross trees was under water.
The Stora Crona, Swedish ship of 126 guns, upset in 1676 in
tacking. The cause assigned was, that this operation was not per¬
formed with the care which the crankness of the ship required.
374
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
milla with
evanescent
angles.
Naval Ar- sufficient, the decrease in heeling, measured on the
chitecture. ygggg^g gjjg;^ amounting only to four inches. Other
ineffectual attempts were made, but the requisite sta¬
bility was not obtained, until a sheathing was applied to
the exterior sides of the vessel from four inches to one
foot in thickness, throughout the whole extent of the
water line, and extending 10 feet beneath it.
Proof of (200.) This memorable example affords, therefore, a
error of for- convincing proof that the formula sometimes employed
to represent the stability, and limited to evanescent
angles of inclination, cannot be relied on in any way.
There can be no doubt that before a timber was laid,
the stability had been in some way or other computed,
yet no one suspected a defect in this important element
until the vessel was actually floating in deep water ; and
as a proof that the real cause of the error was not known,
recourse was had to a change of ballast; nor was it
until other remedies had been unsuccessfully applied,
that the remedy," to adopt the remarkable words of
Atwood, " was stumbled upoii by : ccident, rather than
adopted from any knowledge of ilü principles by which
the application of it migl:l have been directed." It was
reserved for Atwood lo show that an error in the form
of the sides of the vessel was the principal cause of the
defective stability,"* and affords another example of the
slow steps by which sound and substantial knowledge
advances.
(20i.) The change which takes place in the vertical
pressure of the water in which the ship is immersed,
when there is any relative motion existing between the
ship and the water, must have an effect on the amount
of the stability, on account of that vertical pressure
affording a measure for the stability, when it is multi¬
plied into the distance at which it acts from the longi¬
tudinal axis passing through the centre of gravity. S<j
the altered circumstances of displacement which take
place by a ship passing from salt to fresh water, altering
in some degree the position of the centre of gravity of
the imiiiersed volume, must, in like manner, influence
the stability.
Positions of (202.) The point M, fig. .5, is called the metacentre,
the meta- and is very often referred to in discussions on ship¬
building;. In the British Navy the height of the meta¬
centre above the surface of the water, using in the cal¬
culation the main breadths, is generally less than
feet, and is least in the largest ships. In 18-gun-
brigs it is 5.5 feet, and such vessels are by no means
deficient in stability. In frigates of 36 guns it is
nearly 6 feet. In the Leopard, a fourth-rate, it is 4.2
feet. In third-rates it is from 4 to 5.5 feet nearly. In
the Howe, a first-rate of 120 guns, it is 3.7 feet.
Bouguer, in his Traite du Navire, remarks, that the
metacentre was above the centre of gravity, in the fri¬
gate La Gazelle, 4 or 5 feet ; in ships of 60 guns from
6 to 7 feet ; in ships of 80 or 90 guns, from 4 to 5 feet ;
and in ships of 110 or 120 guns, sometimes as little as
2 feet.
On the Centre of Gravity,
Naval Ar¬
chitecture,
Effect of
motion on
the sta¬
bility.
centre in
different
ships.
* As an evidence that the defect of stability in Le Scipton did
not arise from a ivant of breadth in the principal section of the
vessel, M. Romme asserts, that other ships of the same force,
Le Magnifique, Le Sceptre, Le Minotaur, U Intrépide, had breadths
the same or rather less than Seipion, and yet carried their sail
perfectly well. The constructor doubtless thought to please his eye
by altering in some way the external figure of the vessel, and, to
satisfy a whim, sacrificed her security.
(203.) A knowledge of the position of the centre of Centre ot
gravity of a ship is necessary in order to assist us in
establishing a true measure for the stability, and like-
wise for enabling us to trace all the interesting pheno¬
mena connected with the pitching and rolling of a ves¬
sel. A rude approximation to the position of thi& point
will by IK* means satisfy the present wants of Naval
Architecture ; and we are glad to perceive an increased
anxiety on the part of our ship-builders, to arrive at
more exact information respecting its very important
properties.
(204.) There are many difficulties in the way of Difficulties
determining the centre of gravity of the hull alone, be- i" th® ^^^y
fore any preparations are made for fitting it for sea, and
miLidis thï
for storing it with all the terrible apparatus of war. A centre of
knowledge of its true position under conditions like gravity,
these leads to many interesting results ; but the question
rises immeasurably in importance when the vessel puts on
all the pride and circumstance of war,—with her masts and
yards and rigging, her guns and vast variety of stores,—
and the bodies too of her crew, destined gallantly to de¬
fend her. If we direct our attention for a uioment to the
hull, we shall find, that though the powers of Geometry
may enable us to fix with very great accuracy the position
of this point, that no general conclusion could be deduced
from the same, on account of the great diversity of
form which even ships of the same class present. This
would have an influence, were the hull alone to be con¬
sidered ; but the many altered circumstances winch even
the smallest change in the external figure produces in
the masts and their accompaniments, and all the import¬
ant considerations connected with stores and stowage,
proves the utter impossibility of laying down any thing
like a precise and definite rule respecting the position
of this point.
(205.) Wherever the point under consideration is, Three coo.'-
however, situated, three rectangular coordinate planes
may be supposed to pass through it, and to one only of
these three can we assign a fixed and certain position, through it.
Every vessel, whatever may be her figure, and how¬
ever whim and caprice^ may influence the design, is ne¬
cessarily, both as regards figure and stowage, divided
into two parts by a vertical longitudinal plane passing
through the middle of the keel. This partial sym¬
metry of form fixes, therefore, the centre of gravity of a
vessel with regard to its breadth.
(206.) Another consideration which will enable us to Position of
fix the position of this point with regard to the length of
thevessel,may be gathered from the hydrostaticalprinciple,
that the centre of gravity of the whole body and of the length,
displaced volume must be in the same vertical line ; and
that as every vessel, when equipped, possesses a given
displacement, it follows that the centre of gravity of this
volume determines the centre of gravity of the whole
ship, with regard to the length. Independently of this,
however, it would be impossible to fix, à priori, a trans¬
verse plane, having the moleculae on each side of it
precisely similar and equal.
(207.) With regard to the depth of the vessel, a With re-
vague and uncertain conjecture has sometimes fixed it
* The history of ship-building proves that it is not uncharitable
to say, that whim and caprice do sometimes govern the designs of
ships.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
375
Theory of
moments.
How the
method of
moments
Moments
Naval At- In the load water section ; but this, which at most can
chitecture. only be true of a few ships, is much too uncertain to
allow us to repose on it with any thin^ like confidence.
Various experimental methods have been proposed to
ascertain this, but there is no method like that which
the theory of moments presents us with, by assuming- a
convenient horizontal plane, and dividing the integral of
all the moleculse constituting the vessel, by the weight of
the vessel itself. Such of our readers as are conversant
with the Theory of Mechanics,—and every ship-builder
ought,—will remember, that if any number of particles
pi V'i p"i situated on one side of a plane given in
position, at the distances x, a?', x'\ &g. ; and any num¬
ber of particles tt, it', 'Jt'\ &c., on the other, at the
distances X, X', X^', &c., then will the distance of the
common centre of gravity of all the particles from the
assumed plane be represented by the general formula
p &c. — (ttX + 7r'X'-l- X"-f&c.)
Tr'^ + Âc. '
the point being found on one side or other of the
assumed plane, according as p xx^ p'^ x'' -f"
is greater or less than tt X -j- x' X' -j- &c.
(208.) We regret that our limits will not permit us
to exhibit the whole process of this calculation, and that
may be ap- ^e must confine ourselves to a general description of
plied to it. results. It is usual in a case of this sort to assume the
water's surface as the given plane, and to throw all the
weights, whether fixed or movable, into two classes,
one of which shall have every individual centre of
gravity above the plane of flotation, and the other below.
In this way we shall obtain the weights of such parts
above plane of the lower masts as are above the plane of flotation,
o 0 a ion. masts, the top gallant masts, and necessary ap¬
pendages, together with the yards and bowsprits, and
likewi se the distances of the centres of gravity of the in¬
dividual masses above the plane of flotation. The former
results would be so many values of p, and the latter
of X. These values multiplied together will give the
amount of the moment px. In like manner must the
weight of all the standing and running rigging be ob¬
tained, together with the distances of their respective
centres of gravity from the plane before alluded to.
These results will give values for p' and x\ and hence
the amount of the moment p' od. So also the same
elements must be obtained for the cables, hawsers, &c.,
particular attention being paid to the place of their stow¬
age. The sails also when furled on their respective
yards, and the spare sails as they are stowed in the sail-
bins. The guns also, forming so very important a part
of the computation, must have their entire weights esti¬
mated, with all their appendages, and also with the
greatest care have the distances of their centres of gra-
C? c?
vity calculated from the assumed plane, after making
every proper allowance for the curvature of the decks.
In like manner the moments of the anchors, taken in
their proper places of stowage, the boats, the furniture of
all kinds, the men's bedding, as stowed in the nettings,
together with the entire moment of the men estimated at
their quarters : all these, together with any other mo¬
ment which our limited space prevents us from enume¬
rating, when collected together, will give the sum of
the moments above the water's surface.
Moments (209.) In like manner, proceeding for the moments
below plane below the water's surface, a very important object is
of flotation, presented by the hull, separated as it is by the plane of
flotation, into portions above and below the water's sur¬
face. To find this with precision, however, every bend
of timber must be taken in succession, and, however
tedious be the process, the keel, the planking, the riders,
the beams, the decks, the knees, whether of iron or wood,
the shelf pieces, water ways, and all the numerous parts
constituting the hull,—each individual weight, with the
corresponding distances of their centres of gravity from
the plane of flotation, must be found to obtain the abso¬
lute moment of the hull. The water, whether contained
in tanks or casks, must be computed with the same mi¬
nute attention to accuracy ; and so also must the wood
and coals, as stowed in bulk. The specific gravity of
each separate kind of provision must be found, and
which, by knowing the bulk of the same, and the po¬
sition of the centre of gravity, will furnish the moment
desired. In the same manner, the wine and spirits as
stowed in the spirit rooms, the beer, the purser's slops,
and the men's chests must have their respective moments
found. The shot also, the powder in the magazines, the
boatswain's, gunner's, and carpenter's stores, as depo¬
sited in their respective store rooms, each and all of these
must have their moments determined.
(210.) To obtain the moment of the ballast, its ab¬
solute weight must first be found. This may be com¬
puted by subtracting the absolute weight of all the
preceding articles from the total displacement. To
discover its centre of gravity, a plan of the intended
stowage must be carefully prepared, and the position of
this point thence carefully deduced. Its distance below
the plane of flotation, multiplied into the weight of the
ballast itself, will give the required momentum.
(211.) These different numerical results, applied in
their proper order to the formula before given, will fur¬
nish the distance of the centre of gravity of the vessel
from the plane of flotation ; and which will either be above
or below, according as the función p x -{• p^x' -f- p^'x" -{-
&c. is greater or lesser than xX -|- x'X' -f -1- &c.
(212.) The heights of the centres of gravity of two
ships of the line, determined by this method, were as
follows : Bulwark of 76 guns, ^'^^ths of a foot above the
load water section; Ajax of 74 guns, -j^^ths of afoot
above the load water section. We ought to know with
certainty and precision the position of the centre of gra¬
vity of every ship. No amount of labour can be too
great for determining this important element.
(213.) It is necessary, however, to be able to ar¬
rive at a knowledge of the same by means more
ready and practical than that here alluded to. In¬
stead of estimating the separate parts, and computing
the individual moments, it may be useful sometimes to
take a vessel as a mass, and determine her centre of
gravity in her entire state. A method of Chapman's
was applied by Captain Hindmarsh and Mr. Morgan to
the Scylla of 18 guns, which we shall briefly describe.
The ship floated in harbour perfectly quiescent, having
all her weights balanced equally on each side. A large
graduated quadrant, having a plumb line attached to its
centre, was fixed in the main hatchway. The situations
of the different guns were marked on the deck. The
guns were then moved in the same transverse lines to
the other side. The shot and hammocks were also
transposed to the inclined side, and the crew, which in
the first place were equally distributed, were likewise
disposed there. The distances which all the transferred
weights had been moved were then measured, the sepa¬
rate amount of those weights being previously known.
Naval Ar-
chitecture..
Results of
two exam¬
ples.
More con
veulent
modes may
be adopted.
Experimeii'»
tal method
of Chap¬
man's.
376
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Âi- Under these circumstances the inclination of the vessel
chitecture. carefully measured and found to be 6° 20'*
(214.) Chapman devised a formula, by which the
® centre of gravity of a vessel under these circumstances
might be obtained. Let each weight that has been
transferred be multiplied by the distance it has been
moved, and let the total amount of these momenta be
divided by the total sum of the weights moved, and let
N P, fig. 5, drawn at right angles to M F, be made
equal to this quantity. Idirough N draw N Q parallel,
and through P draw P Q perpendicular to a h. Then,
by putting W to represent the total transferred weights
in cubic feet of sea water, we shall obtain from the
principles of Mechanics the equation
W X WQï'isUyG' V,
Applica¬
tion to the
Scylla.
Mr. Bar¬
ton's ino-
thod.
arising from the necessary equality existing between the
momentum of the weights when the ship is inclined
through a given angle, and the moment of the stability.
Now by the formula for the stability
D X GV hi — T> a s ;
and since
W xNQ:;=WxNPxcosPNQ,
we shall have
WxNQxcosPNP==:6I-Da5.
Hence
a
hi — WxNPx cos P N Q
~ _
furnishing in given terms the distance between the
centre of gravity of the vessel and of its displacement.
(215.) In the practical case we have just adverted to,
the transferred weights multipled into the distances they
were respectively transferred, produced 264.5 ; and
hence the preceding formula becomes
_ 61 - 264.5 cos 6°20\
D sin 6° 20' '
or by further substituting for the elements 6, I and D,
we shall have
446.2 -262.8
- ==3.6.
a
50.85
Now the centre of gravity of the displacement being
3.97 feet below the load water line, the distance of the
centre of gravity of the whole ship below the same line
will be 3.97-3.6 = 0.37 feet.
(216.) At the time this experiment was performed,
the Scylla had not her full complement of stores on
board, her draught of water forward being 11 feet 6 inches,
and abatt 14 feet 10^ inches. After her additional
stores were taken on board, amounting to 33.4 tons,
her draught of water forward was increased to 12 feet 6
inches, and abaft diminished to 14 feet 10 inches. The
moment of these weights above the water line, esti¬
mated at the instant of sailing, was 193 tons, the height
of the centre of gravity of the sails being taken as in a
top-gallant breeze. The moment of the weights below
this water line, at the time of the last experiment, was
401 tons ; and hence
401 - 193 ^
—. -— — 0.42 feet,
494.4
giving 5 inches for the distance of the centre of gravity
of the vessel below the water line at the time of sailing.
(217.) Mr. Barton, Naval Architect, has proposed to
run the whole or part of the guns aft, and to observe the
new draught of water, together witti tfie place of the guns Naval Ar.
moved. From these data and the draught of the ship he chitectu^
proposes to determine thiscentre. Mr.Abethell, Assistant
Master Shipwright at Sheerness, proposes to get rid of
the difficulty of moving the weights, by attending to method,
certain data when a ship is docked with the under side
of the keel deviating from parallelism with the upper sur¬
face of the blocks, vvhich is almost always the case. We
may suppose, he says, by the falling of the tide in the
dock, the after extremity of the keel to come first in
contact with the blocks. Then as the tide continues
to fall, the after body will be gradually forsaken by
the water, and the fore part further immersed ; a
constant equilibrium being maintained between the
total weight of the ship, and the pressure of the water
against the immersed part of the body, until the moment
the ship is aground fore and aft. At any inter
mediate instant, the ship may be considered as a levei
of the second kind, of which the fulcrum is the trans¬
verse line or point of contact of the keel and after block,
and the power and weight, the weight of the immersed
volume and of the ship respectively, each acting in the
vertical line passing through its centre of gravity. As
we can by a ready calculation nom the draught of the
ship, discover its weight, that of the immersed volume,
and the perpendicular distance of the line of pressure
from the fulcrum, the distance of the vertical line pass¬
ing through the centre of gravity of the ship is the only
unknown quantity in the equation of moments to be
determined.
(218.) Supposing AN, fig. 9, to represent the natural
water line of the ship, and K. L the water line just at the
moment when the fore part of the keel touches the
blocks ; draw Q H through the centre of gravity of the
volume K F M L perpendicular to K L, and F G pa¬
rallel to Q H. Then supposing the whole displacement
under its ordinary circumstances to be D, and that cor¬
responding to K F M L to be d, and G H = 6 ; if the
line S E O be drawn parallel to Q H, at a distance GE
h d
from G equal to —, it will as well as P B O pass
through O, the centre of gravity of the ship.
(219.) Mr. Major has given an ingenious method Mr. Major's»
for finding the centre of gravity of a ship. Let the "^^thoU.
vessel be heeled to the same constant angle, by two
separate horizontal lines, applied at different heights in
the plane of the masts. It will then be evident that the
momenta of the forces resulting from the separate appli¬
cations of the inclining forces must be equal, since the
same constant force of stability represents them both.
Let F and p represent these forces, and a, 6 the re¬
spective distances at which they act from the centre of
gravity of di.splacement. Let A also be the angle of
inclination of the ship from the perpendicular, and a? the
distance of the centre of gravity of the vessel from the
centre of gravity of displacement. Then we shall obtain
the following equation for the forces employed :
P (a — <r) cos A t^p{h — ¿v) cos A,
and
a: =
P a — p b
determining in known terms the elevation of the centre
of gravity of the whole vessel above the centre of gra¬
vity of the displacement.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
377
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Masts.
Dimensions
of masts
and yards.
On Masts^
(220.) Theory has done little towards informing us respecting the lengths and dimensions of masts ; expe¬
rience, the great nurse of the useful Arts, must here be our guide. The following Table is derived from Edye's
Naval Calculations.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Names of Masts, Yards, &c.
ÍFore mast.
Lower masts.< Main mast.
(Mizen mast
Bowsprit.
Fore.
Main
^Top mast
I'op-gallant mast. .. .
liower yard
Top-sail yard
.Top-gallant yard....
'Top mast
Top-gallant mast....
Lower yard
Top-sail yard .... ..
.Top-gallant yard . . ..
Mizen
f Top mast.... ..
I Top-gallant mast,
< Cross jack yard ..
Top-sail yard .,.
.Top-gallant yard ,
Driver boom *
Driver gaff» ».
Jib boom .. . .
Sprit-sail yard
TFore mast .
Lower masts.<Main mast .
I Mizen mast
Bowsprit.
Fore
Main
Mizen
Top mast
Top-gallant mast.
Lower yard ....
Top-sail yard ...
Top-gallant yard
Top mast
Top-gallant mast
Lower yard ....
Top-sail yard ...
Top-gallant yard
ÍTop mast
Top-gallant mast
Cross jack yard .
I Top-sail yard ...
[Top-gallant yard.
Driver boom .
Driver gaff ..
Jib boom .,..
Sprit-sail yard
Dimensions.
120 Guns.
Length.
Yds, In.
36 28
39 32
27 8
25
20
10
30
21
14
22
11
34
24
16
16
8
24
16
12
23
17
17
21
1
34
12
13
18
8
34
17
28
20
9
17
8
20
12
3
7
6
18
18
Dia¬
meter.
In.
36|
40
24i
m
204
io|
2H
13|
20|
24|.
15i
10
13|
84
154
lOi
13f
12f
J
80 Guns.
Length.
Yds. In.
36 0
39 22
27 8
23 35
20 26
10 0
29 33
21 20
12 34
23 0
11 18
34 15
24 27
15 12
16 28
8 8
24 27
16 12
11 12
23 13J
17 13
16 24
13Í 21 20
Dia¬
meter.
In.
36
391
24f
36
20f
10
211
13X
8
201
IIA
24f
16
OS
14
8l
16
m
131
12
141
13i
74 Guns.
Length.
46 Guns.
Length.
Yds. In.
27 18
30 0
21 25
18 6
15
7
23
34
29
29
17' 28
10 35
18
9
27
19
12
13
6
19
13
9
18
13
13
17
0
0
9
24
18
24
30
24
20
12
21
0
5
28
Dia¬
meter.
In.
25
28
19
261
7f
16|
Hi
6-f
m
9
184
12i
H
114
'■ ^ 8
H
12i
H
54
111
H
111
Hi
Razee Corvette,
26 Guns.
Length.
Yds. In.
26 34
29 12
20 25
18
15
7
23
17
10
18
9
26
19
12
13
6
19
13
9
19
13
13
17
10
33
19
20
24
0
0
34
24
18
18
27
24
12
12
12
22
1
20
Dia¬
meter.
In.
25|
28
191
261
161
n
11
H
161
9
18|
m
n
Hi
6Î
61
8
H
131
91
11
Yds. In.
32 30
36 0
24 23
22 0
19
9
28
8
22
4
20 18
13 12
21 22
11 0
32 8
23 18
15 10
15 32
8 0
23 18
15 13
10 21
22 27
16 35
16 0
20 18
Dia¬
meter.
In.
31i
36
21A
341
m
H
19|
12i
H
i^i
11
221
14f
91
13
8
14A
"*•^8
QA
"a
121
HI
14|
12f
Razée 50 Guns.
Length.
Yds. In.
32 30
36 0
26 161
22 0
19 8
9 22
28 4
20 18
13 12
21 22
11 0
32 8
23 18
15 10
15 32
8 0
23 18
15 13
10 21
22 27
16 35
16 0
20 18
Dia¬
meter.
In.
33i
36
24
341
19i
H
19f
121
8i
19i
11
22f
14A
91
13
8
14|
n
6i
12Î
Hf
Hi
12|
52 Guns.
Length.
Yds. In.
30 6
33 6
24 0
21 18
19 8
9 22
28 4
20 18
13 12
21 22
11 0
32 28
23 18
15 10
15 32
8 0
23 18
15 13
10 21
22 7
16 35
16 0
20 18
Dia¬
meter.
In.
31
341
22i
3Ii
9f
194
121
8i
11
m
144
9^
13
8
14|
9|
61
"8
121
Hf
Hi
121
26 Gun and
18 Gun Corvette.
18 Gun-brig.
Length.
Yds. In.
21 18
23 24
18 0
14 31
12 26
6 13
18 12
13 24
8 12
14 14
7 7
21 0
15 18
9 16
10 29
5 16
15 18
10 12
7 4
14 23
10 30
11 0
13 24
Dia¬
meter.
In.
19
20i
m
2 Ii
121
6f
12f
8i
H
121
7i
h|
91
6
9
51
91
51-
^8
H
71
81
"8
8i
Length.
Yds. In.
19 33
22 27
14 16
12 6
8 22
18 6
14 0
9 6
12 35
8 22
18 7
14 0
9 6
19 12
11 12
9 0
14 0
10 Gun-brig.
Dia¬
meter.
Length.
Dia¬
meter.
In.
Yds. In.
In.
20
15 18
16
21|
18 0
171
20
12 0
17
m
10 12
10
71
* 8
6 18
6
Hf
16 0
11
8i
12 18
S
6
8 24
6
m
10 12
10
7i
* 8
6 18
6
Hf
16 11
11
12 18
8
6
• •
• •
8 24
• • • •
6
• •
• •
• •
• *
• •
13i
* • • •
• « • •
• • • •
16 32
« •
• •
• •
11
H
10 4
H
8i
9 0
8
8i
12 18
8
VOL. VI.
3 E
378
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Positions of
ships'
masts with
regard to
the length.
Seppings-
improved
mast.
Its eco¬
nomy.
(221,) The positions of ships' masts with regard to
the length of a ship, exercises an important influence on
her properties. The shifting of a mast often occasions
important improvements in the sailing of a vessel. The
next Table contains the positions of the masts in frac¬
tions of the ship's length, on the load water line, and are
the best with which experience has furnished us.
Rata of the Ship, Fore Mast, Main Mast. Mizen Mast,
120 guns.
80 guns
74 guns
Razee 50-gun sbio,.
52-gun frigate.
46-gun frigate
R azee Corvette of^
26 guns . J
28-gun-ship,
18-gun corvette ,,..
18-gun-brig,
10-gun-brig,
Schooner.
Cutter
1
20
20
8
36
M
5
20
20
44
24
5 5
39 43
20 20
— to —
35 36
20 20
— to —
23 24
5
20
20
43
36
5
20
20
40
39
24
5
20
20
38
3b
23
5
20
20
42
35
24
5
20
20
39
35
23
5
20
20
43
36
1
2
6
3
5
20
29
31
I
20
5
31
I Mast
10
25
of the length of the
vessel on the load water line.
(222.) Sir Robert Seppings has invented a mast, at
once distinguished for the beauty of the principle em¬
ployed in its construction, and for its very great economy.
According to this ingenious plan, the largest piece of
timber required for a first-rate mast, is 40 feet long, and
10 inches square ; whereas on the old plan, timber 22^
inches diameter and 84 feet in length was required.
The mean expense stated by the officers of Deptford,
Chatham, Portsmouth, and Plymouth Yards, for making
a mast of a74-gun ship, wholly of Riga timber, upon the
old plan was ¿1246, and upon the new principle, of
the same material, ¿306, In the instance of a 46-gun
frigate, the cost upon the old plan is ¿631, and on the
new ¿175, The whole saving in the main and fore¬
masts of 80 sail of the line would amount to nearly
¿100,000.
Exceeds old (223.) It is also worthy of attentive consideration,
masts in that, masts constructed upon the new principle, exceed
durability, durability those of the old. The large timber re¬
quired in th® former plan, rendered it necessary to
employ the yellow North American pine, in conjunction Naval Ar-
with the Baltic pine ; a practice attended with the most chitecture.
disastrous consequences, since the mixing together of
materials having different degrees of durability, limits
the effective services of a mast to the least durable part
of the materials of which it is composed. In the system
of Seppings, one sort of wood only is employed, and there¬
fore any decay arising from the improper admixture of
materials is entirely removed.
(224.) The beautiful simplicity manifest in this mast Readiness
renders also its repair or examination a matter of the with which
greatest ease. In the event of any of the principal
parts of a mast constructed on the old plan requiring •
to be replaced, full one-eighth of the mast was re¬
moved ; but on the new system, independently of the
facility with which the mast can be separated, not more
than one-thirty-sixth part requires to be displaced.
Another advantage resulting from the plan is, the Such masts
being able to have either end uppermost, if a mast be b® m-
wounded by shot or otherwise injured, and the damaged
part can be housed below, the mast will frequently an¬
swer all the purposes required, by inverting it. Such an
operation can be performed without removing any
article essential to the construction of the mast. The
facility, also, with which a mast may be fished or
strengthened with iron instead of wood, deserves in the
present instance an attentive consideration.
(225.) In the case of its being necessary to send a Mast can
mast abroad, a vessel that can stow a piece of timber be sent
from 40 to 50 feet long, is equal to the conveying of a
first-rate's mast in parts. The Blanche frigate of 46 pieces,
guns, conveyed a fore mast for the Spartiate of 76 guns,
in fragments, stowed upon her lower deck, which, on its
arrival in South America, was with the greatest ease and
convenience put together. In the old system, this ser¬
vice would require a ship equal to the receiving of a
mast 140 feet long, and of proportionate dimensions ; it
being impracticable from the form and dimensions of
the component parts, to be forwarded in pieces with¬
out the certainty of injury,
(226.) Fig. 1. plate ii. gives a side view of a first- Description
rate's main mast, the second figure being a view on the amast oi
foreside of the mast. Fig 3 is a section of the mast ^
taken between A and B, fig. 1, and showing the equal
and parallel arrangement of the parts composing the
mast. The section denoted by fig. 4, exhibits the
directions in which the treenails are driven, and fig, 5
denotes a similar thing respecting the ends. Fig. 6
shows the manner of disposing the treenails longitu¬
dinally. Fig. 7 is a section showing the method of
fitting the bibbs. Fig. 8 is a sketch of the screw hoop.
There being a tendency for the outer lips of the hoops
to close before the inner, a piece of wood of a compres¬
sible nature must be placed between the lips at the outer
part, in order to prevent it, as seen at W, fig. 8.
(227.) In putting the mast together, the butts are to Mode of
be coaked with coaks 3 inches diameter and 6 inches putting it
long, as shown in fig. 2 ; and the four centre pieces
forming the core or spindle of the mast, are to be tree-
nailed together diagonally, as ed, figs. 4 and 6, by IJ
inch treenails, placed 2 feet apart. Each pair of outer
trees is to be fastened together, as shown at i h in fig. 4,
with l|-inch treenails, driven about 2 feet apart. The
whole of the mast is then to be connected together, as
at a 6 and c, figs. 4 and 6, by through treenails 11-
inch diameter, which are also to be placed at about 2
feet apart, care being taken that none of these treenails
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE,
379
NavaíAr- come nearer to the outer butts than about 12 inches;
chitecture. and where they cross the treenails before driven, there
must be a distance between them of about 6 inches.
At the head and heel of the mast, fig 5, where the outer
trees are tapered, | inch bolts are to be used instead of
the treenails marked ih. The holes for the treenails
are to be payed with mineral tar, as in those bored in
the ship's side.
(228.) Many precautions are necessary in putting the
mast together. Great care is to be taken to bring the butts
into close contact with each other ; and moreover to place
the outside butts in the same section, opposite each
other, so as to be exactly under the middle of the hoops.
The ekings, or arris pieces, are also to be butted under
a hoop, and the butts are to be so spaced, as to give a
good scarf to the outer butts of the mast. A chamfer
is to be taken off the inner angle of the ekings, as
shown in fig. 4 ; and the ekings themselves are to be
screwed to the mast with screws, in addition to the
hoops, if required. Nails are not to be used.
Necessary
precau¬
tions.
Dimensions
of the prin¬
cipal sails.
On the Sails of Ships^ and on the Centre of Effort of Naval Ar-
the JVind on Sails, cl^ecture.
(229.) The determination of exact and proper forms
for sails is a problem of great importance in Naval Ar¬
chitecture. However admirable may be the properties
of the hull, unless a proper regard be paid to the di¬
mensions of the masts, and the disposition and quantity
of the canvass with which they are covered, the vessel
may be found not to possess any of the properties her
projector fondly anticipated.
(230.) It is the impulse of the wind on the sails, Effects of
which gives to a ship that headway which enables her wind on the
to accomplish her destined voyage. This impulse evi-
dently depends on the dimensions of the sails, so that a
greater amount of canvass ought to produce an increased
velocity in the ship. Hence sails are made as large as
the other properties of the vessel will permit, but there
are limits in every vessel, beyond which it would be
dangerous to pass. In the following Table are re¬
corded those dimensions of sails which the large expe¬
rience of our seamen and Dock-yards seems to have
sanctioned.
The Dimensions of the Principal Sails,
4.
First Rate.
1 80.
70.
Razee 50.
bails.
Head.
Foot.
Depth.
Head.
Foot.
Depth.
Head.
Foot.
Depth.
Head.
Foot.
Depth.
Ft.
In.
Ft. In.
Ft, In.
Ft. In.
Ft.
In.
Ft. In.
Ft. In,
Ft. In.
Ft. In.
Ft. In.
Ft. In.
Ft. In.
Jib
• ■«
• •
52 6
81 6
• • • •
51
0
78 0
• 0 • 0
50
0
78 0
0 0 0 0
50 0
82 0
Fore course
81
0
78 6
40 0
80 0
77
0
45 0
75 0
71
0
42 9
75 0
71 0
50 0
Top-sail
51
6
82 0
53 6
51 2
82
0
54 3
50 3
77
6
50 6
50 3
77 6
50 6
Top-gallant sail..
38
6
54 9
28 8
34 8
54
9
27 0
35 9
51
3
26 4
35 9
51 3
26 4
8tay—sail ................
• •
* •
• • •
• • • •
• « • ^
• •
• •
4 4 4 4
0 0 0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0 0 0
• 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
Main course
93
10
97 0
45 6
92 9
96
7
52 0
86 0
90
6
48 9
86 0
90 6
56 0
Top-sail
60
9
96 0
60 9
60 9
94
10
60 6
57 6
87
6
57 3
57 6
87 6
57 3
Top-gallaiit sail
43
8
63 6
32 6
40 1
63
6
32 6
40 3
59
0
30 0
40 3
59 0
30 0
^laff top-sail.............
• •
4 4
• • • •
• • • •
• • • •
• •
• •
• 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 •
0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
• 4 0 0
0 0 0 0
Mizen top-sail
41
9
63 6
43 6
41 9
63
6
44 0
38 6
57
6
41 0
38 6
57 6
41 0
Top-gallant sail
32
6
43 2
22 0
30 3
43
2
22 0
27 6
40
0
22 0
27 6
40 0
22 0
Driver *
47
0
62 6
32 6
1
47 0
62
6
36 Ol
45 0
60
0
32 01
45 0
60 0
36 61
63 6.
f
63 6/
54 0 J
58 6]
52-Gun Frigate.
46.
Razee Corvette, 26 Guns.
28 Gun-ship.
Jib
• •
• •
50 0
74 0
4 4 4 4
41
0
62 0
0 0 0 0
40
0
64 0
0 0*0
32 0
52 0
Fore course
75
0
71 0
41 0
64 0
62
0
39 0
63 0
62
0
35 6
49 0
47 6
31 0
Top-sail *...
50
3
77 6
50 6
42 6
65
6
42 6
42 0
65
0
41 0
32 6
50 0
33 6
Top-gallant sail
35 9
51 3
26 4
28 0
44
0
20 6
28 0
44 U
20 6
22 0
34 6
17 6
Stay-sail
« •
9 4
• • • •
• « • •
• • • •
4 4
• •
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0
• 0
• 0 0 0
• 0 0 0
• 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
Main course
86
0
90 6
45 0
73 0
76
TO
41 0
72 6
76
0
42 3
55 8
60 0
34 0
Top-sail. «
57
6
87 6
57 3
46 6
74
6
47 0
46 6
74 0
45 6
36 6
56 9
36 0
Top-gallant sail
40 3
59 0
30 0
33 0
49
0
23 6
33 0
49
0
23 6
25 0
39 0
19 6
Crâfftop—sail ........... .
• •
1 •
• • • •
• • • •
• • • •
• 0
• •
0*00
0 • 0 •
0 0
• 0
• 0 0 0
0 • 0 0
• 0 « 0
0 0 0 0
Mizen top-sail..
38
6
57 6
41 0
34 0
49
0
33 0
34 0
49
0
33 0
25 0
38 0
23 0
Top-gallant sail
27
6
40 0
22 0
25 6
36
0
18 0
25 0
36
0
IS 0
18 6
27 0
14 6
Driver
45
0
60 0
32 0'
1
36 0
51
0
31 0)
35 0
53
0
28 01
30 0
39 0
25 0|
54 0^
r
51 Öj
49 0/
41 6/
18 Gun Corvette.
18 Gun-brig.
10 Gun-brig.
Schooner.
Jib
4 4
• •
34 6
51 0
4 4 4 4
30
0
45 0
• 0 0 0
27
0
39 6
0 0 0 0
23 0
38 6
GafF
fore
sail.
Fore course
49 0
47 6
31 0
47 6
46
0
28 0
42 8
40
9
22 0
24 0
37 0
39 0)
n I
Top-sail
32 6
50 0
33 6
33 0
49
0
31 0
28 6
43
6
27 0
24 0
50 0
00 V J
26 0
Top-gallant sail
22 0
34 6
17 6
23 6
36 0
24 0
23 0
30
6
18 0
20 0
30 0
10 0
8tav—sail................
• •
• •
• • • •
• • • •
» • • •
• • 1
0
• •00
0 0 0 0
0 0#
0
0 0 0 0
• 00«
30 0
37 0
Main course
55
8
60 0
36 0
48 0
56
0
36 6
42 8
50
0
28 0
• 0 • 0
0 0 0 0
• 0 0 0
Top-sail
36
6
56 9
36 0
33 0
49
6
33 0
28 6
43
6
27 0
• 0 0 •
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
Top -gallant sail
25
0
39 0
19 6
23 6
36
0
24 0
23 0
30
6
18 0
• •00
• 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
Gaff top—sail ............
• •
* •
• • • •
• • • •
• • • •
• • «
•
0 0 0 0
• 0 0 0
0 0 0
0
0 0 0
7 0
28 0
35 01
22 Oj
Mizen top-sail
25
0
38 0
23 0
• e 1
•
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0
0
0 0 0 0
• •00
• 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
Top-sraliant sail..,,., ..
13 6
27 0
14 6
4 4 4 4
• • 4
0
0 0 0 0
• 0 0 0
0 0 0
0
0 0 0 0
• • 0 0
• 0 0 •
'••00
Driver
29
6
39 0
27 9)
30 0
49
0
32 Ol
28 0
47
0
23 01
25 6
50 0
43 61
45 Oj
►
50 Of
41 0/
...
59 6 1
380
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar- (231.) A knowledge of the exact position of the
chitecture. centre of effcírt of all the sails of a ship of each class, is
an element of very great importance, and with the area
Centre of
effort.
of the sails, and some of the elements, are entered in the Naval Ar-
succeeding Table : chiteeturé.
120 Guns.
Kamee of the Sails.
Area
of the
'Sails.
j
Jib
Fore course
Top-sail
Top-gallant sail
Main course
Top-sail
Top-gallant sail
Mizen top-sail
Top-gallant sail
Driver
Total area of the sails .
The centre of effort of the sails, 1
afore the centre of flotation ... J
Ditto above the load water line ..
Forward.
Aft ....
Load draught of water |
Centre of Eflfort.
Above
the
Load
line.
Feet.
2132
3210
3577
1334
4305
4740
1761
2300
836
2457
26652
Ft. In.
73 0
52 0
98 0
141 0
53 6
104 6
152 0
92 6
126 6
60 6
From the Centre
of Flotation.
Afore.
Ft. In.
135 0
76 6
77 3
77 9
• • « •
s • • •
• • • •
• • « •
• • • •
• • •• •
Abaft.
Ft. In.
• • • •
• • • •
• • • •
• • • «
11 0
11 6
12 6
70 6
71 6
102 3
Jib
Fore course
Top-sail
Top-gallant sail
Main course
Top-sail
Top-gallant sail
Mizen top-sail
Top-gallant sail
Driver
Total area of the sails •
The centre of effort of the sails,)
afore the centre of flotation ... J
Ditto, above the load water line .
Load draught of water | *
Jib
Fore course .........
Top-sail
Top-gallant sail .
Main course .........
Top-sail ........
Top-gallant sail .
Mizen top-sail
Top-gallant sail
Driver
80 Guns,
Area
of the
sails.
Feet.
1989
3537
3600
1205
4914
4704
1682
2314
806
2825
27576
Centre of Effort.
Above
the
Load
line.
From the Centre
of Flotation.
Ft. In.
73 0
50 6
98 0
141 0
50
105
153 0
92 6
126 6
53 0
6
6
Afore.
Ft. In.
131 0
73 0
73 0
73 0
• • O •
• • • •
• • • •
« « • •
* 0 • •
• • • •
Abaft.
Ft. In.
• • • 6
• • • •
• • • •
• O • •
12 0
13 0
14 0
65 6
67 0
95 0
74 Guns.
Total area of the sails .
The centre of effort of the sails,)
afore the centre of flotation ..}
Ditto, above the load water line .
Load draught of water *
Ft,
In.
Ft.
In.
Ft.
In.
11
91
9
H
9
87
83
lOl
78
24
7
21
9
20
11
26
0
25
0
23
9
Razée of 50 Guns.
52 Gun Frigate.
46 Gun Frigate.
2100
65 0
120 0
• • • •
1850
58 0
117 0
• • • •
1280
48 6
103 0
• • • •
3654
45 0
67 2
2993
39 9
65 0
• • « •
2457
37 6
56 0
• • • •
3221
93 0
67 2
» • • •
3221
85 0
65 0
• • • •
2241
76 4
56 0
t • • •
1144
132 6
67 2
• • • •
1144
125 0
65 0
• • » •
738
108 9
56 3
« • • •
4928
47 0
• • • •
12 0
3971
40 0
• • • •
11 0
3075
37 6>
« » • •
10 0
4140
102 0
• • • •
12 4
4140
90 0
• • • •
11 6
2790
81 8
« • • •
10 3
1469
145 0
• • • •
12 8
1469
133 6
• • • •
12 0
972
118 3
• • • •
10 6
1962
83 0
• • • •
65 0
1962
74 6
• • » «
62 0
1369.
68 9
• • • •
55 0
737
116 0
• • • •
65 4
737
106 4
63 0
549
96 9
• • • •
55 9
2421
44 0
• • • •
92 0
2243
40 6
• • • %
90 3
1783
38 0
• • • •
67 6
25776
• • • «
• • • •
• • • •
23730
) «
• • • •
17254
• • • •
• • • •
• • • •
Ft,
In.
Ft.
In.
Ft,
In.
10
2»
9
0
8
If
76
H
71
Of
62
6
20
3
19
5
17
6
21
6
20
5
19
2
Razée Corvette, 26 Guns.
28 Gun ship.
18 Gun Corvette,
1248
45 4
99 9
• • « •
845
40 0
78 6
• • • •
879
34 6
80 0
• • • •
2225
35 6
54 9
• • • •
1500
29 0
43 0
• • • •
1500
29 0
43 0
* • « *
2193
72 6
54 6
• • • •
1383
60 3
43 0
• • • •
1383
60 3
43 0
• • • •
738
104 0
54 0
• • • •
495
87 0
43 0
• • « •
495
87 0
43 0
• • • •
3142
35 0
• • • •
10 0
1972
31 6
• « • •
7 0
2082
30 6
• • • •
6 6
2743
77 3
• • • •
11 0
1674
65 3
» • ♦ #
7 3
1674
65 3
• • • •
7 6
972
113 0
• # • •
12 0
624
96 0
« • • •
7 6
624
96 0
• • • •
8 6
1369
65 0
« • • #
54 0
724
56 0
• • • •
41 0
724
56 0
• • • •
41 6
549
93 0
• • • •-
55 3
329
78 6
• • • •
41 6
328
78 6
* • • •
43 0
1694
35 0
• • • •
76 0
1065
32 0
• • • •
55 6
1242
26 6 i
,
59 0
16873
• • • •
• « • •
• • • •
10611
• • • •
« • • •
• • • V
10931 '
t
• 1 ••••
Ft.
In.
Ft,
In.
Ft.
It.,
5
3è
7
4Í
6
1
59
50
H
48
17
15
2
14
8
18
5i
15
7
15
3
.
Area
of the
Saiis.
Above
the
Load
line.
Feet.
Ft. In.
1950
67 0
3120
45 9
3221
91 6
1144
131 0
4300
47 6
4140
99 6
1469
143 0
1962
84 6
737
116 4
2243
49 0
24286
• • • •
Centre of Effort.
From the Centre
of Flotation.
Afore. Abaft.
Ft. In.
118 0
67 2
67 2
67 2
Ft. In.
12 0
12 4
12 8
65 0
65 9
94 6
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
381
Naval Ar¬
chitecture
Table continued.
Names of the Sails.
Jib
Fore course
Top-sail
Top-gallant sail ,
Main course
Top-sail
Top-gallant sail .
Mizen top-sail
Top-gallant sail
Driver
Total area of the sails.
The centre of effort of the sails, afore thel
centre of flotation j
Ditto, above the load water line
Load draught of water
Area
of the
Sails,
Feet.
675
1316
1272
714
1716
1355
714
1619
9381
18 Gun-brig.
Centre of Effort,
46
11
14
4
7
Above
From the Centre
the
of Flotation,
Load
line.
Afore.
Abaft.
Ft. In,
Ft. In.
Ft. In.
34 0
63 0
• • • •
25 3
32 3
• • • •
55 6
32 3
• • « •
83 0
32 6
• • • •
28 6
• • e •
16 0
63 3
• • • •
17 0
92 9
« • • •
• • • •
18 0
• • • •
• « • •
30 0
• • • •
• • • e
• • • •
39 6
• • • •
« • • •
• • • •
Ft.
In.
10 Gun-brig.
Naval At*
chitecturcc
,
Centre of Effort.
Area
of the
Sails.
Above
the
Load
line, j
From the Centre
of Flotation,
Afore.
Abaft,
Feet,
560
916
962
478
1288
962
478
• • • •
Ft. In,
28 0
1 0
42 6
66 0
21 3
48 9
72 0
• • • •
Ft. In.
60 0
28 0
28 0
28 0
• » • •
• • • •
• • • •
• • • •
Ft. In.
• • • •
« • « •
• • • •
13 0
14 3
15 0
• • • •
• • • •
1200
• • • •
23 0
» • • •
• • ê •
32 0
6844
• • • •
è • • •
• • • •
Ft,
In.
3
31
35
11
12
H
5
6
Figure il- (232.) In fig. 9, plate ii., we shall find the centre of
lustrating gravity of the several sails, together with the centre of
^rav^r and the'whole system^of sails, for two first-rates ; the
centres of Britannia's class denoted by the strong lines A, and the
effort. St. Vincent's class by the ticked lines B. The plates
given by Edye on this subject deserve an attentive con¬
sideration.
On the Resistance of Fluids.
(233.) This subject, lying at the very root of Naval
Architecture, is very defective, notwithstanding the
Splendid efforts made by the most transcendent minds for its
names con- improvement. We may mention the names of Newton,
r^fstLce Huygens, Euler, Daniel Bernoulli, D'Alemhert, Don
of fluids. Juan, Bouguer, Condorcet, Borda, Bossut, Chapman,
and many others, to show that no ordinary interest must
attach itself to a subject, which, independent of its many
useful applications, has offered so many attractions of
high scientific interest.
Properties (234.) In a general way it may be said, that the
of a ship properties of a ship may be classed under two general
twoVea^ds.^ heads with regard to the fluid on which it floats; viz,
those independent of any change of situation, and those
which are called into activity when the body is in motion.
In the midst of the difficulties which attach themselves
on all sides both to the theory and experimental elu¬
cidation of the subject, it is fortunate that the great ele¬
ments on which the safety as well as the general effi¬
ciency of a ship depend, are to be found among the
former, and may be estimated with certainty and cor¬
rectness; while those which relate to the form most
essential to velocity, and which though not essential, are
nevertheless of the greatest relative importance, are in¬
vested with the greatest difficulties, and to be found
among the latter. Should the progress of knowledge at
any future time disclose to us the real functional equa¬
tions on which this important subject depends, Naval
Architecture will make a greater and more decided step
than it has ever yet done.
(235.) Our limits will not permit us to pursue this General cir-
subject into its varied and beautiful details, and we cumstances
must, therefore, content ourselves with recording gene- which
rally, in the words of Dr. Inman, the circumstances on
which the resistance to ships moving with the same ships de-
velocity seem to depend : pends.
Firsts on the area of the midship section, as causing
a greater or less displacement of fluid by the motion of
the ship.
Secondly^ on the form of the fore body, as causing
more or less additional resistance from the motion of
the ship, considering only the inertia of the particles
displaced ; that is, supposing the void space left astern
in consequence of this displacement to be instantly
filled again by the fluid.
Thirdly, on the form of the after body, as causing a
greater or less diminution of pressure forward, on
account of the motion of the ship alone.
Fourthly, on the shape of the whole body as afford¬
ing a more or less easy and rapid transit of the dis¬
placed fluid to the stern, or to the void space, which
would otherwise be left behind the ship for an instant.
Fifthly, on the form of the whole body, with respect
to direction and the quantity of superficies,, as causing
more or less friction, and more or less adhesion of the
fluid.
On the Stowage of Ships.
(236.) The best constructed ship may be so badly Stowage,
stowed, that she may fail to gratify in anyway the
ardent expectations of her constructor.* On the other
hand, an experienced seaman, intimately conversant with
♦ The Thunderer 84, recently commissioned, affords an example.
Built after the best model, as is understood, yet when commissioned
by that thorough-bred sailor Captain Wise, and stowed exactly
accordant to the plans and directions furnished to him, she was"
found entirely to fail. After leaving Sheerness, she took in 90 tons
of additional ballast ; and on her arrival at Malta, she was entirely
restowed.
382
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
movable
weights.
Stores and
ballast.
Many ele-
In what
way it in
Naval Ar- the mechanical effects of stowage, may correct many of
chitecture. the errors of a badly formed vessel. Hence an atten-
tive consideration of the effects of stowage is of the
greatest importance to Naval Architecture.
Stowage (237.) By the stowage of a ship is meant the dis-
applied to position of her ballast and stores. Many of the weights
in a ship, are necessarily fixed by circumstances, and it
is, therefore, only to the movable weights, the ballast,
and part of the stores, that any inquiries respecting the
effects of stowage can be applied.
(238.) The quantity of stores and ballast in a ship is
one of the very first elements in the great problem of
stowage.^ This must depend on the class of vessels,
and the service for which they are intended. As a
general principle it may be remarked, that no ship
should be incapable of stowing four months* provisions,
with the necessary complement of stores. There can
be no doubt that some improvements might be made in
the forms of ships, so as to diminish considerably the
amount of ballast. The degree in which this can be
done, must be ascertained by experiment.,
(239.) There are many elements of a ship intimately
ments of a connected with the stowage. Among these may be
necteïwith stability, rolling, pitching, scending, pre¬
stowage. serving a steady course, ardency, or tendency to fly up
to the wind, going about, action of the rudder, and the
strain of the materials.
(240.) On the stability, the stowage exercises an in¬
fluence, on account of the ballast and the movable
weights governing in a great measure the position of the
^ ^ ^ ^ centre of gravity, which is an element intimately con¬
nected with it. When the stability requires to be aug¬
mented, it is necessary that the ballast should be dis¬
tributed as low as possible ; and the nearer it can be
brought to the middle parts of the ship, the lower it
will be. The form of the bottom of the vessel must
exercise an important influence here, and shows how in¬
timately the stowage is connected with the principles of
construction.
(241.) The influence of stowage is, also, very con¬
siderable on the action of rolling. The skill of a
Naval officer is displayed, when by changing the
movable weights he is enabled to correct in any way
the motion of rolling, and a similar remark may be
made respecting the pitching and scending. We
are, at present, much in the dark respecting the in¬
fluence of stowage on these important elements ;
and very much that is done seems dependent more
on accident than on rule. The sailor has abundant
opportunity in these particulars to assist the Naval Ar¬
chitect ; nor should the latter neglect the considera¬
tion of those apparently trivial causes to which the sailor
often attributes the successful sailing of his vessel. The
^ further the weights are removed from the centre of
stowage. . ö ^ ^ ^ ,
gravity, the greater is tne resistance to quick and
uneasy rolling; and to reduce the depth of the pitching
and scending, äs many of the movable weights as pos¬
sible should be brought near the middle of the vessel.
The practice of winging the weights/' as it is techni¬
cally termed, is found to be fully justified by expe¬
rience.
♦ It is an important problem, and ha*^ occupied the attention of
the greatest Geometricians. The Academy of Sciences on many
occasions directed the attention of Geometers to it. Among the
great names connected with its history may be mentioned Daniel
Bernoulli, Euler, the Abbé Bossut, J. A. Euler, and Bourdé de
Villehaut.
the rolling,
pitching,
and scend
iiig.
The sailor
can do
much to¬
wards im-
(242.) There is, sometimes, a disposition in a ship to Naval Ai-
turn from its direct course, increasing thereby the difficulty chitecture.
of steering, and more or less retarding the advancement
of the ship. This among sailors is termed yawing. To Yawing,
correct any [error of this kind, the movable weights
should be so placed that their centre of gravity may be
before the middle of the ship's length. The moment of
the lateral resistance abaft the centre of gravity, will by
this means be increased, and the moment forward
diminished.
(243.) When a ship is completely stored and in per- Meandb
feet trim, the mean direction of the water passes a little rectionof
before its centre of gravity ; but since during the pro- water,
gress of the voyage there must have been a loss of con¬
sumable stores, the trim she originally possessed may
be very much changed; The weatherly qualities, which
made her the admiration of the seaman on leaving port,
may either be lost altogether, or in à very great degree
impaired. Hence the necessity of stowing the mov- Consam-'
able weights, so that the consumable stores being taken a hie stores
in proper proportions from the fore and after parts of
the ship, the good qualities she originally possessed
may be retained as her draught of water becomes succes¬
sively decreased.
(244.) In the case of tacking, the resistance a ship Tacking,
experiences in coming about depends on the lateral
resistance of the parts before and abaft the centre of gra¬
vity. This resistance will be a minimum when the
centre of gravity is in the middle of the length.
(245.) The power of the rudder to turn a ship being Resistance
proportional to the distance of the centre of its mean
resistance from the centre of gravity, the movable
weights must be so placed that the centre of gravity of
the ship may be before the middle of its length.
(246.) With respect to the influence of the stowage Weights of
on the materials composing the framework of the ship, transverse
too much attention cannot be paid to the relation be- sections
tween the weights existing in the several transverse sec- ^ard"pres-
tions of the ship, and the upward pressure of the water sure cor¬
al the corresponding parts. The figure of the ship, and responding,
the unequal distribution of the weights, occasions at all
times a longitudinal strain, producing arching, or as it
is sometimes called hogging. To equalize, as much as
possible, these actions, should be another great object
of the Naval Architect ; and although the necessary
existence of great weights at the extremities, may prevent
a perfect equilibrium with the buoyancy of the corre¬
sponding parts, as far as circumstances permit, attention
should be paid to the placing of the weights where the
buoyancy of the body is best able to sustain them. This
requires the ballast and heaviest weights to be placed in
the full parts of the body towards the midship section ;
reserving, however, the immediate vicinity of the main
mast free from the heaviest weights.
(247.) Amidst these diversities, and apparently op-Relation of
posing qualities, it is, however, remarkable, as Mr. Mor- the stowage
gan observes, that the modes of stowage required, by
a due attention to the qualities influenced by it, are fluenc"d by
generally compatible with one another. The stability it.
requires the greatest weights as low as possible, which
accords with their concentration towards the middle of
the length, a condition required to produce the best
effect on the pitching, tacking, and strain of the mate¬
rials. Holding a steady course, and the action of the
rudder requires the weights to be placed so that the
centre of gravity of the ship may be before the middle,
but not so much as to be 'practically opposed to the
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
383
Naval Ar- consideration of its being very near to the middle, which
fh^ecture. resistance to coming about. The rolling
requires the weights to be winged, which a skilful sailor
knows how to manage without unduly raising the cen¬
tre of gravity—an effect which would impair the stabi¬
lity. The result of all these conclusions is, that the
movable weights in a ship should be so disposed, that
its centre of gravity may be low and a little before the
middle of its length ; and that they should be winged
as much as possible without raising the centre of
gravity.
(248.) A course of experiments on the quantity of
ballast and the best disposition of weights, adapted to
every class of ships, would be productive of great ad¬
vantage to Naval Architecture. By determining, con¬
tinues Mr. Morgan, the proper trim of the different
classes of ships, much valuable information would be
obtained for making designs. At the present time cal¬
culations depending on a supposed set of a ship in
water have frequently to be altered. The time doubt¬
less will come when this subject will be better under¬
stood.*
Experi¬
ments
wanting.
Rolling,
pitching,
and scend-
ing.
Important
conse-
(^uences
connected
with them.
Easy move¬
ments of
some ships.
Contrary
properties
of others.
Rolling, Pitching, and Scending,
(249.) The action of the wind and the troubled sur¬
face of the sea destroy all those relations of equilibrium
we have been hitherto contemplating, and new mecha¬
nical conditions, involving some difficult branches of
analytical inquiry, are hence called into activity. The
peculiar movements which these varied and uncertain
forces occasion in a great volume like a ship, in so
many different ways, have rendered an attention to this
very important subject indispensably necessary. Not
only do the rolling and pitching of a vessel, and those
elevations and depressions which her whole body under¬
goes, intimately concern all who may be engaged in her
navigation, and influence very materially all her sailing
qualities, but the strength of the fabric of the ship itself,
and the expense of her wear and tear depend greatly
upon them.
(2.50.) Experience tells us, that among the innu¬
merable ships which the enterprise of modern times has
constructed, there are some which perform all their
movements with ease and comfort to those who com¬
mand them, and whose accidents and casualties, amidst
all the uncertainty attending a seafaring life, amount to
much less than many others of the same class. Of
the Caledonia for example, it was said by her officers in
their official communications, that she rolled in the
trough of the sea quite easy whereas, in the case of
the Anson of 38 guns, which had originally been a 64,
in her very first voyage the rolling was so excessive,
that she sprang several sets of topmasts ; and although
endeavours were made to correct it by alterations in
* The practical stowage of a ship depends principally on the
master. When a ship is newly commissioned, this officer is
directed by the Admiralty Instructions to obtain the most correct
information he can of the manner in which the hold was stowed
when she was last in commission, and what then were her qualities,
that the stowage may be altered, with the sanction of the captain,
if there be reason to suppose it may be done with advantage. If
the ship have not been at sea, the master is then to consult the
master shipwright of the Dock-yard. When the stowage of the
hold is completed, the master is to enter in the log-book a parti¬
cular account of the manner in which it is stowed, specifying the
quantity of ballast in each hold, and the manner in which it is
arranged.
her masts and yards, she continued still to be a very
uneasy ship, with an excessive wear and tear.^
(251.) That there are innumerable intermediate
stages of diversity between these two perhaps extreme
cases may be gathered from many sources. Of forty
74-gun ships built nearly at one time from the same
draught, and constituting a class by themselves, it was
reputed that the Cressy, Blenheim, Armada, Poictiers,
Conquestadore, Glocester, Rippon, and Clarence, rolled
tolerably easy in the trough of the sea. The Leonidas
and Shannon, 46-gun frigates built after the draught of
the French Hebe, were said to roll deep without jirk-
ing ; and of the IB-gun brigs, their rolling in the trough
of the sea was stated to be easy. Of the 10-gun brigs,
also, their rolling was said to be middling easy,
(252.) To inquire in some degree into the general
question of rolling, is therefore one of vast interest to
ship-building, and we regret that our exceedingly nar¬
row limits can do little more than glance at its more
prominent heads. Rolling may arise either from the
impulse of a wave on the side of a ship, acting in
some direction above her centre of gravity, or from
the undulations of the- waves themselves. Suppose,
by way of example, A D B, fig. 1, pi. iii., to be a sec¬
tion of a ship, A B its load water line, E the centre
of gravity of the whole ship, and G its metacentre.
Suppose, also, B H to represent the direction of the
impulse necessary to give it the inclination a b. The m&
ment of the effort producing this inclination, will hence
be in proportion to E H, and the moment of the effort
tending to restore the vessel to its upright position, will
be as the line E Gl These efforts, acting in contrary
directions, occasion rolling ; the effect of the force pro¬
ducing it being as the sum of E H and EG. With
regard to the undulations of the waves, a ship's rolling
must commence the moment a wave rises on one side
and sinks on the other. The inclination of the side of
a wave is continually changing by imperceptible degrees.
* This ship was cut down in 1794; and Mr. Wilson of the
Navy Office, a competent authority, remarks, '' that although in all
other Maritime States, the Science of Naval construction was well
understood, yet so culpably ignorant were the English constructors,
that this operation, so well calculated, when properly conducted,
to produce a good ship, was a complete failure. Seven feet of the
upper part of the top sides, together with a deck and guns, making
about 160 tons, were removed, by which her stability was greatly
increased; but by a complete absurdity, the sails were reduced
one-sixth in area. Her masts and yards were afterwards increased
to their original size, but as there was no decrease of ballast, she
was very little improved."
Other sixty-fours were cut down, masted and ballasted in the
same manner, and with similar results ; and although they were
improved by enlarging their masts and yards, they were still bad
ships. A failure in this instance was indeed a national misfortune ;
for had Science been applied to their cutting down, a class of fri¬
gates might have been formed, capable in every way of coping
with the large American frigates. The disasters of the late war
might thus not merely have been avoided, but have been convertea
into events of quite an opposite character. Let those who decry
Science, and check in every way its application to Naval Architec¬
ture, read in the pages of the last American war their utter condem¬
nation. A very little Science would have enabled our Naval Ar¬
chitects at that time to have changed a ship of excessive stability,
which must always be an uneasy one, into one of easy rolling.
Instead of having reduced the masts and yards to those of a
38-gan ship, had they been a little increased, and at the same time
half her ballast taken out, and her guns, moreover, changed for
others of a larger caliber, instead of some of them being smaller,
such a ship would have been easy, would have sailed better than
any class of ships then in the Navy, and the expense of its wear
and tear would not have exceeded the ordinary amount
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Examples
of different
ships
What occa¬
sions roll
ing.
Example.
When roli
ing com¬
mences.
384
NAVAL ARGHITECTUEE.
a ship
round a
longitudi¬
nal axis.
Axis of ro¬
tation.
It some¬
times rises,
and some-
The
amount of
rolling de¬
pends on
the centre
of gravity
Naval Ar- from a horizontal position to its greatest angle of in-
chitecture. clination, and vice versa ; and therefore the force whose
tendency is to turn the ship increases only by slow de-
Heeling of gyges. ajjji long before she has arrived at that angle of
rolling, which even a small inclination of the side of a
wave would give, an opposing wave mounts on the
other side of the ship, and prevents her further de¬
pression.
(253.) There are many circumstances connected with
the heeling of a ship round a longitudinal axis passing
through its centre of gravity which it may be necessary
very briefly to advert to. The axis of rotation (consi¬
dered quiescent) round which the motion of rolling is
performed, is far from maintaining at all times a con¬
stant elevation. In some cases it rises and in others
falls, and sometimes, it is true, it remains the same. It
has been found, for example, that when there is a ten¬
dency to immerse a greater solid below the water on
times falls, one side than is raised above it on the other, the axis of
rotation must rise during the inclination ; and the rea-
The same son is evident, since displacement on any other suppo-
thingbutia sjtion would be increased, and a greater buoyancy exist
than before, and consequently a greater buoyancy than
the weight of the ship would balance. In such a case,
whenever the motion of rolling is performed, the vessel
must rise in heeling, and fall in righting again. On
the other hand, if a rotation round the same axis (under
similar quiescent conditions) immersed a less volume
below the water than it raised above it, the same alter¬
nate rising and falling would take place, but in a con^
trary order ; that is, the vessel would fall in heeling and
of the ship, yjgg righting again.
Examples. (254.) The existence and amount of this motion,
which, according to the degree in which it prevails, must
render the rolling of the vessel violent and uneasy, depend
on the position of the centre of gravity of the ship, and
on the form of the sides between wind and water. If we
take the case of three vessels, each of which has its
sides parallel to the plane of the masts as in fig. 2, 3, 4,
plate iii., A B being the load water line in their upright
positions, and a h that when the vessel is heeled at an
angle of 10°, G, the centre of gravity of the vessel,
being supposed equally distant from the two water lines,
coincident, moreover, with the surface of the water in
the first position, below it in the second, and above it in
the third. Then since in fig. 2 the immersion and
emersion are equal, the vessel as it heels can neither
rise nor fall ; and as in fig. 3 the immersion is greater
than the emersion, the vessel must rise in heeling ; so
in fig. 4 the immersion being less than the emersion,
the ship will fall while performing the same motion.
(255.) If, however, the sides of these vessels are
made to fall out above the load water line, some
changes will be found to take place. In the case of
fig. 2 the immersion will in this case exceed the emer¬
sion, and the axis of rotation, supposing it to remain
quiescent, will rise. In the case of fig. 3 the immer¬
sion will exceed the emersion more than before, and a
still greater rising in the ship take place than before ;
and in fig. 4 an increase of the immersion will also
take place, and hence a decrease in the falling of the
vessel. If, on the other hand, the sides of these ves¬
sels fall out below the water line, and preserve their
parallelism above it, the ship denoted by fig. 2 will fall
in heeling, the rising of fig. 3 would be corrected,
and the falling of that denoted by fig. 4 increased.
Wherever, therefore, there is a great disproportion
Naval Ar#
chitecture.
How shocks
may be
avoided.
When roll¬
ing and
pitching are
most uni¬
form.
These mo¬
tions illus¬
trated by A
pendulum.
between the immersion and the emersion, the axis of
rotation being supposed quiescent, in large angles of
rolling, the shocks resulting from the ship's rising and
falling must be very great. To avoid such an important
error in construction, it is necessary to find by compu¬
tation the exact position of the ship's centre of gravity,
and then to alter the body till the immersion and emer¬
sion caused by heeling round a quiescent longitudinal
axis passing through that point are equal. A like atten¬
tion must be paid to the pitching of a vessel ; for any
great inequality between the immersion and emersion
round a quiescent axis would be attended with similar
bad effects. The motions of rolling and pitching are
hence most uniform and most free from sudden shocks,
when the centre of gravity of the ship is in or near the
plane of the load water line. Should circumstances not
permit the centre of gravity to be brought into the plane
of the load water line, it is proper to endeavour to bring
it as near to it as possible. It may be further observed,
that as the keel and the lower parts forward and aft
contribute in a very great degree to diminish the rolling
by the direct opposition of their surfhce to the water,
the further these parts are removed from the axis of
rotation, the greater will be the effect they produce in
diminishing the rolling; and for this reason also, when
the centre of gravity is in the plane of the load water
line, the ship should roll less. The form of the ship,
moreover, near the load water line will influence its
motion also.
(256.) These peculiar motions of a ship have been
sometimes illustrated by the movement of a pendulum
oscillating in the same time as a ship. If for example
P, &c., denote the particles of a ship, and D, d, &c.
their distances from the axis of rotation passing through
the centre of gravity, the length of such isochronal pen¬
dulum will be
P D® -f- y? d® &c.
whole ship X E G'
where E is the centre of gravity, in this case the centre
of suspension, and G is the metacentre, on which the
whole buoyancy of the fluid equivalent to the weight of
the ship acts upwards. Supposing the functions PD^,
p d^y &c. to be given as well as the weight of the ship,
the length of the isochronal pendulum will vary in¬
versely as E G ; or in other words, that the greater is
the elevation of the metacentre above the centre of gra¬
vity of the ship, the shorter will be the pendulum, and
the quicker the vibrations of the ship ; and on the other
hand, the less that distance is, the slower will the rolling
become. Supposing the line E G and the weight of the
ship to be given, the duration of the vibrations will
vary with the values of D, d, &c. ; and the less those
values are, the shorter will be the pendulum and the
quicker the rolling ; and on the contrary, the greater
are the vibrations, the slower it will be. It must, how¬
ever, be remarked, that the conclusions thus arrived at
are absolutely true only when the vibrations are eva¬
nescent ; but that they may be regarded as nearly true
when they are in a practical sense very small. When a
ship rolls through finite angles, the vibrations are very Difficulty
different from those of a pendulum of an invariable of con-
length, the point G not being then a fixed point. strucfcing
(257.) It is no easy matter to construct a ship which
shall possess a proper stability and also, at the same time, proper sta-
perform her motion of rolling easily, although this is bility and
a point at which the Naval Architect should continually roll easily.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
385
Kavaî Ar¬
chitecture.
Summary
calcula¬
tions.
Greatest
difficulty
with mer¬
chant ships.
Remarks on
centre of
gravity.
aim. It has been observed, that an undue attention to
one of these properties has been obtained at the ex¬
pense of the other. If the stability be diminished, the
heelinjç of the vessel will be increased by the same
amount of acting force ; but the heeling as well as the
righting of the vessel will be more slow and easy. The
stability cannot, however, be diminished too much with¬
out endangering in a great degree the safety of the
ship. On the other hand, while an increase of stability
diminishes the heeling of the ship,—and which confined
within proper limits produces wholesome effects; yet
when carried to excess, the inclining force is so sud¬
denly destroyed, as to produce shocks of the most dan¬
gerous kind. A wave acting on the side would pro¬
duce a powerful effect, so that a ship thus constructed,
would in the least sea be subject to continual and quick
vibrations. It has been remarked by some writers, that
the height of the metacentre alone determines the pro¬
perties of a ship with regard to the qualities of its roll¬
ing ; but it is possible that the height of this point may
be something diminished, and yet the forms of the sides
be so determined as to impart a stability sufficiently
great. The height of the metacentre may, however, be
increased beyond its usual limits, and, nevertheless, by
injudicious alterations in the forms of the sides, the sta¬
bility be found too small.
(2b8.) Inman recommends, in order to form a proper
estimate of a ship's properties in this respect, to make
accurate calculations of the stability at different angles
of inclination, and to compare the result in each case
with the stability of approved ships of the same class.
Hence, also, he adds, that to enable the Naval Archi¬
tect to design ships which may be expected to possess
the requisite stability, he must be furnished not only
with all the necessary calculations for the different kinds
of ships already built, but also with a minute detail of
their performances at sea. Thus we see how intimately
blended are the pursuits of the Naval Architect and the
sailor.
(259.) It is a much greater difficulty to determine
the necessary relations between the stability and the
rolling in merchant ships, than in those intended for
the purposes of war. In the former class of vessels, the
object is to obtain the greatest possible burthen, at the
least possible expense of the ship. Hence vessels of this
kind should be very full below, and have but very little
height above the water in proportion to their breadth.
The centre of gravity of the displacement will thus be
very low, and consequently the metacentre also. Hence,
also, the centre of gravity of the cargo must be brought
as low as possible, to ensure the requisite stability. The
result of all this is the quick rolling of the ship and vio¬
lent shocks, which, however, may in some degree be
diminished by winging the weights as much as circum¬
stances will allow.
(260.) Economy in the navigation of merchantmen
requiring as small a number of men as possible, a less
quantity of sail is rendered necessary, and hence a less
distance between the centre of gravity of the vessel and
its metacentre, a circumstance which, as we have before
seen, makes the motion of rolling much easier.
(281.) Ships of war which have not occasion for
so great an amount of capacity below, and require
velocity, may be so constructed as to have their centres
of gravity higher. The metacentre ought, therefore, to
have such a height above the water, that the common
centre of gravity of the ship and of the weights may
^fOL. VI.
be brought nearly to the plane of the load water line. Naval Ar-
and that the ship may still be sufficiently stiff in resist- chitei-.ture.
ing heeling. v.-iíís^--í^'
(262.) There is, however, another species of rolling
which takes place with regard to the length, to which
we must not omit to advert. In this case the extremi¬
ties of the vessel rise and fall. The fore part of the Pitching,
ship being raised by a wave, it falls again when that
wave has passed ; and any motion thus imparted to a
ship would very soon cease, did not another wave follow
to raise the bow of the ship again. When a ship is
close to the wind and meets the waves, it otlen happens
after a sea has passed the fore part, that it suddenly
falls and raises itself with difficulty upon the following
wave, and in such a case the ship is said to pitch.
When a wave has passed the fore part of the ship, and
is arrived near the middle, a space of considerable
dimensions is left void near the bows, and the ship there
is left quite unsupported. The vessel, therefore, preci¬
pitates itself with a very great momentum, indicated by
the product of all the weights in the fore part of the
vessel, multiplied by their distance from the point at which
the ship is unsupported. Sometimes the after part falls
heavily, and the ship is said to scend. This results from Scending
a similar cause and has the same inconveniences. Both
these motions very much impede the motion of the ship,
the whole fabric of the masting undergoing the greatest
shocks and strains. Every part of the body of the ship
suffers also greatly, there being a constant tendency in
all its parts lo separate. This must occasion prodigious
strains on all the fastenings, and calls for the greatest
attention on the part of the Naval Architect.
(263.) This kind of motion, and all the resulting Fastenings
strains must hence be different in different kinds of
ships. The same amount of fastening, therefore, which
may be quite sufficient for one kind of ship may be
altogether insufficient for another. In vessels whicii
are very full near the load water line fore and aft,
and very lean below, the pitching and scending are
very great. Such a state may, however, in some degree
be relieved by an attention to the distribution of the
weights. The errors of the Naval Architect may be
more or less corrected by the experienced seaman. It
is manifest that when the weights in the fore part of the
ship are carried near the. middle, the effect of the ship's
plunging in this part will be less; and not only must
this motion become less quick, but succeeding waves
will have less difficulty in raising it again ; and a similar
remark applies to the after part. Hence much relief Concen-
may be afforded to these motions of a vessel by bring- ^^^png the
ing the weights as much as possible in the neighbour-
hood of the middle of the ship. There are some
weights which it is impossible to move, and which pio-
duce a great effect, such as the fore mast and its rig¬
ging, the bowsprit and its anchors. The mechanical
effects of these the ship-builder must be piepared to
resist by the figure and strength of his fabric.
(264.) There are motions, however, of another kind. Other mo-
intermediate between rolling and pitching, or rolling tw"»»
and scending, and which exercise an important influ¬
ence on the movements of a ship. When a vessel floats
quiescently on the surface of the sea, the centres of
gravity of the displacement and of the whole ship are
in the same vertical plane; but when the ve.ssel is in¬
clined, the latter point is carried to leeward, and the
buoyancy of the water, acting upwaids through it, en¬
deavours to turn the ship back. Tlie axis round which
Bp
386
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
How to
counteract
them.
Naval Ar- the ship revolves in such a case, must hence depend on
chitecture. the position of the centre of gravity of displacement.
If this latter centre be in the transverse section passing
through the centre of gravity of the ship, the vessel will
revolve abo.ut an axis parallel to the length ; but if it be
either before or behind it, the buoyancy will cause the
ship to revolve round an axis, occupying a place be¬
tween the transverse and longitudinal axes of the vessel.
Each different inclination may hence be accompanied by
an axis peculiar to itself; and hence a system of move¬
ments may be produced tending to disunite all the parts
of the ship, deranging its different adjustments, and
operating greatly in retarding its progress.
(265.) To counteract motions so injurious as these,
the centre of gravity of the displacement, both when the
vessel floats upright, and when it is inclined at different
angles of inclination, should at all times be found in the
same vertical plane. This must be done by assigning
to the volumes immersed or emerged in consequence of
the inclination, such particular forms, that the line join¬
ing their centres of gravity shall in all cases be parallel
to the transverse section. Tliis important consideration,
it appears, was first attended to in English ships by
Dr. Inman. By comparing the reports made on differ¬
ent ships in his Majesty's Navy, with calculations made
on their drawings, it appears that these vessels have the
best character for regular and easy motion, cœteris pa-
ribus^ that have this property.
On the Arching of Ships,
Ärching of (266.) Our ordinary experience proves how difficult
ships. it is, in the simplest combinations of carpentry, to pre¬
serve precisely the figure that may have been intended ;
and the ingenuity of the workman is frequently taxed in
devising braces and ties in order to maintain it. In a
far greater degree is the Naval Architect called upon to
devise means for preserving to a ship, when she is
launched, the same figure she posses.sed when resting on
her shores. To accomplish this demand a large share
of practical knowledge combined with an acquaintance
with the theoretical wants of Naval Architecture. The
ingenious constructor cannot but be anxious that his
ship should retain, when she sails in all the pomp and
busy circumstance of war, and when innumerable strains
are acting upon her, the properties he originally desired
her to possess.
(267.) We can hardly imagine a more mortifying
circumstance than to find, after every imaginable care
has been bestowed upon a design, that the moment the
vessel is launched, some of her essential conditions are
altered, her hull exhibiting unequivocal signs of weakness,
her extremities dropping, and her whole frame becom¬
ing arched. It is the business of theory not only to
plan the ship, but to devise means for constructing her
Combining SO that her exact theoretical form shall be preserved,
oftimbers a There is more science in combining timbers together
than is commonly imagined ; and when we see how dif-
su jec . ficult it is, even in the simple fabric of a gate, a parti¬
tion, or a roof, to preserve entirely the form that was
intended, we cannot but observe in the larger and
more complicated fabric of a ship how greatly the diffi¬
culty must be augmented. Here it is that theory and
practice can do so much to aid each other. In all the
mechanical arts they should be inseparably bound
together, and yet how seldom are they thus allied ! A
narrow jealousy and mistrust too often divides them.
(268.) There are circumstances, moreover, of a very Naval Ar-
peculiar nature, which in the case of a ship contribute chUecture.
to produce this derangement of form, and which it is
fitting the Naval Architect should be made intimately ßarly so
acquainted with. It is not only in a storm that her jn the case
fastenings are disturbed, and her timbers exposed to of a ship,
different strains from those which they underwent when
she was supported in the dock, but even when she floats
in tranquillity in the harbour, destitute even of her
masts, and her most ordinary stores. The simple hull Cause of
itself is compelled to bend by the buoyancy of the very weaknessv
fluid on which it floats. If a straight line be drawn
from the head to the stern, whilst the vessel is on the slip
or in dock, no sooner has she entered her own element,
than each end of this line will be found to have dropped
from two to six inches, in consequence of the weakness
of the fabric. In cases of arching, also, some of the
butts of the planks are always found to have parted
aloft, at the same time that the angular position of some
parts of the structure has as uniformly been more or less
altered ; and very generally a certain degree of sliding
is observable in the planks at the sides of some of the
ports. This sliding was seen very distinctly by Dr.
Young in the planks of the Albion and of the Belli¬
queux, at the same time there were also obvious indi¬
cations of a certain degree of extension and compres¬
sion. In the Albion the butts of the planks were parted
so far, that in some instances pieces were let in between
them ; and in the Belliqueux there was a space of about
five inches between the middle of the deck transom and
the carliiig, which had originally been in contact with it.
In the Asia, the arching amounted to three inches and
a quarter, and the comparative length of the upper and
lower parts was probably altered about two inches at
most : the parting of the butts amounting to three-six¬
teenths of an inch each, " for upwards of fifty feet in
length in the midships, and for about eight feet from the
top side," making a total extension of probably less than
an inch ; so that about half the eflect seems to have been
produced in one way, and half in the other ; but appa¬
rently the greater half by the want of stiffness. Some
degree of permanent compression or crippling below
has been observed, the butts of the planks opening
when the cause of arching has been removed, and the
sheathing being more wrinkled than would have hap¬
pened from the simple bending of the planks. To cor- To correct
rect these serious defects was one of the great problems this was the
undertaken by Sir Robert Seppings. Before his time, all problem
the materials composing the fabric of a ship were disposed
nearly at right angles to each other ; a disposition not Robert
sanctioned by any authority, nor by the humblest maxim Seppings.
of mechanical knowledge. A ship too from its great
length, and the peculiarity of its form, is the body calcu¬
lated to display erroneous combinations in the most
remarkable degree.
(269.) The length of a 74-gun ship being 170 feet or
more, it requires but little knowledge of materials to
perceive that planking of such a length, whatever be its
amount of thickness, or the mode or way in which it is
joined together, must under such a system bend with its
own weight. The fastenings and connections of the
several parts of such a fabric, cannot therefore but suffer
from a want of stiffness, and a change of form must be
the consequence.
(270.) The truth of the principle here adverted to is
confirmed by every day's experience. The idle school¬
boy racks the frame of his slate, loosening its fastenings.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
387
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Effects of a
triangular
combina¬
tion of tim¬
ber.
Resulting
strength.
Other sour¬
ces of
strength.
and deranging its figure; and the country carpenter
finds, however he multiplies his parallel rails or bars,
and whatever ingenuity he displays in their fastenings,
the uniformity of his gate will soon be destroyed,
unless he adds a brace or diagonal timber to his
fabric. In a popular sense we may say the old system
of timbering resembled in principle fig. 5, plate iii. and
the new system fig. 6. ' It is obvious, to adopt the fami¬
liar language of Seppings, the greater the length of the
frames, the greater will the superiority of the latter be
shown.
(271.) The effect of a triangular combination of tim¬
bers like this is, that the pieces disposed horizontally are
acted upon as ropes by a strain of the fibre, whilst the
other parts are pressed upon as pillars ; or, in other
words, the pressure acts in the direction of the fibres of
the wood. In the old plan, and which, for distinction
sake, may be denominated the rectangular mode, the
fibres are acted upon transversely, or across the grain,
just as a stick, when placed across the knee and pressed
by the hands at each end, is first bent and then breaks.
To prevent any transverse action upon the fibre of the
timber, is one of the benefits arising from the new
system, and to impede a longitudinal extension of the
structure is another. For as the diagonal frame,
composed of a series of triangles, aided by diagonal
trussing between the ports, prevents the fabric from
being acted upon transversely to the fibres of the ma¬
terials horizontally placed, so the wales, the planking,
the shelf pieces, the improved water ways, and the decks
systematically secured, become the tie beams of the
structure.
(272.) The great strength of the principle here ad¬
verted to is also to be contemplated in another point of
view—that of rendering the strength of the fabric as
general and united as possible. It is a trite maxim to
observe that the strength of any body, let its construc¬
tion be what it may, can never exceed that of its weak¬
est part; but it is one, simple as it is, which has
been too often lost sight of in the practice of ship¬
building. In the new system of Seppings, the open¬
ings between the ribs are filled in with slips of timber
nearly to the height of the orlop, or lower tier of beams.
These being calked and pitched over, make the frame
from head to stern, and within a few feet of the greatest
draught of water, one compact and water-tight mass of
timber ; so that were any of the outer planking of the
bottom to be removed, the ship would not only continue
to float, but would also be preserved from sinking. In
the old system, the starting of a plank often proved
fatal.
(273.) The openings between the frame, where the
width of the space does not exceed three inches, are
filled up by driving in wedge-like slices of wood, one
driven from the outside, the other from within, forming
the parallel space of the opening, and bringing the parts
into the closest contact. In the openings exceeding
three inches, the space is occupied by corresponding
pieces having their fibres laid in the same direction as
that of the frame timbers. These fillings add not only
to the strength and durability of the fabric, but pre¬
serve the health of the crew from the effects of the im¬
pure air arising from the filth which so soon collects in
these openings, rendering the ship less liable to leakage,
as well as facilitating the stoppage of any leak ; and
lastly increasing the thickness of the bottom from four or
four and a half, the usual thickness of the plank, to
about sixteen inches, thereby diminishing very con- Naval Ar-
siderably the danger to be apprehended from getting on chitecture.
shore, or foundering at sea.
(274.) That this improvement promotes the durabi- Durability,
lity of the ship may be inferred from what follows. In
the first place, the openings in the old principle, after a
ship has had any considerable length of service, are
choked up in many parts with an accumulation of filth.
Secondly, that no free circulation of air can be obtained
in these openings by any means. In the third place,
that timber being either freely exposed to, or excluded
from the air, is equally preserved. And fourthly, that it
has been found on examining the frame and plank of
old ships, that those parts now filled in, generally decay
sooner than the rest ; viz. from the floor heads in the
midships, and from the dead wood forward and abaft to
the height of the orlop clamps.
(275.) With regard, also, to the gain in the internal Gain in the
capacity of the hold, it may be remarked, that though capacity of
the trussed frame projects from the timbers five inches *^®hold.
more than the thick stuff at the floor-heads,—yet, as in
the old system, the perpendicular riders are brought
upon the thick stuff, their projection into the hold is
more by eight inches than that of the new, giving an
increase of stowage in favour of the diagonal frame.
Another important point is, that a tier of iron ballast
may also be disposed of many inches lower, giving an
increase of stability with less weight, and enabling the
vessel to carry her ports higher out of the water.
(276.) In pi. iv. fig. 1. is a bird's-eye view of the internal Bird's-eye
part of one side of a 74-gun ship in a complete state, the ^icw of in-
diagonal timbers intersecting the timbers of the frame
at angles of about 45°. In the fore part of the ship ty.four.
these timbers are disposed in contrary directions to those
in the after part, their distances from each other being
from six to seven feet or more ; their upper ends abut¬
ting against the horizontal hoop, or shelf piece, of the
gun-deck beams, and the lower ends against the limber
streaks, except in the midships, where they come against
two pieces of timber placed in on each side of the keel¬
son for the purpose of taking off the partial pressure of Deserip
the main mast, which in all cases causes a lagging down
of the keel, and sometimes to an alarming degree.
Pieces of timber are next placed in a fore and aft direc¬
tion over the joints of the frame timbers, at the floor and
first futtocks heads, their ends being in close contact
with and coaked or dowelled to the sides of the diagonal
timbers. In this state the framework in the hold pre- Diagonal
sents various compartments representing the forms of
rhomboids. A truss timber is then introduced into
each rhomboid with an inclination opposite to that of
the diagonal timbers, thereby dividing it into two parts.
These truss pieces, says Seppings, are to the diagonal
frame what the key-stone is to an arch ; for no weight
or pressure on the fabric can alter its position in a longi¬
tudinal direction, till compression takes place at the
abutments, and extension of the various ties.
(277.) This arch-like property of the diagonal frame Arch-like
not only opposes change in a longitudinal direction, but
also resists external pressure on the bottom, either from
grounding or any other cause, because no alteration of
figure can take place, without forcing the several parts
of which it is composed into a smaller space. The con¬
nection kept up by means of the trussed frame firmly
attached to the timbers of the ship by circular coaks and
bolts, together with the shelf pieces united to the sides
and to the several beams by means of the same sort of
3 F 2
388
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Shelf
pieces.
Chocks.
Iron knees.
Improved
decks.
fastenings, imparts such unity to the whole as to give
to it an immense superiority over the old system it dis¬
placed.*
(278.) The beams of the new s^^stem are disposed
nearly as in the old, excepting that in midships, where
a ship necessarily requires the greatest security, two
additional beams have been introduced. All of them are
attached to the ship's sides by shelf pieces, or internal
hoops, distinguished by the letter E, fig. 2. These shelf
pieces are composed of several lengths of timber scarfed
or joined together by coaks, or circular dowels, so as to
form a kind of internal hoop, extending from the hooks
forward, to the transoms abaft, to the underside of
which, as well as to the under parts of the beams, they
are securely coaked, and being then firmly bolted to the
side, instead of becoming a mere local fixture of the
beam to the ship's exterior frame, as the knees formerly
were, they afford a continued and general security. The
shelf piece is also a tie to the top side in a fore and aft
direction, co-operating with the trussed frame, as already
explained.
(279.) The beams are also secured by chocks, repre¬
sented in H, fig. 2, placed under all the shelf pieces in
the wake of the beams, excepting the orlop, in such a
manner as to receive the up and down arm of the iron
knees. The lower ends of those under the gun deck
shelf piece, step on the ends of the orlop beams, and
those of the several decks above, step on the projecting
part of the spirketing below. The chocks, particularly
those between the orlop and gun decks, admit of their
being driven into their respective places very tightly,
thereby acting like pillars. Another advantage attending
them, is their great tendency to stiffen the ship's side, and
to prevent the beam ends from playing on the fastenings
when the ship is rolling, or straining under a press of
sail,
(280.) The curved iron plate knees for securing the
orlop beams, and the iron forked knees of the other
decks, are described in figs. 2 and 3.
(281.) In the old system of ship-building, the planks
of the several decks acted only as mere platforms, or as
a cover of a box unconnected with the sides, affording
no strength to them whatever. In the new system of
* It has hitherto been very generally believed, says Seppings,
that stiffnebs or inflexibility in a ship is not strength, but that a
yielding of the fabric is an essential quality to preserve it from
being destroyed by the shocks it sustains. This erroneous opinion
must have arisen from another equally incorrect, that a ship must
be an elastic body, on account of the elasticity of the materials of
which it is composed. It should, however, be remembered, that
this elasticity of the materials must be very inconsiderable, since
the small degree of elasticity in each piece must necessarily be
neutralized in the fabric by the various directions of the parts of
which it is composed. Hence a vessel, let her construction be
what it may, whether loose or firm, cannot in any case be elastic.
It lollows also, that the action and reaction of the sea operating
upon different parts of the fabric at different times, occasions, on
account of the want of unity among the parts, a constant and in
creasing weakness, which by some may have been mistaken for
elasticity.
When a sea strikes a ship forward, continues Seppings, the bow
will rise with the sea ; which passing aft, lifts the midships in suc¬
cession, leaving the fore and aft parts with little or no support. Such
shocks acting upon a body whose parts are not firmly connected, pro¬
duce a bending and rebending of the fabric, the planks of the sides
playing over each other, and the fastenings becoming strained and
loosened by continued repetitions of the acting force. On the con¬
trary, when a body is constructed with such general unity and
fixedness of all its parts, that when one is moved the whole fabric
must move with it, all the parts of the structure may be fairly said
to bear their proper portion of the strain.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
In what
part the
weakness of
a ship is
commonl ■
to be see:
Seppings, however, they are so disposed, as pot only
to oppose an alteration of figure from a force acting on
the ship in a lateral direction, but also are made sub¬
servient towards securing the beams to the ship's side.
The framing and flat of the decks, excepting the quarter
deck, forecastle, and round house, which are laid upon
the old plan, are disposed as represented in fig. 5. The
former, that is, the framing or ledges, and beams are
denoted by ticked lines; the latter, or planks by black ;
those on the starboard side being laid contrarywise to
the larboard. The midship ends of the diagonal planks
abut against two strakes laid in a fore and aft direction
outside the comings of the hatchways; the other ends
approaching the timbers of the frame, the butts at each
end being secured to a tier of callings placed for that
purpose. The flat or plank of the deck so disposed is
connected with a certain number of coaks to the hooks,
beams, and transoms. When the decks are thus laid,
the waterways described in fig. 2, are brought on and
coaked to the ends of the plank. These waterways
being then bolted through the ship's sides, and also in
an up and down direction, through the flat and shelf
])ieces, combine the whole in one homogeneous mass of
strength.
(282.) A run of three or four years' service most
commonly discloses some examples of weakness in the
fabric of a ship. These defects, among other places,
show themselves at the beam ends, arising in a great
degree from the local attachment of the beams to the
ship's side, and the flat or covering being entirely un¬
connected. This imperfect fastening of the extreme
ends of the beams, occasions them so to play and work
upon the fastening, as often to cut the bolt holes into
an oval form by the friction of the bolts. The usual
remedy in such a state of things is to load her with
additional materials, such as iron knees, standards,
breast-hooks, &c. ; thus adding greatly to the original
weight of the fabric. It is evident that the first gale of
wind the ship encounters, after being thus partially
strengthened, must again reduce her to her former state
of weakness.^
(283.) To remedy defects, whether arising from the
decay of the materials, or from any other cause, the prin¬
ciples of Sir Robert Seppings, illustrated in fig. 1, can¬
not but hold out the most capital advantages; and in
no particular is its superiority more manifest than in the
decks; for by shifting them when worn too thin for
calking, the original connection between the beams,
the decks, and the sides will be restored as perfectly as
at first.
(284.) The tendency of the ship to stretch or draw asun- Other im-
der in her upper works, being by no means obviated by the
short planks on the inside between the ports, Sir Robert
substitutes a truss piece of plank in lieu of them, which
being well secured at the abutments, materially aids the
trussed frame, and gives great stiffness, thereby opposing
any disposition to arch or hog aloft.
* This mode of strengthening ships, as Seppings truly observes,
may be compared to that of a raft firmly secured in the first place
by strong lashing, which after some time works loose, or rather by
working is stretched. As it might be too tedious an operation to
secure the raft by retightening the lashing, a small cord would be
used for that purpose. It is clear whilst the small cord remains
tight, no part of the strain can bear upon the strong but loose
lashing, till the other stretches or breaks. So is it with a ship
that has additional securities given her without refastening those
which had worked or become strained.
prove-
ments.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
389
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Economy is
combined
with the
views of
Seppings.
Reports
made by
distinguish¬
ed officers
in favour of
these im¬
provements.
(285.) In fig. 4 the stern of a ship is represented
with the trussing and iron work necessary for its
security. By this the helm-port transom, which con¬
sumes one of the largest and most difficult trees required
for a ship, is dispensed with.
(286.) It is a great principle in these views of Sir
Robert Seppings, that not only strength, safety, and
durability are so essentially promoted by them, but
that economy holds also a capital and prominent place
among them. At a time when reduction in our expen¬
diture is so loudly called for, and the Royal Navy cannot
be kept up without a large supply of foreign timber, it
(îertainly adds to the credit of this accomplished Naval
Architect, that, in a 74 gun ship, upwards of one hun¬
dred and eighty oak trees are saved by his masterly
combinations, each tree having a load of fifty feet rough
contents.
(287.) It must further, also, be borne in mind, that
the consumption of large ship timber may be further
diminished by the use of inferior and old ship tim¬
ber, and if old ship timber were generally introduced,
as in the case of the Ramillies, one-seventh part of the
English oak required for a new 74-gun ship might be
saved.
(288 ) Another source of economy arises from the
greater ease with which the lower part of the ship can
be examined, in consequence of the omission of the in¬
side planking. The ease, also, with which any part of
the diagonal frame may be replaced, justifies the adop¬
tion of fir timber, particularly for the longitudinal pieces
and trusses.
(289.) We regret that our limits will not permit more
than abrief allusion to the valuable Reports made on the
Tremendous, the first ship to which Seppings's principles
were applied, by the distinguished officers whose duty it
was to make them. They were such as to stamp at once
with the highest and best approbation his unrivalled
combinations. Of this vessel, it was reported by Mr.
Parkin, the master shipwright of Sheerness yard, that
the sights on the gun-deck, at the distance of 163 feet,
altered 0 in. ; that those placed on the upper deck,
at the same distance, changed but Oj in. ; and those
on the quarter deck and forecastle, at the same distance,
altered but Of in ; after a more than three years'
active service, exposed to perilous and turbulent storms.
It was also remarked of the same ship, that the orlop
deck beams had not worked on the internal hoop, nor
was the crust of the whitewash disturbed ; the plates
and bolts securing the diagonal riders and terminating
under the internal hoop, as well as the heads of the
riders, appeared as close as when fayed. The checks
fore and aft, bolted under the gun-deck beams for re¬
ceiving the forked knees, the breast hooks in the gun¬
ner's store room, as well as the bolts which fasten the
forked knees, none had the slightest appearance of
having worked. No appearance of the gun-deck beams
having worked on the internal hoop which receives
them was to be found ; nor any leaks or dampness
between the gun-deck water ways, the beams being so
perfectly dry, as to have permitted, in many places, the
cobwebs to collect between the timbers. The main and
gun decks displayed no traces of working, and the same
observation was made on the beams of the quarter deck
and forecastle ; and the whole ship throughout appeared
in as perfect a state, as if she had been in dock upon the
blocks."
(290.) In the instance, also, of three ships of 120
guns, the Nelson, the St. Vincent, and the Howe,
whose forms and dimensions were piecisely the same,
and whose frames, beams, and external planking were
of the same scantlings, it was remarked oi the two
former, built according to the old plan, and of the latter,
built according to the new, that after the first of these
vessels was launched, she altered nine inches and a
half from her original sheer, and the St. Vincent
nine inches and a quarter; but the Howe changed
only three inches and five-eighths. The whole machine
in the former ships, observes Seppings, was generally
disturbed, but the Howe exhibited no such symptoms of
weakness.
(291.) No invention or discovery is, however, destined
to take its rank in the great catalogue of scientific truths
without controversy and dispute ; and, perhaps, on the
whole. Knowledge is benefited by the furnace it has to
pass through. To the inventor, or discoverer, it cannot
but be a painful ordeal, but it is the tax he must pay for
his celebrity. In the present case it was broadly insi¬
nuated that Seppings had borrowed his principles, whereas
no application at all resembling his admirable plans can
be found in any of the Continental writers on Naval
Architecture. The propriety of a different disposition
of the materials entering into the construction of a
ship, has at different times been suggested by ship¬
builders, and partial alterations have in consequence
been introduced ; but no one, so far as we can trace,
has at any time proposed a system of diagonal
trussed framing at all resembling that of the great
ship-builder adverted to. " If 1 have received any
assistance,'' he ingenuously observes, " in the progress
of this new system, now universally adopted in the
British Navy, it was from the plans and drawings of
the celebrated bridge of Schaffhausen, and from no
other source."
(292.) It may be proper, however, to advert to one
objection of a practical kind advanced against the new
system. It was asserted by some that the braces
and trusses applied by Sir Robert Seppings, were dis¬
posed in directions precisely the reverse of that which
they ought to have been. To meet this objection the
following decisive experiment was appealed to.
(293.) Early in the year 1817, the Justitia, an old
Danish 74-gun ship, was ordered to be broken up on
account of her defective state ; and Seppings having ob¬
served her to be considerably arched or hogged, deter¬
mined, notwithstanding her age and defective state, to
apply the trussing principle to a certain extent, with a
view to observe what effect it would produce on a fabric
reduced to so weak and shaken a condition.
(294.) The officers of the yard were directed to place
sights on the lower and upper gun-decks prior to her
being taken into dock ; and to ascertain, when she
grounded on the blocks, how much she had altered from
the state in which she was when afloat. They were
then to place a certain number of trusses in the hold,
some in the fore part of the vessel inclined forward at
about an angle of 45°, and others in the after part
of the vessel inclining aft at the same angle. Others
were also to be placed at right angles to the former,
so as to act against the beams of the deck. In the
ports also, other trusses were introduced, those in the
ports forward inclining forward in an angle of 40°, and
those in the midships aft, at the same angles, but in an
opposite direction. As it was uncertain where the
centre of fracture would take place, a few of the port-
Naval Ai
chitecture.
Comparison
of three
first-rates.
These use¬
ful and im¬
portant
plans ob¬
jected to.
Candour of
Sir Robert
Seppings.
It was ob¬
jected that
the braces
and trusses
were applied
the wrong
way.
Experiment
with an old
74.
Description
of it.
290
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar- holes about the centre of the ship had trusses introduced
chiiectiire. into them in both directions. Wedges were applied to
the heels of the trusses to set them tight. The ship
being thus partially trussed, the water was let into the
dock, and the ship floated out of it into the basin,
where she was to lie one hour, when a Committee
was to examine the sights, and ascertain how much
the ship had altered ; and again, what change had
taken place in twenty-four hours after floating. This
being done, the trusses were to be disengaged in as
short a time as possible, in order to observe whether the
effect of their removal would be instantaneous or gra¬
dual.
Report of (295.) The following is an extract from the Report
the Com- of the Committee :—
mittee ap- t« hen the ship was in dock, on blocks perfectly
straight, she came down in the midships, by the sights
the same, placed in the gun-deck, two feet two inches and a half ;
and by those on the upper deck, two feet three inches
and a quarter ; and when undocked, with the trusses
complete and in their places, she hogged, or broke her
sheer, by the sights on the gun-deck, one foot two
inches and five-eighths ; and at the expiration of twenty •
four hours she had hogged, or further broke her sheer,
two inches and five-eighths, and then appeared sta¬
tionary and completely borne by the trusses.
(296.) "We then proceeded to take away the trusses
in the hold, and when they were wholly disengaged, she
further hogged, or broke her sheer, six inches. We
next proceeded to take away the trusses in the ports,
and when they were wholly cleared, she dropped at the
extremities, or further hogged, three inches and a half,
and was in that position when tried twenty-four hours
after.
(297.) " We further beg to state, that the whole of
the trusses alluded to as placed at right angles to the
first introduced, slackened as the ship floated from the
blocks, and became short from half an inch to three
inches and a half, and partook of no part of the pres¬
sure; which, in our opinion, clearly proves that the
direction in which Sir Robert Seppings has applied his
diagonal frame is correct, as also the great utility of the
trussing system ; for although the ship, from her very
defective state, was much against so severe an experi¬
ment, it has proved to us its good effects most satisfac- Naval Ar-
torily ; for many of the trusses in the ports forced the chitecture.
timbers three-eighths of an inch within the ends of their
covering planks, thereby lessening their effect from what
it would have been if the ship had been of a sound tex¬
ture ; yet on a ship in this state, the trussing between
the ports alone, after those in the hold were wholly dis¬
engaged, had the effect of sustaining the immense pres¬
sure of both ends of the ship in her worst position, and
prevented her from breaking, which she would other¬
wise have done, from three to four inches, and which
she actually and immediately did on their being dis¬
engaged."
(298.) This statement of the Portsmouth officers,
says Sir Robert Seppings, will, I trust, be considered
conclusive as to the benefits to be derived from the prin¬
ciple of trussing in the construction of ships ; and al¬
though it was only applied from the keelson to the
beams in the hold, and not to the ribs or frame of the
ship, as is the case when ships are regularly built on
this system, yet it sufficiently establishes the soundness
of the principle.
(299.) When the Justitia first floated, continues Sir
Robert, after being partially trussed, as described, the
noise occasioned by the pressure on the trusses is stated
to have been truly terrific, until she was fairly settled on
them. The disengaging them also caused a similar
crash.
(300.) A demonstration of the principle employed Demonstra-
by Sir Robert Seppings may be seen in the XLlld
Number of the Journal of the Royal Institution. If principles of
through the point in which the sustaining forces meet, a thetruthof
line be drawn to represent the measure and direction of the same,
the straining force, and on it a parallelogram be con¬
structed, as a diagonal, havingits sides parallel to the sus¬
taining forces ; then if the remaining diagonal of the
parallelogram be drawn, and through the point where the
sustaining forces meet, another line parallel to the same,
all the parts of the framing on the same side of this line, as
the straining force, will be in a state of compression^ and
all those on the other side of the same line in a state of
extemion. Applying this principle to fig. 7 and 8,
plate iii., we shall deduce the results contained in the
following Table.
Nature of the Strain operating on the Timbers.
Braces.
Trusses.
Upper longi¬
tudinal piece.
Middle longi¬
tudinal piece.
Lower longi¬
tudinal piece.
With the braces in the fore '
body inclined aft, and |
those in the after body
inclined forward as in
%• 7 J
1
Extension.
Compression.
Extension.
Compression.
Compression.
With the braces in the fore '
body inclined forward, |
and those in the after
body inclined ail, as in
8 J
Compression.
Extension.
Extension.
Extension.
Compression.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 391
Naval Ar¬
chitecture,
More par-
icular allu-
gion to the
causes of
arching.
Investiga¬
tions of Dr.
Young,
The primary object of the diagonal framing is to prevent sea, the length being 176 feet, and the breadth 47j, Naval Ar-
arching ; and if we suppose AF, in both figures, to the forces in ordinary cases are thus distributed : chitecture.
represent the neutral line from which the arching pro- • w . r» • ^
ceeds towards both extremities, it is evident that it is Feet. ToT" w"'
the mechanical combination represented in fig. 7 which Aftorm««» AO «oô «07
can alone prevent it. For since A, in that figure, by „ * „ „ J
the hypothesis, is one of the neutral points of the system, 19i ß i noft -lug
it may be regarded as fixed ; and the tendency of arch- ii o
ing being to depress the points H, C and G, B, the ^ . 1 ort
effect on the braces AC and AB will be precisely 1 '
similar to the weights applied in the preceding investi- 176 3000 3000 00
gation; that is, to produce extension, and which is '
effectually provided for by the fastenings. The effect, (303.) Now although this general distribution of the Bistribu-
moreover, brought at the same time iiUo action by the forces may be supposed to exist, the laws of equilibrium fion of
trusses, in consequence of the disturbing force, is to allow us to suppose them to be concentrated in
resist, by the whole longitudinal strength of their filies, middle of the respective portions, or equally distri-
all tendency to alteration of form ; so that the effect q^^ed throughout them, still it is natural to suppose the
exerted to depress the point C, is at once resisted by the excesses of weight and pressure to be arranged with as
fastenings appertaining to the brace A C, and to the Ion- abrupt changes as possible, in order that they may
gitudinal strength of the fibres proceeding neutralize each other at the common termination of the
from the unchangeable point F. The point E becoming, adjoining portions, and to become more unequal in parts
in this point of view, fixed, the action of the fiirce which niore remote from these neutral points. Thus the excess
tends to depress the point H, m common with the point of weight in the first 49 feet being 72 tons, it may be
C, is resisted by the fastenings of the longitudinal tim-
ber A H, and by the longitudinal resistance of the fibres supposed to begin at the rate of tons per foot, and
of the truss F H ; so that, provided the fastenings of 49
the braces and of the upper longitudinal timber are suf- to diminish gradually and equally, so that its centre of
ficient, and the abutments of the trusses and of the
middle longitudinal timber are also proper, all tendency action will be at the distance from the end. Theex-
to arching will be resisted in proportion to the perfection
of the materials, and the excellence of the work- cess of pressure must increase in the next place, until,
nianship. at the distance of 59 feet from the stern, it becomes
(301.) But by referring to the converse disposition of jpg
the braces, as represented in fig. 8, it appears, from per foot, and then diminish until it vanishes at 69,
the preceding investigation, that the braces A C and
A B are subject to compression. And since the point where the excess of weight must begin to prevail, be
A is, by the hypothesis, the neutral or fixed point, the ^ 118
effect of the compression of the brace AC must be to coming at ^4,-^ per foot, and vanishing at 119. The
depress the point C, and thus to promote the tendency - • i^ -
to arching. Nor is this tendency to lower the point C pressure might then be supposed to increase
prevented by the action of the truss F E ; since the gradually through the next portion m order to avoid an
point F being fixed by the supposition, the tendency to «f einity ; but this supposition
extension which takes place in the truss must lower would still be insufficien , and it becomes necessary to
the point E, and thus promote the further declension ^^at for 6 6 feet the forces remain neutralized,
of the point C. The point E being thus depressed, ^^e pressure then prevails, so that its excess be-
must add its effect to the extending force called into ac- , , . 149 „ r a ta * au j
A- • A T-i FT J au J J 1 • comes at last = 17.7 per toot. It must then de-
tion m the truss E H, and thus produce a declension 6.7 ^
in the point H. Hence the whole effect of the dis- 17.5 feet, and the excess of weight at the
turbmg force is to lower every part ot the frame from g^t^emity must become 19.7 feet, the neutral point
C to H. and thus to promote the arching of the vessel _ 5 ,j[,e equilibrium of the forces will then
Hence the superiority of the present system of diagonal expressed by the equation
traming becomes apparent, and the advantages derived ./ x
from it are demonstrated by the small alteration of 72 X 16.3 — 108 X 59 + 118 X 94 — 119 x 134.5
form which ships now undergo in the act of launching. — 155 X 144.8 -f- 192 X 169.5 = 0,
(302.) It is proper, however, to advert more parti- ...«>• i
cularly to some of the causes of arching, and in the first which Dr. Young imagines is sufficiently accurate for
place to the condition of weight. There is a well-known every purpose.
and obvious inequality of the distribution of the weight (304.) Froni this distribution of^ the forces, we Determina-
and pressure, which, independently of all circumstances obtain a determination of the strain for each point of tionofthe
of construction, produce arching. It is possible, as Dr. l^e respective portions, which is in the joint ratio of the str^nfor
Young observes, there may be cases in which a strain of magnitudes and distances of all the forces concerned, l om .
a very different nature is produced, but in ships of war on either side of the point, reduced into a common
this tendency is universal. It is, however, very differ- result. For the first portion it is
ent in degree in the different parts of a ship; and of 72 1 144
course, still more different according to the different ^ ^ • Jg'
modes of distribution of the ballast and stores occurring
in different ships. In a modern 74-gun ship, fitted for x being the distance from the stern.
392
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar the second,
chitecture.
72 (o? - 16^) - -
For the third,
72 (x - 16^) - 54 (x
1 108 (¿C - 49)'
10
10
108
554) - — (a? - 59)^^
and
For the fourth,
72 (x - 16J) -- 108 (x
For the fifth,
20
, 1 108
+ 6 • ÏW ■
59)+1 lis
^ ^ 0 • 25 ' 25
3/ = axx — hx XX,
1
y = axx — x"^ X c X,
éí
1 1
y - a — - b x^ c X -{■ d,
^2 6
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
72 {x - 164^) — 108 {x - 59) + 59 (a? - 94) +
Dr. Young remarks it will be most convenient, in cal-
59)3 culation, to make x begin anew with each portion, setting
out from the middle, and to divide the numbers by 100,
in order to shorten the operations. Thus, for the mid¬
dle portion, from 88 to 59, the strain will be
.2028 -f- .36<r, «being .2028, and b = — .36; and
when X becomes .22, 3^ is .00552 ; and when xt:^ .29,
V
[IQ - .0740, and y zr ,0011; which values being sub-
50
{x - 94)' -
1 118 (^-94)3
6 ' 25
25
For the sixth, from 119 to 125.6,
72 {x - 164^) - 108 (<r - 59) + 118 (a? - 94).
For the seventh,
72 {x - 164^) - 108 {x ~ 59) + 118 (jx ~ 94) •
1
6
119 {x - 125.6)3
Curve pro¬
duced by
such a
strain.
13.4 13.4
and in the last 37 feet, the strain will be expressed by
1 (\nQ — xY
(176 - x) 19.7X 1(176-07)- - . 19.7 L
6 19.5
Hence we find the strain, at seven points, 22 feet dis¬
tant from each other and from the ends, 605, 1993,
2815, 2244, 2655, 4610, and 1875 ; and by taking the
differential of x in the seventh portion, we determine
he maximum at 1414 feet, amounting to 5261 tons,
supposed to act at the distance of one foot.
(305.) In order to form an idea of the curve which
would be produced by such a strain, acting on a uni¬
formly flexible substance, we may consider the curvature
as represented by the second fluxion of the ordinate y ;
and by finding and correcting the fluent separately for
each portion, we may obtain the ordinate, or fall, at any
given point corresponding to a given extent of arching
of the whole fabric. It will, however, be sufficiently
accurate for this purpose, 10 consider the forces as con¬
centrated in a limited number of points, dividing those
which act in the extreme portions into two parts, in
order that the curvature may be continued to the ends ;
so that the whole of the forces may be thus distributed.
At
Distances.
Forces.
0
-|- 36
324
0
-i- 36
59
-108
94
4-118
134.5
-119
144.8
-155
163
4- 96
176
4- 96
The strain for each portion may then be re})resen(ed
b> a — hx, whence
X
stituted in the equations for the next portion, we have
.074, and d == .0011. By going through the
whole length in this manner, we find the fall at the ex¬
tremes, and at seven equidistant intermediate points,to be,
.08697
.05325
.02514
.00552
.00000
.0050'^
.02531
.06705
.12325.
If we wish to find the point at which the curve is
parallel to the chord of the whole, we must inquire
where c = (. 12325 — . 08697) : 1.76, which will be at
98 feet, or 10 feet before the midships.
(306.) To the strain which the circumstances of Effects of
weight and upward pressure produces, another must be pressure m
added resulting from a cause, which, although not very
inconsiderable, appears to have been altogether neg- tion.
lected before Dr. Young inquired into it ; and this is,
that partial pressure of the water in a longitudinal
direction, affecting the lower parts of the ship only, and
tending to compress and shorten the keel, while it has
no immediate action on the upper decks. The pres¬
sure thus applied, must obviously occasion a curva¬
ture, if the angles made with the decks by the timbers
are supposed to remain unaltered, while the keel is
shortened in the same manner as any soft and thick sub¬
stance, pressed at one edge between the fingers, will
become concave at the part compressed. This strain,
upon the most probable supposition respecting the com¬
parative strength of the upper and lower parts of the
ship, must amount to more than one-third as much as
the mean value of the former, being equivalent to the
effect of a weight of about 1000 tons, acting on a lever
of one foot in length, while the strain, arising from the
unequal distribution of the weight and displacement,
amounts where it is greatest, that is, about 37 feet from
the head, to 5260 ; and although the strain is consider¬
ably less than this exactly in the middle, and through¬
out the aftermost half of the length, it is no where con¬
verted into a tendency to sag," or to become concave.
It must, however, be remembered, that when arching
actually takes place from the operation of these forces,
it depends upon the comparative strength of the differ¬
ent parts of the ship and their fastenings, whether the
curvature shall vary more or less from the form, which
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
393
Naval Ar- results from the supposition of a uniform resistance
chitecture. the length.
(307.) Our limits will not permit us to pursue the
analytical conditions connected with this longitudinal
pressure ; and we can, therefore, only add that these
different causes of arching being independent of each Naval Ar-
other in their operation, their effects will be simply
united into a common result. Hence the whole curva- j^^merical
ture of the ship, supposing its strength equable results of
throughout its length, may be thus represented. the whole
o J f curvature of
Distance from the stern
0
22
44
66
88
110
132
154
176
Strain
1247-fO
605
1993
2815
2224
2655
4610
1875
0
Fall
.04828
.02716
.01207
.00302
.00000
.00302
.01207
.02716
.04828
.08697
.05325
.02514
.00552
*
.00000
.00507
.02531
.06705
.12325
.13525
.08041
.03721
.00854
.00000
.00809
.03738
.09421
.17153
For 12 inches of arching
10.58
6.29
2.91
.67
o
o
•
.63
2.93
7.37
13.42
Force ofthe (308.) Important as are the effects produced on the
wind and framework of the hull, when it floats quiescently on
waves. water, their amount is greatly increased when it is
exposed to the forces of the wind and waves. The
effect of the wind, Dr. Young observes, is generally
compensated by a change of the situation of the actual
water line, so that its amount may be estimated from
the temporary or permanent inclination of the ship;
and the force of the waves may be more directly calcu¬
lated from their height and breadth. As a fair speci¬
men of the greatest strain likely to arise from the waves
in any common circumstances, we may consider the case
of a series of waves 20 feet in height, and 70 in breadth,
their form being such, that the curvature of surface may
be nearly proportional to the elevation or depression.
How strains The strain produced by the pressure of waves of given
arising from magnitude, may be calculated from the comparison of
be cora"^^ the displacement with respect to their surface, with the
piited ' displacement with respect to a level surface. It is
hence found that the greatest strain takes place in a
74-gun ship, at the distance of about 18 feet from the
midships, amounting to about 10,000 tons, at the instant
when the ship is in a horizontal position, while, in more
common cases, when the waves are narrower, the strain
will be proportionally smaller and nearer to the extre¬
mity. Hence it appears, that the strain produced by
the action of the waves may very considerably exceed in
magnitude the more permanent forces derived from the
ordinary distribution of the weight and pressure ; so
that when both strains cooperate, their sum may be
equivalent to about 15,000 tons acting on a lever of
one foot, and their difference, in opposite circumstances,
to about 5000. There may. Dr. Young further ob¬
serves, possibly be cases in which the pressure of the
waves produces a still greater effect than this ; and it
may also be observed, that the agitation accompanying
it tends to make the fastenings give way much more
readily than they would do if an equal force were
applied less abruptly. At the same time, it is not pro¬
bable that this strain ever becomes so great, as to make
the former perfectly inconsiderable in comparison with
it, especially if we take into account the uninterrupted
continuance of its action : it appears, therefore, to be
highly proper that the provision made for counter¬
acting the causes of arching should be greater than for
obviating the strain in the contrary direction ; for exam¬
ple, that if the pieces of timber intended for opposing
them were, on account of the nature of their fastenings,
or for any other reason, more capable of resisting com¬
pression than extension, they should be so placed as to
act as shores rather than as ties ; although it by no
means follows, from the form which the ship assumes
vol. vi.
after once breaking, that the injury has been occasioned
in the first instance by the immediate causes of arching;
since, when the fastenings have been loosened by a
force of any kind, the ship will naturally give way to
the more permanent pressure which continues to act on
her in the state of weakness they superinduced.
(309.) The pressure ofthe water against the sides of Breaking
a ship has also a tendency to produce a curvature in a trans-
transverse direction. This is, moreover, greatly increased
by the distribution ofthe weight, the parts near the sides
being the heaviest, while the greatest vertical pressure
of the water is in the neighbourhood of the keel. This
pressure is often transmitted by the stanchions to the
beams, so that they are forced upwards in the middle;
when they are unsupported, the beams are more gene¬
rally depressed in the middle, by the weight of the load
which they sustain ; while the inequality of the pressure
of the water cooperates with other causes in promoting
the separation of the sides of the ship from the beams
of the upper decks. On the other hand. Dr. Young
observes, the weight of the main mast often prevails par¬
tially over that of the sides, so that the keel is forced rather
downwards than upwards in the immediate neighbour¬
hood of the midships. The tendency to a transverse cur¬
vature is observable, when a ship rests on her side, in the
opening of the joints of the planks aloft, and in their be¬
coming tighter below ; although this effect depends less
immediately on the absolute extension and compression
ofthe neighbouring parts, than on the alteration of the
curvature of the timbers in consequence of the pressure.
(310.) Under such circumstances, there is, moreover. Lateral cur-
a tendency to produce a lateral curvature, and shores mature,
are sometimes employed to prevent its eflPects, when a
ship is " hove down" on her side. This, indeed, is
comparatively a rare occurrence ; but when large waves
strike a ship obliquely, they must often act in this
manner with immense force. The elevation on one
side may be precisely opposite to the depression on the
other, and the strain from this cause can scarcely be less
than the vertical strain already calculated. Its effects,
however, are less commonly observed, because we have
not the same means of ascertaining the weakness vvhich
results from it, by the operation of a permanent cause.
When a ship possesses a certain degree of flexibility, she
may in some measure elude the violence of this force by
giving way a little for the short interval occupied by the
passage of the wave ; but her sailing in a rough sea
must be impaired by such a temporary change of form.
(311.) Dupin, in a Paper in the Philosophical Investiga-
Transactions for 1817, has investigated the analytical ^
conditions of arching. By repesenting by cc the dis- arcLng.
tance of any part of a vessel from a vertical plane, and
3g
394
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
Naval Ar- hydx the thickness of the infinitely small sections parallel
chitecture. thereto, (¡>{3c)dx denoting the weights of those sections,
and y¡r (x) dx that of the water which they respectively
displace, the integral of the total moment of the forces
will be
y { 0 (a?) d OS — oc y¡r {oc) d x } .
Now, in order that this function may be either a maxi¬
mum or a minimum, its variation must be zero, and
hence we have
Sy { ¿r 0 (íT) d — x^f {x) dx} = 0.
In this latter expression, however, neither of the ori¬
ginal sections alters its weight ; and the functions 0 (¿c)
and y¡t (x) remain constant, as well as the thickness d x
of the sections, only by removing the plane, with respect
to which the moments are taken, to the distance ^x, the
section of which (¡)Qx) represents the weight, and
y¡r x) its displacement. Hence we have
0 = ^y { 0 (^) — V} ^dx
But since the functions 0 {x) and (x) become zero,
when we cause x to vanish, these expressions represent
the weight and displacement of a vanishing section;
and hence we see that 0 a?) — x) becomes infi¬
nitely small when compared with 0 (a?) —y/ (x).
If, therefore, the expression 0(^a?) — y¡r x) may
be neglected, much more may the function
J [0 ( ^ 0?) —fQ 0?)] d X X ;
and hence the general expression representing the con¬
dition of either the maximum or minimum of the
moments tending to produce arching will be
0 ^ 0?y { 0 (j?) — yjr (a?) \ dx,
where J*0 (x) dx is the total weight of the sections
under consideration, and y yjr (x) d x the total weight of
the displacement of the same sections.
(312.) Hence we learn, that the sum of the moments
tending to produce arching, is either a ^maximum or a
minimum, when the weight of the part of the vessel,
either before or behind the plane of the moments, is
equal to the weight of the water displaced by the same
part of the ship.
(313.) The maximum condition may be distin¬
guished from that of the minimum, according as the
term of the formula neglected has the same or a con-
trary sign from the function of the total moment
f {4) (jc) -f(x)}x.dx,
and the sum of the moments, with relation to the plane
determined, will be a minimum or a maximum.
Since, however, 0 (^j?) is the weight of the section
having ^<27 for its thickness, and x) Sx the weight
of the water displaced by the same section, the function
2 10 (^•^) "~(^'^)] ^x , dx
will be positive or negative, according as the weight of
the infinitely small section commencing at the plane of
the moments, is greater or less than the weight of the
water displaced by the section itself. Hence Dupin
deduced the following general theorems.
I. That when a vertical plane divides a vessel into
two parts, so that the weight of each part is equal to
the weight of water displaced by it, the moments of
those parts estimated in relation to the same plane, to
produce what we have denominated arching, will be
either a maximum or a minimum.
II. Thai this effect will he a maximum, when the
infinitely small section contiguous to the plane of the
moments, has its own moment in a contrary direction to
that of the total moment.
III. That the effect will be a minimum when this
section has its own moment acting in the same direction
as the total moment.
(314.) In order to apply these theorems to the system
of forces adopted by Dr. Young as representing the
conditions of the 74-gun ship before alluded to, Dupin
assumed a line A O, fig. 9, coincident with the water's
surface, and in it certain segments, A C, C E, E G, G H,
H K, K M, and M O, corresponding to the quantities in
the first of the following columns. On certain of these
segments he supposed triangular areas to be formed
equivalent to the differences between the weights of
the sections and their displacements as estimated by
Dr. Young. For instance, on the segment AC he
formed the right-angled triangle AB C := -f- 72, below
the water line, because the weight exceeded the pres¬
sure. On C E, also, he reared the isosceles triangle
C DE = — 108, and above the same line, because the
pressure in this case exceeded the weight. On E G,
likewise, he formed a triangle, EFG= + 118; on
HK the right-angled triangle, HIK= —119; and
lastly on KM, MÔ the right-angled triangles IK M,
M O N, the former having an area of —155, and the
latter of -j- 192, the difference being -j-37.
Naval Ar.
chitecture.
Appl ica-
tions of
these theo¬
rems to Dr.
Young's
forces.
Values of the Seg¬
ments making up
the total Length
of A 0 of the Ship.
1
Areas equivalent to the Differences
between the Weights of the
Sections and their Displacements.
AC =49
Surface
A B C = + 72
C E = 20
Surface
C D E — - 108
EG = 50
Surface
EFG = + 118
GH= 6.6
HK=: 13.4
Surface
H I K = - 119
KM = 17.5
Surface
I K M = - 155
MO=:19.5
Surface
M N 0 = -f 192
TotalAO = 176
Total
= 000
General
theorems.
(315.) Now, after determining the centres of gravity
of the several triangular areas here referred to, and let¬
ting fall perpendiculars from them on the primitive line
AO, he obtained an equation of equilibrium identical
with that given by Dr. Young. On this equation
Dupin makes many judicious observations. In the
first place, he remarks, that the triangle EFG ought
not to be regarded as isosceles, since its vertex is the
5! o '
point in which the difference between the weight of the
section and its displacement, is the greatest in this part
of the vessel, and which ought to correspond with the
position of the main mast. But the main mast is
situated abaft the middle point $ of the vessel, and is,
therefore, nearer the common point of origin A by
19 feet — 69^ than the central part of the
ship. The learned Frenchman thinks the vertex of the
triangle C D E to be too far forward by at least 13
feet. To make the sum of the moments vanish also.
Dr. Young was obliged to transfer a weight of 37 tons
from the fore part of the ship to its displacement.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
39Ô
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Correction
of the hy¬
pothesis. of
Dr. Young.
(316.) To correct the hypothesis of Dr. Young,
and apply the theorems just investigated to the maxi¬
mum and minimum sections, Dupin drew within the
triangle C D E a line Vp, so as to cut off from it the
negative area C D Pp, numerically equal to the area of
the triangle ABC. Since, therefore, the area of the
trapezium CDPp is by this supposition = — 72, it
follows that the area of PpE=: —36; and similar
triangles being to each other in the duplicate ratio of
their homologous sides, we have
ADcZE: APpE::í¿E2:pE^,
- 36 X 102
or
Hence
— 54 : — 36 : : 10^ :
- 54
p E == 20 ~ 8.15 ;
and, consequently,
Ap = AE—pE:= 60.85.
If we now take the moments of the triangle ABC,
and the trapezium CDPp=ACDE— APpE,
with respect to the line Pp, in which case we shall have
for the positions of the centres of gravity
p¿, = Ap - A6 = 60.85 - 16.3 44.55,
p 0? = dZ E — p E — 10 — 8.15= 1.85,
and i p E =
3^
8.15
= 2.72;
and hence for the moments required the following
results :
44. 55 X + 72= +3207.6
1.85 X - 108 = - 199.8
2.72 X - 36 = - 97.8,
which gives for the final moment the positive quantity
2910, indicating the tendency by which the stern of the
vessel falls.
(317.) If, however, in conformity to the second
theorem, we find that the moment of the infinitely small
section contiguous to the plane of the moments here
referred to, be of a contrary character to that of the de¬
finitive moment just deduced, we shall be justified in
concluding- that the moment 2910 is absolutely the
greatest that can be discovered ; and that the moment
of the infinitely small section alluded to is negative is
apparent, on account of its partaking of the general con¬
dition of the triangle CDE, which has all its sections
of a less weight than the volumes of water they respect¬
ively displace, whereas the total moment by the pre¬
ceding calculation is clearly positive.
(318.) Let us now consider the conditions of the sec¬
tions comprised between the points E and G; and
since the area of the triangle E F G is by the hypothesis
greater than the area of the triangle E p P, let us sup¬
pose a line Q g to be drawn at right angles to the water's
surface, so as to cut off the triangle Q g E equal to the
triangle EpP. To fix the position of this line, we
have, by means of the similar triangles F/E, QgE,
the following proportion :
AF/E; AAgE :: E/2: Eg^
or
59
36 : : 25^
36 X 252
""59
Hence
Eff=150 Y/¿=19.5,
and, consequently,
Ag = A E -b Eg =88.5.
(319.) In order to estimate the moments of the
triangles ABC, CDE, Q g E, with regard to the line
Q g, we shall have for the positions of the centres of
gravity,
g6 = Ag~A6 = 88.5~ 16.3 = 72.2
cZg = A g — A d = 88.5 — 59 = 29.5
19.5
-Eg
3 ^
= 6.5,
and for the moments required,
72.2 X + 72= +5196
29.5 X - 108= - 3186
6.5 X + 36 = + 234,
giving for the final moment the positive quantity 2244.
(320.) If now we consider the nature of the sections
which are infinitely near Q g, it will be perceived that
their weights exceed their displacements, and that their
tendency, hence, is to produce a degree of curvature in
the ship analogous to the moment just determined.
Hence the moments tending to arch the ship longitudi¬
nally in Qg, at the distance of 88.5 feet aft, must by
the theorem be a minimum,
(321.) In the next place, let us consider the nature
of the sections situated between the points H and M.
The displacement of these sections exceed their abso¬
lute weights by a quantity equivalent to + 155 — 119,
this amount being greater than the total result
+ 72 -- 108+ 118.
Hence it is evident that we must cut off from the triangle
H I M, by means of a vertical line Rr, such a triangle
HR T as may make
ABC + EFG-GDE-HRr = 0,
and which condition furnishes for the value of the area
of the triangle sought
HRr = ABC + EFG-CDE
= 72 + 118 - 108
= 82.
Hence
or
Whence
AHIK : AHRr :: UK^: H r®,
82 X 13.4®
119 : 82 :: 13.4«
119
Hr = 13.4
/ 82
V 119^
11.21,
and
Ar = AH + Hr= 125.6 + 11.21
= 136.81.
(322.) To obtain the moments of the triangles ABC,
CDE, E F G, and H r R with regard to the line R r,
we shall obtain for the positions of the centres of gravity
r6 = rA —Aô = 136.81 - 16.3 = 120.51
rd = rA - Arf = 136.81 - 59
r/= r A - A/= 136.81 - 94
11.21
i r H
3
= 77.81
= 42.81
= 3.74
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
3 G 2
396
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar- ^nd hence for the moments themselves
chitecture.
^ 120.51 X + 72 = + 8676.72
77.81 X- 108 = - 8403.48
42.81 X + 118 = + 5051.58
3.74 X - 82 = - 306.68
giving for the definitive moment, the positive number
5018.14.
(323.) Thus the sections infinitely near to R r, will
have their weiahts less than the resistance of the water Naval Ar-
they displace, the moments of the same sections acting chitecture.
in a contrarv direction to that of the total moment. ^
Hence, by the second theorem, the moment just deduced
is a maximum.
(324.) At the extremities of the vessel, the sum of the
moments being zero, must furnish likewise two mini¬
mum values. Hence the maximum and minimum
values of the moments lending to arch the vessel are
those in the following Table :
At zero, or the
point A.
At A p = 60.85
feet from A.
At A g — 88.53
feet from A.
At A r =: 136.81
feet from A,
At Ao= 176
feet from A.
Minimum.
Maximum.
Minimum.
Maximum.
Minimum.
Value of the
moment
= 0.
Value of the
moment
=: 2910.
Value of the
moment
= 2244.
Value of the
moment
= 5018.44.
Value of the
moment
= 0.
(325.) If we refer to the maximum and minimum
sections passing through Ap and A q, we perceive that
from the former to the latter there must be a continual
declension in the value of each moment ; and that, con¬
sequently, at 88 feet from the origin at A, the magni¬
tude of the moment must be greater than at the distance
of 88.53 feet from the same point where the minimum
section exists; a conclusion, it may be remarked, agree¬
ing with the theory of Dr. Young. So, also, by refer¬
ring to the maximum sections deduced by Dupin we
shall find them greater than the sections nearest to
them in the investigation of Dr. Young.
(326.) Similar analogies, however, do not exist, when
we compare the maximum section of Young with the
deductions of Dupin. The former makes that section
to exist at the distance of 141.3 feet from the after part
of the water line, producing a strain equivalent to 5261
tons acting at the distance of a foot ; whereas the latter
estimates the strain at a like point at 4920.3 tons.
These investigations are far, however, from being per¬
fect. Observation joined to future applications of ana¬
lysis will be necessary to render it perfect.
(327.) It has been very ingeniously observed, says
Dr. Young, that arching is not only a part of the evil
occasioned by a ship^s weakness, but that it has an
immediate tendency to afford a partial remedy for the
cause which produces it, by making the displacement
greater at the extremities of the vessel, and smaller in
the middle ; but, in fact, this change appears to be too
inconsiderable in its extent, to produce any material
benefit, the strain at the midships being diminished by
each inch of arching only 66 tons, supposed to act at one
foot ; so that very little relief is obtained from the
change, in comparison with the whole strain.
Chapman^s (328.) What the views of Chapman were respecting
views of the trussing of ships may be gathered from the follow-
arching, jng extract from his Work on ships of war, and by
which it will be seen how much superior the views of
Seppings were to those of the Swedish ship-builder.
(329.) If a ship were cut transversely into numerous
parts, and each part were enclosed at its ends, so as to
be water tight, those parts nearest the extremities of the
ship would sink much deeper, and the middle parts rise
higher out of the water, and thus assume a different
form from that shown in the drawing, namely, higher in
midships and lower at the extremities. And as the
form of a ship above or below the water cannot be other¬
wise than it is now, and always has been, nor can the
situation of the weights by which the ship is pressed
down be altered, this defect can be obviated in another
manner than by a certain security through the whole
length of the ship, not, however, wholly, but, in a greater
or less degree, depending on using the best means, and
those which cause the least inconvenience.
(330.) in the year 1759 two vessels were built at
Stralsund, to be used in the Frische-haf, in a War with
the King of Prussia, the one about 100 feet long, and
above 20 feet in breadth, and drawing not more water
than 7^ feet : the other about 80 feet in length, and
drawing feet water. They carried heavy armaments,
especially at the extremities, and were made to row as
well as sail ; and on account of this armament and
many considerable weights, a strong combination of the
fabric was necessary ; but although their bottoms had
the greatest fulness which could be reasonably allowed
to them, they could not thereby obtain a sufficient dis¬
placement. It was therefore necessary to build them with
timbers of as small scantling as possible ; and as on this
account they could not possess the necessary strength,
especially in regard to their arching, the following method
was adopted.
(331.) Parallel to the middle line of the vessels on
each side, about half way between the keelson and the
orlop clamps, a strake of oak was laid on its edge six
inches thick, along the whole length of the hold, let
down an inch over all the timbers, the ends of which
extended to the deck, both forward and abaft, which
was called the builge-strake, and which was fastened
with bolts through the timbers and outside plank.
Under the beams of the deck, perpendicularly over the
builge-strake, was fixed on its edge a strake of fir along
the whole length of the vessel six inches thick, with a
score one inch deep for the beams, to which it was
bolted, and was called the longitudinal shelf. Both
ends of this shelf lay against the timbers of the frame,
and its lower side on the builge-strake, to which it was
coaked, both forward and abaft, and was fastened with
bolts through the builge-strake, timbers, and outside
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
397
Naval Al- plank. Between the builge-strake and the shelf, vertical
chitecture, oak pillars were placed, at a distance from each other
equal to their length ; from the lower end of one pillar
to the upper end of each following pillar was placed a
diagonal shore of fir. See more on this subject in the
Architectura Navails Mercatoria^ printed at Stockholm
in the year 1768, and in the Treatise on Ship-building
relating to it, printed at Stockholm in the year 1775, p.
217; and as it was found that the object was obtained
by the use of this diagonal trussing, all armed vessels,
as well great as small, have had trussing in all respects
similar to it.
(332.) In the year 1772 an armed vessel was built at
Stockholm about the same size as that first named, but
instead of the vertical pillars being of oak, as in the
former vessel, they were of fir, but in all other re¬
spects as before. Immediately the vessel was off the
slip it was found that it had straightened in the launch¬
ing four inches, but within twenty-four hours it re¬
covered so much of its former sheer, that the sheer was
straightened by only two inches. When it was exa¬
mined in what manner this had taken place, it was
found that the abutments of the shelf had pressed into
the vertical fir pillars, nearly half an inch in some
and it was this yielding of the timber, which in some,
degree recovered itself, by which the arching was di¬
minished. On the lower ends of the pillars against
the wedges little or no indentation was observed. The
sliding plank on which the builge-ways ran, during the
launching, did not extend to the edge of the water, but
terminated about a foot above it, so that when the mid¬
dle of the vessel was at the end of the sliding plank, its
foremost end had not the support of the water, and be¬
came balanced ; and it was just at this moment that the
arching must have taken place.
(333.) About the year 1789 two larger vessels were
built, each carrying one tier of 36-pounders, but without
any diagonal trussing. They were used in the Russian
war, and became much arched, and when they after¬
wards required a large repair, it was found that the
keel, which was 135 feet in length, had curved up¬
wards in midships feet, on which account the usual
diagonal trussing in the hold was given to them.
(334.) Suppose it be required, says Chapman, to
make a similar disposition of security for a ship of
the line, for instance, a ship of 110 guns, and let
fig. 10 and 11 represent this arrangement. As this
strengthening should be applied at the place most
convenient in respect to the stowage of the hold, it
is most important to obtain a sufficient breadth for a
certain number of water-casks, heie considered to be
four whole and one half cask on each side the keelson
or midship pillars. If five whole casks were taken, the
trussing would come too far out into the builge. The
nearer it comes, also, to the middle of the ship the
greater effect it has in preventing arching ; therefore,
when the diameters of four whole and one half cask are
added together, with half the thickness of the midship
pillar, and the whole thickness of the diagonal shores,
it gives 18|- feet, which is the distance of the middle line
of the ship from the outside of the diagonal shores. To
show this trussing, the ship's side, from one end to the
other, as far as this trussing extends, is supposed to be
laid open, a is the frame timbers, h the ceiling, c the
riders, d the builge-strake, e the fillings between the
riders, builge-strake, and ceiling, f the shelf under
the beams, which being two thicknesses in breadth.
are bolted together to give shift to each other. Over Naval Ar-
these are laid three strakes of deck plank of such a chitecture.
thickness that they can be let down one inch over the
beams, with bolts through these beams and the shelf.
g is the vertical pillar, and h the diagonal or shore. In
other respects the disposition of the pillars and trusses,
&c. is as already described.
(335.) It must be further remarked, that all the parts
which belong to this trussing, and terminate at the
extremities of the ship, are there secured in the best
manner to the ship : therefore not only must the ends
of the builge-strake and shelf be coaked together at the
extremities of the ship, but also the security there required
is supplied by fillings lying longitudinally, which are not
only coaked together but also to the builge-strake and
shelf; and which extend as far as where the shelf and
builge-strake are about 2 or 2J feet apart, by which the
whole mass, namely, the shelf, filling, builge-strake,
timbers, and outer plank, receive a sufficient number of
bolts, which are driven from without and within, as xx.
Likewise the fillings e under the builge-strake and be-
iween the riders are coaked to the ceiling, and the
builge-strake to the fillings e. The combination of this
disposition of trussing at both extremities of the ship
cannot always, however, be performed in the same
manner. For example, if the trussing comes nearer to,
or further from, the middle line of the ship, or if the ship
has greater or less fulness at the extremities, &c., each
of these cases requires a different method, the circum¬
stance of the part to be strengthened determining the
manner of performing it.
(336.) This method of security, when it is well exe¬
cuted, will certainly accomplish the object. That the
preventing arching is of consequence may be inferred
hence. When a coasting vessel, which was to carry a
considerable armament, and more than 100 feet long,
was strengthened in this manner, the day before it was
launched, the wedges at the lower ends of the pillars
were for the last time driven up. When all the wedges
at the pillars fore and aft on both sides were hardened
up at the same time, the upper end of the keel rose so
much from the upper block, that the block became
loosened and movable. It should also be remarked,
that this vessel was not deep in the hold, had only one
deck, with light upper works and small scantlings.
(337.) As the timber and iron work required for this
trussing would be equal to the weight of 1200 cubic
feet of water, the three-decker would sink about I^ inch
deeper in the water, by which the height of the battery
would be so much the less ; but as this should not be
allowed, the drawing should be altered, so that the dis¬
placement, which is =152,875, may become =154,075
cubic feet. This alteration can be made as follows :
(338.) To keep the 0 section and all the other sec¬
tions at the same places as before, the exponent 7i of the
line of sections remains the same = 2.6385, whence the
71 I 1 I)
area of the 0 section is = p— 1027.20. Let
71 L
h he a tenth of an inch longer, then h is =18.213,
hence B is = 56.4; the breadth has thus obtained an
increase of 0.13 foot.
(339.) The lowering of the metacentre, which is
caused by the increase of the displacement, is counter¬
balanced by the small increase of the breadth ; thus
the situation of the metacentre is not changed, This
brief account of the notions of the celebrated Chap-
398
NAVAL AKCHITECTURE.
Heads and
sterns of
vessels.
Decorations
of stern sur¬
passed those
of the head.
Change in
the figure¬
head of our
ships in
1796.
Naval Ar- man, shows at once the superiority of the plans of
chi^ct^re. Seppings.
On the Heads and Sterns of Vessels,
(340.) In the earliest times, tlie favourite emblem of
each particular nation rarely failed to appear when any
opportunity presented itself for its introduction. Accord¬
ingly we find the Owl constantly appeared on the Athe¬
nian prow, and the Cock, the emblem of vigilance, on those
of the Phcenician Colonies ; and that much importance
was attached to the formation and decoration of this part
of a vessel, may be gathered from the abundant illustra¬
tions afforded by ancient coins. Many of the designs
remaining to us of these ancient prows, prove their con¬
trivers to have been anxious, not only for the employ¬
ment of such improvements and inventions as had mere
utility, or the annoyance of enemies to recommend
them, but many were designed for no other purpose
than magnificence and splendour.
(341.) The decorations of the stern, or poop, how¬
ever, very much surpassed those of the head ; and to it
were attached, at the extremity of a staff or upright pole,
those floating streamers of various colours, which have
descended even to our present times. The cumbrous
and expensive ornaments, therefore, which continued to
decorate ships at the commencement of the XVIIIth
Century, may find an apology in the customs that pre¬
vailed two thousand years ago.
(342.) In 1796, the Admiralty, at the head of which
was Earl Spencer, dir«eeted that the ponderous heads
which disfigured our ships should no longer be con¬
tinued, and that the galleries and carved work should
be removed from their sterns. This was a great step
towards that simplicity so much to be desired in every
mechanical construction; but it was not till 1811, that
Seppings was enabled to bring the simple circular bow
now employed into use; nor till 1816 that he proposed
that the same system should be adopted in the stern.
(343.) The alteration of the bow was generally re¬
garded as a salutary improvement ; but the change of
the stern met with the most violent opposition, founded
chiefly on the erroneous idea that our seamen were
likely to run from the enemy. Other notions connected
with beauty and deformity were urged with singular
pertinacity ; but the unanswerable arguments founded
on experimental evidence, satisfactorily proved to every
unprejudiced mind, that the introduction of this change
of form, added considerably to the strength of the ship,
considered as a mechanical framework ; that the safety
of the crew was very much increased both from the
effects of a sea striking the stern, and from shot fired by
an enemy ; and, moreover, that the additional means
afforded for attack and defence were very much in¬
creased. Some evidence of the mechanical strength
may be gathered from a simple comparison of the forms
in fig. 12 and 13 ; and of the augmented means of
attack or defence from fig. 14 and 15. The objections
made as to form have been entirely obviated by the
model proposed by Mr. Roberts ; and it is satisfactory
to find, that an improvement, too long regarded with
indifference or hostility, is now likely to be adopted as a
permanent improvement in the British Navy.
On Timber for tfie Navy.
Timber for (344.) When we survey the framework only of a
the Navy, single ship of war, the thought immediately occurs to
Seppings's
bow and
stern.
Comparison
of means of
attack by
round and
square
sterns.
the mind how many acres of forest trees must have been
felled in order to furnish suitable timber for its forma¬
tion ; and when we further reflect on the slow growth of
the oak, and on the comparatively limited surface of
territory in our own Country covered by this noble tree,
together with tbe enormous consumption necessary for
the formation and maintenance of our Navy, and all the
hosts of our commercial fleets, with all the varied require¬
ments of the useful Arts, it cannot but become an anxious
subject for consideration, how these multiplied demands
can in perpetuity be supplied.
(345.) The public attention was first aroused to the
importance of cultivating timber, by the immortal Sylva
of Evelyn. " Many causes,'^ says Mr. Upcott in his
Preface to Evelyn's Miscellaneous Writings, " had ope¬
rated to the diminution of our woods and forests.* Men
were not planters but destroyers of wood, without
thought of the future ; but the Civil wars gave a final
blow to the work of havock : the aged oaks, like the old
families which owned them, were, by these enemies of
all that was elegant and venerable, doomed to destruc¬
tion : feeling their tenure insecure, and professing them¬
selves against root and branch, either to be reimbursed
their holy purchases, or for some other sordid respect,
they were tempted not only to fell and cut down, but
utterly extirpate, demolish, and raze, all those many
goodly woods and forests, which our more prudent an¬
cestors left standing for the service of their Country."
The Work of Evelyn was the first book printed by order
of the Royal Society. "It sounded the trumpet of
alarm to the Nation on the condition of the woods and
forests, and awakened the landholders to a sense of
their own and their Country's interests. He lived to
know that many millions of forest trees had been pro¬
pagated and planted at his instigation." And who can
estimate the benefits he conferred? who can say, after
reflecting on the Naval conflicts this Country has had to
pass through since the time of that great man, how
large a portion of our Naval glory is to be attributed
to him?t
(346.) During the reigns of Charles II. and Wil¬
liam III. laws were enacted for making enclosures
in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, and the
New Forest in Hampshire; and had those wise and
prudent measures been continued to be acted on with all
* From the records of the Royal Forests, it appears that in
1608 a survey was made of six of them. There was then found
fit for Naval purposes 234,229 trees, and of decayed trees the
enormous number of 263,145.
f Evelyn laboured to the end of his long life in giving to his
Sylva all the perfection in his power ; and at a late period we find
him thus encouraging the planter with the promise of longevity :
" It is observed that planters are often blessed with health and old
age. The days of a tree are the days of my people, says the
prophet Isaiah. Hœc scripsi octogenarius, and shall if God protract
my years, and continue my health, be continually planting, till it
shall please him to transplant me into those glorious regions above,
planted with perennial groves and trees bearing immortal fruit."
" While Britain," says Mr. DTsraeli, " retains her awful situation
among the nations of Europe, the Sylva of Evelyn will endure
with her triumphant oaks. It was an author in his studious
retreat, who, casting a prophetic eye on the Age we live in, secured
the late victories of our Naval sovereignty. Inquire at the Admi¬
ralty how the fleets of Nelson have been constructed, and they can
tell you that it was with the oaks which the genius of Evelyn had
planted."
Evelyn says, " So precious was the esteem of the oak, that of old
there was an express law among the Twelve Tables concerning the
very gathering of the acorns, though they should be found fallen
in another man's ground."
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Importance
of cultivat¬
ing timber
pointed out
by Evelyn.
Evelyn's
Sylva first
Work
printed by
order of the
Royal
Society.
liaws
enacted
for making
enclosures.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 399
Nrivaî Ar- the energ:y our insular situation ought to have com-
chitecture. manded, much of that anxiety which the enormous
consumption of the last war produced, could not have
occurred. The first great advance in the price of oak
timber took place soon after the Restoration.
In 1771 a (347.) In 1771 a Committee of the House of Com-
StheHouL appointed to inquire into the state of oak tim-
oiCommons the Kingdom; but singularly enough,
appointed from a difference of opinion, or defect of evidence, or
respecting a wish to avoid giving alarm, the Committee prayed
oak timber. have that part of its order discharged which required
them to report their opinion. In the following year,
the Legislature interfered to prevent the East India
Company from building ships in England until the
amount of their tonnage should be reduced to 45,000
tons, affording by inference what that opinion was. In
1783, when the six Royal Forests alluded to in a pre¬
ceding note were surveyed, it was found that the trees
fit for Naval purposes amounted only to 50,455, and
decayed trees to 35,554, exhibiting a decrease from
I60S of nearly four-fifths There is, also, reason for
believing that a corresponding diminution had taken
place in all the Royal Forests. The quantity of Eng¬
lish oak timber consumed for the Navy, from October
1760 to December 1788, amounted to 1,276,362 loads.
In 1788 (348.) In 1788 the consideration of the subject was
Committee renewed with more energy, and a better prospect of
ed to state of our woods and forests had begun
minei^nü) excite the most serious inquiry in Parliament. The
the alarm- immense expenditure of wood, particularly ofthat tech-
ing state of nically called compass timber, filled all thinking men
our forests, with a well-grounded apprehension that our supply
might fall very far short of the demand ; and this alarm
in all probability would have been realized, but for the
happy introduction of iron, which during the War of
the French Revolution had in so many ways been em¬
ployed with advantage in the practical Arts. It seems
to have been admitted on all hands, that prior to the
period last adverted to, there had been a most extrava¬
gant waste of oak timber, a waste not only injurious to
the financial resources of the Country, but also to the
production of the article itself. Trees were felled in a
premature state without consideration, nor was any care
taken that their places should be supplied by a younger
stock.* Men thought only of the present, anxious no
* Evelyn in his Letter to Mr. Aubrey remarked, that where
goodly oaks grew and were cut down by his grandfather a hundred
years before, beech only was then to be seen. He saw this to be
an evil, and how has the evil multiplied st id spread since his time !
Arthur Young was of opinion, that in the Counties best adapted for
the growth of oak, Kent, Sussex, &c. not one acre has been planted
for fifty acres of wood-land that has been grubbed up. Fi om the time
of the Domesdaj/'book down to 1792 there was a gradual diminu¬
tion of wood-laud. A competent person remarked in 1813, that if
we except the Royal Forests, and peihaps the estates of some half
a dozen great landholders, such as the Dukes of Devonshire, Nor¬
folk, Portland, Newcastle, &c., it may be doubted whether any
thing like a regular plantation of oak timber has taken place for
the sixty years preceding.
It has been remarked, that the quantity of acorns which the oak
bears, has made many people suppose, that Nature has taken care
to renew a supply for us ; and that of this vast quantity of seed,
which annually falls, there will always be a superabundant supply
of young trees, growing up in the place of the old ones ; but expe¬
rience proves that this is by no means the case. The greater num¬
ber of these fallen acorns is devoured by many different animals,
for whose nourishment Nature has provided that abundance of
them ; and of those which escape this fate, we are to consider how few
can come to perfection, from the natural accidents to which they are
unavoidably exposed. Acorns fall on a covered ground, where dead
doubt for their Country's good, but without that portion Naval Ar«
of wholesome care, which in every condition of life is
the main spring of all transcendent and long-continued
exertions. The amount of private shipping had in¬
creased during the sanguinary conflict here adverted to,
from 1,300,000 tons to 2,500,000 ; that of the East
India Company during the same period from 79,000 -
tons to 115,000; and the Navy, rising in gigantic
power with all our difficulties, augmenting from 400,000
to 800,000 tons. And if in addition to all this we
reflect, how greatly the manufacturing energies of the
Country had been quickened; how on the right hard
and on the left, in districts hitherto unblest by the pre¬
sence of the Mechanical Arts, mills and enormous erec¬
tions of machinery were in abundance created ; docks,
dock gates, slips, sluices, and piers, boats, barges, and
bridges, in a]l our harbours; the operations of mining,
extensive coal works ; the pursuits of agriculture ; the
construction of innumerable barracks ; the demands of
the ordnance ;—in all these and many more, oak timber
being required in an abundance unthought of by the
most sanguine speculator of a former Age;—when up¬
wards of 100 sail of the line were in active commission,
160 frigates, 200 sloops, besides bombs, gun-brigs, cut¬
ters, schooners, &c., together with an immense fleet in
ordinary, performing various offices : no wonder when
all these combined causes were in full activity and play,
and the price of the article, the sure criterion of the
stock in hand, began to augment with the most rapid
strides, that the public attention was aroused, and
that Parliament in all right energy and power took up
the question. It was calculated about this time that
the whole consumption of oak for the Royal Navy, the
East India Company, the Merchant Service, the internal
demands for buildings of different kinds, canals, machi¬
nery, docks, &c. amounted to 4,015,000 tons,
(349.) Accordingly in 1808, when the last embers of
the hope of Peace had well nigh expired, and when men
> • lîlâclô 111
began to fear that a contest already unexampled in its igosto
fury and expense might yet be indefinitely prolonged, meet the
the Commissioners of Woods and Forests began to nuke coming
active arrangements to meet the coming evil. In 1812
they made their first Report, and afforded some data by
which a proper notion might be formed of our condition. Loads of
Taking the tonnage of the Navy, said they, in 1806, at timber ne-
776,087 tons, it would require, at the rate of one load
and a half to a ton, the enormous quantity of 1,164,085 a^av\"as
loads to build such a Navy ; and supposing the average
leaves and decayed branches of trees usually prevent their touching
the earth ; or if circumstances are more favourable, and they are
enabled to shoot, it is merely from the surface, where they are,
from the slowness of their growth, liable, while very tender, to the
influences of frost ; and added to this, it is very difficult for such
tender plants as the young seedlings of these to find room for
growth or nourishment among the roots of other trees spreading
every way. The continual shade and want of free air also must
render them very weakly and irregular in their growth, even sup¬
posing they are able to surmount all other difficulties.
It is, indeed, certain, that oaks are frequently met with among
the underwood of forests, but this is only the case in spots where
there has been a vacancy or opening; and that usually, where
there are not, nor have at any time been oaks in the neighbourhood
of the spot. Those trees which grow at a distance, result most
likely from the accidental acorns brought thither by birds. This is
an instance familiarly verified, by observing, that there are fre¬
quently little bushes near woods, which, though of white-thorn, or
other trees, are usually surrounded and ornamented with young
oaks. Jays and like carnivorous birds are the real authors of these
crops.
400
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
Naval Ar¬
chitecture,
Annual
demand in
loads on
this hypo¬
thesis.
Number of
trees neces¬
sary for a
ship of the
line.
Number of
acres ne¬
cessary to
keep up a
supply of
oak.
Objections
to this com¬
putation.
duration of a ship to be fourteen years, and there are
many strong reasons for believing that this is too highly
rated, an annual amount of 83,149 loads would be re¬
quired, exclusive of repairs, which they estimate at
27,000 loads, making in the whole about 110,000 loads,
towards which, however, they thought the bravery of
British seamen might yearly afford 21,341 loads in the
shape of prizes and from other sources than British
oak 28,659 loads might be drawn, leaving a demand of
60,000 loads annually for the oak necessary for support¬
ing in its then unexampled magnitude, the whole Bri¬
tish Navy, including ships of war of all sorts, which
may be regarded as equivalent to twenty 74 gun ships,
containing one with another as constructed at that time,
about 2000 tons, or 3000 loads of timber.
(350.) Now it has been estimated on an average,
that of such oak trees as are necessary for constructing
ships of the line, forty cover an acre of ground.
Hence 50 acres of land, stocked at this rate with the
finest trees, would be necessarv for the construction of
- f
such a ship ; and, consequently, 1000 acres for the
twenty ships assumed as the annual consumption.
Now, the oak, slow of growth, requires at least a cen¬
tury to bring it to maturity ; and hence 100,000 acres
would be required to keep up a successive supply for
maintaining a navy of 700,000 or 800,000 tons. The
Commissioners hence observed, that as there were
20,000,000 of acres of waste land in the Kingdom, a
two-hundredth part set aside for planting, would at once
furnish the whole quantity wanted for the Navy.
(351.) This computation, it has been remarked, is
very considerably overrated. It proceeded on one great
and melancholy hypothesis,—perpetual war, and an
amount of tonnage more than double its present actual
amount. Added to which it was also questioned, whe¬
ther fourteen years was not too low an estimate for the
average duration of ships ; but after what we have seen
of the ravages of dry rot, we prefer calculating on the
safe side. Assuming', however, with tlie author of a
statement of apparently good authority, made in the
midst of the War, the actual tonnage kept in commis¬
sion to be 400,000 tons, and the average duration of
a ship of war to be 12i years, there would be required
an annual supply of tonnage to preserve the Navy in
this state, amounting to 32,000 tons, or 48,000 loads of
timber. According to the hypothesis before alluded to
of the consumption for a 74-gun ship, these 48,000 loads
would build 8 sail of the line and 16 frigates. Allowing
one-fourth more for casualties, the annual consumption
would be 60,000 loads, or 40,000 full-grown trees, of
which thirty-five will stand on an acre. The quantity
of timber, therefore, necessary for a 74-gun ship will
occupy 57 acres of land,t and the annual demand will
* The splendid Naval achievements of the late War prove that
this was not an improper supposition. During that War, England
seemed to have swept from the Ocean the fleets of her enemies.
There were captured or destrojed dining that arduous conflict 156
sail of the line, 382 large frigates, and 662 corvettes, in all 2506
sail of vessels of war. It appears, also, that on the 30th September,
1811, there were prize ships, admitted to registry, and added to the
commercial Navy of Great Britain, no less than 4023 ships, mea¬
suring 536,240 tons.
4 On the hypothesis of 35 trees growing on a single acre, it
will require for the building of a 120-gun ship, according to the
present mode of construction, 168 acres of land ; of an 80-gun ship
124 acres; of a 74-gun ship 103 acres ; oí a 52-gun frigate 68
acres; of a 46-gun frigate 511 acres; of a 28-gun ship 27| acres ;
of an 18-gun corvette 18 acres; of an 18-gun brig 13^ acres; of a
10-gun brig 9| acres; of a schooner 7 acres, and of a cutter 5|
be the produce of 1140 acres. Allowing, also, only
90 years for the oak to arrive at perfection, there
ought now to be standing 120,600 acres of oak
plantation, and an annual felling' and planting, in
perpetual rotation of 1140 acres, to meet the con¬
sumption of the Navy alone. Large as this may
seem, it is little more than 21 acres for each County in
England and Wales ; which is not equal to the belt sur¬
rounding the park and pleasure-grounds of many
estates.^
(352.) This calculation proceeds on the supposition
that every acre of the great surface of land referred to, is
covered with timber fit for the purposes of ship-building;
and that the greatest possible care is taken to nurse
the plantations up to that standard. It may, however,
be reasonably doubted, if we take the average condition
of the Country into consideration, whether more than
one-tenth of that number could he found on a single
acre. Adopting also the ratio fixed on by some able
writers, that the quantity of oak timber consumed in
the Navy is only a tenth part of the whole consumption
of the Country, it is evident that upwards of 12,000,000
of acres would be necessary to satisfy the whole de¬
mand. We have no means of answering the question
whether such a quantity exists or not ; but we know,
that long before the conclusion of the War, a scarcity
began to be felt, especially of the larger kind of timbei
fit for ships of the line.
(353.) This Essay is, however, written under the
favourable circumstances of Peace, and when the diffi¬
culties we have passed through exist in our minds only
as important Historical facts. It is our duty in a season
of such a kind to look around, to husband our resources,
and so to augment them as to enable us to enter with
confidence into those untried scenes which may yet be
in store for us. Not only is it our duty to encourage
the growth of oaks, but also to keep our attention
steadily directed to the timber to be found in our
Colonial possessions. It has been truly observed, that
the superior quality and abundance of the teak timber
of India, and the Naval establishments in that Coun¬
try, are available resources for keeping up our Naval
strength, far too important to be in any way neglected.
Naval Ar
chitectur«í
Further
remarks on
the compu¬
tation.
Our duty
at this time
to encou¬
rage in
every way
the growth
of oak.
acres. For one ship of each of these classes, 595 acres of land
would be necessary, stocked according to the hypothesis ad¬
verted to.
* At the time Lord Gleiibervie was Surveyor General of the
Woods, &c,, he reckoned in his first Report that 60,0D0|acres might
be obtained from the several Royal Forests ; and that the remain¬
ing 40,000 might probably be found among the forest lands in the
Duchy of Lancaster, from Needwood forest, 3000 acres of which
were appropriated to the Crown, from allotments to the Crown on
the division of wastes and commons, by purchase, or otherwise, of
lands locally situated within the different Royal Forests occupied
by individuals either by legal title or by encroachments, by pur¬
chase of wood-lands from private owners, and by purchasing out, or
refusing the renewal of, Crown leases of land containing oak cop¬
pices or land fit for the growth of oak. To which might be added
a reservation in every Enclosure Bill of a certain proportion to be set
apart for the express purpose of planting oaks, besides an obliga¬
tory clause to plant oaks in the fences at limited distances. His
Lordship also thought that the 100,000 acres should be enclosed and
planted at the rate of about 4000 acres annually, which would
complete the whole in about 25 years. The present and inter¬
mediate supply will be obtained from timber now ready for felling,
and in its different stages in the Royal Forests, on private estates,
from thinnings of the new plantations for inferior purposes, by im¬
portations of foreign oak, and by the use of other kinds of timber.
At the time this Report was drawn up 35,000 acres had already
been appropriated in this way ; and since that time our energies
have not been slackened.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
401
Naval Ar- The supply which the forests of India yield, if not
chitecture. made use of in ship-building, must, like many other re-
sources of that splendid region, be entirely lost to the
nation.
Teak. (354.) The teak forests are in the Ghauts of the inte¬
rior, both to the Northward and Southward of Bombay,
but chiefly in the latter direction. Lord Wellesley was
the first, in consequence of a communication from Lord
Melville, to cause the teak forests of Western India to
be examined, and measures were adopted for procuring
a regular supply from them. The East India Company
purchased various wood-lands, and the supply seems
now inexhaustible.
Its quality. (355.) The quality of teak is in many respects pre¬
ferable to that of oak for ship-building. Alternate ex¬
posure to a vertical sun, and to the drenching rain of
the wet monsoons, which would rend in pieces Euro¬
pean oak, produces no injurious effects upon teak.
Many of the upright timbers for securing the stays in
the Old Docks at Bombay have stood more than forty
years with paint or tar, and in 1812 were still as perfect
as when first erected. A piece of the same wood also,
taken out of a gate of one of Tippoo's forts in Ganara,
which had been exposed to every change of weather for
more than half a century, when brought to Bombay was
ascertained to be unimpaired, with nails, which had se¬
cured it, quite free from corrosion or rust, and as sound
as when first driven. The Turkish flag-ship at Bussorah
was built by Nadir Shah, and after seventy years, when
examined at Bombay, was found perfectly sound. The
Hercules of 485 tons, built at the same place in 1763,
when captured by the French in 1783, was entire in
every part ; and the Milford of 679 tons, after constant
employment between China and Europe for 24 years,
was - examined, and no timber found which required
shifting. Her teak main mast continued in her twenty-
one years, when, being partially sprung, it was converted
into a main mast for a smaller vessel. Teak possesses
the valuable property of preserving iron, while oak de¬
stroys it. A piece of teak plank, which had been bolted
to the side of the Chiffbne frigate, was removed at the
end of eight years. That part of the iron bolt buried in
the teak was found perfectly good, whereas that which
had been in the oak was totally corroded.
Larch. (356.) Much has been said in favour of larch for the
purposes of ship-building. So fully was the Empress
Catherine impressed with its value, that the exportation
of it from Russia was at one time prohibited. The
rapidity of its growth is so great, that it has been found
to double in diameter that of the oak in the same given
time, and hence to produce four times the quantity of
timber. From several experiments it has been found
not inferior in strength, toughness, and elasticity to oak.
The Dukes of Athol and Montrose, Lord Fife, and
several other great landholders in Scotland, have made
very extensive plantations of this tree and the Scotch fir,
which are rapidly rising into magnificent forests, and
will enable us in future years to diminish the consump¬
tion of our native oak.
Where tim- (357.) Trinidad contains about a million and a half
ber fit for of acres, two-thirds of which, at least, are covered with
ship-build- vvood, and wholly the property of the Crown. The
Spanish peons, or labourers, are extremely dexterous at
felling and squaring timber, and work at a cheap rate.
In Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, also, we
possess immense forests abounding with oak for ship¬
building. With all these Colonial resources, added to
VOL. YI.
our own domestic supplies, and the great attention now Naval Ar»
paid to the rearing of the oak in our Royal Forests, we chitecture.
have little fear of obtaining an abundant quantity when-
ever the warlike energies of the nation may be again
called into exercise.
(358.) In the Mediterranean Islands, in the Morea, in
Albania, Dalmatia, and Croatia, the finest oak timber,
in point of size and shape, is most abundant.
(359.) In the Annales Maritimes for June 1828 is a Report of
Report of a Commission charged by the French Govern- French
ment with the examinationof woods imported from Africa. Commis-
Of the call cedra it was said, that though less flexible,
it is tougher than oak, and being as strong, without
being heavier, may be quite as advantageously employed
in Naval construction. The gonakier^ almost as flexible
as oak, and at the same time possessing one half more
strength and toughness, is better calculated for the
frames of ships. The deíAard, of equal strength with
oak, is more flexible, but has not so much elasticity. It
appears very well adapted for. planking, and as a substi¬
tute for compass timber. The turtosa has rather less
flexibility than oak, but is superior to it in every other
respect.
(360.) For many purposes, if timber have strength Timber
and durability, it possesses every necessary quality ; but suitable fot'
there are some applications of wood in which other qua- mast-
lities are necessary, such as flexibility, elasticity, and "^^king,
lightness. This is particularly the case in mast-making,
a branch of ship-building on which the most important
considerations depend. If a mast possesses so great a
degree of rigidity as not to yield to the sudden shocks to
which it is subject, it must soon become fractured ; and
if its resilience when bent be not sufficient to cause it to
recover its true position, it is rendered weaker at every
impulse.
(361.) The timber commonly used for masts is fir and Fir and
pine, distinguished according to the character of their pine,
leaves and cones. By mast-makers it is distinguished
by the name of the place from which it is imported, as
the Norway and Riga firs, Canada red and white pines,
&c. According to Mr. Fincham, the timber that pos- Remarks
sesses in the greatest degree the qualities best suited for on va-
masting, is the pinus silvesiris Genevensis vulgaris^ rieties.
abounding in the vast forests of Russia, Norway, and
Poland. The most esteemed is from the Ukraine and
Livonia, and is brought down the Dwina, it is com¬
monly called Riga from the port from which it is shipped,
in the same way as the Adriatic fir derives its name from
being shipped in the Adriatic. The different firs and
pines, besides those of the North, used for masting the
Royal Navy of Great Britain, and likewise to a great
extent her commercial Navy, are principally those from
Canada, with some from Nova Scotia, and a few from
Scotland. The timber from Canada consists chiefly of
the pinus strobus, or what is commonly called the Wey¬
mouth, or white masting pine ; and the white, red, and
black spruce, pinus Canadensis, The Scotch fir, pinus
silvesiris^ is common in the Highlands of Scotland, as
well as in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.
(362.) Standing masts are generally made of yellow Further re¬
pine, and topmasts of red. The white, red, and black niarks ou
spruce are but little employed, excepting for small spars.
The Adriatic fir is frequently used tor the masts
cutters and other small vessels, but its qualities are not Poou.
very good. Timber denominated Poon has been par¬
tially used for masting ships built in India; and the
Cowrie brought from New Zealand has been employed
3 H
402
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
Naval Ar- for small standing masts, and for topmasts even for a
chitecture. first-rate. This atter possesses many of the most
esteemed qualities for masting.
French ob- (363.) The French, according to Forfait and others,
tain sup- j^aye received considerable supplies from Corsica, from
plies from Pyrenees, from Catalonia, Savoy, from the neigh-
Pyr^nres, bourhood of Mont Blanc, Puy de Dome, and Cantal.
&e. These firs, however, contain but little resinous matter.
The heart is porous and the grain close, and their flexi¬
bility is but very trifling. They soon become dry and
break under very slight strains.
Turks,from (364.) The Turks obtain excellent firs from the
shores of shores of the Black Sea. They are commonly of the
Black Sea. gp^eies denominated pinus pinea^ and pinus laricis.
requisite to
judge of
wood.
desirable
firs.
ticafslaU^' They are but little inferior to the trees of the North.
(365.) It requires great practical skill and experience
to judge of the qualities of any kind of wood. In the
selection of firs for masting, the climate, aspect, and soil
in which they grow must be attentively considered. To
judge of the qualities of trees while standing, is the duty
of those employed in the forests ; while the mast-maker
makes his selection from the trees when felled, and
What are judges of them as timber. The most desirable firs have
the most a fine and close grain, with the ligneous layers closely
blended together, and their annual concentric circles
finely and firmly connected, decreasing gradually from
the heart to the sap. The nearer these layers approach
to circles or ellipses, the less likely is the timber to be
defective. They are, generally, highly charged with
resin, giving strength and elasticity, preserving the
timber from insects, and preventing fermentation and
decay. The colour should be of a clear or bright yel¬
low, with a reddish cast alternately. The smell of Riga
and other firs of this quality, should be strongly resi¬
nous, especially when they are exposed to the sun, or
their shavings are rubbed between the fingers. In cases
where the layers are open, with pale red tints near the
heart, and white spots intermixed ; or where they are of
a dark red colour with the resinous particles of a black¬
ish colour, the timber is in a state of decay. When firs
are cut transversely, and not of an uniform colour, but
interspersed with veins, and the smell is entirely gone
or become fetid, they may be considered as past their
prime, and approaching a state of decay. In some yel¬
low and red pines, the degree of unsoundness is indicated
by the offensiveness of the smell, and alternate layers of
a foxy-brown, or red colour, will break out before the
sharpest plane on being wrought.
(366.) The experienced mast-maker, says Mr.
experienced Fincham, forms his opinion of the quality of a stick, not
mast-maker only from the colour, smell, and appearance of the grain.
How the
judges.
Further re¬
marks on
quality.
but also by its working ; for as a stick is more or less
fragile, the greater or less difficulty he has in separating
its parts, as he chops them off. If the timber is good,
its parts, on being separated, appear stringy, and oppose
a strong adhesion, and the shavings from the plane will
bear to be twisted two or three times round the fingers ;
whereas, if the stick be of a bad quality, or in a state of
decay, and has lost its resinous qualities, the chips and
shavings come off short and brittle, and with much
greater ease.
(367.) Those kinds of timber that have but little or
no resin, and whose colour is of a whitish or light brown
cast, and are of rather a coarse grain, as the Adriatic,
Norway, &c., will, as they become dry, though they
maintain their strength and resilience for a considerable
time, be so rigid that they will always be subject to
break, by any sudden impulse, without warning, espe- Naval Ar-
cially if they are kept in dry stores for a long time. chitecture.
(368.) The Riga and other timbers containing a pro-
per quantity of resin, and the red pine, from the fine¬
ness and closeness of its grain, and the adhesiveness of
its fibre, not only maintain their resilience, but their
strength and flexibility much longer, even to a dry
state.
(369.) The Cowrie possesses advantages over most Cowrie,
other timber, from the firmness of its grain, and the
uniformity of its texture. The experiments which have
been made on this timber, compared with the Riga,
Dantzic, and other esteemed firs, justify -the conclusion
that it possesses equally good qualities with these tim¬
bers, for all the purposes for which they are generally
used. When exposed to the weather, it appears less
liable toshrink, and stands equally well with them. The
Cowrie spars that have been brought to England, ap¬
pear but a little beyond saplings, since many of the full
grown trees are said to exceed 30 feet in girth, and to
continue the full size to nearly 60 feet from the ground.
Their common diameter is from three to six feet, and
their length frequently from 90 to 100 feet clear of
branches.
(370.) These are some of the results which long Valuable
practical experience affords, and are the only solid ini'ormatioa
groundworks of improvement in the Mechanical Arts.
In the various applications of timber, and in none more
so than in mast-making, accurate experience is of the
greatest importance. The Philosopher, as he passes
through a workshop, learns to value men who, at every
step, may afford him some useful information ; some¬
thing probably which had been handed down by tradi¬
tion from one generation of workmen to another, but
with which he is not acquainted. And that knowledge
of this kind is indispensable, if he wishes to gain an
accurate acquaintance with the Arts of life, will be rea¬
dily conceded by him whose mind has been properly
disciplined and trained ; who regards all the practical
Arts as helpmates to Science ; and as the only cer¬
tain foundations for the very best departments of our
knowledge.
Dry Rot, and other Sources of Decay,
(371.) One of the most formidable evils the Navy of Dry rot,
England has had to contend with is the dry rot; a subtle
enemy, more terrible than the bullets of the greatest
cannon, decomposing the fibres of timber, depriving the
largest trees of all their strength, and in a few years
reducing the whole fabric of the noblest vessel to a mass
of dry dust,
(372.) It has been reserved for our days to see Great deve-
this destructive agent develope itself with gigantic
power, attacking many of our modern built houses, times,
and sapping with irresistible energy our finest built
ships. The inquiring mind naturally asks, how
vessels built half a century ago are more durable
than those constructed at the present time ; to what
circumstance it is to be attributed that the beautiful
roof of Westminster Hall is as sound and as perfect
as on the day it was built ; why the mansions and
Baronial halls of the olden time seem destined to sur- Masts,
vive the modern built villa ; why some of our oldest
ships should exhibit fewer elements of decay than the
vessels on which all the resources of Modern Art have
been bestowed?
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
403
Naval Ar«!"
chitecture.
Dry rot
coeval with
timber
trees.
Public at¬
tention first
directed to
It in 1810.
N iimerous
theories
and reme¬
dies conse¬
quent there-
oh.
Common
lot and dry
lot.
Nature of
the com¬
mon rot.
Nature of
dry rot.
Its exter¬
nal cha¬
la cters.
Different
descrip¬
tions of it.
(373.) There can be no doubt that this disease,
whatever it be,—for its nature and cure seem almost
equally unknown, must have been coeval with timber
trees themselves, though not known by its present name,
or exhibiting so formidable examples of its power,
until about the middle of the last Century.* About
the year 1810,f however, the public attention was first
seriously awakened to its importance, in consequence of
the Queen Charlotte, a noble first-rate ship of war, hav¬
ing been launched at Deptford, sent round to Plymouth
under jury masts in 1811, found too rotten to be sea¬
worthy, and in the following year undergoing a repair,
amounting, it is said, to <£30,000. All her upper
works were infected with dry rot ; the ends of her
beams, carlings, and ledges, and the joinings of her
planks being covered with a mouldy, fibrous, and re¬
ticulated crust, the portions of her timbers so covered
being altogether rotten. It would be endless to enu¬
merate the abundant speculations to which this remark¬
able occurrence gave birth. Theories of its origin,
remedies for its cure were offered on all sides ; and
while the severest critic could not but applaud the
zeal and patriotic spirit which animated their authors,
the melancholy conviction was forced on his attention,
that neither for one nor the other was any sound or
rational opinion offered.
(374.) Among other objects of discussion was the in¬
quiry whether the common rot and the dry rot were the
same; and it was soon perceived that the two were
essentially different,—different in their origin, and very
different in their modes of operation. The common
rot, it was remarked, is a gradual decay of the fibre of
the wood, more or less accelerated by the uncertain
action of wind, heat, and moisture on its surface ; its
progress internally being greatest when the timber is
constantly exposed to alternations of wet and drought,
as exemplified in the rapid decay of that part of a post
which is close to the surface of the earth, while all
above and below is perfectly sound ; and least, when
constantly soaked in water, or kept constantly dry,
exposed to a free current of air, or excluded entirely
from it.
(375.) The dry rot, on the contrary, commences its
ravages internally, and is but little affected by any
external circumstance, excepting that of heat. Its ex¬
ternal characters are differently described by different
observers. By some a fine mouldy coating has been
observed to spread over the wood, of a brownish-yellow
or dirty white, which soon begins to resemble in form
and structure some of the beautiful ramified algee or sea¬
weeds. This in a little time becomes more compact, the
interstices being so completely filled up as to give to the
whole the appearance of leather. By others it has beeu
represented as fibres running over the surface in endless
ramifications, resembling the nervous fibres of leaves;
the interstices being filled with a spongy-like substance
assuming the character of that order of Cryptogamous
* Mr. Knowles, in his inquiry into the means which have been
taken to preserve the Navy, cites the 14th Chapter of Leviticus, in
which dry rot is accurately described under the name of " leprosy
in houses," and the same remedies directed to be applied, which
have been practised with success in our own time. That dry rot
also existed in the latter part of the XVllth Century may be in¬
ferred from Mr. Pepys, who gathered toad stools in their holds " as
big as his fists.*'
f The term " dry rot" was not inserted in any official document
earlier than 1808.
plants distinguished by the name oï fungus.^ Accord¬
ing to Mr. Wade, the wood at first swells ; after some
time it changes its colour, and then emits gases which
have a mouldy or musty smell. In more advanced
stages, the wood cracks transversely, and in its latter
stages becomes pulverulent, forming vegetable earth ;
and, generally, in some of these stages of decay, the dif¬
ferent species of fungus are found to vegetate on the
mass.
(376.) These appearances do not, however, inva¬
riably happen, the surface of the diseased timber some¬
times remaining unchanged, while the process of rotting
is going on within ; and however sound the surface
may be, the whole of the exterior fibres become decom¬
posed, presenting a mass of dust inclosed within a thin
external shell. No charring of the surface, no external
application of paint, tar, or varnish, will stop us ravages
where the seeds of the dry rot exist in a situation favour¬
able for their growth, though the external character of
mouldiness may by such means be prevented from ap¬
pearing on the surface.
(377.) This terribly destructive agent was discovered
in all our harbours, and sapping the vitals of our ships
more or less, wherever they were found on the sea.
From the best information that can be gathered, it ap¬
pears, that to the rapid construction of our ships during
the late War, may be attributed their very extraordinary
decay. When Lord Spencer quitted the Admiralty in
1801, it has been generally supposed that he left an
efficient fleet, but this was by no means the case. It
was numerous indeed, but many of the ships were nearly
worn out. Lord St. Vincent, his successor, determined
to build no more ships in merchants' yards, and the
King's yards were almost wholly occupied in ])atching
up those actually in commission, and those brought for¬
ward from the ordinary. In 1804, when Lord Mel¬
ville succeeded to the Admiralty, the Navy was wholly
inadequate to the situation of the Country ; scarcely one
of the ships in commission having more than three years
to run, most of them but two, and many only one ; a
few, and but a few, new one» were slowly coming for¬
ward in the King's yards, and none in the merchants'
yards. Thus circumstanced, recourse was had to pri¬
vate builders, who were wholly unprepared with mate¬
rials. Contracts, however, were entered into at ad¬
vanced prices, the axe was set to work, and trees which
were one year growing in the forest, were in the next
floating on the ocean ; and up to the termination of the
War, so closely did the demand press upon the supply,
that few, if any, ships were built in the Royal yards with
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Diversity in
its appear¬
ance.
Rapid con¬
struction of
ships the
cause of
their decay
Lord St.
Vincent de¬
termined to
build no
more ships
in mer¬
chants*
yards.
Dangerous
state of the
N avy in
1804.
Lord Mel
ville com.
pelle d to
have re¬
course to
private
builders.
* The Author of this Essay, early in life, had a book-case with
close doors in its lower part, in a study on the ground-floor of a
new house. Into this lower compartment of the book-case, he
had put a number of books he was not in the habit of usiug,
together with many MSS. The doors were not opened for many
months, but one day finding it necessary to refer to some Work,
he opened the doors, and to his great amazement saw every opening
filled with the most beautiful varieties of fungus. On examining
the books, some of them crumbled beneath the slightest touch ;
and between all their leaves, the finest layers of a very thin
leather-like substance were found. This substance had removed
all traces of writing from many of the MSS., and many fell into
the finest powder. The lower part of the book case was completely
rotten, and on examining the wood-work of the house, such as the
lower partitions, floors, stairs, &c., nearly the whole was found
completely decayed. In a short time the staircase must have
been broken down even by a little child treading on it, so active
had been the work of destruction. He lost several rare and
valuable Works, and some important MSS. on this occasion.
3 li 2
404
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE
Scarcity of
oak.
j uncus.
Seasoned
with un¬
seasoned.
ployed in
our Dock¬
yards
during the
War.
Naval Ar- well-seasoned timber. Hence the probable origin of an
chitecture. which at one time filled the stoutest hearts with
dismay, and reparation of the ravages of which has cost
the Country millions.
(378.) The scarcity of our own noble oak contributed
greatly to accelerate this fearful state of things. Jits
employment in the same vessel in a seasoned and iin-
Mixing dif- seasoned state, and its mixture with different kinds of
ferent kinds foreign timber, led to the most disastrous results. The
of wood m- Queen Charlotte before adverted to was nearly seven
years in building. Of the timber employed in her con¬
struction, some was seasoned and some quite green.
Part of it consisted of Canada oak, and part of pitch
pine, both peculiarly susceptible of dry rot. Her
timbers were covered with as many species of the bole¬
tus as there were different kinds of wood employed in
Varieties of her construction. During our long protracted War we
wood em- j^^d line of battle ships constructed in the Royal Dock¬
yards entirely of oak from Holstein, and frigates in the
same establishments altogether of fir imported from the
Baltic. In the river Thames, also, we had gun-brigs
built of this latter material, and numerous frigates ot
the red pine, pitch pine, and yellow pine of America. At
Bombay, Calcutta, and Cochin, ships of the line and
vessels of other classes were formed wholly from teak.
At Prince of Wales's Island, frigates were constructed of
the different sorts of wood abounding in that Island; at
Halifax, ships of birch, red pine, and oak ; at Bermuda
numerous vessels entirely of cedar. The Athol, also,
was built in England entirely of larch. From Sierra
Leone, timber was imported for ship-building. Of these
varieties, teak is the most durable, and the red pine of
America the least so. Frigates framed from this latter
wood seldom lasted longer than four or five years.
(379.) As practically authentic examples of the evils
resulting from the careless employment of unseasoned
timber,—of bad workmanship unchecked by vigilant
superintending officers,—as examples, we fear we may
say, of those tremendous frauds, which to a greater or
less degree prevailed in most of our public departments
at this time, we select from a host that might be adduced
the following. The Rodney, line of battle ship, built in
the private yard of Barnard, was launched in 1809.
She had scarcely put to sea, when, owing to the un¬
seasoned state of her timber, all her planks became
loose, and it was necessary to bring her home from the
Mediterranean in 1812 to be paid off.* The three
* The resident overseer who in such cases superintended the
building of a ship, was what was then denominated a quarterman,
one degree above a common carpenter, at a salary fiom ¿£160 to
£180 a year. This person was appointed to overlook and to
check the work of a Body of men, who were not very easily con¬
trolled. It was stated in evidence, before the Select Committee
of thé House of Commons appointed to inquire into the subject,
that a common shipwright then earned a guinea a day in job
work. It was hardly to be expected, therefore, that an officer with
so small a salary could resist the combinations of nien gaining
wages so high, particularly when joined by all the weight and in¬
fluence of the contractors. The inspection^ therefore, was a nullity.
It was utterly impossible for one individual to examine minutely
into all the operations of the great number of men employed at the
same time on the different parts of so large a machine as a 74-gun
ship. While superintending the work of one gang on one side of
the ship, another gang may be employed, to adopt the strong lan¬
guage of a Quarterly Reviewer, " clenching devils^'' as they did in
the Albion ; or driving " short bolts,as was the case in the Ardent;
or filling up bolt holes and the rifts in shakg timber with paint and
putty.
Equally unsatisfactory was the resurvey of the ship when she was
received into the King's yards. We quote the reply of the builder
King's master-shipwrights, who examined her, re¬
ported that they found a bolt in the chock of a beam
not passing through the ship's side, and that a hole
bored for a bolt had only putty put into it. The Dub¬
lin, built in Brent's yard, was launched in February
1812, put in commission in the following August, sent
upon a cruise towards Madeira and the Western Islands
in December, from which she returned to Plymouth in
February 1813, in so dreadful a state, that she was
ordered to be paid off. The officers of the Plymouth
yard stated in their report of this ship, that her defects
exceeded any thing they had ever witnessed in a new
ship."
(380.) An idea of the enormous cost of repairs may
be gathered from the following brief Table, part only of
a catalogue which fills the mind with the deepest indig¬
nation :
Naval A?»
chitecture,
Disgracefu
workman¬
ship.
Enormous
cost of re¬
pairs.
Superb..
Ajax.. ..
Achille .
Spencer.
When
Built.
1798
1798
1798
1800
First
Cost.
£38,647
39,039
38,450
36,249
Time of Ser¬
vice before
being docked.
Yrs. Mos.
2 6
0 5
1 5
2 9
Cost of
Repairs.
£47,283
26,683
25,646
43,748
When
paid off.
1809
1802
1802
1802
Examples
of bad
building.
In two cases out of the four the repairs considerably ex¬
ceeded the original costs of the vessels. The survey¬
ing officer who supjerintended the building of the iVjax,
and his assistants when called on to explain their conduct with
regal <1 to the Rodney.
" The Rodney was carefully inspected hy us in the usual manner,
and reported that, as far as practicable for us to form an opinion,
life works appeared to be executed in a workmanlike manner, and
agreeably to the terms of the contract ; but it is not possible for us
to foim any opinion of the inlet nal parts of the work, which can be
known only to those who inspect the whole oí the work in the pro¬
gress of building."
How very imperfect an estimate is to be formed from the survey
of a ship maybe collected from the following fact; four 74-guri
ships, the Resolution, the Thunderer, the Monarch, and the Cul-
loden, were examined by the Dock-yard officers, and reported as fit
to be cut down and converted into razées to be employed against
the large American frigates. Thev were taken in succession into
dock for that purpose, but every one of them, on being opened, was
found unfit for further service, and ordered to be broken up.
That a better system was employed in the King's yards there
can be no doubt, and if the ships built in the Royal Dock-yards
decayed, it arose from the material necessarily employed, and not
from defective workmanship. In practical ship-building we sur¬
pass every other people ; and a good judge of this kind of
carpentry need only walk through our Dock-yards, and minutely
inspect the ships there building and repairing, to be convinced that
the most careful attention is bestowed on this important particular.
There is, indeed, so complete a system of inspection and responsi¬
bility, as to make it quite impossible to slur over the workmanship
in the same slovenly manner as was done in the private yards.
The master-shipwright is charged with the general and unremit¬
ting superintendence of all the works in each yard ; his assistants
superintend and control the foremen ; they in their turn check the
leading men, and the leading men are responsible for the divisions
under them. The foremen, being salary officers, have no partici¬
pation in the earnings of the gang, no interest in the work being
slovenly or rapidly performed. On the contrary, the highest re¬
sponsibility rests on them for its proper execution. An account is
taken of every timber and plank that enters the ship, of every hole
that is bored, every bolt that is clenched, and every treenail that is
driven. The hours of labour are precisely regulated. Every ship¬
wright must be punctual in his attendance, and decent and orderly
in his behaviour ; and hence it is no fault of the workmen, or of
the officers who superintend them, if the ships built in the Royal
Dock-yards decay. They can only convert the timber that is in
store. The responsibility of providing proper materials rests with
a higher quarter : in the times we are alluding to with the Navy
Board, at the present time, now that that Board is abolished, with
the Admiralty.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 405
Naval Ar- stated in justification of his conduct, That thé unfit-
chitecture. jjggs and bad quality of the timber used in that ship,
neither were, nor could be discovered by the surveying
officers of the yard, as the defects (if any) were always
hid by putty, and the surfaces of the beams, knees,
riders, &c., covered over with three coats of paint."^
* The magnitude of the evils existing at this time in our ship¬
building, will amply apologize for the following Reports of the sur¬
veying officers of Chatham yard on the state of the Albion, built
in a merchant's yard, and alluded to in a former note. Such
Reports ought to read a lesson of the strongest kind to the future
managers of our Navy.
Extract of a Copy of a Letter to the Navy Board^ Chatham yardj
April 1, 1811.
The Albion under repair in this yard, from her extraordinary
defects, calls for a minute inspection, and a particular description
of the causes that may be discovered, that have led to such uncom¬
mon complaints, in order to prevent similar occurrences.
We have taken a strake out of her bottom, at the run of the
first and second futtock heads, when we discovered that the usual
mode of fastening the plank by single and double boring the tim¬
bers alternately has not been attended to, a large portion of the
timbers being only single bored, of course the ship has been de-
piived of a considerable quantity of fastenings, and the treenails
that are driven appear much crippled from the strain that has been
upon them ; the plank at the run of the second futtock heads in par¬
ticular, is not generally in contact with the timbei s, nor was it in the
first instance, for we discover that it is not in places the proper
thickness.
The butts of the wales and the materials above are drawn apart
in many places by the hogging of the ship, so that recourse has
been had to the letting in of pieces at the butts, to make the
calking stand.
Ill the hold, the foot waling was, from the oilop clamps down, a
mass of defective matter; we, in consequence, unbolted the riders,
and took it out, when we discovered the timbers of the frame and
the opening sodden with filth. Had the ship been sunk in mud,
her state could not have been worse ; in places she appears to have
been a prey to insects of diiïèrent descriptions, for some of the
openings were absolutely full ot their remains.
Ill unbolting the riders, hooks, and crutches, we found many
bolts broken, some shorty and a few teimed devils, or in other words
false clenches; in the crutches we also found several bolts rayged,
which we imagined was done in consequence of their being for an
auger of a larger diameter than the bolt required, as rope yarns
were wrapped round the bolts so served. A piece of gun-deck
spirketing, and also a shift of foot waling was discovered to be
chopped 111, termed a Spanish burn.
The stern frame of the ship is fallen aft many inches, which
may be seen by the carling under the gun-deck beam which rises
to the throat of the deck transoms.
The thwartship's arms of the knees of the various decks are
twisted froni the sides of the beams, many of them sprung so as to
be of little use to the ship, and a considerable quantity of the
fore and aft bolts broken, many of the beams defective, and de¬
parted considerably from their original round, particularly the
orlop; in fact, this ship presents a fabric of complete debility,
arising principally from the insufficiency of the workmanship.
With respect to the devil bolts, as they are termed, or false
clenches, we conceive the act so truly criminal, that we are humbly
of opinion, that the Legislature should provide a punishment pro¬
portionate to the offence.
If it is judged proper to enact a penalty to prevent accidents in
cases where the common stages are loaded with passengers beyond
a limited number, of how much more consequence is it to prevent
acts which may be the destruction of hundreds !
(Signed.) R. Seppings. E.R. Hellyer. W.Hunt.
Joseph Speck, I Í Queen,
'Thomas Paruott, > Carpenters of the < Ramillies,
Richard Price, J [Albion.
The warrant tor the Navy Board ordering the repairs of this
ship did not, it seems, t-mbrace all that was necessary to be done ;
upon which the surveying officers again addressed the Board, as
follows :
We can v/ith great truth assure your Honourable Board, that
our reason for making the representation was grounded on no other
motive than that of doing our duty in a case where g7'eat neglect
has taken place, from which the Government has sustained a consi¬
derable loss, and a ship^s company narrow/y escaped shipwreck.
■ We had flattered ourselves that our survey would have, met with
(38L) In the Journal of Lord Sandwich's visitation
of the Dock-yards in 1771, the following passage occurs.
Went on board the Ardent, found her in a total decay,
her timber and plank rotted almost universally. This abl^en-
ship was built at Hull in 1764, and never was at sea; try in the
her prime cost was about ^23,000, and her repairs are Journal of
now estimated at ¿^17,000. The cause of the great
decay of this ship is attributed to her being hastily '
built." His Lordship adds : " no more ships to be
built at Hull." Happy would it have been for the
Country could this injunction respecting Hull have
been extended in an after-time to all the private yards in
the Kingdom ; or if the necessities of the Kingdom
required their assistance, that an effectual superintend¬
ence of them had been rigidly enforced.
(382.) We have had so many examples of great du- Many
rability in our Navy, that our regret at these instances examples
of decay, cannot but be augmented when we reflect on
them. The Royal William, a first-rate, built at Ports- of shms^^
mouth in 1719, was among the ships sent to the relief Royal
of Gibraltar in 1782, and after the lapse of nearly a William,
century, bore the flag of the Port Admiral at Spithead.
The breaking up of this fine old ship was an object of
considerable curiosity. Various reasons had been
assigned for her extraordinary durability. It was sup¬
posed that her timber had undergone some artificial
seasoning, that the plank and thick stuff had been burned
instead of kilned, the ends and surfaces of the various
parts charred, and that the process of snail creeping, or
gouging out, in crooked channels the surfaces of the
timbers and planks, was made use of to give a free cir¬
culation of air. It is understood, however, that no indi¬
cations of charring, burning, or snail creeping could be
traced, and that her timbers had undergone no other
preparation than that of time and the weather. This
remarkable vessel was built by Mr. Nash, and he took
particular care when building her to employ only well-
seasoned materials. It is also a singular fact in the
history of this ship, that owing to an ignoble jealousy
which existed between her builder and Sir Jacob Ack-
worth, Sir Jacob endeavouring in all things to lessen
the merit of Mr. Nash, the Royal William was not for
your Honourable Board's approbation, and so we humbly conceive
it would, but we suspect represerdations have,been made to counter¬
act what we have stated; if that be the case, we should be happy to
meet those on the spot that have advanced a contrary doctiine.
Our suspicions that a different report has been given, aiise from the
mode of repair you have been pleased to direct ; and which mode
we consider has been adopted in consequence of representations
made by the assistant surveyor of the Navy, who has, with the
merchant ship-bmlders, visited this yard since our statement.
We have opened her abaft since our survey, by which we have dis¬
covered great additional deficiency of workmanship, and should con¬
trary opinions have been given to that we have advanced, we are
of opinion, those that have offered them should come and view the
ship.
(Signed.) R. Seppings. E. P. Helt.yer. W. Hunt.
These horrible devils are not confined to the Albion. In the sur¬
veying officers' repoits on the Ardent is the following passage :
Several of the fore and aft bolts of the gun, upper, and quarter
decks, also the fbrecasile, worked wholly out, and otheis partly so,
in consequence of many of the holts being short ; some that worked
out were only five inches, and others nine inches long,
(Signed.) Joseph Tucker. J.Ancelu.
Edward Churchill. James Jagol.
The portion of the second Report, alluding to representations
having been made to counteract the statements that had been
afloided by the distinguished ship-builders whose names are attached
to it, shows at once the nature of the influence that was exerted, and
gees tai to explain the abominable piactices that pievailed in these
priratd v ards wheie King's ships were building.
406
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Sovereign
of the Seas.
Satisfactory-
state of the
British
Navy at
this time.
Precau¬
tionary
measures
that have
been
adopted.
placing
timber un¬
der roofs
and not in
contact.
Immersion
of timber in
fresh and
salt water.
Removing
sap.
many years employed, and even a decree was on one
occasion made for making her a hospital ship. Thus,"
said Lord Sandwich, " that ship which has proved to be
of as good qualities as any ship that was ever built, was
lost to the public for many years, owing to a jealousy and
ill will between two officers. Such feelings are the ruin
of many great undertakings, and in the public depart¬
ments ought to be checked in every possible way."
(383.) The Sovereign of the Seas, afterwards named
the Royal Sovereign, was built at Woolwich in 1637,
and stood forty-seven years' service. The Barfíeur was
built at Chatham in 1768, and in 1812 was still a good
ship and under repair for further service. The Mon¬
tague was launched at Chatham in 1779. After under¬
going several repairs, she carried the flag of Admiral
Sir Manly Dixon, the " Hero of the Lion" as he is called
by the sailors, at Rio Janeiro. How different these
examples from the Ocean, the Foudroyant, the St. Do¬
mingo, the Rodney, the Ajax, the Albion, and many
others, which were falling to pieces within five years after
launching, and some of thern in less than three !
(384.) It is a consolatory reflection, however, after
the really appalling considerations we have felt it our
duty to go through, to state, that at the present time,
the state of the British Navy is such as to warrant the
most complete satisfaction in the general efficiency and
soundness of our ships. The constant assertions of
those authorities, whose situations make them neces¬
sarily acquainted with the general state of the Navy,
and whose iinremittinir attention renders them most
intimately acquainted with the minutest details of his
Majesty's ships, are abundantly sufficient to remove
every fear which its condition fifteen or twenty years ago
could not but inspire.
(385.) This great and desirable change has been
brought about by various precautionary measures
adopted by the late Navy Board, after reviewing all the
plans that had been proposed by different ingenious in¬
dividuals.^ The methods at present adopted in his
Majesty's Dock-yards for the preservation of timber, are
such as have been suggested by an examination of its
nature, and the circumstances under which it is placed
in ships, and which have been proved by experience to
have been well calculated to produce this desirable effect.
The principal of these—the placing timber under roofs,
and keeping the logs apart from each other, is found
an excellent method of seasoning timber, by admit¬
ting a free circulation of air without an exposure to
the rain. Immersion of timber in water also is found to
be an expeditious method of drawing out the juices of
the wood ; and salt water has been preferred to fresh,
on account of the antiputrescent power of salt, which,
though less effective on vegetable than on animal matter,
is useful in checking the decay of timber. Also taking
off the sap, which speedily becomes rotten, and prevent-
* We are far from applying to those plans, and to their authors,
those terms of indiscriminate censure which by many writers have
been so abundantly directed to them. It is true that many, per¬
haps tTie great majority of them, were visionary, but their authors
deserve at least the praise of endeavouring to do well, and of
checking an alarming evil. What would have been our condition,
had the public felt no interest in the welfare of its N avy, had the
national spirit been so degraded, so morbid, and so dead, that it
regarded neither the destruction of the natural bulwarks of the
Country, nor the consequences to which so fearful a state of things
must have led ? This keen interest respecting our political state,
and the maintenance of our national glory and honour, is surely
an index of a healthy state of the public mind.
ing the communication of the decay to the adjoining Naval Ar-
heart wood. Covering, likewise, the surfaces of timber chitecture.
with mineral tar or paint, thereby keeping the timber
from being rent by the air, and preventing the seed of
the fungus, which may be in the outer laminae of the
timber, from vegetating, by the exclusion of the atmo¬
spheric air from it. It is also particularly useful when
two kinds of timber are brought together, by preventing
the fermentation which would arise from the union of
different vegetable principles. The injection of tar and Injection oi
whitening into ships' bottoms, has been found also of
very great benefit in preserving the timbers, by its pre¬
venting effectually the growth of the fungus ; the open¬
ings between the timbers, which would otherwise be
imperfectly filled, and the rents in the timbers, in which
places the seed of the fungus would be most likely to
vegetate, being by this means completely filled, the air,
so necessary to vegetation, is excluded. It is probable
that the great advantages of the injected tar, &c., into
the interstices of the wood, are not yet fully known.
(386.) In addition to these preventives, ships are Building
built and repaired under roofs, thereby preventing the and repair
rain from settling in the rents of the timbers and the
openings between them. In the ships in ordinary, also, ^
particular attention has been paid to their preservation,
by erecting temporary roofs over them, taking down
parts of the bulk heads in the hold, and leaving out
streaks in the decks and openings in the truss work,
between the ports, to promote a free circulation of air.
(387.) It is proper to observe, however, that the pree cur-
establishment of a free current of air through a ship, rents of air,
though of very great advantage in preventing decay, is,
nevertheless, attended with the disadvantage of causing
the timber to shrink, thereby impairing the strength of
the fabric, by destroying in some degree the benefits
arising from fitting the pieces of work closely together,
technically called faying well." The maximum ad¬
vantage is therefore obtained by giving such a circula¬
tion of air as may be sufficient to prevent decay, without
causing the timber to shrink too much. Experience is
tending fast towards the discovery of the proper limit,
towards which this principle may be carried with the
greatest advantage to the service.
(388.) The oak timber produced in the forests of German
Germany is remarkably subject to the dry rot. Hence ®^k timber
the ships in the Scheldt, during the latter part of Buo-
• 5 *111 •• ji 10 örv rot«
ñaparte s career, were rapidly advancing m rottenness
from this cause. The Chatham, a 74-gun ship, had the
dry rot in her timbers when taken from the stocks in the
Dock-yard of Flushing. The Rivoli, just off the stocks,
at Malamacca near Venice, was also in the same state.
This latter ship was built of oak cut from the Eastern
shores of the Adriatic.* Foreign ships, therefore, are
* It is remarkable that the Rivoli was built of oak which had
been paid for by this Country, and brought down to the sea-coast
at our expense to be shipped for England. The defection of
Austria at this juncture put the French however into possession of
it, the timber having been unfortunately placed in a most conve¬
nient situation for the use of their Naval Arsenal near Venice.
Though the English paid for the timber, the French paid for
putting it together and fitting out the ship.
The Rivoli was floated out of the harbour over the bar that
crosses the passage about midway, by means of a camel or water¬
tight box, resembling those used at Amsterdam and St. Peters-
burgh. The departure of the ship was anxiously watched by Cap¬
tain John Talbot, in the Victorious of 74 guns, and the Weazle
brig of 18 guns, Captain Andrews. The English ships arrived off
Venice on the 16th of March, 1812, and on the 21st got sight of
the Rivoli. She was attended by a large ship, two brigs, and two
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
407
Willcox.
Extreme
danger
from the
attacks of
these ani
mais.
NkvalAr- as much subject to the inroads of dry rot as our own ;
chitecture. and we may perhaps say, more so.
(389.) Ships, however, are subject to other causes of
^uses of besides those already enumerated. Marine ani-
decay. attack the planking in every vulnerable part, and
Marine ani-sometimes occasion the most alarming evils. In some
mais attack climates, particularly in the East and West Indies, on
of the coast of Africa, and in the Mediterranean, the de-
0 s ips. struction of timber is found to be much more rapid than
in others, from the abundance of these animals infesting
those seas. The danger to be apprehended from them
there is very great ; and indeed it is every where unsafe
to allow any part of a ship's bottom to remain unpro¬
tected from their attacks.
Investiga- (390.) According to Mr. Willcox the most destruc-
bve of these marine animals are the Teredo, the Pholas,
and the Lepisma. The former genus is most to be
dreaded, and is said to have been originally imported
from India. It penetrates the hardest wood, and in¬
cienses gradually in size as it proceeds in the work of
destruction, until the part attacked by it frequently be¬
comes like a honeycomb. It is but rarely that they
bore through, although they frequently approach the
inner surface within a very short distance, leaving a sub¬
stance not thicker than the twentieth of an inch from the
inside. There is an instance connected with the Sceptre
of 74 guns, which fully proves the extreme danger of their
attacks. This vessel left Bombay for England in 1807,
and after being some time on her passage, was obliged
to return in consequence of a serious leak proceeding
from her bow. On examining her, it was found to have
resulted from some of the copper having been rubbed
OÍF, and the parts of the bottom and the gripe thereby
exposed being attacked by the Teredo, which had pe¬
netrated these places to so great an extent as to render
gun-boats, steering towards the port of Rota, in I stria. The Vic¬
torious and Weazle gave chase, and at a quarter past four in the
morning, the Weazle being a head, brought the two brigs to
action. At five, the Victorious being within pistol-shot of the
Rivoli, a furious action began. Soon after, one of the enemy's
brigs blew up, and at daylight, Captain Talbot saw the Weazle in
chase of the other, but recalled her, perceiving she did not gain
upon the enemy. The other ships and the gun-boats were not in
sight, and the contending ships being in seven iathoras water, off
the point of Grao, Captain Talbot thought the brig would be of
more service near him, in case of either ship getting on shore.
Captain Andrews placed his brig within pistol shot on the bow of
the Rivoli and gave her three broadsides It was now nearly calm,
and the action had lasted four hours. The fire of the enemy was
very faint, and at a quarter before nine she surrendered. She bore
the broad pendant of Commodore Bañé, the Commander-in-chief
of the enemy's force in the Adriatic.
At no period of the action were the two line of battle ships at a
greater distance than half musket shot from each other. The
Commodore did not surrender until nearly two hours after his ship
had become unmanageable. His mizen mast fell just before he
struck his colours, when his captain, most of his officers, and 400
of his men were killed or wounded. The loss on board the Vic¬
torious also was very great. She had 42 men killed and 99
wounded. The Rivoli had on board 892 men at the commence¬
ment of the action, hut the Victorious no more than 512, of whom
60 were in the sick list. Captain Talbot received a medal for this
action, and, subsequently, was made a Knight of the Bath. Captain
Andrews was made Post^ and Lieutenant Peake of the Victorious
a Commander. It is a curious fact, that after the valuation of
the Rivoli, no less a sum than £13,000 was deducted from the
proceeds for damages done to the ship in action.—Brenton, Naml
History,
Thus though we at first lost the timber which had been paid for
by British money, by the defection of Austria from the common
cause, the gallantry of British sailors added the ship which had
been construeted with French money to the Navy of England, with
a large share of glory in addition.
Tonnage.
Origin of
the piesent
erroneous
rule.
her quite unsafe to pursue her voyage, without putting Naval Ar-
on new planks on the bottom, and shifting the gripe, «"¿htecture.
The species of Teredo most commonly found in ship's
bottoms is the Teredo Navalis,
On the Tonnage of Ships,
(391.) The rule commonly employed for finding the
tonnage of ships is open to the most formidable objec¬
tions. Founded on error, it opens a door to decep¬
tion and fraud, and even the good qualities of merchant
ships have been sacrificed to the desire of obtaining ex¬
cessive ladings, which this rule largely encourages. It
owes its origin to the 13 Geo. III. cap. 74, which de¬
clares that " the length shall be taken in a straight line
along the rabbet of the keel of the ship ; from the back
of the main stern post to a perpendicular line from the
fore part of the main step under the bowsprit. The
breadth, also, shall be taken from the outside of the out-^
side plank, in the broadest part of the ship, either above
or below the main wales, exclusive of all manner of
doubling planks that may be wrought upon the sides of
the ship." Incases in which it may be necessary to ascer¬
tain the tonnage of vessels afloat, it was further declared
by 26 Geo. III. cap. 60, that to obtain the length, the
measurer is to drop a plumb line over the stern of the
ship, and measure the distance between such line and
the after part of the stern post, at the loadwater mark ;
then measure from the top ot the said plumb line in a
parallel direction with the water, to a perpendicular
point immediately over the loadwater mark, at the fore
part of the main stem, subtracting from such admea¬
surement the above distance ; the remainder will be the
ship's extreme length, from which is to be deducted
three inches for every foot of the load draft of water for
the rake abaft." Then by 13 Geo. III. cap. 74, and
26 Geo. III. cap. 60, " from the length taken in either
of the ways above mentioned, subtract three-fifths of the
breadth taken as above, the remainder is esteemed the
just length of the keel to find the tonnage ; then mul¬
tiply this length by the breadth, and that product by
half the breadth, and dividing by 94, the quotient is
deemed the true contents of the lading.''^
(392.) This rule expressed in algebraic language,—
the only language in which rules should at any time be
delivered, is
LxBx— Lx—
2 2
Algebraic
expression
of this rulís»
94
94
where L represents the length, and B the breadth.
(393.) By this rule the whole of the vast tonnage of
the British Naval and Commercial Marine is computed.
Instances without number might be given of the errors
* According to Mr. Parsons, the origin of this rule is as follows.
A body floating in a fluid displaces a volume of that fluid, the
weight of which is equal to the whole weight of the floating body.
This displacement must always bear some relation to the principal
dimensions of a ship, denoted here by L, B, and D. It has been
found, that in vessels of rather full forms, the displacement esti¬
mated in cubic ieetof sea water, is equal to sixty two-hundredths of
the product of these three dimensions ; which being divided by 35,
the number of cubic feet of salt water in a ton, will give
L X B X D X . 62
35
for the displacement in tons.
The draught of men of war is generallv about half the extrem®
408
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar- Jt occasions. Even by calculating the tonnage of the
chitecture. game vessel by the two methods above given, the results
will be very different. Thus if we take the cutter given
by Mr. Parsons in his Scales of Displacement of the
British Navy i and apply the first method, the length to
be taken will be 5*2.25 feet, and the tonnage 160 tons;
but if measured by the second method, which involves
the length of the water line, and is here found to be
50.4 feet, the tonnage will amount only to 154 tons.
If, moreover, the rake of the stern post be increased, and
the rake of the stern diminished, the water line remain¬
ing unaltered, the length by the keel will be only 48.5
Instance of feet, and the tonnage 148 tons. And supposing on the
its errors, contrary the rake of the stern post to be diminished, and
the rake of the stern increased, the length by the keel
will then be 58 feet, and the tonnage 177 tons. But
all the cases when measured afloat, or by the water line,
will give a tonnage of 154 tons. Thus in so small a
vessel as a cutter, a variation of 29 tons may be made in
the register of the vessel, without any sensible differ¬
ence in its real capacity, while the absolute weight this
vessel can carry under all the above circumstances
amounts only to 90 tons.
(394.) In like manner the length of the keel may be
constant, and the water line vary, by altering the rake
of the stern and stern post. Even the form of the head
of the rudder will alter the tonnage of a vessel ; for if a
round headed rudder be substituted for one of a square
headed form, the back part of the post being taken off to
receive the round head, the water line becomes imme¬
diately shortened, and the tonnage, as a necessary con¬
sequence, diminished.
(395.) It has been observed, also, that by omitting
the draught of water in the rule, the practice of increasing
the depth has become general, by which means vessels
are capable of carrying a greater burthen without in¬
creasing the tonnage 'f nor is this the only defect, a far
greater one existing by omitting to take the form of
the vessel into consideration. This error in the
rule operates to such an extent at the present time,
as to make the register tonnage of merchant vessels
breadth of the ship, and at the time of the formation of the rule,
the same relation probably existed in merchant ships. If, there-
fore, be substituted for D, the preceding expression will become
L X yX.62
35 '
and as the weight of the hulf stores, &c., was generally about two-
fifths of the whole weight, leaving three-fiiths for the weight of the
cargo, we shall further obtain
LX^X.62 3 _LX^
35 ^ 5 94 '
for the burthen in tons, which is the common rule.
* It is a curious fact, that a sliip, which, in the port of London,
was put into dock for the purpose ^f being raised upon, so as to
increase the capacity of stowage, before going into dock, admea¬
sured more than af¿er she had been raised upon, although by the
alteration she acquired the capacity of carrying nearly 100 tons
more than she could have done previously to such alteration. On
re-survey, she measured less when she came out of dock, than under
her old register, although 100 tons larger. The ship in being
raised upon was rather narrowed in her width ; the consequence
of which was, that the increased depth of hold not being included
in the calculation of her tonnage, she became less in tonnage by
admeasurement to what she was at the time of the original register
being granted. Edinburgh Review^ No. 90. p. 456.
amount generally to two-thlrcrs only their absolute Nava».A3-
burden. This excess of the absolute burden above chitectuw.
the register tonnage, results entirely from the form, and
is found to vary in almost every vessel, even where the
principal dimensions are the same ; and as the present
rule for tonnage is entirely independent of the form of
the vessel, the excess is entirely exempt from dues.
Should the dues be laid on the apparent tonnage, with
reference to this excess, the objection will not be re¬
moved, since the excess is not constant. The register
tonnage of men of war is considerably greater than their
absolute burden.
(396.) These, and similar methods, open a boundless How the
scope for evasion and fraud, according to the peculiar rule may
views of the builder or owner of the ship. This is, at evaded,
once, a sufficient reason why the rule should be im¬
proved ; for where can be the wisdom of that legisla¬
tion which opens a door to dissimulation and deceit in
any form ?
(397.) Different nations employ different rules for Method
the admeasurement of tonnage. The French add the employed
len2:th of the deck taken between the rabbets to that of
• X rtînch
the straight line of the keel, and take half their sum.
This quantity is multiplied by the greatest breadth at the
midship beam, and that product by the depth of hold and
height between the lower and upper decks, the whole
product being divided by 94. If the vessel has only
one deck, the greatest length of the vessel is multiplied
by the greatest breadth in midships, and that product by
the greatest height, the whole being divided by 94.
This rule is simple, but very erroneous. A certain
depth of the vessel is taken as a third dimension, but it
is altogether independent of the immersion produced by
the lading, viz. the depth from the load to the light
water line, and which is most essential to be considered.
This depth, it is evident, may vary very considerably in
two vessels whose ladings are the same. One may be
much deeper than the other, from a greater rise of floor,
the total displacements of the two vessels remaining the
same ; and this depth may also vary from the decks
being placed at different heights in the two vessels.
The different forms of body are also totally neglected in
this method of measurement.
(398.) The Chinese take only two dimensions for Method of
finding the tonnage of ships, the length from the centre l^he Chi-
of the mizen mast to the centre of the foremast, and the
extreme breadth close behind the main mast. These
dimensions are multiplied together, and the result divided
by 10 gives the tonnage. This method of measuring
shipping for the purpose of charging duty is very favour¬
able to large ships.
(399.) For measuring the tonnage of merchant ships Method of
in the United States of America, the 64th section of an the Am«-
Act of Congress, approved March 2, 1799, declared,
" That to ascertain the tonnage of any ship or vessel,
the surveyor, or such other person as may be appointed
by the collector of the district to measure the same, shall, if
the said ship or vessel be double-decked, take the length
thereof from the fore part of the main stem, to the after
part of the stern post, above the upper deck, the breadth
thereof at the broadest part above the main wales, half
of which breadth shall be accounted the depth of such
vessel ; and shall then deduct from the length three-fifths
of the breadth, multiply the remainder by the breadth,
and the product by the depth, and shall divide this last
product by 95, the quotient whereof shall be deemed
the true contents or tonnage of such ship or vesseL
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
409
Swedish
rule.
Naval Ar- And if such ship or vessel be single-decked, the said
chitscture. surveyor, or other person, shall take the length and
breadth as above directed, in respect to a double-decked
ship or vessel ; shall deduct from the said length three-
fifths of the breadth, and taking the depth from the
under side of the deck-plank to the ceiling in the hold,
shall multiply and divide as aforesaid ; and the quo¬
tient shall be deemed the tonnage of such ship or vessel."
(400.) These rules appear to have been derived from
the English and French rules : the first, for double-
decked vessels, being nearly the same as the English,
and the latter, for single-decked vessels, being nearly
the same as the French. They respectively possess the
inaccuracies of each, with the additional error of being
inconsistent with each other.
(401.) In 1778 the Swedish government adopted
the following rule :
" 1. All mensuration is to be done by the Swedish
foot, and the vessel's burden is to be marked down in
lasts, each to be considered in weight equal to 18 skep-
pund, iron weight, or eighteen times 320 pounds Swedish.
2. The vessel's length is to be measured on the highest
water line, when loaded, from the fore part of the rabbet
of the stem to the aft part of the rabbet of the stern post.
3. The ship's breadth is to be measured in midships
without board, close up to the main wale. 4. The
height is to be measured from the surface of the water
without board, up to that mark which determines how
deeply the vessel will swim when completely loaded.
5. These three admeasurements are to be multiplied
together, and the product divided by 112, should the
vessel be of the usual shape, and neither too full nor too
sharp at the stem and stern. If the vessel is sharper, the
divisor must then be greater, and if fuller a little less, as
pointed out to the measurer in the separate instructions.
6. If the necessary provision, water, wood, and uten¬
sils for the voyage be not on board when the ship is
measured, and which weight does not actually belong to
the burden the vessel is measured to carry, it is then
necessary to deduct from the calculated burden of lasts
as follows :—on a vessel of 350 lasts is allowed 11 lasts
deduction ; (corresponding deductions are given for
vessels decreasing in burden from 350 to 40 lasts ;) and
so on in proportion, in such vessels as are not coinci¬
dent with the above denomination. But should any of
the articles mentioned be on board, the deduction will
be less in proportion. 7. Should one or more of the
necessarv cables not be on board when the vessel is
measured, the following deductions are to be made : for
an 18-inch cable 25 skeppund, iron weight. (The
deductions for smaller cables, down to a four-inch cable,
are specified.) 8. Should one or more anchors be
wanting, their weight is to be deducted in proportion to
the vessel's size. 9. If the vessel's sails are not on
board, the deduction from its number of lasts is to be as
follows : on a vessel of 350 lasts, ] 4 skeppund, iron
weight. (Corresponding deductions for the sails of
smaller vessels, down to those of 40 lasts, are given.)
And less in proportion when fewer sails are wanting.
10. If the vessel is built to carry guns constantly, and
that none, or part of them only, are on board, a deduc¬
tion for cannon, carriages, gun-tackling, &c. is to be
made as follows : for a 12-pounder, with its requisites,
13 skeppund, iron weight (with corresponding deduc¬
tions for smaller guns.^ 11. Should the vessel, when
measured, have its ballast on board, then that weight
must be ascertained, and added to the nnmhpr of lasts
VOL. VI.
found ; but it is best to measure the vessel before it is
ballasted, if convenient. 12. The ship's measurer hav¬
ing duly considered the foregoing circumstances, and in
consequence thereof ascertained the vessel's proper ton¬
nage to a certain depth, fore and aft, when loaded, he is
then to make an entry of the foregoing in the book of
admeasurements given him for that purpose, which
book is run through and sealed with the seals of the
Court of Aldermen and Custom House : he is also to
enter the number of lasts requisite to immerse the ves¬
sel, progressively, from one foot at the beginning of the
loading till when completed, and also to set down how
deep she lies fore and aft when unloaded. He is to de¬
liver copies of the same, with specific calculations, ad¬
measurements, and deductions of all this, to the Court
of Aldermen and Board of Customs, within two days
after measured, that the same may be examined and
sanctioned. 13. Should there be any thing to be ob¬
served by the parties, the same must be made known at
the respective places, within eight days after the delivery,
at the expiration of which time the ship's register will
be made out, and the approved calculation of the mea¬
surer annexed to the same, and to be kept on board as
the ship's inventory. The same is to be entered, with
all the calculations, in bound paged books, and alpha
bets thereunto annexed, in the Court of Aldermen and at
the Custom House. 14. Whereas vessels, when old, and
soaked through by the water, cannot carry so much as
when new, it is therefore requisite to measure the vessel
every tenth year, in like manner as expressed in the
twelfth section."
(402.) In the instructions alluded to in the fifth sec¬
tion, vessels are supposed to be divided into seven
classes, according to their fulness or sharpness ; and
corresponding divisors are given, obtained by calcula¬
tions from different vessels. These divisors vary for the
whole depth immersed by the lading, from 104 for the
fullest, to 122 for the sharpest vessel; and the divisors
to be used near the load water line vary from 98 to 104,
and near the light water line, or discharging line, from
108 to 133.
(403.) Mr. Morgan remarks on this rule, that it is
strictly correct in principle, and that the only error which
can arise in practice, is in the divisor being left to the
determination of the measurer. A skilful measurer,
after great practice, will be able to determine the divisor
with ease and certainty.
(404.) Mr. Parkin has given two rules for calculating
the tonnage of ships, published in The Shipwright's
Fade Mecum : one for ships of the Royal Navy^ and
the other for merchant ships. The following is his rule
for merchant ships:—-1. Find the length of the lower
deck, from the rabbet of the stem to the rabbet of
the stern post, and take of this length for the
keel for tonnage, 2. To the extreme breadth add
the length of the lower deck, and take of this sum
for the depth for tonnage, 3. Set up this depth from
the limber strake, and at that height take a breadth
also from out to out of the plank at dead flat. Take
two more breadths, one at two-thirds, and the other at
one-third of the height. Add the extreme breadth and
these three breadths together, and take one-fourth of
the sum for the breadth for tonnage, 4. Multiply the
length, depth, and breadth for tonnage continually
together, and divide the resulting product by 36|-,
which will give the burden in tons." This rule seems
to make a little approach towards the true measure-
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Divisions
into seven
classes.
Rules of
Mr. Parkin
410
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar- ment of tonnage, but it is not founded on correct prin-
chitecture. ciples,
(405.) In 1792 Chapman furnished two rules on this
Chapman's important subject. The first was an approximate rule,
relating to the payment for the building of ships. " The
cost of a ship,'* he says, " is nearly in proportion to its
outer surface multiplied by the thickness of its sides ;
but as this thickness may be considered in proportion to
one of the dimensions, so it may be judged that the pro¬
duct of the length, breadth, and depth gives the propor¬
tional costs. A difficulty, nevertheless, attends this,
because the length and breadth can be precisely fixed,
but the height or depth cannot. For instance, if the
depth of the hold be used as the third dimension, it may
happen, in consequence of the cargo which the vessel is
to carry, that the lower deck has been laid a foot higher
or lower, although its length, breadth, and the whole of
the height remain the same ; the expense of building, as
also the burden, remain the same ; but the difference of
the height of the deck increases or decreases the product,
and consequently the cost in proportion. The same
thing takes place with regard to the upper deck. Should
the height of the vessel from the keelson to the gunwale
o o
be taken as the third dimension, it will be found to vary
just as much as the former. For example, the gunwale
might be made half a foot or a foot less in height, and this
quantity added to the gunwale after the ship is built,
which of course would make it cost less than if that
height was included in the calculation. If that part of
a ship which is immersed when loaded should be taken
as the third dimension, the question to be considered
would be how high the water line stands marked on the
draught up to which the ship ought to be loaded, which
might also be higher or lower. It is, therefore, better to
institute a rule which, although not totally exact, is still
not subject to disputes or confusion.
" I therefore propose," says Chapman, that the ship's
height or depth should be taken so as to bear a propor¬
tion to two dimensions, namely, as the square root of
the product of the length and breadth. If now the
length and breadth be expressed by L and B, then must
\
the depth bear a certain relation to L Bj^, without re¬
garding how great that quantity may be. This multi¬
plied by the length and breadth, the number of tons
will be proportional to L B|^. This expression repre¬
sents the solidity, and in which two of the principal
dimensions are equally involved. To apply it to the
determination of a ship's burden, it will be necessary to
find what proportion the breadth bears to the length,
agreeably to the old method of determining the tonnage
when the contract has been equally beneficial. Suppose
the breadth to have been of the length, or the length
to be 100 feet when the breadth is26i feet. According
to the old method ,
This divisor, 452, is subject to alteration according to
circumstances.
(406 ) Chapman's other rule is for the correct deter¬
mination of the weight of the lading a ship carries.
This rule is similar to that given by the Swedish Go¬
vernment, except that the divisors are adapted to the
English ton, instead of the Swedish skippund. He
gives a table for ten classes of vessels according to the
fulness or sharpness of their bodies, in which the divisors
vary from 39 in the fullest, to 48 in the sharpest vessel.
He takes the extreme length on the load water line L,
the extreme breadth just below the main wale B, and
the mean depth between the light and load water lines.
The product of these three dimensions, divided by D,
the variable divisor in his table, gives the lading in tons.
(407.) A rule for the measurement of tonnage has
been given which approximates nearly to the true weight
of lading, by multiplying together the length of the
load water line between the fore part of the rabbet of the
stem and the after part of the rabbet of the stern post,
the greatest breadth, and the mean depth between the
light and load water lines; taking three-fourths of the
product, and dividing by 35. To this sum is added an
allowance in proportion to the fulness of different btí-
dies, determined by actual measurement.
(408.) In the Shipwrights' Repository the error of
the rule commonly employed is clearly explained, and
the true tonnage shown to be the difference between the
total weight of the ship to the load water line, and the
weight of the hull and furniture. The author has given
several examples of the tonnage of ships : the following
is the result of his calculations of the tonnage of an
80-gun ship :
Tons. lbs.
Weight of the ship at her launching
draught of water 1593 406
Weight of the furniture 195 720
Weight of the ship at her light water
mark 1788 1126
Weight of the ship at her load water
mark 3554 356
From which deduct the weight at
light water mark 1788 1126
Real burden 1765 1470
Burden in tons by common rule ... 1959 929
Real burden 1785 1470
Error.... 193 1699
Naval Ar¬
chitecture»
Another
rule.
Another
example of
the error ol
the com¬
mon rule.
29
100 - - X 26.5 j X
26.5'^
94
301.78 tons ;
whence
(100 X 26.5)2
X
== 30rr78, and x == 452.
Hen e the tonnage of a ship ought always to be ex-
pressed by
(409.) The real burden of this ship is therefore 193
tons less than her computed tonnage. In an East
Indiaman, his result shows that the real burden was
178 tons more than her computed tonnage. In other
examples the differences are still.greater.
(410.) Chapman, Clairbois, Atwood, and latterly Mr.
Parsons, have calculated and drawn scales of tonnage for
particular ships. The latter has made the calculations
and drawn the scales of tonnage, for most of the classes
of ships of his Majesty's Navy, and for twenty-one
classes of vessels of the British mercantile Navy.
(411.) Mr. Parsons's scales of tonnage are drawn for Mr. Par-
all these vessels from the keel to the gunwale. Each sons's la-
vessel is divided into fore and after bodies, by a vertical
line proceeding from the middle of the length of the'
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 411
chitecture.
^cale of
tonnage.
Naval Ar- water line, between the fore side of the rabbet of
the stem and the aft side of the rabbet of the sternpost;
and a separate line of tonnage is drawn for each body.
The solid content of the body in cubic feet, at different
heights, is calculated by sections parallel to the keel,
which being divided by 35, the number of cubic feet of
sea-water in a ton, gives the weight of water which
would be displaced at those heights. By setting off
from a vertical line, on lines parallel to the keel, these
results by a scale of tons, spots are obtained, through
which the line of tonnage may be drawn. By setting
up, moreover, any height on the vertical scale of feet,
and drawing a horizontal line at that height, it will re¬
present the weight of the corresponding displacement,
and which is found by transferring it to a scale of tons
placed horizontally over the figure. By taking, also, the
heights of the light and load water lines of any vessel,
and transferring them in this manner to the scales of
tonnage, their difference will give the weight of the
displacement between the light and load water lines,
or the true weight of lading. The mean depths are
taken for each body separately, and the sum of the two
parts thus found gives the total tonnage.
(412.) By these lines of tonnage may be ascertained
the weight put on board, or taken out of a vessel at any
time, by observing the different draughts of water, and
measuring the tonnage or weights corresponding to
them. The difference of these weights will be the quan¬
tity put into or taken out of the vessel. For example,
in a cutter of 160 tons, when ready for sea with all her
stores, the draught of water is 8 feet 9 inches forward,
and 13 feet 6 inches aft, the mean being 11 feet 1^
inches. The mean depth, also, for the after body is
12 feet 3f inches, giving 93 tons for its weight. The
mean depth for the fore body is 9 feet 11;| inches, giving
83 tons for the weight of that body, making the whole
displacement 176 tons. The weight of the hull when
launched having been 82 tons, the difference on the
weight put on board must be 94 tons,
(413.) This method of taking the mean depth in each
body, though most correct, will seldom be necessary,
because if the mean depth of the extremities be used
alone for each body, it will give nearly the same result.
The tonnage is then measured by taking the mean
depths of each body separately, and the difference of the
results of the two methods is found to be only one ton.
In vessels having a less difference of draught of water,
the error is proportionally less. On this account, the
mean depths of the load and light draughts of water
are used in the scales of tonnage, which supposes the
vessel to swim on an even keel, at the mean draught
of water in each case.
Remarks. (414.) In considering the practical benefit of the
scales of tonnage, observes Mr. Morgan, it is necessary
to examine the difficulties which would attend their ap¬
plication, This method of measuring the tonnage of
ships is strictly correct, assuming the light and load
draughts of water to be known ; but it is in the practical
determination of these lines that the difficulty exists.
Mr. Parsons has assumed the launching draught of
water as the light draught ; and this is the easiest me¬
thod, but not the most correct. The tonnage should
express the lading which can be put into a ship, when
every necessary article of furniture and stores is on
board, in order to bring her down to its load draught of
water. The two Swedish methods given above re¬
moves this difficulty, by taking the light draught of
water, when every thing is on board except the Naval Ar-
lading ; an established allowance being made for every chitecture.
article not on board at the time. This method may
be attended with trouble, in obtaining the weights
of the different furniture and stores ; but it is the
only mode of determining the correct light draught
of water, which is the first element necessary in mea¬
suring a ship's tonnage. The next difficulty, and by far
the greatest, is the determination of the load draught of
water. Two methods suggest themselves of accomplish¬
ing it. It may be determined by officers appointed for
the purpose, the moment a ship is built, and the result
inserted in the register, by which draught of water the
tonnage may be measured. The objections to this
method are, the liability of the load draught of water
being incorrectly determined either by fraud or igno¬
rance, and afterwards requiring alteration ; and the
opportunity it affords the owner of taking on board, at
his own risk, a greater lading than that for which his
ship was registered. Experience may, however, render
the officers capable of ascertaining the load draught of
water with considerable accuracy, and fines may deter
the owner from incurring the risk of loading his ship
deeper than it was constructed to swim with safety.
Another method of obviating the difficulty, is by a
ship's always paying duty on the quantity of lading on
board ; so that the measurement of tonnage may be
taken at the actual draught of water at which the ship
swims when it comes into port. This would render the
load water line at first determined little more than nomi¬
nal : it would allow a vessel's being spoken of as having
a nominal tonnage, producing no error in the measure¬
ment of the real tonnage on board. Either method will
render these scales of tonnage applicable to general use;
but the latter may be preferred, because it brings the
correct principle of measuring the true lading fully into
practice.
(415.) It is probable that tables of tonnage may be
preferred by many to scales of tonnage ; but as their
principle and use would be the same, the preference is
indifferent. It may, also, be observed, that if the whole
displacement were represented by one scale, instead of
being divided into two parts for the fore and after
bodies, the use of these scales would be more s-imple in
their application to the tonnage of ships, although less
useful for general purposes of design.
(416.) Mr. Parsons has applied scales of the exterior
surfaces founded on the dimensions, scantlings, &c. of
ships to the determination of their charges for build¬
ing. Any surface of this kind multiplied by the mean
thickness of the ship's side, would give a tolerably cor¬
rect measurement of the quantity of materials. As the
expense of building vessels must be in proportion to their
outside surfaces, these lines will be a much better criterion
for estimating the expense than the register tonnage.
(417.) Fig. 10. pi. ii. is an example of Mr. Parsons's Example of
mode of finding the tonnage of a brig of 170 tons, re- Mr. Par-
gister tonnage. Suppose this vessel to have every thing smode
on board except the cargo, and her draught of water
to be six feet at the stem and sternpost, or on an even
keel. Set this distance up from the base line, or lower
side of the false keel, and draw the line A 12 parallel to
the base, intersecting the line of tonnage 1 for the after
body in B. Then will the distance AB applied to
the scale, measure 46 tons, the weight of the after
body. The same line intersects the line of tonnage
2 for the fore body in C, giving for A C 64 tons, the
3 T 2
4i2
NAVAL ARCHITECTURF
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Other pro¬
perties of
the figure.
Present
rules ope¬
rate against
improve¬
ment of
mercantile
marine.
ihours of
cifcty for
iprove-
mt of
ival Ar-
itectiire«.
Report of a
Committee
in 1821.
Another
appointed
in 1832.
weight of the fore body. The whole weight of the
vessel with every thing on board, excepting the cargo, is
therefore 110 tons. Suppose now the cargo to be put
on board, and the draught of water 12 feet at the stem
and stern post. At 12 feet from the base draw Dil,
which will give for the corresponding weight of the after
body 157 tons, and for the fore body 193 tons, giving
for the whole weight 350 tons. The weight before the
cargo was put on board having been 110 tons, the weight
of the cargo itself must be 240 tons. When there is a
considerable difference in the draught of water at the
stem and sternpost, Mr. Parsons recommends the me¬
dium depth to be taken for each body, instead of the
depth in the middle of the vessel.
(418.) The other lines in the figure have some useful
properties. That marked 3, for example, denotes the
whole area of the horizontal sections in square feet of the
after body, and that marked 4 in the same manner for the
fore body. The line denoted by 5 represents the whole
exterior surface of one side of the vessel, in square feet,
of the after body, and the line 6 of the fore body. The
line 7 is for the whole area of the vertical sections, as
high as the load water sections, in square feet, of the
after body, and the line 8 for the fore body. 00 gives
the situation and form of the principal transverse sec¬
tion ; 9, 9 the situation and form of the section in the
after body, whose area is equal to two-thirds the area of
the principal section, and 10, 10 in the fore body. 11
and 12 represent the load and light water lines. An
analytical investigation of the properties of these sin¬
gular curves would be likely to lead to some useful and
important results.
(419.) The facility which the ordinary rules for find¬
ing the tonnage affords for the evasion of dues is not
the only evil attending it. It unfortunately operates
against any improvement in our mercantile marine.
Great capacity with small dimensions is now the pri¬
mary object of consideration ; and this is too often ob¬
tained by sacrificing expedition and safety. If the ton¬
nage gave a true measure of the capacity of the ship,
there would be no cause why the mercantile Navy
should not equal, or indeed excel, the military in every
quality of safety and velocity ; whereas it is a well-
known fact, that the British merchant shipping is infe¬
rior to that of almost every trading Country in the
World.
(420.) Attempts have not been wanting to improve
these imperfect modes of determining the tonnage, but
hitherto without success. In 1791 the Society for the Im¬
provement of Naval Architecture offered a premium of
twenty guineas, and a silver medal, for the most ready
and accurate method, by approximation or otherwise,
for determining the tonnage of vessels and ships of
every description, from an admeasurement of all the
principal dimensions. The two rules of Chapman, be¬
fore adverted to, were given in consequence of this in¬
vitation.
(421.) On the 24th of May 1821, a Report of a
Committee consisting of several distinguished Members,
was delivered to the Admiraltv, and in 1832 another
Committee was formed with the view of improving the
subject. Of the various plans that have been submitted
to them, it has been said some are too laborious and
complicated for general practice, and others entirely
erroneous. Mr. Parsons's Tables seem to form a dis¬
tinguished feature among these investigations. In a
communication made fronj the Board of Trade to Mr.
Seppings's
rules for
building
ships of the
line, &c.
Lushington, at the time that gentleman was one of the Naval Ar-
Secretaries of the Treasury, it was urged, that if any chitecture.
new method should augment the tonnage duty, the pro- ' " ~
prietors should not be subject to additional burthens. It
is singular that among the many minds occupied with
this useful and important practical question, no one has
yet been able to devise a short, accurate, and convenient
rule. The object in all these attempts should be, not so
much to diminish the present error, as to abolish it en¬
tirely. Simplicity is most desirable, but considering the
varied forms that ships' bodies put on, it should not be
obtained by a sacrifice of principle. We confess we look
to the scale of tonnage as one of the great means by
which this useful end will be accomplished,*
Sq)pings's Rules for building and rebuilding Ships of
the Line, Fifty-gun Ships on two Decks, and Fri¬
gates.
(422.) Accurate and precise rules for the practical
operations of ship-building are of the greatest import¬
ance to the successful prosecution of the Art, In vain
might the most perfect theories, did we possess them,
devise forms possessing stability, stowage, and velocity,
if, when the fabric is to be reared on the slip, weak and
inefficient combinations of timber are to be employed in
its formation. A knowledge of scientific carpentry—of
the best modes of combining timber, so as to unite a
maximum of strength with a minimum of material—
is possessed but by very few Naval Architects. Thou¬
sands of loads of timber were annually consumed in
ship-building, yet, before the time of Seppings, where
were the successful instances to be met with of timbers
exerting all their power, and disposed according to
principles which the eye of Science delights to con¬
template ? The praise of Seppings is, that he accom¬
plished all this and more for Naval Architecture; and
that he imparted to our great and splendid marine a
degree of mechanical strength it never possessed before.
(423.) In the common disposition, all the timbers are
to be framed together in bends, (except the short timbers
over the ports,) each scarf to be bolted with three bolts
of 1^ inch diameter for ships of the line, and one inch
for 50-gun ships and frigates. The first futtocks also
to be bolted to their respective floors, with three bolts in
each scarf of 1¿ inch diameter for ships of the line, and
11 inch for 50-gun ships and frigates. The filling
frames under the ports to be so opened as to divide the
space equally.
(424.) The greatest attention must be paid that the
lips of the chocks at the heads and heels of the timbers
be at least three inches in thickness, for ships of the
line, and not less than 2J inches for 50-gun ships and
frigates, and that the abutments for the lips be cut on
the timbers as near to a square as the faying of the
chock will admit.
(425.) The chocks are to be roughly trimmed with a
sufficiency of overcast, and placed with their faying
sides outwards in their respective situations, in which
state they are to remain during the seasoning of the
frame. Each range of chocks is to be placed on a
small fore and aft riband, which is to be kept from
coming in contact with the timbers by fitting a piece of
* Since this was written the Committee has published a short Paper
on the methods at present in use for measuring tonnage. It may
be seen in the United Service Journal for June 1834.
Frame
agreeably
to the com¬
mon dispo-
tion.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
413
Naval Ar- batten for every nail to pass through. Such chocks as
chitecture. may be converted from free grown timber, and are
therefore liable to split in the course of seasoning, are to
have a small treenail driven in a direction from a right
angle about nine inches from each end.
(426.) When the chocks are refayed and replaced
after seasoning, the faying parts of both chocks and
timbers are to be well fayed with oil and tar.
(427.) The heads and heels of the timbers are to be
scarfed where so directed on the disposition of the frame,
but the heads and heels of all other timbers, where the con¬
version will admit, are to be wrought square, painted at
each end with white lead, and put together with a cir¬
cular coak in each joint, of a diameter about one-third
of the siding of the respective timbers. In the event
of the timber being partially shifted so as not to
admit of introducing the coak, a bill is to be substi¬
tuted, which is to be formed on the lower timber to pre¬
vent a lodgement of water ; such timbers as cannot
be procured with square heads and heels are to be
scarfed.
(428.) All the timbers are to be framed together in
bends, and to be bolted with two bolts in each scarf
of inch diameter for ships of the line, and one inch
for 50-gun ships and frigates, and the lower scarfs
with bolts of inch for ships of the line, and 1^ inch
for 50-gun ships and frigates.
(429.) The under side of the wing transom to be
sided straight and laid at a right angle with the rabbet
of the post, and to be sided as much as the piece will
admit. If the store will not supply a piece of timber of
sufficient dimensions to make the wing transom for a
large ship, it may be formed with four pieces. No
transoms are to be introduced below the wing transom,
but that part of the ship's frame is to be formed with
timbers as described in the drawings. Ships built on
this principle are to be single fastened throughout,
(430.) That the openings may be kept as clear as
possible during the seasoning of the frame, the timbers
are to be separated with wedges driven alternately,
which are to be taken out as soon as the frames are put
together ; but in such cases where it may be absolutely
necessary to introduce chocks in the usual manner,
they are to be split out when the bolts shall have been
driven.
Openings (431.) The openings between the frames are to be
between the filled in and calked within and without board, from
theï'^m^^ the keel to within four inches of the lower strake under
to be filled orlop clamps for ships of the line and 50-gun ships,
in. and to within the same distance of the strake on the
ends of the orlop beams in frigates. Care is to be
taken that the outer edge of the upper filling lie rather
above a level, by which means should any water pass
between the timbers, it will be conveyed into the hold of
the ship. Openings more than three inches are to be
filled in with slab plank free from sap wood, or with
sound old oak timber, with the grain in the same direc¬
tion as that of the frame timbers, which fillings are to
be so trimmed as to admit of wedge fillings on one
side. Openings less than three inches are to be filled in
with wedge fillings, driven in alternately from within
and without side, and square with the curve of the body.
The filling in is to be executed as the planking of the
bottom is carried down, and as the ribands and harpins
are removed.
(432.) All the fillings are to be provided as early
as possible from offal and slab timber, free from sap,
or sound old oak, and when trimmed, are, with Naval Ar«
the sides of the frame, to be well payed with oil chitecture.
and tar. ^
(433.) The inside of the ship, below the orlop clamps. Dubbing off
need not be dubbed off with that strict attention as if it the inside of
were to be planked over, but to be made moderately l^he frame,
fair, removing the projecting parts so as to prevent the
lodgement of dirt.
(434.) The heads of the stem and stern posts and
timbers under the ports must be well saturated with oil
and tar during the seasoning of the ship, which may be
done by making the heads of the timbers concave, and
boring holes therein ; the holes are to be plugged up,
and the timbers cut fair and painted with white lead
before the port cills are let in
(435.) Great care is to be taken that no sap be suf¬
fered to remain on any part of the frame, and that no
piece be put in to make good the deficiency occasioned
by its removal from the edges of the timbers until the
fillings, &c., shall have been calked.
(436.) One joint of the fillings in each opening be- Calking
tween the timbers of the frame, and also the joints of the theframe.
frames in wake of the said fillings, are to be well raimed
and calked both within and without board.
(437.) Great care is also to be taken that the oakum
which may be driven from one side be brought into
close contact with that driven from the other side, so
that on no account whatever is any space to be left
between the two calkings. When the raiming and
calking as already directed shall have been performed,
all the remaining joints of the fillings, butts of chocks,
butts of timbers, &c. are to be chinced.
(438.) In fig. 1. pi. V. the method of filling in the
openings between the timbers, &c. may be seen, and to
which the following references may be made. A, a
close joint; B, an opening of less than three inches ;
C, an opening of more than three inches ; D, D, D,
wedge fillings, the grain being in and out ; E, a common
filling, the grain being up and down ; F, F, F, F, F,F,
joints which are to be raimed and calked.
(439.) The fillings in wake of the chain bolts are to
be as few as possible, their moulding to be two inches
less than the frame, thereby leaving one inch for air to
pass between them and the inner and outer planking.
They are to be raimed and calked within and without ;
and should any fillings be required in the wake of the
knees, or any other place above the general filling in,
the same mode is to be followed.
(440.) No projection is to be left at the upper edge Projections
of the channel wales, but at the upper and lower edges to be dis-
of the sheer strake projections are to be permitted as continued
* m « ill inP PnilTTk
usual. No projection whatever is to be allowed with-
out board afore the second lower deck port from for- bows, &c.'
ward, and to obviate the additional weight that would
arise in consequence, the main wales, &c., are to be
thinned at the fore end one-third of their respective
thickness, and to begin to taper off about ten feet from
the fore end. To render the port lids (where the pro¬
jections are omitted) as light as they otherwise would
have been, the stops are to be cut out of the plank
without going home to the port timbers; to ac¬
complish which, the short stuff between the ports
must of course be worked fair with the sides of the por^
timbers.
(441.) The main wales, black strake, and four upper Coakini?
strakes of diminishing stuff, the middle and channel the maiu
wales and sheer strakes, are to be coaked to the timbers wales,
414
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Coaking
the main
wales,
damps, &c=
for 50-gun
ships and
frigates.
Treenail
enmg.
Orlop
Naval Ar- of the frame with reference to every butt as described
chitecture. in fig". 2.
(442.) The clamps and spirketing are also to be
clamps, &c. coaked to the timbers of the frame in a similar manner
for ships of wales, &c., and the clamps are to be bolted with
^ up and down bolts agreeably to fig. 3.
(443.) Where only one strake of spirketing is
wrought, both butts are to be coaked to the timbers
nearest their ends.
(444.) The main wales, sheer strakes, spirketing,
and clamps, are to be coaked and bolted as directed for
ships of the line.
(445.) The timbers of the frame are to be single
bored only, in wake of the water way, shelf pieces, and
such other parts where fastenings driven for the security
of the inside work are generally diffused ; also the bot¬
tom of the ship where the inside planking is omitted,
viz. from the lower edge of the plank next under the
orlop clamps to the limber strake.
(446.) The general diffusion of metal fastenings in¬
troduced with the new system, together with the bolts
for bringing to the píaiik, will more than compensate
for the treenails left out.
(447.) Ships built upon the small timber system are
to be single fastened throughout.
(448.) To have two strakes of orlop clamps on each
clamps for side wrought top and butt, both eight inches thick,
ships of with two strakes on each side wrought under them,
three decks, upper strake to be six inches thick, and the lower
strake four inches thick, which may also be wrought top
and butt.
Orlop (449.) Two strakes of seven inches thick wrought
clamps for top and butt, with one of six inches, and one of four
inches thick, wrought also top and butt under them.
(450.) Should there be any difficulty in procuring
the middle shift of diagonal timbers for ships of the line,
another strake (or two if required) of three inches thick,
may be wrought in midships below the strake of four
inches. Care is to be taken that it be not worked so
low as not to give a five feet scarf to the middle rider
from the upper part of the longitudinal piece at the first
futtock heads.
(451.) Two strakes of six inches thick, wrought top
clamps for and butt, and one strake of four inches thick wrought
50-gun under them.
(452.) No plank or thick stuff whatever is to be
Limber ' wrought below the said strakes except one limber strake
strake for Oil each side, eight inches thick for ships of three decks,
ships of the seven inches thick for 80 and 74-gun ships, and six
inches thick for 50-gun ships, and to be coaked to the
cross chocks only, with circular coaks, of 44 inches dia¬
meter.
(453.) No plank or thick stuff is to be wrought in
this class of ships below the strake on the ends of the
orlop beams, except one limber strake on each side of
six inches thickness, which is to be coaked to the cross
chocks only, with circular coaks of four inches dia¬
meter.
(454.) In the wake of the main mast an additional
keelson is to be placed on each side, at such a distance
from the common keelson that the ends of the step may
rest upon it, to support the great pressure of that mast.
The additional and regular keelsons to be coaked to
the cross chocks only, instead of being faced down as
heretofore,
(455.) To be of the same dimensions as the common
keelson, and in length for ships of the line about
80 and 74-
gun ships.
Orlop
line and
50-gun
ships.
Limber
strake for
frigates.
Additional
keelson.
twenty-eight feet, and for 50-gun ships and frigates Naval Ar-
aboui twenty-four feet. chitecture.
(456.) Instead of thick stuff, plank, riders, &c., a
trussed frame is to be introduced, the various parts of Trussed
which (particularly the longitudinal pieces and trusses)
are to be procured if possible from old ship timber, viz.
the sound parts of old floors, first futtocks, &c. Should
any sound old timber in a very dry state be made use of,
it should be saturated with oil and painted with white
lead to prevent an absorption of moisture.
(457.) The diagonal timbers for ships of three decks, Trussed
the upper and lower ones to be fourteen inches sided in
midships, and the middle ones fifteen inches; and
two-decked ships the upper and lower ones to be from
thirteen to fourteen inches, but the middle ones are not
to be less than fourteen inches sided. The fore and aft
pieces at the floor heads are to be sided in midships
from thirteen to fourteen inches as the conversion will
admit, and afore and abaft from twelve to thirteen inches;
the fore and aft pieces at the first futtock heads from
eleven to twelve inches, the small dimensions tobe used
forward and aft.
(458.) The trusses to be sided from eleven to twelve
inches, and with the fore and aft pieces to be moulded
so as to conform to the diagonal timbers as nearly as
the conversion will admit.
(459.) In executing the trussed frame the middle
limber is to be first got into its station, and laid as
nearly to a right angle from the body of the ship as pos¬
sible ; the upper part to abut against the fore and aft
stuff that runs under the orlop clamps, and the lower
part to be continued two feet six inches below the floor
heads, or as much more as the piece will admit. The
lower timber may next be placed, which is to abut
against the limber strake, and to run at least two feet
six inches above the floor heads, thereby giving a scarf
of not less than five feet to the middle timber : and in
order to take out the bevelling, or in other words to
make the timber lie nearer at a right angle to the body,
the lower end of the middle timber is to be reduced at
the upper part, where it comes in contact with the lower
timber. In the fore body it will be taken from the aft
side, and in the after body on the fore side ; the lower
part of the upper timber, or upper part of the middle
timber, is also to be taken away for the same purpose.
(460.) Should any difficulty occur in procuring com¬
pass timber for the diagonal frame, a saw kerf may be
cut in the upper part of the upper, and in the lower
part of the lower timber, thereby avoiding a kerf in wake
of the scarf. This will render procuring these timbers
less difficult.
(461.) In disposing of the diagonal timbers so as to
clear as much as possible the chocks under the gun
deck shelf piece, a chamfer of about six inches may be
taken away when required from the angle of the lower
edge of the orlop beam, as in fig. 4.
(462.) The scarfing of the diagonal timbers to be
side by side, and each of the lower scarfs to be secured
with two copper bolts of 1J inch diameter, and each of
the upper scarfs with two copper bolts of 1^ inch dia¬
meter, which are to be driven square from the sides of
the timbers.
(463.) Each shift or diagonal timber to be coaked to
the frame timbers, and to the gun deck and onop
clamps with which they come in contact, with coaks of
34 inches diameter, and 3-4 inches in length.
(464.) The fore and aft pieces at the floor and first
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
415
Naval Ar. futtock heads are to have their ends coaked to the dia-
chitecture* gonal timbers with coaks of four inches diameter, and
of the same length. As these coaks must be double
sunk either in the timber, or in the fore and aft pieces
to ensure their being driven up, a piece of thin iron
hoop is' to be placed over one end of the coak to pre¬
vent its being split by the bolt in punching up ; this
precaution should be taken in all cases where coaks are
double sunk.
(465.) Wherever there is a necessity of double sink¬
ing coaks, the vacant space is invariably and with the
greatest care to be filled with a mixture of chalk and
grease, or any other durable substance that can be
introduced.
(466.) Great attention should be paid that the fore
and aft pieces at the floor and first futtock heads be
driven in tight between the diagonal timbers, and parti¬
cularly the trusses, as they receive the weight of the
ship when she has a tendency to arch or hog, and also
when in the act of pitching.
(467.) As the trusses need not have any coaks at
their ends, should they by accident be cut short, an iron
wedge is to be driven atone end ; and should they have
shrunk, particularly at the upper ends, after they are
put in place, thin iron plate wedges are to be driven in
prior to the ship's being launched or undocked. In all
cases a survey should be held to ascertain their state
before the ships be launched or undocked.
(468.) The diagonal timbers are to be bolted with
bolts of 1^ inch diameter, the bolts to be from eighteen
to twenty inches apart, except at the extreme ends,
where two may be placed nearly abreast; and at the
heads of those under the gun deck shelf piece, two
bolts are to be driven through a plate of iron to secure
them when the ship is in the act of rolling.
(469.) The fore and aft pieces at the floor and first
futtock heads to be fastened at their ends with bolts of
inch diameter, and in the middle with bolts of 1-^
inch diameter, and from twenty inches to two feet
asunder, the ends excepted, where, as in the ends of the
diagonal timbers, they are to be nearly abreast.
(470.) The trusses are to be secured with bolts of
11" inch diameter, about two feet asunder. The upper
trusses to be placed a little above a square or 90°.
(471.) In driving the bolts of the diagonal frame, all
those in the ends, and one at least in the middle, are to
be driven first, and from the inside, in order to draw the
materials well in contact with the frame timbers.
(472.) Water courses are to be cut wherever there is
a probability that water may lodge, particularly at the
ends of the fore and aft pieces and trusses, also at the
ends of the diagonal timbers that abut against the limber
strake, and the keelsons in wake of the main mast ;
these water courses are to be formed by cutting oil'the
angle with a plain chamfer at the upper part about
four inches, and at the lower part five inches, the same
to be observed with respect to the hooks, crutches, &c.,
but to a greater extent.
(473.) The materials for the diagonal frames of these
classes of ships to be six inches thick. The timbers
and fore and aft pieces to be from ten to eleven inches
broad, and the trusses from nine to ten inches broad.
(474.) The upper range of timbers may be procured
of small timber, sided eleven inches for 50-gun ships,
and ten inches for frigates ; the upper parts of which
must be fayed to the clamps, &c., but the lower parts
may be brought to with boiling in the kiln, should
Trussed
frame for
50-gun
ships and
frigates.
there be äny difficulty of procuring timber of a proper Naval Ar-
growth. chitedure.
(475.) Chocks of dry oak well oiled are to be wrought
under the lower edge of the lower strake of inside stuff
to prevent the scoring of the diagonal timber.
(476.) The other parts of the diagonal frame may be
procured of thick stuff, and brought to with boiling,
(should it be required,) excepting those parts afore and
abaft to form the hooks and crutches, whicli mav
be converted from small timl»er sided from ten to
eleven inches, and moulded as broad at the middle line
as may be required to receive the iron plate hooks or
crutches.
(477.) The bolts for the diagonal timbers to be in
distance asunder from eighteen to twenty inches, except
at the ends, where two are to be disposed of, as before
directed for ships of the line ; those for the upper range
of timbers, and for the parts which form the hooks and
crutches, are to be 1-J- inch diameter, and the remainder
one inch diameter.
(478.) Whenever the treenails of the bottom come in
wake of, and at a proper distance from the edges of the
fore and aft pieces and trusses, they are to pass through
them ; and the additional fastenings that may be re¬
quired are to be made with bolts of diameter; the
ends are also to be secured with two bolts in each, as
directed for ships of the line.
(479.) Water courses are to be formed by cutting off
the lower angle of those parts of the diagonal frame
which form the breast hooks and crutches ; but no
water courses are to be cut in any other part of the dia¬
gonal frame.
(480.) The greatest care is to be taken that the fore
and aft pieces and trusses be driven in tight between
the timbers, and that their butts be well compressed by
raiming prior to their being calked. The upper
trusses shall be placed a little above a square or 90°.
(481.) The hooks and crutches are to be constructed Hooks! and
on a principle that will be shown by a drawing. crutches.
Line of Battle Ships. Irigates.
Cwt. qr. lbs. Cwt. qr. lbs.
Weight 3 I 14 4 1 7
(482,) The fore and aft carling under the after gun- Foieandaii
deck beams, is to be secured to the inner post, and is to earlingun-
1 -iV
run to the beam afore the mizen step. J i
(483.) The orlop beams for ships of the line to have pTams
a fore and aft strake of four inches thick placed under Strake im-
them in the midships, to receive the heads of the pillars ¿er orlop
in the hold. beams.
(484.) The half beams are all to be of fir, except Half
those in the cable tiers. beams.
Scantlings,
Ships of
the Line,
3 Decks.
Ships of
the Line,
2 Decks.
50-gun
Ships,
1
Frigates.
Orlop
Lower deck ....
Sq. 11
11
Sq. lOj
101
Sq. 10
10
Sq. 8
8
Middle deck, ...
10
Upper deck ....
Quarter deck and!
forecastle ... J
9
7
9
7
Si
7
9i
7
Roundhouse ...
5i|
^^2 1
51
1
«
A piece of oak plank is to be brought on the end of
each half beam to make it of sufficient depth to reach
the shelf piece.
416
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Carlings
under the
midship
ends of the
diagonal
flat for
ships of the
line.
Diagonal
ledges.
Shelf
pieces.
The midship end of each half beam is to be secured
to the carlin^ with a dog-bolt.
Br. In.
(485.) For the gun deck 12
For middle and upper decks 11
To be of old oak, thick stuff, or plank.
For the gun deck about 10
For middle and upper decks ..... 9
Dep. In.
10
9
5
4
(491.) These coaks are to be of cast iron 4 inches
long, and the cavity to be filled with cement and sand ; ® ^
if iron coaks cannot be procured, hard seasoned durable
wood coaks are to be substituted.
(492.) The chocks under the shelf pieces or beams Chocks for
for iron knees, are to be sided as follows : knees.
Sijiips of the Line.
50-gun Ships.
Frigates.
For the orlop .
Lower deck ..
Inches
thick.
9
To be in
9
Inches
broad
15
a direc
15
Inches
thick.
8
tien as
8
Inches
broad.
14
shown
14
Inches
thick.
11
by a dra
Inches
broad.
11
wing.
12
Middle deck ..
8
14
Upper deck ..
8
14
n
13
8
14
Quarter deck,
and fore I
castle.... J
7
12
6è
11
11
Roundhouse ..
6
10
H
10
Ships of
50-gun
Fri¬
the Line.
1
Ships.
gates.
1
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
For the Lower deck
10
9
7
Middle deck
9
Upper deck
8
8
Quarter deck andl
7 1
rj
7
forecastle J
4
é
Roundhouse
6
^2
The breadth given is for the upper side of the shelf
piece, the front side being bevelled.
(486.) The scarfs to be five feet six inches long, and
to be coaked with four circular coaks in each scarf ; the
scarfs to be so disposed that the front lip may overrun
a chock under the shelf piece about four inches.
(487.) Should any difficulty occur in procuring shelf
pieces on account of breadth, they may be wrought by
bringing the top ends together alternately, and intro¬
ducing a connecting shift as described in fig. 5.
(488.) The shelf pieces are to be secured with bolts
from eighteen to twenty inches asunder, and as the
throat bolts of the iron knees will pass through the
shelf pieces, no bolt should be placed nearer than twelve
inches to the midde of each chock that is intended to re¬
ceive an iron knee.
(489.) The diameter of the in and out, and up and
down bolts for shelf pieces must be as follows :
Ships of
50-gun
Fri¬
the Line.
Ships.
gates.
Orlop
li
li
1
Lower deck
U
li
1
Middle deck
li
Upper deck
H
li
H
Quarter deck and forecastle.
1
1
i
Roundhouse
7
8
T
8
(493.) The chocks under the orlop shelf pieces are
to be placed conformably to directions that will be
given with a section, sided for ships of the line and
50-gun ships from eleven to twelve inches, and for fri¬
gates from ten to eleven inches. Care is to be taken
that the bolts for the diagonal timber in the wake of
these chocks, be so disposed as to pass through the
chocks.
(494.) The beams of the gun deck, and also those
of the orlop, to be stationed so as to receive a side
plate, by keeping one side of the chock fair, or in such a
direction with the fore or after part of the beam as may
be most convenient.
(495.) Side plates for ships of the line five inches
broad. If inch thick ; for 50-gun ships, 4J inches
broad, and 14 inch thick, diameter of the bolts 14-
inch.
(496.) The chocks under the midship lower deck
beams of frigates, are to abut on the beam ends of the
midship platform in the same manner as those of ships
of the line, and 50-gun ships do on the orlop beams,
but no side plates are required for frigates.
(497.) The chocks under the shelf pieces are to be
got into place as tight as possible, which may be accom¬
plished by previously setting the beams an inch above
their proper round.
(498.) The weights of the forked knees are to be as Forksd
follows : knees.
Coaks for (490.) The diameter of the coaks for the shelf pieces»
ghelf pieces, and the number in each beam end, are to be as follows :
0 8
« «
S-a
^ ID ■
r0 W
Ig
Orlop
Lower deck....
Middle deck ...
Upper deck ...
Forecastle and
deck
Roundhouse ..,
/Orlop
quarter I
^ ^ I Lower deck,
S J Middle deck
rt ft
' g a
• w ®
I i»
Upper deck ...,
Forecastle and
deck .......
quarter
Ships of
the Line.
50-gun
Ships.
Frigates.
In. No.
In. No.
In. No.
4 2
34 2
4i 1
4i 2
4 2
4i 1
4 2
4 2
3è 2
4 2
^ 1
4 1
4 1
4 1
^ 1
4| 1
4 1
3 1
^ 1
4 1
4 1
4 1
3§ 1
3J 1
4 1
3| 1
3 1
Í
Ships of the
Line.
50-gun
Ships.
Frigates.
For the Lower deck
Middle deck ....
Upper deck
Quarter deck andl
Forecastle .. . j
about cwt.
2f
2i
n
3
2i
2i
(499.) Those beams that are placed over ports where
the forked knee cannot with convenience be introduced,
are to be secured by iron dagger knees on chocks, with
an ear against the side for the introduction of a bolt.
(500.) The diameters of the bolts for the forked
knees are to be as follows, viz.
NAVAÍ. A R n R TT F.n T n P.
Naval Ar- Inches,
chitecture. j^Qwer deck -Íthroat bolts and the upl ^3
*\ and down bolt f ^
The lower bolts and those fore and \ ,
aft in beams J ^
Upper and TThe throat, and up and down bolts, li
middle < Bolts below, and the fore and aftl . ^
decks. U J ^
Quarterdeck"^ throat bolts, and the up") -,.
itle j and down ditto
Bolts below, and fore and aft ditto . 1
The up and down bolts in the lower, upper, and
quarter decks, are to be of copper.
Iron knees (501.) The lower deck beams of frigates, and the
under forecastle and quarter deck beams of 50-gun ships and
beams. frigates, to be secured at each end with an iron knee
under the beam, in weight Ii hundred weight, the toes
or ends to be i inch in thickness and bolted with bolts
of one inch diameter.
Round (502.) The beams of the round house are to be se-
house cured with a plate bolt at each end, diameter of the bolt
beams to be beam Ii inch, and bolted with bolts of ^ inch
wHh^plate The plate on which the bolt is clenched is to
bolts. lie upon the beam and be let into the under side of the
flat of the deck.
Beam ends (503.) The beams of the orlop and platforms, and
to be se- the foremost and aftermost beams of the lower decks of
cured with frigates, are to be secured with three bolts of 1-| inch in
Mts driven end, which are to be driven through the bottom of
through ^11. ®
the bottom. ^ ship.
Trussing (504.) The short stuff, or quick work between the
between the ports of the lower, middle, and upper decks, to be com¬
ports. of posed of materials, sound, well seasoned, and converted
line\l) timber if it can be procured. The abutment
ships, a'mT" for the gun deck to be about thirteen inches
frigates. broad, and for the middle and upper decks twelve inches.
(505.) The trusses for the gun deck to be eleven
inches, and for the middle and upper decks ten inches
broad. The abutment pieces are to be the same thick¬
ness as the clamps, if they do not exceed six inches,
wh'ch are not to be bearded, but should they exceed that
thickness, they are to be bearded to six inches ; but the
diagonal trusses are to be half an inch less in thickness.
(506.) Every abutment piece is to be coaked to the
port timber, with one circular coak of 3^ inches diameter,
which is to be placed so as to act against the pressure of
the truss on the abutment piece. The head of each
abutment piece is to be bolted with two in and out bolts
of ^ inch diameter, each end being also bolted in a fore
and aft direction, with one bolt of the like diameter.
The space between the trusses and abutment pieces is to
be left open, while the ship is in a state of ordinary,
but when commissioned it is to be coppered over.
(507.) In calking the trusses between the ports, the
horizontal parts in contact with the spirketing and
clamp are to be well raimed and calked, by which
means they will act well against the up and dovvn, or
abutment pieces ; but should there be a space left be¬
tween the abutment pieces and trusses more than the
calking will set home, the up and down joint is to be
first calked, or a neat iron plate is to be driven in.
Trussing (508.) Whether the stern be built in the common
the stern, principle, or round with the rother head without board,
drawings will be sent. The lower, middle, and upper
decks of ships of the line, are to be laid diagonally.
(509.) The water ways for the lower deck to be from
YOIi. VI.
thirteen to fourteen inches square, and for the middle Naval Ar-
and upper decks from I2i to thirteen inches square, chitectme.
These scantlings may be easily procured, as the rabbet
and rounding of the front will materially assist the con- Waterways
version. The rabbet for the flat of the deck is to be
taken out, so as to admit of a calking seam of three
inches in depth, and with such an angle that the butts
of the flat of the deck may be bearded | inch and no
more.
(510.) To prevent a lodgement of water on the upper
side of the water ways, they are to be trimmed below a
level from the spirketing, inwards, which may be done
by letting the water ways down more on the inner edge,
than on that next the timbers, according to fig. 6.
(511.) It being of the greatest importance that the
water ways and ekeings be procured of dry, well sea¬
soned oak, or timber of equal durability, great care is
to be taken in the selection ; and to promote this object,
the water ways may be wrought of short lengths and
butted on carlings let down for that purpose between
the beams, observing that no more carlings are to be
introduced than may be necessary for this purpose, and
that they be let down in scores which are to be taken
entirely from the half beams.
(512.) The carlings are to be of the same breadth as
the water ways, and in depth the same as the binding
strake, the upper sides of the carlings being flush with
the upper sides of the beams. The clamps and spirket¬
ing are to be worked according to the usual practice.
(513.) The butts of the water ways are to be dis¬
posed of in the middle of the carlings, and the scoring
down part of the water way to be taken away from the
butt to the side of the beam next to it, as shown in
fig. 7, and the binding strakes are to give shift to the
Water ways.
(514.) Each butt of the water ways is to be secured
to the earling with two coaks, and one up and down
bolt. The bolt is to pass through the shelf piece, but
should the bolt that passes through the end of the half
beam come near to the butt of the water way, then one
up and down bolt may be omitted. The in and out
bolts in the wake of these carlings will necessarily pass
through them instead of the water ways.
(515.) No ekeings are to be wrought of greater
scantlings than may be necessary to get the water ways
in and out of place, and to admit of disposing the up
and down bolts so as to clear the rabbet oí the water
way, the spirketing, and the clamps sufficient for
clenching. The ekeings are to give shift to the water
ways, and thereby reduce the calking at the butts aa
well as give a .stop to the same.
(516.) The water ways and ekeings are to be scored
down on the gun deck main or principal beams three
inches, and on the middle and upper deck main or prin¬
cipal beams 2i inches; the scores are to be taken from
the water ways and ekeings, and the butts faced on the
sides of the beams 3 an inch. No scores are to be
taken from the water ways and ekeings in wake of the^
half beams, but the scores are to be taken from the half
beams entirely.
(517.) One up and down bolt in the water ways
through the shelf piece is to be disposed of in the ena
of each beam and half beam, the diameter of the bolts
h^r the beams of the gun deck to be li inch, and for
the middle and upper decks 1-^ inch, for the half beams
oí the gun deck inch, and for the middle and upper
decks cue inch.
418
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Coaks for
water ways
Side bind-
Naval Ar- (518.) The in and out bolts in the upper part of the
chitecture. ^^ter ways are to be equal in number to those in the
lower part in the binding strakes ; the diameter of the
bolts for the gun deck to be 1-J inch, and for the middle
and upper decks, one inch.
(519.) The diameter of the coaks for the water ways
and the number in each beam end to be as follows, viz.
Inches, No.
Each beam end^ Lower deck 4 2
water way. j Middle and Upper decks.. 3i 2
These coaks are to be of cast iron four inches in
length ; if iron coaks cannot be provided, then well-sea¬
soned, hard, durable wood is to be substituted.
(520.) Thick strakes for the gun deck six inches, and
ing or scor- for the middle and upper decks five inches, broad ten
ing down inches, to be let down in scores taken from ^^main or
Lcuring^^ principal beams ; for the gun deck three inches, and for
the ends of the middle and upper decks 24 inches ; and what may
the flat of be required to make the upper side of the binding strake
diaç)nal flash with the upper sides of the beams, is to be taken
shbs^oHhe binding strake, and the scores are to be faced
line. ^he sides of the beams half an inch. No scores are
to be taken from the binding strakes for half beams, but
the scores are to be taken from the half beams entirelv.
«/
(52Î.) One in and out bolt in the binding strake and
lower edge of the water way, is to be disposed of in the
space between each beam and half beam ; and as there
will be a space of three inches between the binding strake
and water way, no chocks are to be fitted for the purpose
of wooding the bolts. The diameter of the bolts for the
gun deck to be 1^ inch, and for the middle and upper
decks one inch.
(522.) The binding strakes in midships are to be
coaked to every main beam and breast hook, with one
circular coak of 34 inches diameter. To be five inches
Midship
binding
strakes for
middle'^'and hatchway forward for
upper decks decks of ships of the line, and four inches thick
of ships of from the ward room or cabin bulkheads forward for
the line, 50- middle and upper decks.
andfi ates Every side butt of the flat is to be fastened to
Diagonal binding or scored down strake, with two tree-
decks for nails of 14 inch diameter, except in those beams where
the gun, the up and down bolts in the forked knees, or the bolts
middle, and directed for the half beams pass through the flat, then
of sWpg^of ^ one treenail only is to be driven ; the holes for which
the line. sire not to be bored until the deck shall have been calked,
but not payed. All these treenails are to pass through
the binding strake, but only one treenail is to pass
through each half beam; those in the gun deck main
beams being ten inches long, and in the middle and
upper deck main beams nine inches long.
(524.) Every midship butt is to be fastened to the
main beams, or carlings, as the case may be, with two
bolts, and every plank to be bolted with two bolts in
each beam, which it may cross ; the bolts are all to be
I" of an inch diameter, and eleven inches long, for the
gun deck, and eight inches long for the middle and
upper decks; the holes are to be bored through the
beams, to admit of driving out the bolts. To be fastened
to the half beams with two, and to the ledges with one
deck treenail.
(525.) One up and down-bolt is to pass through the
flat of the deck, the side binding or scored down strake,
and each main and half beam, excepting those beams of
the upper and middle decks, where a knee bolt passes
through the binding strake : at the gun deck these bolts
will pass through the shelf piece ; diameter of the bolts
for the gun deck one inch, and t3r the middle and upper Naval Ar-
decks ^ of an inch. chitecture.
(526.) The calking of diagonal decks to be carried
on progressively, as follows : Calking
1. The treenails. _ decks^^^
2. The fore and aft seam, next the binding strake in
midships.
3. The diagonal seams,
4. The water way seam.
Care is to be taken that the diagonal seams under the
water ways be well filled with oakum, for which pur¬
pose irons are to be used similar to those described for
that purpose in fig. 8.
(527.) The forecastle, quarter deck, and round house Inner or
of ships of the line, and all the decks of other ships and coaked
vessels, to be laid in a fore and aft direction. The
coaked water ways for lower decks of 50-gun ships, to ^ft decks,
be 124 inches square, and for frigates 104 inches ; for
the upper decks of 50-gun ships and frigates, 114 inches
square ; for the forecastle and quarter deck of ships of
the line, 50-gun ships and frigates, 104 inches, and for
the round house of all ships, to be nine inches square.
(528.) The rabbet to be taken out of the coaked water
way, so as to admit of a calking seam of three inches in
depth, and with such an angle, that the thin water way
may be bearded f of an inch, and no more.
(529.) The coaked water ways to be bolted with one
up and down bolt in each beam and half beam ; the dia¬
meter of the bolts for the main beams of the lower decks
of 50-gun ships to be 14 inch, for the upper decks of
50-gun ships and frigates I4 inch ; for the lower decks
of frigates, and the forecastle and quarter deck of ships
of the line, 50-gun ships, and frigates, one inch, and for
the round house of all ships 4 of an inch.
(530.) The diameter of the up and down bolts in the
water ways and half beams, to be 4 of an inch less than
has been directed for the main beams.
(531.) The in and out bolts for the water ways, to be
disposed of at the distance of from twenty inches to two
feet asunder, and to be in diameter as directed for the up
and down bolts of the respective main beams. This
kind of water ways to be butted on carlings, as already
described for the diagonal decks.
(532.) Each main beam end and water way to be Coaks for
coaked with circular coaks of cast iron of the following water ways
for fore anfi
aft decks.
diameters and number.
1
Ships
of the
Line.
50-gun
Ships.
Fri¬
gates.
In. No.
In. No.
In. No.
Lower deck
• ®
4 2
3è 1
Upper deck
• •
34 2
2
Forecastle and quarter deck
4 1
4 1
4 1
Round house
34 1
34 1
(533.) The outer water ways to be one inch thicker
than the flat of the respective decks, and to be fastened
to the beams and half beams with treenails, and the
butts to be secured with mixed metal nails.
(534.) The forecastle, waist, and quarter deck ot
ships of the line, 50-gun ships, and frigates, are to be
fastened with mixed metal nails.
(535.) The holes for the bolts of diagonal decks are
to be bored through the beams to admit of driving out
Outer or
thin water
way for fore
and aft
decks.
Forecastle,
waist, and
quarter
deck.
Bolts forth®
flat of decks
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE,
Cross bolt¬
ing of the
wood ends
forward s
aft when
transoms
Circular
coaks and
holes for
ditto
painted.
Naval Ar- the bolts on a repair ; the bolts are to be made with tool
chitecture. heads, and the points to be rounded for the purpose of
driving them out with concave punches.
(536.) In the event of shifting the decks, the holes
are to be bored through the new deck, by introducing
♦he auger into the original holes in the beams from the
under sides ; and to prevent the necessity of re-fastening
the bolts of a larger diameter than were originally
idtiven, a rope-yarn or yarns is to be introduced ia each
hole of sufficient length above the deck to take a turn
round the head of the bolt before it may be driven
home. But should this mode be found objectionable in
practice, either the original mode may be followed by
driving bolts of a larger diameter, or the old holes may
be plugged up and new ones bored,
(537.) A system of cross bolting is to be introduced
between the bolts of the knee of the head and hooks
wooa enüs orlop upwards, two bolts of 1|- inch diameter
orwai an. 50-gun
ships and frigates, to be disposed of in each space
are omitted, between the hooks agreeably to fig. 9. No sap wood
Sap wood (except on elm) is to be suffered to remain in any part
to betaken Qp the ship, but it is to be taken off from the materials
away. before they are placed in the ship. The officers are to
be considered particularly responsible for thé perform¬
ance of this duty.
(538.) The holes for circular coaks are invariably to
be painted with white lead. Wooden coaks are to be
made of the soundest and bést seasoned durable wood
that can be procured, they are to be soaked in oil, and
their ends painted with white lead. In all cases great
care is to be taken that the holes are not sunk lower
than the coaks themselves, and where double sunk coaks
are used great care is to be taken to fill up the space
with chalk and grease as before directed.
(539.) In all cases where oil and tar have been
directed to be used, the mixture is invariably to be made
with four-fifths of oil and one-fifth of tar.
(540.) Every copper bolt for iron knees, is to be
driven with a ring under its head, and those copper
bolts which are clenched upon the bottom under the line
of flotation, are to be carefully chinced, and putty
placed upon the oakum before the ring is put on.
Beams to be (541.) In order to facilitate the seasoning of beams
placed erect they are to be converted as early as possible, and placed
as near the ship as convenient, with their butt-ends
upwards ; and as oil has been found to be a great pre¬
ventive to the dry rot, the butt-ends of these important
parts of the ship are to be hollowed out so as to retain
a quantity of oil, by which means it will be most readily
absorbed by the timber ; a fresh supply of oil is to be
afforded occasionally, and, in trimming the beams, as
little of their ends so saturated, is to be cut off as possi¬
ble. The ends of the beams are to be covered, so as to
protect them from water, and admit a free circulation of
air.
(542.) Defects are to be cut out of timbers of the
frame, and all other parts of the ship, before they are
stowed away for seasoning ; and those timbers where
defects have been removed, the hole is to be on the
under side, but if that cannot be done, a hole is to be
bored to take off the water.
(543.) The faying part of the various materials, viz. dia¬
gonal timbers, fore and aft pieces, trusses, hooks, crutches,
chocks under beams, the waterways and ekeings to ditto
are to be char.red with shavings or ironed with a hot iron,
and while hot to be payed with oil and tar.
Oil and tar.
Copper
bolts for
iron knees.
for season¬
ing,
Means to be
taken for
the preser¬
vation of
the ma¬
terials.
(544.) All the timbers of the frame in the hold of the Naval Ar-
ship, but particularly those under the magazine and chitecture.
coal-hole, when 'perfectly dry., are also to be payed over
with oil and tar twice or more during the time the ship
is building. The rents and shakes of the frames, and
also the diagonal framing, are to be chinced, and the
surface well payed with oil and tar.
(545.) The ends of beams, longitudinal pieces, trusses,
chocks, under-shelf pieces, carlings, &c. after being well
saturated with oil and tar, are to be painted with white
lead. By this process the capillary tubes will be pre¬
vented from absorbing the juices of the timber with
which they are to be brought in contact.
(546.) The strictest attention is to be paid during the Openings,
building of the ship,'to keep the openings of the frame to be
and every other part clear from chips or dirt, or any clear of
thing that may obstruct a free circulation of air. ^
(547.) An entrance to the hold is to be left open in Entrances
all ships at the head, and also on one side in midships as to hold,
long as the carrying on of the works will admit, not only
for the convenience of conveying the materials on board,
but to facilitate the seasoning of the ship by creating a
circulation of air ; which latter object will be further
promoted by leaving open the treenail holes in various
parts until the calking of the ship. The calking of
the ship is not to be performed until it shall be considered
necessary. A strake is to be left open on the outside,
opposite to the opening above the strake on the orlop
beams within board.
(548.) When a ship is not built or repaired under a
roof, every possible precaution is to be taken to keep her
dry during the progress of the works ; and to accom¬
plish this desirable object, the forecastle, quarter deck,
and round house are to be laid and calked as early as
possible, and a temporary housing erected over the
waist. Eave boards aré also to be fitted to the topside,
as already practised, to carry the water from the ship.
If necessity should compel the use of unseasoned tim¬
bers, it is to be boiled in the kilns, and afterwards
exposed to the air as long as possible.
(549.) Fig. 1, 2, and 3, pi. vi. represent the sheer plan
or elevation, the body plan or plan of projection, and the
half-breadth plan of a first-rate of 120 guns.
(550.) Great Britain is not only deeply interested in Commer-
all that concerns her Navy, but also in that commercial cial marine
marine, which connects her with other nations. When Great
J y * 4 o "I
we look at the magnitude of this portion of her power, at
once the ample feeder of her wealth, and a nursery of sea¬
men for all the daring enterprises of war, we cannot but re¬
gard every improvement by which additional security can
be imparted to it, with the greatest interest and delight.
By the modes of ship-building commonly practised in
our merchants' yards, Sir Robert Seppings observes
there can be little doubt that lives and property to an
immense amount must from time to time be sacrificed bv
injudicious modes of construction, and by the inefficient
plans which have had no better origin than a rude and
barbarous experience.
(551.) An idea of the great importance of our com- its import-
mercial marine may be gathered from the following ance.
statement of the British shipping employed in the trade
of the United Kingdom, and which have actually entered
the several Ports of Great Britain for some preceding
years. ^
British \ 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830
Tonnage j 1,796,250 1^972,780 1,955,548 2,033,854 2,036,091
(552.) For the year 1831 we present a more detailed 1831
3 K 2
420
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
Naval Ar- Hst of the shipping employed in the trade of the United repeated voyages,) with the number of their crews j Naval Ar«
chitecture. Kingdom, together with the number and tonnage of vessels separating British from Foreign ships, and distinguish- chitectur<?,
entered inwards and cleared outwards, (including their ing the trade with each Country.
Countries, &c.
I
Russia
Sweden
Norway
Denmark
Prussia
Germany
United Netherlands
France
Portugal, viz. Proper
Azores
Madeira ...
Spain and the Balearic Islands
Canary Islands
Gibraltar
Italy and the Italian Islands
Malta
Ionian Islands «.
Turkey and Continental Greece
M ore a and Greek Islands
Egypt (Ports on the Mediterranean.)
Tripoli, Barbary, and Morocco
Coast of Africa, from Morocco to the Cape of Good)
Hope ....j
Cape of Good Hope ...
Eastern Coast from the Cape of Good Hope to Ba¬
belmandel
Cape de Verd Islands •.
St. Helena and Ascension «
Mauritius
East India Company's Territories and Ceylon ..,
China
Java
Philippine Islands
Other Islands of the Indian Seas
New South Wales
New Zealand and South Sea Islands
British Northern Colonies
British West Indies
Hayti
Cuba and other Foreign West Indies
United States
Mexico
Guatemala
Colombia
Brazil
States of the Rio de la Plata.
Chili
Peru f...
The Whale Fisheries
Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, and Man .
Foreign Parts, the particular Places cannot be
specified)
Total.
Inwards.
Outwards.
British.
Foreign
0
British.
Foreign.
Ships.
Tons.
Men.
Ships.
Tons.
Men.
Ships.
Tons.
Men.
Ships.
Tons.
Men.
2,065
394,850
18,246
132
33,867
1,677
1,605
316,361
14,654
129
32,827
1,488
84
]i;450
616
195
38,689
1,896
67
8,953
528
118
21,782
1,079
52
4,518
306
754
114,865
6,145
33
2,876
194
784
128,480
6,610
66
6,552
329
748
62,190
3,672
437
70,324
3,450
925
102,639
5,474
487
83,908
3,873
701
140,532
6,084
303
50,792
"2,394
395
80,852
3,483
724
109,651
5,579
632
58,411
3,138
665
102,026
'5,194
589
49,635
2,688
1,723
187,456
10,528
756
82,449
4,492
1,617
179,488
9,740
784
86,461
4.931
1,312
97,057
9,450
1,254
73,159
7,747
1,191
90311
9,146
975
62,530
5.770
401
43,168
2,537
54
6,084
495
381
43,574
2,673
132
21,243
1,251
220
17,454
1,086
9
817
74
177
12,750
889
6
510
51
11
1,402
96
• • •
• • • •
0 0 0 0
8
1,102
72
686
73,627
4,173
87
8,800
671
520
58,014
3,424
96
14,239
895
45
5,284
281
• • •
• • • •
0 0 0 0
43
5,259
307
8
953
50
• • •
0 • • •
0 0 0 0
106
14,349
807
4
723
44
497
75,875
4,132
97
19,712
1,275
383
54,837
3,089
71
14,502
912
27
4,509
249
• • •
• 0 0 0
f 0 0 0
61
10,561
555
3
736
45
60
8,482
473
• • •
• •00
0 0 0 «
35
5,306
288
1
224
16
129
18,180
1,020
• 9
0 9 9 9
0 0 0 0
117
17,696
1,015
2
407
21
13-
1,822
98
9 9 9
9 9 0*0
0 0 0 0
3
375
21
35
8,447
401
9 9 9
235
9
39
8.178
413
2
396
28
12
1,178
63
*99
• • 0 •
• 0 • 0
3
'330
19
126
36,710
1,852
9 9 9
• 000
• 0 0 0
116
31,849
1,889
27
4,626
260
9 9 9
• 0 0 •
• 0 0 0
37
7,213
423
1
134
13
• •• 9
• • • *
9 9 9
• •00
• 0 0 0
2
468
27
3
688
33
• • • •
• • • •
• • « •
9 9 9
0 0 0 •
• 0 0 0
6
1,164
71
69
19,315
1,028
9 9 9
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
28
8,067
452
150
63,566
4,217
9 9 9
• 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
137
59,721
4,187
21
27,889
2,783
9 9 9
• 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
22
28,081
2,764
3
1,126
58
2
883
53
9 9 9
0 0 0 0
• 0 0 0
12
3,505
197
4
1,287
63
7
2,078
118
• t • •
• • • •
• • • •
9 9 9
• 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
4
1,085
111
35
11,875
675
9 9 9
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
78
27,623
1,867
1
537
43
9 9 9
• 0 0 0
• 0 0 0
4
1,359
110
1,758
480,236
22,276
9 9 9
• 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
1,804
473,338
23,257
1
522
20
904
249,079
13,691
9 9 9
• 0 0 0
• 0 0 0
907
249,051
14,108
25
4,633
256
2
321
17
43
7,518
450
35
7,438
377
8
2,065
88
78
14,927
873
14
3,718
179
289
91,787
4,204
639
229,869
9,807
358
114,200
5,406
651
231,280
10,209
32
4,971
295
5
668
48
30
5,056
293
4
639
39
1
206
9
• • •
4 0 0 0
• 000
.1
174
10
8
1,707
91
• • •
0 0 0 0
0 0 9 0
15^
2,937
163
216
49,414
2,521
5
965
70
239
58,681
2,974
3
618
34
42
7,829
426
9 9 9
0 0 0 0
0 0 • 0
25
4,483
255
1
163
8
5
982
58
9 9 9
• 0 0 0
0*00
18
3,602
231
11
1,920
112
9 9 9
• 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
7
1,291
78
111
37,454
4,415
9 9 9
• 0 0 0
0 • 0 0
110
36,472
4,828
1,955
106,230
8,268
6
907
48
1,867
97,465
7,749
• • • •
* » * *
• * • •
• • •
• 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
49
7,939
359
227
37,824
1,586
14,488
2,367,322
131,627
6,085
874,605
47,453
13,791
2,300,731
132,004
5,927
896,051
47,009
sent con¬
structed
Imperfect (553.) With regard to the principle on which mer-
mode by cantile ships are at present constructed, and particularly
diant dlits regards the putting together their ribs or frames, and
are at pre- the arrangement of the materials, it may be observed,
that in forming the frames or ribs, half of the timbers
only are united so as to constitute any part of an arch,
the alternate couples only being connected together;
the intermediate timbers (termed fillings) being uncon¬
nected together, and merely resting upon the outer
planking, instead of giving, as they ought to do, support
to it. Ships so constructed cannot by any means pos¬
sess equal strength with those that have the whole of
their timbers formed into frames or arches.
(554.) Sir Robert Seppings observes, " that this
imperfect mode of practice is peculiar to the English
merchant ship-builder ; and was pursued even till very
lately in his Majesty's Navy, while the preferable system
of connecting the ribs was common to other maritime
Powers. There cannot be any doubt,'' he further adds. Principles
" that the principle of uniting the frames now adopted
in the construction of English ships of war, might with ^ith aXan-
great advantage be also introduced into the mercantile tage be
Navy; thereby giving to the ships in that employ addi- adopted in
tional strength and increased durability, without adding merchant
to the expense of building. ®
(555.) There are also great objections to the present
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
421
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Great ob¬
jections to
mode of joining together the several pieces of the same
rib. In the ordinary way it is done by the introduction
of a third piece, technically termed a chock or wedge
piece, A, fig.4, pi. vi.; these pieces amounting to upwards
of four hundred and fifty in a 74-gun ship, and not less
the present than that number in an Indiaman of 1200 tons. Of
mode, these chocks, not one in a hundred is ever replaced in
the general repair of a ship, being not only found
defective, but very generally to have communicated their
own decay to the timbers to which they are attached.
In addition to this, the grain of the rib pieces is much
impaired, to give them the curvature required ; and that
they occasion a great consumption of materials, is ob¬
vious, the ends of the two rib pieces being first cut
away, and then replaced by the chock.
This mode (556.) This mode of putting together the frame is
peculiar to also peculiar to the English ship-builder, and was
introduced about the year I7I4 ; and to the honour of
s ip- ui ei Nash, the builder of the Royal William, it should
be recorded, that he refused to adopt it. When that
ship was taken to pieces at Portsmouth, in 1813, Sir
Robert Seppings found she was built without the wedge
pieces or chocks, to which, in a certain degree, he attri¬
buted her strength and durability.
Why (557.) Chocks were no doubt introduced in order to
chocks were procure the necessary curvature, when crooked or com-
latroduced. timber became scarce, as may be seen in fig. 5.
The same curvature, however, may equally be obtained
by a different combination of materials, and at a con¬
siderable less consumption of useful timber.
Description (558.) The frames of a mercantile ship, according to
of frames of the present mode of building, before they are placed and
à mercantile united to each other, may be seen with their chocks or
^ V • ' *
ship.
Defects.
wedge pieces in fig. 6. From imperfect workmanship,
also, the surfaces of the chocks are seldom in contact with
those of the timbers ; and the ends of both are frequently
reduced so thin, as to split by the fastenings necessary
to secure the planks to the ribs. Thus the ship, in the
event of grounding, or even in the act of rolling, derives
little support from timbers united only by two narrow
edges.
(559.) Another great defect, moreover, is, that the
ends of the lower ribs or timbers, commonly termed the
lower futtocks, fig. 6, are not continued across the keel
C, so that no support is given in a transverse direction
when the ship touches the ground ; nor any aid to
counteract the constant pressure of the mast. This
great sacrifice of strength and safety is made for no
other purpose than that of giving a passage for the
water to the pumps.
(560.) The floor timbers, which by this mode of con¬
struction are the only timbers that cross the keel, are
also weakened for the same purpose, as shown at D,
fig'. 6. The conveyance of the water is hence very un¬
certain, the passage being very frequently choked ; the
pumps, from its not being practicable to continue them
sufficiently low, always leaving from six to eight inches of
water in the ship. These compartments, therefore, con¬
stantly permit a certain quantity of putrid bilge water,
offensive and injurious to the health of all on board.
(561.) The deficiency of strength causes also an
alarming insecurity in the plank of the bottom, as shown
at E, fig. 6, termed the garboard strake ; which, conse¬
quently, has no other fastening to the general fabric than
its connection with the keel at F, fig. 6, and a slight
security at G, fig. 6 ; hence it is obvious, that in the
event of the keel being disturbed, the garboard strake,
from its being attached to it, must share the same fate Naval Ar¬
as the keel, and in that case the loss of the vessel would chitecture.
be inevitable. ^
(562.) To obviate these serious defects is the principal I«iprove-
object of the excellent Paper given by Sir Robert Sep-
pings in the Transactions of the Royal Society for 1820.
The principle of this improvement may be seen by
referring to fig. 7, the component parts of each rib being
of shorter lengths and less curvature, and consequently
less grain-cut. They are also rendered more firm and
solid by substituting coaks or dowels for chocks or
wedge pieces ; and the mode of connecting the lower
timbers is better adapted, in the event of a ship ground¬
ing, to give support and strength to the fabric, as appears
by the line denoted by H.
(563.) This mode of connecting the ends of the tim- Origin of
bers by circular dowels or coaks, as at I, is that which
has, from time immemorial, been practised to unite the coaks! ^
fellies of carriage wheels ; and we learn from Mr. Wood,
that the same method has been observed in joining
together the separate pieces of the shafts of the stone
columns in the ruins of Balbec.
(564.) To contrast the two systems, the Talavera, Comparison
built according to the new plan, was compared with the
Black Prince, constructed with chocks, the result being
most favourable to the former. The frame of the Tala- Prince,
vera was composed of small timber, hitherto considered
applicable only for the frames of frigates. Sir Robert
was induced to attempt the construction in this way ;
from there being a surplus store of small timber in the
yard, and from a conviction, that a well-combined num¬
ber of small timbers might be made equal, if not supe¬
rior, both in strength and econom}', to the large, over- Timber
grown, and frequently grain-cut materials, employed in commonly
constructing the frames of large ships. The result has ^PPl^4j;o
• • SIHRil SIllDS
shown the correctness of the principle ; and its adoption may be used
cannot fail to prove of great national advantage, in the for larger
application of sloop timber to the building of frigates, ships,
and of frigate timber to ships of the line, whenever large
timber cannot be procured. On this principle, also, may
frigates and small ships of war, or merchant vessels, be
built of straight fir, without the assistance of oak or
elm, formerly employed to give the necessary curvature
of the sides. As respects the general safety of the ship. Further
it may be seen, by referring to fig. 8, pi. vi., and fig. 10, description
pi. v., that the timbers uniformly cross the keel; that P''■
the frame of the ship is filled so as to form a compact
body to the height marked K ; and that only certain
internal strakes of plank, or thick stuff, as it is termed,
are introduced on the joints of the timbers, for the pur¬
pose of imparting strength where every alternate timber
neces|prily joins, as shown at L. The remainder of the
inner planking may be omitted, and dunnage battens,
in a perpendicular direction, brought upon the timbers
between the plank, as shown at M, thereby forming
regular spaces between each, as is usual at present
upon the plank. This will give an increase o^
stowage in proportion to the thickness of the plank
omitted. Water courses, denoted by dotted lines at jS
are left in the joints of the timber under the plank, for
the purpose of conveying the water to the pumps ,
which, by this plan, reach below the water, instead ot
being some inches above, as in former plans. No
stagnant water will hence remain, the limber passage
forming a smooth uniform channel, capable of being
cleared with ease, should it be inquired, whenever the
hold is unstowed ; whereas at present it is inaccessible
422
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
and also
lose its
keel.
Mode of
Naval Ar- in places, and forms compartments for putrid water,
»hitecture. without there being any means of removing it.
(565.) It is obvious that a ship constructed on this
A ship so principle may sustain the loss of certain planks of the
raaWose (which has frequently hap-
planksfrom pened to ships of war on their being taken into dock,)
its bottom, and still reach the place of her destination ; when the
loss of either would be the destruction of a ship built on
the present mode. It is evident, also, that a ship con¬
structed on the new plan possesses greater capabilities
of stowage, and ampler space for leakage than by the
old ; by omitting [the useless inner planking, and by
laying the kentlage on dunnage, leaving a space for
the water, which was formerly occupied by the inner
lining. This dunnage in the bilge may be formed with
the iron kentlage, and thereby serve as ballast, for which
it is well calculated from its situation ; and by its occu¬
pying a space heretofore forming part of the fabric of the
ship, cannot but give an increase of stowage,
(566.) The best mode of closing the openings be-
closing the tween the timbers, is by filling the intermediate spaces
between^ with pieces of wood, about three inches in depth, and of
the timbers. lengths as the inferior conversions will afford. These
fillings are to be well calked, after which the exterior
plank is to be brought on. When the works are going on
within board, similar pieces are tobe fitted internally, and
afterwards taken out for the purpose of filling the spaces
between the pieces so fitted with a mixture of Parker's
Roman cement and drift sand, in the proportion of two
to one, the opening being previously well payed with
coal tar. Where there is sufficient space, a brick may
be introduced, provided there is room for cement be¬
tween it and the timbers. When filled in to within
about two inches of the surface of the frame, the three-
inch pieces, already fitted and taken out, are to be well
driven in and calked, thereby leaving no space unoccupied.
These pieces may even be driven below the surface of
the timber, leaving water courses to convey the leakage
to the pumps in channels. Before the launching or un-
docking of ships built on this principle, it has been the
practice to inject the part filled in with mineral tar, by
means of a simple forcing pump, boring holes in the
joints of the timbers for the introduction of the pipe.
By following this method, the air will be excluded,
which, as experience has shown, tends much to the
durability of the fabric. If what is here recommended
be attended to, and mercantile ships be built under roofs,
as ships of war now are, durability will be obtained in
addition to safety, from the mode of their construction.
How wood- (567.) The beams are to be attached to the sides, as
are renTer- rendering wood knees unnecessary,
ed imneces- requiring only a small number composed of iron,
isaiy. In fig. II, pi. v. the portion P illustrates the old prin¬
ciple of framing the stern with transoms, and Q the new
one, having timbers similar to the bow, omitting the
transoms below the wing or upper transom. By intro¬
ducing the new principle on which the floors are made,
the necessity of using the valuable compass timber,
hitherto required, and which is with so much difficulty
procured, is altogether avoided. Uniform support is
thus given, and also increased room for stowage. In
diagonally, mercantile ships above 500 tons, Sir Robert Seppings
recommends plate iron to be laid diagonally, as shown
in fig. 10, pi. V.
Proof of (568.) The important principle now recommended,
thT^ala- causes a decrease in the consumption of mate-
liar. tials, and obviates the difficulty of procuring the neces¬
Plate iron
to be laid
sary curvature, but also affords protection from worms ex
ternally,and vermin internally. Leaks may be more easily
discovered and stopped than by the old method ; and as
a beautiful experimental proof of increased .strength the
Malabar, of 74 guns, built at Bombay, arrived at Ports
mouth, loaded to her upper deck with timber, having
during her passage encountered four heavy gales of
wind, without showing a symptom of weakness. This
ship had no other attachment for her beams than the
internal hoops and thick water way ; the iron knees hav-^
ing been omitted, from the difficulty of procuring them in
India, utitil her arrival in this Country ; thus supporting
her cargo without the aid of knees, either of wood or iron.
(569.) The publication of Mr. Edye's valuable Work
on Naval Calculations, has brought the great nume¬
rical results of ship-building into a very convenient point
of view. The praiseworthy industry that has led to the
formation of the numerous Tables contained in it, will,
we hope, meet with its due reward. To the theoretical
cultivator of Naval Architecture, as well as to the prac¬
tical shipwright, this collection of constants cannot but
prove of the greatest value.
The following Table contains the dimensions^ of
different ships, with their light and load draughts of
water and height of ports.
* We regret that our limits will not permit us to do more than allude
with the greatest brevity to the imporraiit history of the dimensions
of ships. It has been by very slow and gradual steps that our
Navy has advanced in this important particular. In 1677 the
length on the gun deck of a 100-gun ship, amounted but to 165
feet, and in the establishment of 1745 it had increased only to 178
feet. Spain was the first nation that increased the dimensions of
ships to any considerable extent, and France followed her example
with better success. The capture of the Princess of 70 guns from
the Spaniards in 1739, pointed out the necessity of our increasing
the dimensions of our largest class of two decks ; but the French
and Spanish Navies were long inferior to the English in the want
of three-deckers, of which experience taught them the largest classes
were much too powerful for their largest two-deckers. It was not
till after the Peace of 1763, that either France or Spain possessed
a single ship of three decks. It was the English three-decker, the
Royal George of 100 guns, and of 2046 tons burthen, launched in
1756, ^hat gave so great an impulse to ships of this class. The Com¬
merce de Marseilles, however, exceeded our present first-rates in
length by 3 feet 4 four inches, in breadth by 1 foot 3 inches and a
half, and in tonnage by 145 tons.
By adopting 100 for the breadth of a three-deck ship of each of
the following Nations, the proportional lengths are those recorded
in the following Table : Proportional Numbers for the
Breadth. Length.
Spanish 100 358
Swedish 100 372
French 100 380
English 100 383
Anu in the largest class of ships of two decks of 80-guns and
upwards, these proportional numbers are as follows ;
Spanish 100 Breadth. 362 Length
Danish * 100 367
Swedish 100 369
French 100 375
English 100 376
By taking the smaller ships of two decks, the proportional num-
hpPOITlP •
English 100 Breadth. 361 Length.
Spanish 100 365
Swedish 100 365
French 100 365
Danish ............. 100 373
And for frigates, we have the following :
Spanish 100 Breadth. 367 Length.
French (Impérieuse) .. 100 375
English (Leda) 100 376
Danish 100 377
Swedish 100 379
French (Niobe) 100 383
English (Portland) ... 100 393
Wkval Ar¬
chitecture..
Mr. E dye's
valuable
Tables.
Dimensions
of different
ships.
NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.
423
Number of Guns.
Length of Deck
of Kxíél for Tonnage
Breadth for ditto#
Extreme breadth
Depth in Hold •
Burthen in Tons...... No.
o
{Forward
Aft....
Load . íFotward
lAft ,...
rFore
•••
I After.
•ip O
in
Ö I
120
80
74
Razee.
50
52
46
Razée
Corvette.
26
28
Corvette,
18
Brig.
18
Brig.
10
Schooner
Cutter.
Ft. In.
205 0
Ft, In.
196 IJ
Ft. In.
176 0
Ft.
173
In.
8
^Ft. In.
172 0
Ft.
150
In.
IJ
Ft. In.
145 0
Ft. In.
113 8
Ft. In.
112 0
Ft.
100
In
0
Ft.
90
In.
0
Ft.
80
In.
0
Ft. In.
67 3
170 11
161 llj
145 1
144
8
144 9
125
H
121 9|
94 8|
92 If
77
73
H
64
51 4
53 6
51 5i
47 6
47
10
43 8
39
11
38 2
31 6
30 6
30
6
24
6
23
0
24 3
54 5
52 Oi
48 2
48
6
44 2
40
3
38 6
31 10
30 10
30
9
24
8
23
2
24 5
23 2
22 6
21 0
13
10|
14 6
12
9
13 3
9 0
13 10
12
9
11
0
9
10
10 7
2602
2279
1741
1761
1468
1063
944
500
456
382
235
183
161
Ft. In.
15 10
Ft. In.
13 9
Ft. In.
13 5
ni
c3
CXI
<0
•
f—<
a;
Ft.
rl3
In.
1
Ft. In.
12 2
Ft.
10
In.
9
1
9
d <
Ö ]
o
Ft. In.
rlO 11
Ft. In.
9 8
Ft. In.
10 0
Ft.
6
In.
6
Ft.
7
In.
9
Ft.
6
In.
1
Ft. In.
5 4
18 2
18 4
17 6
"3
a
o
]l7
2
15 0
15
6
Ri
X
(])
14 4
11 10
11 10
11
4
10
2
9
0
11 10
24 7
21 9
20 11
d
j20
3
19 5
17
6
u
c
17 Oi
15 2
14 8
11
4
11
5
9
2
7 7
26 0
25 0
23 9
»TS
121
6
20 5
19
2
• i-t .4-1
CO "»5
'l8 5i
15 7
15 3
14
7
12
6
11
8
14 5
6 10
8 10
7 6
9
3
9 0
8
1
9 4
5 2
5 7
5
5
4
9
4
7
5 9
5 6
6 1
5 8
8
3
7 10
7
3
8 5
4 11
4 11
4
9
4
4
3
5
3 2
6 6
6 11
5 9
8
8 10
8
1
9 10
5 5
5 10
5
10
4
8
3
7
3 11
Analysis of (570.) An exact analysis of the rates of labour of the different artisans employed in building a ship of war,
the rates of cannot but be of the greatest value.
labour. following Table we have the rates per ton, and also the total amounts.
TAe Rate per Ton for Labour on all Classes of Ships and Vessels with the Total Amount
Number of Guns
u
a
0
H
S
cu
1
»
<
r Shipwrights
Calkers ....
Joiners • •.,
Smiths .. •..
Painters .. • <
Total per Ton
« f • 9 f t •
U
c2
'S
s
o
' Shipwrights
Calkers ..«<
Joiners
a
Smiths
^ Painters
Total amount*
Corvette^
Brig.
Brig,
Schooner.
Cutter.
)20
80
74
52
46
28
18
18
10
Sm dm
£. Sm dm
£m S. d.
£m S m dm
£m Sm d.
£. Sm dm
£m Sm dm
£m Sm dm
£m S, dm
£m Sm dm
£ m Sm dm
4 13 5i
4 2 8
4 7 4
4 0 0
4 11 1
5 15 2
4 12 0
4 14 9
4 16 0
4 11 10
4 6 34
0 4 11
0 4 0
0 4 1
0 3 5
0 3 8
0 5 01
0 5 4
0 5 41
0 6 5
0 6 5
0 5 7
0 12 7
0 10 6
0 11 0
0 6 2
0 7 6
0 11 9
0 12 7
0 11 51
0 12 3
0 11 7
0 12 0
0 7 6i
0 6 4
0 6 6
0 6 7
0 <7 8
0 6 41
0 5 3
0 4 Of
0 2 9
0 2 10
0 2 84
0 1 8
\
0 1 6
0 1 6
0 1 3
0 1 6
0 2 0
0 1 4
0 1 21
0 1 4
0 1 6
G 1 5
6 0 2
5 5 0
5 10 5
4 17 5
5 11 5
7 0 4
5 16 6
5 16 10
5 18 9
5 14 2
5 8 0
£. s.
£. Sm
£. s.
£m S.
£. s.
£. Sm
£» Sm
£, Sm
£m Sm
£m s:
Sm
12172 6
9435 0
7608 17
5872 0
4842 7
2878 18
2090 18
1812 5
1130 15
840 0
694 15
644 10
445 16
355 13
251 0
201 6
126 19
123 13
102 10
73 9
58 10
45 2
1639 14
1196 5
952 17
450 0
398 6
296 6
290 15
219 3
144 18
106 2
96 3
966 13
721 0
567 3
480 0
404 5
156 8
120 0
78 2
30 4
26 2
22 0
220 0
178 0
130 10
90 0
80 0
50 0
31 0
22 0
16 0
14 6
12 0
15643 3
11976 1
9615 0
7143 0
5926 4
3508 11
2656 6
2234 0
1395 6
1045 0
870 0
Great dif- (571.) It appears from this Table that the rates of
ference in labour for the different classes of ships are by no means
labour for instant. In the shipwrights, for example, there is a
different difference between the maximum rate for the 28-gun
ships. ship, and the minimum rate for the 52-gun frigate,
amounting to no less than ¿^1. 15s. 2c?, per ton. It
would be curious to trace the cause of so great a differ¬
ence. The cheapest ship for the calkers and joiners is
also the 52-gun frigate ; but the maximum price for the
former trade is found in the 10-gun brig and the
schooner ; and for the latter trade, the greatest price is
* From these sums 20 per cent, must be deducted to bring them
to the Peace rates.
found in the l20-gun ship, and the I8-gun corvette.
The greatest rate of labour for the smiths is found in the
46-gun frigate, and the least in the cutter. The cheap¬
est vessel for the painters is the 18-gun brig, and the
dearest the three-decker. Taking all the ships, the
dearest vessel per ton is the 28-gun ship, and the cheap¬
est the 52-gun frigate. We might pursue these com¬
parisons further, did our limits permit.
(572.) The relations, also, of the rate per ton for
labour and materials are deserving, also, of an attentive
consideration. In the fourth and fifth columns of the ijourand '
succeeding Table, this relation is exhibited, the timber materials,
exceeding the labour in the greatest ratio in the 120-gun
ship, and the least in the 18-gun brig.
424
NAVAL
ARCHITECT
URE
Naval Ar¬
chitecture.
Number of
Guns.
Rate
per Ton
for
Labour.
Rate
per Ton
for
Materials.
Ratio
of
Labour
to Cost
of Ma¬
terials.
Total
Expense
of
Labour.
Total
Expense
of Ma¬
terials.
1
Total
Cost of
Ship's
Hull.
Total
Cost of
Masts
and
Yards.
Total
Cost of
Rigging
and
Blocks.
Total
Cost of
Furni-
'ture
and Sea
Stores.
«
Total
Ex})ense
of Kquip'
ment.*
Cost
per Gun
to the
nearest
Unit.
£. s. d.
s. d.
£.
£.
£.
£.
£.
£.
£.
£.
120
6 0 2
29 18 7
5 : 31
15643
77878
93521
3879
2994
16805
117199
977
80
5 5 0
23 7 9
5 : 25
11976
53303
65279
3506
2997
15114
86896
1086
7-4
5 10 5
28 0 3
5 : 30
9615
48773
58388
2994
2691
12433
76506
1034
52
4 17 5
20 3 2
5 : 26
7143
29601
36744
2598
2013
9512
50867
978
46
5 115
20 18 5
5 : 24
5926
22237
28163
1477
1676
7952
39268
854
28
7 0 4
24 4 1
5 ; 22
3508
12103
15611
745
764
4434
21554
770
Corvette 18
5 16 6
19 12 7
5 : 22
2656
8954
11610
635
792
3706
16743
930
Brig . . 18
5 16 10
17 13 9
5 : 20
2234
6758
8992
526
610
32S5
13413
745
Brig . . 10
5 18 9
19 11 9
5 : 21
1395
4604
5999
327
395
2075
8796
880
Schooner..
5 14 2
19 9 0
5 : 22
1045
3560
4605
200
170
1380
6355
Cutter ....
5 8 0
19 6 5
5 : 23
870
3110
3980
351
I '
171
1368
5870
Naval Ar¬
chitecture,
Loads of
timber for
différent
ships.
Number of
men to
build a ship
ofeach
class.
(573) The next Table contains a statement of the
loads of rough timber, plank, &c. required for building
each class of ship and vessel ; of the quantity that one
man can work up in a twelvemonth in building | and of
the number of men it will take to complete a ship in that
time for launching, calculated at the War rate.
Rate of Ship
1 1
120
80
74
52
46
28
Corvette.
18
Brig,
18
Brig.
10
Schooner.
Cutter.
Quantity of Loads required ......
5880
4339
3600
2372
1800
963
624
471
337
250
186
Ditto, that one Man can work in al
Twelvemonth J
29i
28|
29i
25f
23|
22
isj
m
181
17
Number of Men to build a Shipl
in the same period j
200
1
153
122
'
1
91i
76
441
33f
27Î
18
13è
11
If estimated at the Peace rate, the following will be the results.
Quantity of Loads for one Man in 1
a Twelvemonth J
35|
34i
35|
30
281
26
I
21
22
22
20J
Number of Men to build a Ship")
in the same period J
160
1221
97
69
60|
351
27
221
14^
lOf
8|
Number of
men to rig
a ship of
iach class.
(574.) The time in which 20 riggers can fit the rig¬
ging and blocks of each class of ship and vessel is given
in the following Table:
Class of Ship and Vessel.
Honrs.
120 Guns
300
74 to 60
285
50
260
46
230
28
140
18 Corvette
110
18 Brig
105
10
80
(575.) With this Table we reluctantly quit the import-
apS subject of Naval Architecture. It is one of grow¬
ing interest to the World, and the present distinguished
Surveyor of the Navy, Captain Symonds, in the ships
already built and now building by him, has so largely
increased the dimensions of ships, that we cannot but
anticipate the most splendid results from his important
plans.
* 20 per cent, must be deducted from these sums for labour, ard
18 per cent, for materials, to reduce them to the Peace rates. The
Cornwallis of 74 guns, of 1809 tons, was built at Bombay of teak,
at £30. 14s. a ton. The Trincomalee frigate, of 1065 tons, at the
same place, of the same material, at £29. 8s. Id. per ton. The Vic¬
tory, also, of 382 tons, at £23. 9s. Id. k ton; the Zebra, of 385 tons,,
at £24, 6s. Id. a ton ; the Sphinx, of 239 tons, at £24. 6s. ÔjL a ton?,
and the Camden, of 240 tons, at £25. 3s. lOa. a ton.
■àpt^J' ÁJMHIf
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CARPETA TRY
úmíOn/ted'tiJímwn
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FORTIFICATION.
PLATE I.
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Genef-al' appearance ¿Moc/nra Fortrefs-c
J.W Loyvrx-
FORTIFICATION
Couut (le Pa^-iin (i6.ir,)
withasrcond envelope. | with Cotmterguar«!:
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np.l? Vaubaiis 2"'* System
ejœcvtted at Landau A
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KAVAL ARCHITECTURE
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Fiihlished/îjiril.lJ334. ^BaidmntrCmdockPaternoster PowLondon
J.W.Low^v Sciiljl.
:^AVAI. ARCUlïKrTlTHE. hj^itk ü.
7 ^
Pinn ot'tin- íuTvüúimJ Stmi ofth<'
Haintiiiryati Ptipatt'. witJi thr diffnYnt
henjiiiij.f liftermhied forthc (tU7Uf
Plan of ihr Square Stern of Uu
ßoadicea FHpate. with t/u eb'ffnmt'^
heiitinffs determmed tor the ¿run.
/iifdi-d/fd Dee Z Jltf'-f. /v/ /inhhrut A: frndfd.- /ii/ef/io.vtrr /ton'.
./n: L,„r/r .<iu/p
Rate 4.
Ii. hitt'nuil hoop or mmâerk shetf piece formiiip
ahufinent fortifie itppet^ paH lyf the âitujûnal irwiie.
r. ^hvtineHt pieces ihr tmfses hetweer p^rfs.
Ct. Tn//ses
TTK ihocles wider shelf piece for Iron Ejiees .
NAllV 1ÍÍ]IT_EC^T1:M E
Tlati of the Stair.
Jut. 4.
A.A. lùnher .eti ahc k lulJitiomil keelson fonninp
abiifnients for the lower pait if dioooinrl ii\nne.
B.-B. Timfers of the diaooiwl tjiime.
Q.Ioiicritndinal piece.f to ditto.
Ti.Tjiifs^es to .. - ilrtto.
Jiplf
JlatL of Iron Knee-.
Jñ-^.2.
Transverse Section
J^O
70 so Û0 JOO Jio
Jie/.J). Jlarv of fJie trim Sc itppa^ decks.
Ti/Oh'shed JÍprU-lJ^34 hyTaldwiii tc fí'admlc.Tateinost^rfow, T^JEowc}'sculp
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./.W.Lowty Schíp
r^AV A L Mi r SOTllir TT' E E
null- 0.
SmuhtTtuui riiihiiv of (rims.
Sum. PK-' s:
Ûnn JJoofyL- W 32 2
Middlv 7>." - M 32
dtntfth irf ihe dun Deck
of the Jieet Tor Tonnufie
Jiiviidlh Kiirefne
Moidded-^
JJcf'Ht hi JL'id
Jimthcji in Toîis
Quiuier
iWe fn.d/e
230
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