Miscellany: The Farms Of England

Ipswich, July 1, 1814.These cn.síern couinies oí England, Essex. Satlblk, and Norwalk, f stippose furnislied many o! the first settlers to their namesakes over the water. And tnily there is a striking repcmblance in tho features, pronunciation and names of the people. Í have i-pent the greater part of two days in a ramble into t!ic country to nee t and the people with my own eyes. I have taken by roads and footpiths.liave seen and talked with allso.rts al pQoplc &, been into all sorls of houses, lakiug a circuit of ubout 35 miles tlirough the.best part ofSuiFolk county,chiefly on iheOiweU. You nreaware tliat it is in thia counfcy iliat ihe :incen diary fires" have most frequently occurrei and creatcda grcit sensaiion. 1 passed the ashes of soine barns and hay sticks thut had been recent y barncdand bcioii'íiny td one cstablislitnent. Tlie reit óf the barns and hnystacks that I passcd, and they were more than I could nuaiber, were not burned. The face oL the country is greally undulatec'. and the soil is a rathor sandy loam. resting upon chalk. The calcaieous element gives t greatlertmty. anti with Uie exeepuon of. the narrow bottorjis along the-ste-nnis. it ís entirely dcvoteiJ to gra:n. The ficlds contnin usually from leo to tweuty aeres.and ihe farms from 200 to 700 acres. Therc.usc.d to, he. the pcople say, small farms of 30 or 40 acres, bui these have all been swallowea lip by the big ones. The clnss of people cnlled farmers, wlio liirè nnd carry on ihe large fartns. níd wJiose labor is merelv superviso) y, are growing fewer. Yet they are so much more numerous tluin ihe farms, that whenever a fnrm is to be remecí, tuere are perhaps fit ty applicants lor it, and the most cnormoua rents are offered. - The men aborers bid against each oiher in the eamc way. ofTering to pay high reñís Tor cottages and tnkc Jow vvoges for labor. I ihink I did not see any thing in the shnpe of a cottage which was un.occupied. Farms rent a.t from two to five pounds aierling per acre: that is, from $9 to $24 per acre. Where there are small pareéis, and Í found two or three such cases, of a few acres, they rent for even more than $24 per acre.Tbe farm house, in which the gentleman farmer resides, is usutilly a raiher i m pos ing building; perhaps eovered witli thntch, but of considerable exient, and it has not .unfrequenUy been theresidence oí some nobleman nancient times. It always lias a benutiful garden; and ixot ar irom it e a whole congregntion of barns, linie and grcat, ni;d of staeks under thatch. When a íire íuce gets to blazing tin one of these s'.acks, it is almodt impossible to eavo one of theui. Barna and liveslock otten all go for it. The cottages of the laboring people are thickly sprinkled along all the byroacls, qnd aro of atl sorts of shapes and matérials. Brick, with ihatched roofs, are as common as any. Many are frames, filled in wi.h brick-or clay, roughcast without. Somo have walb of flini pebbles laid in mortar. Some haretile, and some álate roofs. Someiirnes the thatch, which is more than a foot. thick, is covered entirely with moss, except wherc t is penetratcd fay the holes of the spnrrovvs. Th; floois of all that I have seen, are oí' brick, laid immediately on the ground, and ofien worn thin with scouring. 1 have been into more than twemy. and looked into others. and have not see one which hadnotflowersabouc it, carefully cuhivated.- The garden spot, which is usually very stnall. is by no means wholiy occupied with flowers, bui ie devo;ed chiefly to potatoes, CGbbagea, curranis and gooseberries. The cottage has usually two email rooms, tenar twelve feet square below, and two low chambere, with dormal windows peeping out of the thatch above. Such a cottage rents for fjur or fivc pounds per annum, and besides that, the occupanta, who may be but just out of the poor house themselves, have to pay a poor ratoofabout five shillings a quarter. Sonie ol them complaiu bittcrly ol this. Tbe're isr no hope of their laying up enough to niake oíd age comfortable, and thereiorc they lay up nothing at all. lor so loug they have a little the parish wijl not gelieve .them. That it is not easy for them to lay up is quito obvious,when you see that a week's ■wages of a stout man wiü only buy onc bushal ofwheat. In all the cottages I saw, chiklren were quite plenty, and they raust eat. Hovv they manage to feed them, the pnrents could not teil, and I am sure I cannot. Their food s bread and pea eoup- nieat scldoni. Tea and coffee are kuuiies vhichsome of thm do not cnjoy from one yearto anotlier, and wiiut uieves them siill more, thcy have to go without beer. One oíd man. and lie scemed to be remarkably pious, to!d me that when lie was young, there were plenty of houses where bey would give a poor man á pot of beer. but now he might go a great way without getting one. He meant tliai they give no beer in addiiion to wages- which stinginess I rather may prove a valuablo charity. However, a family has some resources besides the ordinary lubor of the man. His wife and childien get some wort. His wife works all day in the field, if there is ntiy thing for her to do. for twelve. cents. A chiJd big ènough to drop a kernel of wheat intoa hole, will perhap.6 earn si. cents in the same time. In harvest time ill hands wiil get far better wages; the man five dollars a week, and the woman half as Tiuch. This will pay the rent and leavesomehingfor clothing. After all, thcy are far, tnucb arther than I had supposed, above the condition )f si n ves.