tural Science, by Dr. Daubeny; Journals | mates of a conjectural character, founded of Royal Agric. Soc. of England; Dr. at best only on local and partial obserLindley's Gardener's Chron. and Agric. vation. In France it is positively ascerGazette, &c. &c.) tained that the average produce of wheat for the whole kingdom is under fourteen bushels per acre. In England it is known that the maximum produce of wheat per acre is about forty bushels, and that the minimum is about twenty bushels. The usual conjecture is that the average produce of the kingdom in years of fair crops is about twenty-eight bushels, but the total superficies sown with wheat or any other grain, and the total quantity of the produce, are matters simply of conjecture. The only statement the public or even the government are in possession of in respect to the quantity of land cultivated and uncultivated, and of land incapable of producing grain or hay, in Great Britain, rests upon the authority of private inquiry made by one person, Mr. Couling, a civil engineer and surveyor, who gave the details to the parliamentary committee on emigration in 1827, now seventeen years ago. As there is an account published weekly in the London Gazette' of the quantity of each description of grain sold in nearly three hundred markettowns in England, with the average prices, and the quantity of foreign corn and grain imported is also officially published, it would be putting into the hands of the community very important elements of calculation in reference to the supply of food, if they could also learn after each harvest what had been the breadth of land under cultivation for each species of produce respectively, and the amount of produce harvested. The result could not fail to be felt in greater steadiness of price, which is particularly desirable for the interests of the tenant farmer, and also highly advantageous to the public. For example, the harvest of 1837 was deficient to so great a degree, that before the produce of 1838 was secured the great superabundance of the two preceding harvests was all consumed, and the stock of grain was more nearly exhausted than it was ever known to have been in modern times. A reasonable advance of price would have checked consumption, which, as regards wheat, had been going on with unwonted profusion, but in AGRICULTURE, STATISTICS OF. In several countries of Europe there is a department of government organized either for collecting the statistics of agriculture or superintending institutions which have immediate relation to that branch of industry. In France these duties devolve upon a department of the Minister of Commerce and Agriculture. The management of the royal flocks, veterinary schools, and the royal studs; the distribution of premiums in agriculture; the organization and presidency of the superior and special councils of agriculture, are comprised in the duties of this ministerial department. The councils-general of agriculture, &c. in each department of France collect the agricultural statistics from each commune; and the quantity of land sown with each description of grain, the produce, and the quantity of live stock for the whole of the kingdom, are accurately known and published by the Minister of Commerce and Agriculture. In Belgium these facts are ascertained periodically, but not every year. In the United States of North America, at the decennial census, an attempt is made to ascertain the number of each description of live stock, including poultry; the produce of cereal grains, and of various crops; the quantity of dairy, orchard, and garden produce, &c., in each State. There are twenty-nine heads of this branch of inquiry. The only countries in Europe which do not possess statistical accounts of their agriculture founded on official documents are England and the Netherlands. In England the quantities of corn and grain sold in nearly three hundred markettowns, the quantities imported and exported, and the quantities shipped coastways, are accurately known, but no steps are taken by any department of the government to ascertain the quantities produced. On the same principle that a census of the population of a country is useful, it must be useful to have an account of its productive resources. The absence of official information is supplied by esti | August, September, and October, 1837, the markets fell from 60s. 1d. to 51s. per quarter, and it was not until the middle of the following May that the average was again as high as it had been just before the harvest of 1837. By the third week in August, 1838, the average had risen to upwards of 73s., and wheat was admissible at the lowest rate of duty. The buyers consequently resorted suddenly to nearly every corn-market in Europe, and prices, aided by a wild spirit of speculation, which subsequently was productive of great loss to importers, rose enormously. It is contended that these losses and the fluctuation of prices would not have occurred if the produce of the harvest of 1837 had been more accurately known. (On the Collection of the Statistics of Agriculture by G. R. Porter, Esq., of the Board of Trade.) The probable operation which statistical facts officially collected would have upon agricultural improvement is thus adverted to by Mr. Porter:-"It has been stated that if all England were as well cultivated as the counties of Northumberland and Lincoln, it would produce more than double the quantity that is now obtained. . . If the cultivators of land, where agricultural knowledge is the least advanced, could be brought to know, upon evidence that could not admit of doubt, that the farmer of Northumberland or Lincolnshire procured, from land of fertility not superior to his own, larger and more profitable crops than he is in the habit of raising, is it likely that he would be contented with his inferiority?" In 1836 the late Lord Sydenham, while president of the Board of Trade, in order to test the probability of success that might result from a more extended attempt, caused circular letters containing fifty-two simple but comprehensive queries relating to agriculture to be sent to each clergyman in the one hundred and twenty-six parishes of Bedfordshire. Out of this number only 27, or about one in five, replied, and further inquiry was abandoned. The tithe commissioners make returns of the crops in all parishes, but they do not do so simultaneously. There is, however, no insuperable difficulty in collecting the national statistics of agriculture, whenever government thinks fit to undertake such a duty. On the 18th of April, 1844, on a motion in the House of Commons for an address to the queen praying for the establishment of some method of collecting agricultural statistics, the vice-president of the Board of Trade, on the part of the government, concurred in the object of the motion, but from various causes he declined at that time giving the motion his support. The yearly expense of the inquiry would be from 20,000l. to 30,000l.; and probably not a long period will elapse before the appropriate machinery will be in operation. In this way can government advance the interests of agriculture and of the public at the same time. country like England, which abounds with men of rank, wealth, and intelligence, who engage in scientific agriculture as a favourite pursuit, it is quite unnecessary for the government to assume the superintendence of matters which relate to practical agriculture; but this may be done with propriety in other countries, which are placed in different circumstances. In a AIDE-DE-CAMP, a French term, denoting a military officer usually of the rank of captain, one or more of whom is attached to every general officer, and conveys all his orders to the different parts of his command. A field-marshal is entitled to four, a lieutenant-general to two, and a major-general to one. The king appoints as many aides-de-camp as he pleases, and this situation confers the rank of colonel. In January, 1844, the number of aides-de-camp to the queen was thirty-two. There were also eleven naval aides-de-camp to the queen, one of whom, of the rank of admiral, is styled first and principal aide-de-camp, and has a salary of 3651. per annum; and ten others, of the rank of captain, have 1821. 11s. per annum. There are also two aides-de-camp appointed by the queen from the officers of the Royal Marines, whose salary is the same as that of the naval aides-de-camp. AIDS (directly from the French Aides, which in the sense of a tax is used only in the plural number). Under the feudal system, aids were certain claims of the lord upon the vassal, which were not so directly connected with the tenure of Aids is also a general name for the extraordinary grants which are made by the House of Commons to the crown for various purposes. In this sense, aids, land as reliefs, fines, and escheats. | than the other two, and was uncertain in The nature of these claims, called, amount; for if the lord were taken priin the Latin of the age, Auxilia, seems soner, it was necessary to restore him, to be indicated by the term: they were however exorbitant the ransom might be. originally rather extraordinary grants In the older treatises on feudal tenures or contributions than demands due ac- there is much curious matter upon the cording to the strict feudal system, various kinds of aids. Aids for knighting though they were certainly founded on the lord's son and marrying the lord's the relation of lord and vassal. These daughter are abolished by the stat. 12 aids varied according to local custom, Car. II. c. 24, and the aid for ransoming and became in course of time oppressive the lord's person is obsolete. exactions. In France there were aids for the lord's expedition to the Holy Land, for marrying his sister and eldest son, and for paying a relief to his suzerain on taking possession of his land. The aids which are mentioned in the Grand Coustumier of Normandy for knighting the lord's eldest son, for marrying his eldest daughter, and for ransoming the lord from captivity, were probably introduced into England by the Normans. But other aids were also established by usage or the exactions of the lords, for, by Magna Charta, c. 12, it was provided that the king should take no aids, except the three above mentioned, without the consent of parliament, and that the inferior lords should not take any other aids. The three kinds of aids above mentioned require a more particular notice, as this contribution of the vassal to the lord forms a striking feature in the feudal system of England. 1. When the lord made his eldest son a knight; this ceremony occasioned considerable expense, and entitled the lord to call upon his tenant for extraordinary assistance. 2. When the lord gave his eldest daughter in marriage, he had her portion to provide, and was entitled to claim a contribution from his tenants for this purpose. The amount of these two kinds of aid was limited to a certain sum by the Statute of Westminster 1, 3 Ed. I. c. 36, namely, at 208. for a knight's fee, and at 20s. for every 20l. per annum value of socage lands, and so on in proportion. It was also provided that the aid should not be levied to make his son a knight until he was fifteen years old, nor to marry his daughter until she was seven years old. 3. The third aid, which was to ransom the lord when taken prisoner, was of less frequent occurrence subsidies, and the modern term supplies, are the same thing. The aids were in fact the origin of the modern system of taxation. Auxilia is the Latin word used by Bracton and other writers when they are speaking of the feudal aids above enumerated. The word Aide is not derived from the Latin Auxilium, but from the Low Latin Adiuda. (Du Cange, Gloss. Med. et Infim. Latin.) The Spanish form ayuda, assistance,' and the Italian aiuto, also clearly indicate the origin of the word 'aide,' which is from the participal form adjuta of the Latin verb adjuvare. ALBINATUS JUS. [AUBAINE.] ALDERMAN. This word is from the Anglo-Saxon ealdorman or coldorman. The term ealdorman is composed of ealdor, originally the comparative degree of the adjective eald, old,' and man; but the word ealdor was also used by the AngloSaxons as a substantive, and as such it was nearly synonymous with the old English term elder, which we so often meet with in the English version of the Bible. A prior of a monastery was called Temples-ealdor; the magistrate of a district, Hiredes-ealdor; the magistrate of a hundred, Hundredes-ealdor, &c. In a philological sense, the terms ealdor and ealdorman were synonymous and equivalent; but in their political acceptation they differ, the former being more general, and, when used to express a specific degree, commonly denoting one that is lower than ealdorman. In both terms the notion of some high office, as well as that of rank or dignity, seems to be inherent; but ealdorman at the same time expressed a definite degree of hereditary rank or nobility which ealdor does not so necessarily imply. Princes, earls, governors of provinces, and other persons of distinction, were generally termed Aldermen by the Anglo-Saxons. But besides this general signification of the word, it was also applied to certain officers; thus there was an Alderman of all England (alder- | mannus totius Anglia), the nature of whose office and duties the learned Spelman says "he cannot divine, unless it corresponded to the office of Chief Justiciary of England in later times." There was also a King's Alderman (aldermannus regis), who has been supposed to have been an occasional judge, with an authority or commission from the king to administer justice in particular districts: it is very possible, however, that his duties may have resembled those exercised by the king's sergeant in the time of Bracton, when there are strong traces of the existence of an officer so called, appointed by the king for each county, and whose duty it was to prosecute pleas of the crown in the king's name. Spelman, however, doubts whether the King's Alderman may not have been the same person with the Alderman of the county, who was a kind of local judge, intrusted, to a certain extent, with the administration of civil and criminal justice. Besides those above mentioned, there were also Aldermen of cities, boroughs, and castles, and Aldermen of hundreds. In modern times, Aldermen are individuals invested with certain powers in municipal corporations, either as civil magistrates themselves, or as associates to the chief civil magistrates of cities or corporate towns. The functions of Aldermen, before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, varied somewhat, according to the several charters under which they acted. In the municipal boroughs of England and Wales as remodelled by 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 76, the resident burgesses elect councillors, who, in the larger boroughs which are divided into four or more wards, must be burgesses possessing at least 1000l. in property or rated at 30%. annual value; and in the smaller boroughs they must possess at least 5007. in property or be rated at 157. per annum. This principle of qualification by property had no existence under the old municipal system. The councillors thus elected by the burgesses at large hold office for three years, and one-third of their number go out annually. The aldermen are elected by the council from its own number for six years, and one-half go out every three years. One-fourth of the municipal council consists of aldermen, and three-fourths of councillors; but the only difference between them is in the mode of election and in their term of office. In the 178 municipal boroughs remodelled by the act above mentioned, there are 1080 aldermen, and of course 3240 councillors. The number of councillors varies from 12 to 48, according to the size of the borough, and the number of aldermen from 4 to 16. In the Corporation of London, which is not remodelled by the 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 76, the Court of Aldermen consists of twenty-six Aldermen, including the Lord Mayor. Twenty-five of these are elected for life by such freemen as are householders of the wards, the house being of the annual value of 10%., and the freeman paying certain local taxes to the amount of 30s., and bearing lot in the ward. In this way twenty-four of the wards, into which the city is divided, send up one alderman each: the two remaining wards send up another. The twenty-sixth alderman belongs to a twenty-seventh nominal ward, which comprehends no part of the city of London, but only the dependency of Southwark. This alderman is not elected at all, but, when the aldermancy is vacant, the other aldermen have, in seniority, the option of taking it; and the alderman who does take it holds it for life, and thereby creates a vacancy as to the ward for which he formerly sat. The Court of Aldermen possess the privilege of rejecting, without any reason assigned, any person chosen for Alderman by the electors, and, after three such rejections, of appointing an alderman to the vacancy. The Lord Mayor is appointed from such of the aldermen as have served the office of Sheriff. Of these the Common Hall names two, and of these two the Court of Aldermen selects one. The Court of Aldermen is the bench of magistrates for the city of London, and it possesses also authority of a judicial and legislative nature in the affairs of the corporation. Although the Aldermen form a part of the Court of Common Hall (which consists exclusively of freemen who are liverymen), they are not in the habit of speaking or voting at elections, at least not in the character of Aldermen. They are members of the Court of Common Council, the legislative body of the corporation, which consists of 264 members, all of whom, excepting the Aldermen, are elected annually by the same electors who elect the Aldermen. (Second Report of the Commissioners of Corporation Inquiry, 1837.) In the few boroughs which are not included in the schedules of the Municipal Corporations Act the aldermen are elected according to custom or charter. With the exception of the city of London, these boroughs are insignificant, and the corporation is little better than a nominal body. ALE, an intoxicating beverage composed of barley or other grain steeped in water and afterwards fermented, has been used from very early times. Pliny the Elder states that in his time it was used among the nations who inhabited the western part of Europe. He says (Hist. Nat., xiv. 29, ed. Hardouin) that the Western nations have intoxicating liquors made of grain steeped, and that the mode of making them is different in the provinces of Gaul and Spain, and their names different, though the principle is the same: he adds that in Spain they had the art of making these liquors keep. He also mentions the use of beer by the Egyptians, to which he gives the name of "Zythum." The Spanish name for it was "celia" or "ceria:" in Gaul it was called "cervisia," a word which was introduced into the Latin language, and is also preserved in the French "cervoise." (Pliny, xx. 25; Richelet, Dictionnaire.) Pliny evidently alludes to the process of fermentation, when he says that the foam (spuma) was used by the women for improving the skin of their faces. Herodotus, who wrote 500 years before Pliny, tells us that the Egyptians used a liquor made of barley (ii. 77). Dion Cassius says that the Pannonians made a drink of barley and millet (lib. xlix. c. 36, and the note in Reimar's edition). Tacitus states that the ancient Germans "for their drink drew a liquor from barley or other grain, and fermented it so as to make it resemble wine." (Tacitus, De Mor. Germ. c. 23.) Ale was also the favourite liquor of the Anglo-Saxons and Danes; it is constantly mentioned as used in their feasts; and before the introduction of Christianity among the Northern nations, it was an article of belief that drinking copious draughts of ale formed one of the chief felicities of their heroes in the Hall of Odin. The word ale is metonymically used as a term for a feast in several of the ancient Northern languages. Thus the Dano-Saxon word Iol, the Icelandic Ol, the Suedo-Gothic Oel, the Anglo-Saxon Geol, and our English word Yule are said to be synonymous with feast, and hence the terms Leet-ale, Lamb-ale, Whitsun-ale, Clerkale, Bride-ale, Church-ale, Midsummerale, &c. (Ellis's ed. of Brand's Antiquities, i. p. 159, also p. 258.) mentioned as one of the liquors provided for a royal banquet in the reign of Edward the Confessor. If the accounts given by Isidorus and Orosius of the method of making ale amongst the ancient Britons and other Celtic nations be correct, it is evident that it did not materially differ from our modern brewing. They state "that the grain is steeped in water and made to germinate; it is then dried and ground; after which it is infused in a certain quantity of water, which is afterwards fermented." (Henry's History of England, vol. ii. p. 364.) Ale is In early periods of the history of England, ale and bread appear to have been considered as equally victuals or absolute necessaries of life. This appears from the various assizes or ordinances of bread and ale (assisa panis et cervisia) which were passed from time to time for the purpose of regulating the price and quality of these articles. In the 51st year of the reign of Henry III. (1266) a statute was passed, the preamble of which alludes to earlier statutes on the same sub |