IRELAND. Remedies for existing Evils. In the Monthly Magazine for October is a valuable paper on the causes of the distressed and disturbed state of the country. These causes are proved to be various, but the chief of them obviously is the want of some system of providing for the poor. "Every civilised state in the world, except Ireland, has prevented the extortion of the landlords, by institutions, either springing from the nature of society, or established by positive legal enactments." The writer proposes that government should appoint a civil engineer for public works which may afford productive employment, and that the overseers of parishes be empowered to send any pauper on application, who has no occupation, to these works for employment, and to charge his wages to the township or parish wherein he was born. "There is a chain of three lakes in Galway very near one another — Corib, Marsh, and Caira; by cutting a gallery 3,000 yards long through a limestone rock between the first and second of those lakes, an interior navigation of 50 miles would be opened up, and 17,000 acres of land now under water would be drained. The cost of the gallery is estimated at 30,000l., and the value of the land gained 330,000l. By removing the bar of the Cashen River in Kerry, you open a navigation of 30 miles, and drain 200,000 acres of waste land. By removing a small impediment in the River of Lough Gara, a large tract of submerged land would be gained. By removing the bar of the Shannon at Athlone, you could drain a large tract of land at Lough Ree." There are, no doubt, a variety of evils in Ireland, that would probably require a variety of measures for their eradication; but it is a remarkable fact, as Mr. Nimmo, the celebrated engineer observed in his evidence before the House of Commons, that Ireland is the only country in Europe, where the landlords are not bound by law to take care of the poor. At first sight it appears not a little singular that this seeming want of feeling should exist among a people who are said to be "all heart;" but the fact may be accounted for, from the circumstance of the landlords of Ireland being for the greater part foreigners, residing in other countries. Be the cause what it will, surely the fact of there being no provision for the poor points out the justice of introducing the poor laws of England, with such amendments as they may admit of or require. This is a very simple measure, and we are convinced it would be of great service to the country in various ways. It is the only effectual method of compelling landlords to reside on their estates; or of employing a very different description of agent from what they are said to do at present. The very meetings of the vestries, that would be necessary two or three times in every year for making assessments, would do good, by the discussion it would create on individual and general interests. The Irish peasantry suffer privations greater than those of any peasantry in Europe, with a degrading degree of resignation; and this is the reason why nothing has hitherto been done for them. As it may be expected, therefore, whatever is done will originate with England in her own defence against the inundation of Irish labourers, and to lessen the expense of keeping the country in subjection. It is clearly for the interest of the Irish landlords to resist the establishment of poor-rates, as long as the superfluous population on their estates can find employment in England or elsewhere; but the moment this ceases, it will be their interest to establish a poor-rate. But a poor-rate system established in Ireland, though it will relieve England, will do but little for the former country, unless it be joined to a system of general education. When an Irish peasant knows that himself and his offspring are sure of receiving support from the parish when it becomes necessary, he will be more regardless as to the number of children which he may bring into the world. In this as in every case, therefore, in increasing the comforts of the poor, raise also their character by education. The writer in the Monthly Magazine considers education alone as a dangerous experiment. Many insist upon education as a panacea for the disorders of Ireland. We deem it a dangerous experiment to leave the cure of its disorders to education alone; for you are only making the line of demarcation between the rich and poor still broader, by rendering the latter still poorer; adding the wants of education to those superinduced by poverty, you fling a new poison into the bitter cup of indigence; you give a new weapon to the enemies of social order." It would be well if the supporters of this opinion would tell us how much is the effect of education, and how much of habit. Educated men at present are for the most part men used to indulgences, which long habit renders wants; and these wants are attributed to education, which, in truth, alleviates, instead of producing or increasing them. The writer seems to forget, or probably he does not believe, that "knowledge is pleasure as well as power." If education teaches the poor their wants, it will also teach them how to supply them, if that be practicable, or how to endure with a good grace evils which are inevitable. Education will make them acquainted with the nature of the ameliorations of which their nature is susceptible, and enable them justly to appreciate what is done for them by government or society; it will prevent them from being worked upon by fanaticism; and will enable them to make known their sufferings to their countrymen and to other nations, and sooner or later to obtain that sympathy, and those ameliorations in their condition, which human nature and the nature of things admit of and require.- Cond. The Mulberry Plantation at Mitchel's Town, near Cork, we regret to learn, has been utterly abandoned, as has that in England, near Slough, by the British Silk Company. The cause assigned is, that the air is too humid for the vigorous health of the insect. Cond. - ART. IV. Domestic Economy. VARIETY in Food. - From various experiments it appears that the chyle is of a different quality when produced from different alimentary substances; and as this nutritive fluid has to supply the various textures and juices of the body, differing in composition from each other, may not a chyle, composed of these different alimentary materials blended together, be more adapted for the purpose than that from a single substance? It is well known that a successive change of aliments is peculiarly grateful, and, indeed, almost essential to the human appetite, and that it is apt to pall on the repeated and daily use of one particular food; and that this is not a consequence of over-luxurious corruptions may be fairly inferred from the fact, that graminivorous animals are fond of a change of pasture, and of blending a variety of herbs and grass in their feeding; and birds, too, though one species of food, such as a particular grain, should be in abundance before them, delight to have a variety in their meals. With regard to the Modes of Cookery, it is almost enough to say that that kind is to be preferred which, while it renders the food sufficiently tender and savoury, so as duly to excite all those organs connected with the digestive functions, yet leaves some labour for the stomach itself. On this account the roast beef and plain joints of the English seem, on the whole, preferable even to the best made dishes of the French, which either concentrate the nourishment too much, or present it in a state too nearly approaching the chyle to which it is to be reduced. (Ed. Rev., Jan. 1828.) To make Kitchen Vegetables tender.—When peas, French beans, and similar productions, do not boil easily, it has usually been imputed to the coolness of the season, or to the rains. This popular notion is erroneous: the difficulty of boiling them soft arises from a superabundant quantity of gypsum imbibed during their growth. To correct this, throw a small quantity of subcarbonate of soda into the pot along with the vegetables, the carbonic acid of which will seize upon the lime in the gypsum, and free the legumes, &c., from its influence. (Bull. des Scien. Econ.) To prepare Verjuice for bottling and keeping. - Express the juice of unripe grapes or gooseberries, without bruising the seeds, which would give a disagreeable taste to the liquor. Strain the juice through a linen cloth; bottle it, and expose it, uncorked, to the sun for six or seven days. The liquor will ferment, and a part will be lost in froth, which must be replaced every morning. When the fermentation has ceased, decant the liquor into other bottles, cork them, and place them in the cellar for use. In this way, the juice of any sour fruit as the citron, crab, &c., may be preserved, and no expense of sugar incurred till the moment it is to be used. Verjuice is much used in France as a summer beverage; a little syrup or sugar is mixed with a small part of it, which is then well shaken, and afterwards poured into a glass, and filled up with water. Gooseberry verjuice is commonly used; and, when mixed with sugar, it is sold by the confectioners of Paris, under the name of Sirope de Groseilles (Gooseberry Syrup). Any gardener or cottager might make it for himself. (Jour. de Connoissan. Usuelles.) Bread of the Shetland and Orkney Islands.—Over those islands, with the exception of the capital towns of Kirkwall and Lerwick, the superior classes are compelled to bake their own bread, and this they do in great perfection without the assistance of yeast. Their method, which is as follows, may be adopted with great advantage in countries where yeast is difficult of attainment:- Mix two pounds of mashed potatoes with a tablespoonful of yeast (or double the quantity of porter), two table-spoonfuls of flour, and a table-spoonful of salt; beat these ingredients well together, adding as much lukewarm water as will reduce the composition to the consistency of butter. Let it stand for twenty-four hours in a closely covered earthenware jar, when it will be fit for use. For every pound of flour to be baked, take four table-spoonfuls of the composition; mix up two thirds of the flour, adding a little lukewarm water or fresh cream, then knead the remainder of the flour into the mass of dough; give it the desired shape, and let it stand four hours covered with a large dish, before it is put into the oven. Replace the composition by an equal quantity of mashed potatoes, flour, and salt, in the proportions stated above; and beat the whole together in the jar, having first poured off the liquid collected at the bottom of the vessel. Let the jar be kept well covered, in a warm place in winter, and in a cold place in summer. The loaves or rolls may not rise well on the first or second attempt; but after a few repetitions, they will be found superior to any baker's bread, and the composition, if daily renewed according to the directions, will continue for years to improve in quality. (From Dr. Howison's MS. Notes.) ART. V. Hints for Improvements. THE Fine Arts as a source of Moral Improvement for the People.-Why do not our societies for the improvement of the people avail themselves of the fine arts, as at least a powerful auxiliary in the attainment of their laudable objects? They may depend upon it, that "the ocular proof" of the miserable consequences of vice hanging on the walls of a cottage, would have more effect than a hundred moral essays hidden in the cupboard. With the facilities which lithography and steel plates afford, infinite good might be accomplished in this way, at a very moderate expense. (Literary Gaz., April 11. 1829.) A Mode of Existence for Gardeners. In a letter of Dr. Franklin to B. Vaughan, Esq., in 1784, at that time M.P. for the borough of Calne, Wiltshire, is the following remarkable paragraph: — "It has been computed by some political arithmetician, that if every man and woman would work four hours a day on something useful, that labour would produce sufficient to procure all the necessaries and comforts of life; want and misery would be banished out of the world, and the rest of the twenty-four hours might be leisure and pleasure." "Why should poverty exist in the world?" &c. &c. A celebrated gardener at Brighton [who?] gives it as his opinion, that one acre of rich land, by the best mode of cultivation, would support a man, his wife, and three children, giving a proportionate quantity of animal food, bread, and vegetables. I seriously would recommend ten or twenty gardeners to club their means, and, by the assistance of the friends of horticulture, an experiment might be tried as to the number of hours now necessary to accomplish what four hours would accomplish forty-four years ago. The gardeners should accumulate, by their own deposits, and by donations from noblemen and gentlemen, a sufficient sum of money to purchase land enough, tithe-free, to support double their number of families, getting an equal number of the families of artisans, of a respectable class, to join with and contribute their share of capital, skill, industry, and perseverance. Buildings could be erected at trifling cost, by means of fir poles being cut down to proper thickness and length, placed at distances of 4 or 6 ft. and in rows 6 in. apart, rods and twigs thin nailed along, and the centre filled with clay and straw, or other material of that kind, and plastered over with a little lime added to the clay, the walls coloured; a story added, if desired, and roofed with thatch or cheap composition. I have by me a calculation of the cost of such, which I will furnish the gardeners with, if they consider it of the least service; but the sum at this moment strikes me to be not above 61. for a room, exclusive of labour, which would be comparatively trifling, considering the rapidity with which such buildings could be erected. — J. V. London, Sept. 5. 1828. Trials of Green-house Plants in the open Air. Sir, Were all your readers and correspondents to send you lists of plants from time to time, which from their own experience and observation they found hardy enough to resist the winters in our climate, I am sure they would confer a benefit upon many of your readers; I mean those plants that have not yet been known to resist the frost in this country. I am led to make these observations from your notice of the Digitalis canariensis in Vol. IV. p. 139.; there it is said to be "an elegant plant from the Canary Islands, long since introduced, but by no means common." - This plant is certainly an elegant one; but that it is by no means common seems rather surprising, as it is one of the hardiest plants we have, and ripens its seed abundantly, retaining its verdure throughout the severest winter, and is indeed quite an evergreen shrub. Verbena triphylla, changed to Aloysia citriodòra, I have growing upon the east end of a vinery, and it has stood these eight years. It nearly covers the whole end of the house, and the only protection it gets is a loose mat hung over the root about 3 ft. high. By all who have seen it, it is considered to be the finest plant of the kind in this part of the country. On this west coast of Scotland, Cratæ`gus glabra endures the severest winters without protection, in the open border. This plant is marked hardy in Donn's Catalogue. Daphne Gnídium and odòra, Pittosporum Tobira, Camellia japónica, and O`lea europæ`a and fràgrans, stand upon a wall without protection. I am trying some others out of doors; if they succeed, I will give you an account of them. I am, Sir, &c. M. A. Jan. 1. 1829. Plans of Gardens and for Systematic Arrangements of Plants. Sir, Being amongst the earliest subscribers to the Gardener's Magazine, it has been with increased interest that I have perused its columns, as there is manifestly a progressive improvement in each succeeding Number. Writers of more abilities now appear in its pages, and those who were your first correspondents evidently improve in their style of arranging and transmitting their ideas. Those correspondents who intend continuing their communications deserve the highest praise and grateful thanks of every reading gardener. G. W. Johnson is more especially entitled to our thanks, for his valuable papers on Horticultural Chemistry; as is likewise "A Landscape-Gardener," for his excellent articles. I hope that prac tical gardeners will take the hints that the latter gentleman has given them. Juvenis Olitor, I fear, has forgot the proposal he made, of sending the plans of the different structures in the garden plan (Vol. IV. p. 214.), which I and more of your readers would like to see if J. O., will favour us with a continuation of them [in the hands of the engraver]. I beg leave to call your attention to another subject, which opens a wide field in which to exercise the abilities of the young aspiring botanist or gardener; that is, to commence a series of plans for laying out a garden on the Jussieuean system of classification, where systematic arrangement will associate with the beauties of Flora to form at once both a flower and botanic garden; to unite nature and art together, both to be visible in the design, but by imperceptible gradations, to be always advancing to or receding from each other; and for each tribe and genus of plants, whether they be natives of plains, mountains, woods, marshes, rivers, &c., to be assigned a situation congenial to their natural habitats, as far as nature and cultivation can be connected together. I shall add no more at present, but leave the hint to you and your readers. I am, Sir, yours, &c. -J. P. January, 1829. Churchyards.—Sir, You have recommended ornamenting churchyards with trees and plants, and rendering them arboretums or flower-gardens. Allow me to suggest the idea of surrounding some of them, in rich parishes, with a colonnade or arcade, which might be built of the material cheapest on the spot, and the interior painted al fresco, as in the Campo Santo at Pisa. The interior of the colonnade of a metropolitan sepulchre might be divided into portions, allotted among the principal historical painters of the day, and the result would be a work unparalleled in the world. But, perhaps, you would like better to have the walls covered with objects of natural history, or casts of all the best pieces of sculpture in the world; to which I have no objection, provided you agree to let me have a part in my own way. The colonnades would require to be glazed like our old-fashioned conservatories. What would not such a colonnade, painted by such an artist as Mr. Haydon, be worth? Yours, &c.- An Artist. May 10. 1829. Transmitting the Heat of Dung by Pipes. I wish some of your philosophical readers would impose upon themselves the task of enquiring whether any real advantage is gained in respect to the resistance of frost, by the insertion, in the body of a hotbed, of the tubes proposed by the President of the Horticultural Society. My doubt originates in the consideration, that a given quantity of heat, being generated in a given time by the fermenting dung, is transmitted through the body of the dung to the entire external surface of the bed, and from that surface is communicated to the ambient air within the frame. The heat being transmitted from the bed into the air in so many points of the surface, the quantity of heat, transmitted at each point of contact with the air, is necessarily the less; and the entire surface is consequently cooled down to a temperature |