Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL. THE Cathedral of Winchester occupies a distinguished place amongst the sacred edifices of this country. The vastness of its dimensions, the imposing character of its architectural decorations, and the solemn grandeur of its effect as a whole, sufficiently establish its claim to admiration. From the circumstance, indeed, of its having been the work of successive centuries, it is defective in general uniformity; but even this disadvantage is in great degree counterbalanced, by its affording an opportunity for comparing some of the most valuable existing specimens of the various styles of English architecture, which have followed each other since the period of the Conquest.

At what exact period the Gospel was first introduced amongst the inhabitants of this district, cannot now be known. It is certain, however, that Christianity was established very generally, in England, at least, before the close of the second century, and it is extremely improbable that a place of so much consideration as Winchester should have been excluded from its sacred influence. Tradition represents the introduction of Christianity as taking place during the reign of a British king, named Lucius, who lived, it is understood, about the year 180. It appears that the king, having heard of the doctrines of Christianity, sent to the bishop of Rome, requesting that he might be made a Christian through his means. The bishop, consequently, despatched to him two missionaries, and on their arrival, Lucius, with his queen, and the chief of the Britons, received baptism at their hands*. It is stated, also, that bishops were consecrated in different places, and that in particular at Venta, (as Winchester was then called,) a bishop, by name Dinotus, was appointed by these missionaries, and a church erected.

The Christian church continued to exist till the famous Dioclesian persecution. At that unhappy period, it appears that the Christians at Venta suffered the common fate of their brethren in other parts. Their church also was demolished, and the officiating clergy dispersed or martyred. In the peaceful reign, however, of the Emperor Constantius Chlorus, when Christianity was again permitted to rear her head in the land, this sacred edifice was rebuilt, and the worship of Christ restored.

After the invasion of the Saxons under Cerdic, Venta becoming the capital of the West Saxon kingdom, its name was slightly Saxonized into Wintanceaster. It is stated, also, that at this period its church was desecrated, being converted into a heathen temple, and made the scene of the impure and profane rites of the Saxon deities, Thor, Woden, Fria, and Tuisco †.

In 635, Pope Honorius sent St. Birinus into Britain, to preach the Gospel to its then heathen inhabitants. Birinus seems to have fixed his see at Dorchester, in Oxfordshire; but Kinigils, the king, made preparations for rebuilding a cathedral at his own city of Wintanceaster, on the site of the former church, which was finished by his son, and, in the year 648, dedicated by St. Birinus, in the name of the Holy Trinity, St. Peter, and St. Paul.

On the elevation of Egbert to the West Saxon throne, that prince united the several states into one monarchy; an event which raised Wintanceaster to the honourable station of metropolis of the island; and the inhabitants had the gratification of seeing their king solemnly crowned in the cathedral, in the year 827. This monarch, in the year 855, in the See SHORT's Sketch of the Church of England. + See Saturday Magazine, Vol. IV., pp. 24, 47, 71, 135.

presence and with the concurrence of the prelates and nobles of the kingdom, confirmed the various grants of the tithes, or tenth of the produce of the land, which had been made by his royal predecessors, and other landed proprietors, in former years.

During the reign of Ethelwulf, and a part of that of his son and successor Ethelbald, the see was held by the famous St. Swithin, who was a native of Winchester, or of its suburbs. In the time of Alfred the Great, Winchester was abandoned to Danish fury and plunder; the cathedral suffered from violence, and the ecclesiastics were cruelly massacred.

In the reign of Edgar, surnamed the Peaceable, Bishop Ethelwold commenced such extensive alterations in the cathedral, that a new consecration-ceremony was performed by St. Dunstan, then archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of King Ethelred, in whose reign they were completed, and a large assemblage of prelates, nobles, and people. On this occasion, to its former patrons, St. Peter and St. Paul, was added St. Swithin, whose relics were then removed from the churchyard, and placed in a magnificent shrine.

It appears that the cathedral, as well as the rest of the city, suffered severely from the exactions imposed by the victorious Sweyn, in 1002, in vengeance for King Ethelred's massacre of his Danish countrymen, which had commenced in Winchester. Its revenues, however, were greatly increased by Ethelred's son and successor Canute, who making this city his capital, extended towards the Priory of St. Swithin, as the cathedral was then named, liberal proofs of his munificence §.

After the Norman Conquest, Winchester continued to be a principal royal residence, and the Conqueror made it a rule to celebrate, with the utmost ceremony, the feast of Easter, in Winchester. Moreover, according to his general policy of introducing foreigners into the dignities of the church, the king prevailed that the bishopric of Winchester should be intrusted to Walkelin, a chaplain and relation of his own. He was raised to the see in 1070, and in 1079, influenced, like the rest of his countrymen, by the desire to invest every thing with a Norman character, commenced rebuilding his cathedral in that style. It is said that the king gave him leave to take as much timber in Henepinges (now Hempage) wood, as he could cut down in three days, and that, by employing a vast number of workmen, he was enabled to remove the whole wood in the time ||. In 1093 the church was completed, and on St. Swithin's Day, July 15th, was dedicated in the presence of almost all the bishops and abbots in England.

Some parts of the edifice, east of the high altar, having fallen into decay, were rebuilt by De Lucy in the pointed style, which was in his day gaining ground in England. He commenced with building, in the year 1200, a tower, and then formed a fraternity or society of workmen, and arranged with them that the works he proposed should be completed in five years, dating from 1202. These seem to have consisted of the erection of our Lady Chapel ¶, and

For an account of the famous and foolish legend respecting St. Swithin, see Saturday Magazine Vol I., p. 14. Amongst other works, he built the crypts supposed to be still existing, for nocturnal services and burial-places.

The most extraordinary of his presents, was the gift of his royal crown, which he placed over the crucifix of the high altar, in con

sequence of a vow made at the time that he reproved the flattery of

his courtiers on the sea-shore, for hailing him lord of the ocean, never again to wear this emblem of royal dignity.

William, though angry, afterwards forgave him, saying, that he had made too exacting a use of too liberal a grant.

The chapels of Our Lady were an introduction in England of this period.

the ante-chapel to it, and which is in the early pointed style. Dying, however, in 1204, he was buried in the centre of the works he had projected.

In the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the character of English architecture underwent a decided change. The massive single pillar, and the ponderous circular arch of the Norman school yielded gradually to the clustered column and pointed arch of the Gothic. In deference to the prevailing taste of the day, a desire arose to remodel, according to the new style, such Norman parts of Winchester Cathedral as yet remained. The commencement of the work is attributed to Bishop Edington, Treasurer and Chancellor to Henry the Third; but that prelate lived only to complete a very small portion of the nave. He was succeeded in 1366 by the celebrated William of Wykeham, who, after obtaining full possession, appointed William Winford as his architect, and proceeded to remodel the whole remainder of the nave and aisles, casing the circular pillars so as to convert them into clustered columns, filling up the semicircular arches with others of a pointed character, and giving loftier, as well as narrower, proportions to the windows.

The western and eastern extremities of the cathedral were now in the Gothic style, but the central part of the body of the church, which extended eastward from the tower to the low pointed aisles attributed to De Lucy, was still, as is the case at present with the tower itself and transept, of Norman construction. On the accession of Bishop Fox to the see in 1500, he rebuilt that portion in all the beauty and elegance of the pointed architecture of his day.

The only addition after the time of Bishop Fox, was the erection, most probably by Prior Silkestede, early in the sixteenth century, of a chapel, or sanctuary, about twenty-six feet in length, at the eastern extremity of Our Lady Chapel.

At the period of the Reformation, considerable portions of the revenues of this cathedral, as well as those of the Hyde Abbey, and other suppressed monasteries in the city, were alienated to satisfy the rapacity of the king's courtiers, and the building itself suffered some mutilation. On the accession of Mary to the throne, and her marriage with Philip of Spain, which took place with great ceremony in this cathedral, the queen caused some of the sequestered property of the bishopric to be restored, and proposed the general restitution of the church possessions; but whether this latter was effected is by no means evident. In the reign of Charles the First, a thoroughfare, now known as the slype, was opened on the south side of the building, to obviate the practice which had prevailed of passing through the church itself.

On the city of Winchester falling into the hands of the republican army, about 1644, the wanton violence of the soldiers, heightened by their religious prejudices, was chiefly directed against the cathedral. "The monuments of the dead were defaced, the bones of kings and bishops thrown about the church; the two famous statues of the kings Charles and James, erected at the entrance into the choir, pulled down; the communion-plate, books, hangings, and cushions, seized upon and made away with; the church vestments put on by the heathenish soldiers, riding in that posture in derision about the streets, some scornfully singing pieces of the Common Prayer, while others tooted upon broken pieces of the organs. The stories of the Old and New Testament, curiously beautified with colours, and cut out in carved work, were utterly destroyed, and of the brass torn from violated monuments, might

[ocr errors]

have been built a house as strong as the brazen towers in old romances."

At the Restoration, as soon as the clergy had recovered possession of their property, they began to repair the devastations which had been committed in the churches during those troublous times. Under Brian Duppa, tutor of Charles the Second, who was raised to the See of Winchester, great attention was paid to the reparation of the venerable edifice. The windows and other defaced parts were repaired, and restored, as far as possible, to their former state. Since that period little change has been effected till within a few years, when, under the superintendence of Dr. Nott, prebendary of the Cathedral, and Mr. Garbett, architect, a series of repairs and embellishments was completed in various parts of the building. Amongst these we may mention, the erection of the present elegant screen at the entrance of the choir, in the room of one of the composite order raised by Inigo Jones in the reign of Charles the First, which was quite out of character with the rest of the cathedral.

The edifice, as it now stands, is in the form of a single cross, the long arm of which consists of the nave, choir, ante-chapel of De Lucy, and our Lady Chapel, with the sactuary of Silkestede. At the juncture of the nave and choir, this arm is crossed by a transept. The nave, choir, and transept, are each flanked on both sides by aisles.

On taking a general view of the exterior, grand and majestic as it unquestionably is, we are struck with its want of uniformity; neither in detail does it present many peculiar beauties. The tower is, indeed, a fine specimen of the most decorated Norman style; but it is much too low. The west end, however, deserves admiration; it consists of a grand centre, occupied by a pointed window, underneath which is the principal entrance, flanked by two octangular buttresses, crowned with turrets; the whole is surmounted by an ornamental canopy, containing a statue of William of Wykeham. On each side of this centre is a low wing, formed by the termination of the side aisles.

The interior of the cathedral amply compensates for any defects in the exterior. The clustered columns, from their being Norman pillars cased, are indeed much more massive than is usual in the pure Gothic style, and the nave, consequently, somewhat too narrow for its height, but we must be sadly insensible, if we could look upon this proof of the sublime and refined taste of Wykeham, and cast our eye along the lengthened vista, which, extending over the choir, terminates in the glowing tints of the eastern window, without being animated with feelings of the most solemn, though lively admiration.

The choir is entered from the nave by a flight of steps under a screen, of modern workmanship, but in very good taste. The general effect of the choir is striking and impressive; it is fitted up with stalls, which are adorned with misereres *, canopies, and pinnacles, and ornamented with carved work of an ancient date, elegantly designed and executed. The organ is placed on the north side, under one of the circular arches of the great tower, which here, instead of being at the intersection of the nave and transept, is over the west end of the choir, and was

"The shelving-stool, which the seats of the stalls formed when turned up in their proper position, is called a miserere. On these the monks and canons of ancient times, with the assistance of their

elbows on the upper part of the stalls, half supported themselves during certain parts of their long offices, not to be obliged always to stand or kneel. The stool, however, was so contrived, that if the

body became supine by sleep, it naturally fell down, and the person choir."-Milner. who rested upon it was thrown forward into the middle of the

originally what is called a lantern, and open throughout to the interior, for the purpose of giving light to this part of the building, in which state it continued till the time of Charles the First, when the present vaulting was constructed. On the south side is the bishop's throne, a modern but handsome and appropriate structure. Opposite to it is the pulpit, which is assigned to the time of Prior Silkestede. The Presbytery, or east end of the choir, terminates in a rich and magnificent stone screen, of most superb and elaborate workmanship, the niches of which were originally filled with statues. In the lower part is now placed West's celebrated picture, representing our Lord raising Lazarus from the Dead; and beneath it stands the Communion Table, raised on a noble flight of steps. On each side of the Presbytery, on the summit of the elegant partition-walls, are ranged six mortuary chests, bearing the names, and containing, it is said, the remains of Kings Kinigils, Ethelwulf, Kenwalch or Kenulf, Egbert, Canute, and Rufus, as well as of many distinguished prelates of the See.

It is impossible to give any detailed account of the many superb and magnificent chantries and tombs, with which the various parts of this cathedral are adorned. We can only mention by name some of the most remarkable. Amongst the chief of these stand the chantry of William of Wykeham, in the nave, and those of the prelates Edington, Fox, Gardiner, Beaufort, and Waynflete.

In the nave is a very curious and certainly a very ancient baptismal font of black marble, adorned with a series of sculptured hieroglyphics, which have caused much trouble to those who have attempted their explanation.

The dimensions of this cathedral are represented * as follow:

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

We are told of Queen Elizabeth, that except when engaged by public or domestic affairs, and the exercises necessary for the preservation of her health and spirits, she was always employed in either reading or writing; in translating from other authors, or in compositions of her own; and that, notwithstanding she spent much of her time in reading the best writings of her own and former ages, yet she by no means neglected that best of books, the Bible: for proof of which, take her own words. "I walk," says she, " many times in the pleasant fields of the Holy Scriptures, where I pluck up the goodlisome herbs of sentences by pruning, eat them by reading, digest them by musing, and lay them up at length in the high seat of memory, by gathering them together; that so, having tasted their sweetness, I may the less perceive the bitterness of life."

To a man who considers for what purpose he was created, and why he was placed in his present state, how short a time at most is allotted to his earthly duration, and how much of that time may be cut off; how can anything give real satisfaction, that terminates in this life? How can he imagine that any acquisition can deserve his labour, which has not a tendency to the perfection of his mind? Or how can any enjoyment engage his desires, but that of a pure conscience, and reasonable expectations of a more happy and permanent existence? Whatever superiority may distinguish us, whatever plenty may surround us, we know that they can be possessed but a short time, and that the manner in which we employ them must determine our eternal state; what need can there be of any other argument for the use of them, agreeable to the command of Him that bestowed them ?-DR. JOHNSON.

THE USEFUL ARTS.
INTRODUCTION

Ir has often, and with too much truth, been observed that, in this country, where the arts which administer to the wants and comforts of an enormous population are carried to the highest state of perfection, so little importance is attached to a knowledge of the arts themselves, that it is by no means considered as a necessary part of education. The works of philosophers, historians, and poets, are and to serve as models by which the taste and judgment placed in the hands of youth, for conveying information, may be formed, but general physics and natural history, sciences pre-eminently calculated to enlarge the mind, and to increase the motives to religion and virtue,-if not wholly neglected, are too often treated as secondary objects.

employed in earning their own subsistence, and at the The occupations in which millions of people are daily same time in supplying the necessities or the luxuries of others, must necessarily be an object for rational curiosity, even were this knowledge not desirable on other and on higher grounds. With the view therefore of supplying, in some measure, the admitted want of information on such important subjects, we propose giving from time to earth, the various processes by which it is obtained, and of time, a series of papers descriptive of the produce of the the means by which it is converted into food, clothing, furniture, fuel, medicine, &c.

Our aim, in these descriptions, will be to impart accurate, rather than minute, information, and to induce our young further into these subjects, which we assure them they will readers, especially, to observe for themselves, and to inquire find as interesting as they are important. By observing the processes constantly going on around us, the laws of nature, the physical properties of matter, and the mutual relations of organized beings, are far more effectually understood, than when learned from descriptions in books, without the aid of observation or inquiry.

I. AGRICULTURE.

THE OBJECT OF AGRICULTURAL LABOUR.-PREPARING
THE LAND.-TILLAGE.-THE PLOUGH-EFFECTS OF
PLOUGHING.-HARROWING. SOWING.-CULTURE OF
THE TURNIP, AS AN INSTANCE OF THE GENERAL PRIN-
CIPLES OF AGRICULTURE.

SINCE it is from the products of the earth that man, either
directly or indirectly, derives both food and raiment, some
account of the labour and operations which are neces-
sary, in order to increase the quantity, and to im-
prove the quality of those products, should necessarily
precede a description of the nature and properties of the
objects themselves. We begin, therefore, with AGRICUL-
TURAL LABOUR, the first object of which is to raise on
any given space, the greatest quantity of certain kinds of
vegetation, consistently with a due regard to the quality of
the produce; this can only be done by careful tillage.
It is found that, in order to effect the growth of large quan-
tities of the same kind of plant in a limited space, the earth
must be frequently moved, and fresh portions of it brought
to the surface, so that all, to a certain depth, may, in turn,
be subjected to the influence of the atmosphere and of the
sun; that the fertility of the soil must be occasionally re-
newed, by restoring those elementary principles which the
preceding crops had exhausted; and, further, that the
quality and quantity of the produce are improved, by the
mode in which the seed is sown, and the ground kept clear
of those foreign plants, which, as not being wanted, are
deemed intruders, and are called WEEDS.

The first of these objects is effected by DIGGING and by the system of ROTATION OF CROPS; the third, by PLOUGHING; the second, by MANURING, and, indirectly, DRILLING, ROLLING, HARROWING, and by HOEING and WEEDING, &c.

The earliest tillage was, no doubt, performed with some kind of spade, and to the present day, all GARDENING, that is, cultivation on small portions of ground, is still performed with the same simple and indispensable tool. When, howplant, digging would be too slow and too laborious an opeever, a large tract of ground is to be tilled for one kind of ration, and recourse is had to the Plough

description of soil, and the nature of the country in which There are many varieties of the plough, suited to the it is used, the animals employed in drawing it, and the

skill of the labourer by whom it is directed. They are, however, all formed on one general principle, which may be explained by a description of the common Swing-Plough, used on ordinary farms.

The principal parts of the plough, are,-1, the Coulter, an iron blade, fixed in a plane perpendicular to the surface of the ground, which, as the instrument is drawn over it by the cattle, cuts a line to a certain depth into the soil.

THE PLOUGH.

2, The Share, a piece of iron of an irregular form, but ending in a point, the object of which is to cut a horizontal line under the surface, so that by the combined action of the coulter and the share, a slice of earth is cut clear out from the rest. This slice is turned over on one side, by 3, the Mould-board, a piece of wood hollowed out into a concave form, which causes it, as the plough advances, to keep throwing the slice of earth over on the same side, thus forming a ridge on one side of the furrow, 4, The Beam, to which the parts just described are fixed, and to which the cattle are harnessed by means of the Hook, 5. This hook is at the end of a Chain, 6, which, by being shifted on the various notches of the piece of iron at 7, alters what is called the line of draught; that is, the direction in which the effort of the horses drawing the plough would move the instrument, with reference to the general figure of it. The direction of this line of draught is important to the efficiency of the operation, and to due economy of labour, both of the horse, and of the man guiding the plough. 8, are the Stilts, or handles, between which the ploughman stands, and by which he guides the share, so as to cause it to go sufficiently deep into the earth, and yet to prevent its catching, and so being broken. The ploughman also lifts up the plough, by the handles, when he comes to the end of the furrow, while the horses turn round to plough a new furrow, parallel to the former one, and in the contrary direction.

It will be seen by the figure, that both skill and exertion are requisite on the part of the labourer, to prevent the share from going too deep into the earth, so as to risk the breaking of the share, or the turning over of the plough. In order to obviate this danger, and to lighten the labour, a wheel has been fixed to the fore-part of the beam, which, by keeping the end of it always at the same distance from the earth, causes the share to penetrate to the same constant depth, and lessens the labour to the man. Ploughs with this addition, are called Wheel-Ploughs, and are much employed on light soils; the varieties of both these great classes of ploughs are numerous.

By ploughing, not only is the earth broken up, and fresh portions of it brought to the surface, and consequently to the influence of the sun and air, but the roots of former crops, as well as weeds, being destroyed by the process, are partly buried in the earth, which they help to fertilize, by their decomposition. The quantity of ploughing which any portion of land must receive, depends, of course, on its condition, and on the nature of the produce to be raised. In all countries where agriculture is practised, the land is ploughed once, at least, before every new sowing or planting; and in well cultivated countries like Britain, France, &c., the soil is commonly ploughed twice or oftener before it is again sown.

When the soil is prepared for the seed by ploughing, and, when necessary, by HARROWING also, the seed is then sown, either BROAD-CAST, or in DRILLS. In the first method, the seed is cast about on the surface from the hand of the sower, or else dropped from a long kind of trough, on wheels drawn over the field by a horse; but whichever way is practised, the characteristic of broad-cast sowing is that the seed is spread irregularly, though evenly, on the soil.

DRILL-SOWING, on a large scale, is accomplished by means of a somewhat complicated machine, consisting of a set of small hoe-like instruments, which are carried

on a wheel-frame, and adjusted so as to excavate in the soil a set of from eight to ten, or more, parallel, shallow furrows, or drills; while a hopper-box, carried above and behind them, allows the seed to fall in equal quantities in the regular hollows thus formed for it. There are several varieties of drill-machines, some of them too complicated and expensive to be generally used.

There is a difference of opinion as to the advantages of drill-sowing when applied to corn: but for crops of larger plants there can be no question that it is infinitely preferable. It is generally adopted for turnips, peas, beans, &c.; the advantage of this mode of sowing being that it admits of inter-tillage during the growth of the plants, by which they are greatly benefited.

When the seed has been scattered on the surface by broad-cast sowing, the next process is to cover it, which is essential to its germinating. This is done by the HARROW, which is a frame of wood having iron pegs or teeth, fixed on its underside, and these, when the instrument is drawn over the land by a horse, act on the soil like a rake.

[graphic]
[graphic]

THE HARROW.

The bars of the frame are not fixed at right angles; because, when the frame is made oblique or rhomboidal, if it be drawn from a point in the centre of one side, the teeth, or lines, will make parellel lines in the ground, each peg forming a separate line; but if the frame were square, then all the teeth in each cross-bar, parallel to the direction in which the harrow is moved, would form but one line, and thus comparatively, but little effect would be produced. Two or more frames, similar to the one shown in the figure, are often linked together side by side, thus forming a larger and more effective instrument. When the harrow is framed square, it is drawn by a hook at one angle, thus producing a similar effect to that of the romboidal framing; but the square harrow can only be used singly.

By drawing the harrow over the newly-sown ground, the seeds are distributed equally over and buried in the earth, and the large clods are broken fine. The seeds are thus more effectually covered up from the light, and the soil is prepared to admit the tender roots of the sprouting germ to penetrate it.

It should be stated that no operation on the soi! ought to be performed while it is wet: if this caution be disregarded, the earth, instead of being broken fine, or pulverized, would be worked into hard mortar-like clods, among which no seed would ever sprout. Free admission of air and warmth, and exclusion of light, are essential to germination; and these requisite conditions can only be fulfilled, when the soil is reduced to a state of light, loose, powder. Hence one of the reasons why stiff clay soils are so unproductive, the tenacity of that species of earth not admitting of its being broken into small pieces..

After the plants have attained some height ana strength, the earth between them requires to be moved or stirred; this promotes their healthy growth, by bringing fresh portions of the soil to the surface, and by destroying the weeds, which, as they take away the moisture and nourishing matter from the soil, greatly injure the crop. This inter-tillage is effected by digging, or hoeing, either by hand or by a machine.

Many crops require hand-hoeing, and necessarily so, if the seed has been broad-cast, for horse-hoeing can only be performed between regular rows of plants. In the case of turnips, both methods are had recourse to alternately, and as the cultivation of this plant is, for reasons hereafter to be mentioned, of great importance, a brief account of the routine usually followed, may not only be amusing, but serve to explain some of the modes of proceeding in husbandry, which could not be separately described.

Preparatory to the sowing of turnips, which are raised on light soils, the earth is ploughed in Autumn, after the preceding crop has been gathered in, and remains in the rough state all the winter. As early in Spring as the weather will permit, a second ploughing, in a direction con trary to that of the first, takes place. The land is then

GRUBBED by a machine, and ROLLED and harrowed repeatedly, to pulverize and clear it as much as possible.

The ROLLER is a cylinder of wood from fifteen to thirty inches in diameter, and five to seven feet long, turning on an axle on the under-side of a frame, which may be loaded with heavy stones to increase the weight. By drawing this roller over the newly-ploughed land, the large clods are broken smaller, and better prepared for the action of the harrow.

The roots and weeds raked off the land, are gathered up in heaps, and are either burnt on the spot, where the ashes make a strong and valuable manure, or are carried away, and laid in heaps to be converted into manure by gradual decay. All large stones which the ploughing and harrowing have brought to the surface, are also removed, since they would impede the subsequent tillage.

When the land has been sufficiently prepared by a repetition of these processes, it is ploughed into small, sharpedged, ridges and furrows. This may be done, either with a common plough, or by one with two mould-boards, so constructed as to form two furrows at a time. These ridges are about twenty-seven or thirty inches apart, from edge to edge. In the following figure, 1 represents a sec

tion of these furrows.

The next step is to apply the manure, which, for turnips, generally consists of stable-litter, or farm-yard dung; this is loaded into one-horse carts, so constructed, that while the horse walks down one furrow, a wheel shall roll in that adjoining on each side, thus leaving the ridges uninjured. A man as he drives the cart over the land, deposits the manure by a fork in small heaps in the central furrow; and three boys, who follow the cart, distribute the manure, as equally as possible, in that and the adjoining furrows, by means of small forks, each lad or girl moving along a furrow. (See 2 of the following figure.)

As soon as the manure is thus spread along every furrow all over the field, each ridge is ploughed up by a small swing-plough, or by one with a double mould-board, so as to hollow it into a furrow, while the earth turned up in the process fills the old furrows on each side, and converts them into ridges. The lines of manure which lay along the bottoms of the first furrows, are thus buried under the centre of the newly-formed ridges, these being of the same size and width as before. (See 3 of following figure.)

The turnip-seed to be sown, is put into a tin cylinder supported on two light wheels, at such a distance apart, that they may run in two adjoining furrows; an iron coulter is carried by the frame-work immediately before the cylinder, and makes a small trench, or drill, along the top of the ridge; the seeds drop out of a tin tube, nto

which they fall through holes perforated in the cylinder, and are thus deposited regularly in the drill; a second light roller follows, and, by pressing down the earth upon it, buries the seed as it falls. This operation leaves the ridges slightly depressed and rounded, as in 4.

As soon as the young plants attain their first rough leaves, they require thinning-out by hoeing; for, in order to guard against the numerous casualties from weather, insects, &c., to which the tender vegetation is exposed, sufficient seed is always sown to produce ten times as many plants as are to be permanently cultivated. Hoeing is also necessary, to destroy the weeds that have sprung up with the turnips.

This first hoeing is sometimes performed by a small plough, constructed with a double coulter, and a flat triangular share, which tills the centre of each furrow, while the coulters cut up the weeds close to the young plants, leaving the ridges as shown in section 5. The turnips themselves must be thinned out by hand-hoeing, which is done by means of a small English hoe*, the operators standing in the furrows and facing the ridges; the superfluous plants are thus cut up, leaving single ones standing at nine or ten inches apart, along the ridge. Those destroyed, together with the weeds among them, are drawn into the middle of the furrow, where they decay, and when afterwards buried in the soil by being ploughed in, serve to enrich it.

After a time weeds again show themselves; a second horse-hoeing becomes necessary, and this is followed by another hand-hoeing, to destroy the weeds in the line of the turnips, which the plough, of course, cannot touch. On certain lands, a third ploughing is even necessary, and on all it is necessary to lay the earth close up to the plants again, when the roots have attained some size; this is either done by hand, the earth being drawn up to the stems of the plants, from the middle of the furrows, by means of the hoe, or, on better-cultivated lands, and on a large scale, it is effected more quickly and perfectly by a double mouldboard plough, which turns the earth on each side close up to the turnips, and leaves the furrows in the forms shown in section 7. This concludes the labours of cultivation, Nature being left to perfect the growth of the plant.

The principal use of turnips cultivated on the large scale is as food for cattle, and the best mode of employing the plant for this purpose, is to turn the sheep into the field, to feed on it while growing. By this means the land is equally manured with the dung of the animal; and a little ploughing, or chopping, mixes up the remainder of the roots, leaves, &c., with the soil, leaving it in the best possible state for a succeeding crop of grain.

Many of the operations described as practised in the cultivation of turnips, are applied, with certain deviations, according to the nature of the crop, to most species of fieldhusbandry, and will sufficiently explain the general nature of agricultural labours.

This important tool, as well as several others, will be shown in subsequent figures.

[graphic]

DURING the time of incubation, the natural timidity or birds is greatly lessened; and in many instances the females will allow themselves to be taken, rather than desert their nests. The following instance, recorded by William H. Hill, Esq., of Newland, Gloucestershire, in 1828, finely illustrates this. He says, "Some time since, a pair of blue titmice (parus cæruleus) built their nest in the upper part of an old pump, fixing on the pin on which the handle worked. It happened, that during the time of building and laying the eggs, the pump had not been in use when again set going, the female was sitting, and it was naturally expected that the motion of the pump-handle would drive her away. The young brood were hatched safely, however, without any other misfortune than the loss of part of the tail of the sitting bird, which was rubbed off by the friction of the pump-handle: nor did they appear disturbed by the visitors who were frequently looking at her.-WHITE's Selborne, Note.

INTELLECTUAL attainments and habits are no security for good conduct, unless they are supported by religious principles; without religion, the highest endowments of intellect can only render the possessor more dangerous, if he be ill-disposed; if well-disposed, only more unhappy.SOUTHEY.

« AnteriorContinuar »