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JifflEJf ^ 1852.] THE LEADER. 5 ^ 9
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ON THIS CUM.TVATION OP l'JMX. T V. * . l...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Taxation Reduced To Unity And Simplicity...
,. aside for the present a personal tax > and confining attention to a tax on realized and tangible property T first and chief principle is , that property should be d in the hands of its actual possessor , irrespective ? auestions of title , participation ; or incumbrance . Jhat which inay ordinarily be seen by a servant , or lued for insurance , may be seen and valued for taxy -vithout violation of privacy . Concealable proa fc _ . jf ^ has not been declared and taxed , ought to P heavier tax on occasion arising for the action pf te State on its account—that is , in the event of theft , violence or Utigation , where the higher power steps in . Deeds mortgages , rent charges , bonds , loans , bank
, otes and securities in general , are only representatives of property already taxed in other hands . Money , in actual coin , is always of inconsiderable amount comnared with the total value of other property ; and , exeot so far as it is the express object of commerce , it held in very variable amounts at different times by the same person ; it may , therefore , be exempt from taxation , unless , indeed * under the rule which applies to concealable property . Ships and cargoes , to whomsoever belonging , would pay like other property for the time they remain under cover of our laws * These seem to be the chief considerations requisite for regulating the practical details .
JJnder such a system , every movement would be perfectly free . Exports , imports , inheritances , bequests , education , locomotion , industry , enterprize , and enjoyment of every kind , would suffer no greater impediment from taxation , than from natural and inevitable costs of any other kind . Nor on such a plan could changes of fiscal policy disturb , as now , the value of property . Two or three generations ago , we laid heavy imposts on bricks , timber , and windows . . Recently we have abolished some of these taxes , and have sensibly reduced the others . Houses built under the old system , will soon have to compete disadvantageously with those erected under the new . We know not how soon some State
necessity , or change of opinion , may bring fresh unforeseen changes , and again disturb the relations of property ; it may easily happen , on existing principles , that a new burden may be laid , where , on the occasional pressure passing away , its retention or remission may equally work evil . Not so if property , as property , were taxed : the only question would be the amount to be raised , and the consequent ratio of contribution for the year . The last-mentioned consideration discloses the
extreme simplicity of fiscal legislation on this plan , with the proportionate abridgment of the labours and differences of legislative bodies . One question , or at most a few , would represent the endless multiplicity of our financial debates . Given the year's expenses and the known amount of realized and taxable property , and the whole question is that of the rate for the year , or at most of a few rates , if diversity in cost of governing for different kinds of property should establish practically the justice of a difference .
How much the substitution of a single question for ondless agitations on window-tax , malt-tax , taxes on knowledge , & c , would gain for the consideration of deep and vital questions in relation to justice , right , and safety , wo are perhaps not in a condition to calculato ; but wo know that instances daily occur of wrong sustained through the complexity , costliness , or want of adaptation of our legal processes—that on every "and the practicable development of industry meets with obstructions from mistaken policy or obscure perceptions of right in the laws themselves ; and that everywhere the law is not so much a rule of conduct («> r it is too cumbrous to bo thoroughly known oven to its licensed expounders ) as a trap bristling with
penalties : these things no one ignores , nor desires ; wo cannot therefore but include amongst the evils of ^ direct taxation that absorption of the time and thoug hts of our legislators , which distracts them from the radical euro of evils , endured only because wo havo Itocomo bluritod by usage to their oppressiveness . Wo Cftn S « t but a meagre and nibbling reform of Chancery , iiono of the obstructive laws of partnership , and worso JUan none of the general order and framo of our laws , touiUHO beer , malt , paper , timbor , sugar , and the rest , iftvo each an annual fit of resiivenoss under imposts . , lv ° U 8 direct taxation , and with it wo shall gain some Mtontion to tho vast sociul nocosaitica for the sake of ™}} nl ° no taxation itself exists
. yp havo yet to pursuo briefly othor views of the c "jiect , especiall y the practiool application of tho princes wo havo advocntcd to our own national taxation .
Jifflejf ^ 1852.] The Leader. 5 ^ 9
JifflEJf ^ 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 5 ^
On This Cum.Tvation Op L'Jmx. T V. * . L...
ON THIS CUM . TVATION OP l'JMX . T V . * . jow . thno that wo should revert to tho puroly tlmf p l fl ° rfcio » of our subject , having treated roi 1 the man > pulation of flax thus early in our llr ka *» order to exhibit as fairly as wo could somo
of the profits likely to result from its culturej and thua to lead intelligent farmers to give that consideration to the subject which its peculiar advantages appear to us to demand . Although no doubt the alluvial deposits of rivers will furnish the fibre best suited for the manufacture of fine yarns , there is scarcely any limit to the variety of soils in which flax is found to flourish , as will be readily perceived on reference to the following table , the result of the labours of Sir R , Kane and Messrs . Mayer and Brazier , and quoted by Mr . M'Adam in his interesting lecture : — Russia . Belgium . Ibblakd . ____________ . . — . p Per . •§• _ : ' ¦ ¦ § ' j Gent . of -If S -i '' % £ _ « ¦ ft I I I ¦ ^ iW l If Silica 79-3- 85-09 75-08 92-78 60-94 . 64 * 93 7372 Lime Traces -89 ' 35 -35 -36 3-04 1-67 Alumina ... 11-62 2 ' 24 2 ' 10 -48 5 ' 62 6-65 897 Iron Trace . Traces 3 . 29 1 * 20 ! 6-04 -60 ' 31 However true this may be , it is by the judicious treatment of the soil , mechanically as well as chemically considered , that the agriculturist arrives at the most perfect results . Although not nice as to the quality of its food , the flax plant is somewhat tenacious as to its quantity ; and the more it is developed in its inorganic constitution the more largely will it be capable of assimilating those constituents of the atmosphere which almost alone contribute to the formation of a pure fibre . Hence we are led to the conclusion that , apart from the deep drainage , without which no plant will really flourish , a deep tillage is especially desirable for this crop ; and , at the risk of offending the wellworn prejudices of large farmers , we pronounce at once , and without reserve , in favour of either spade or fork cultivation in preference to the plough , and for the following reasons :- — With all respect for this time-honoured implement of agriculture , a pair of stout horses and a well constructed plough will give a tillage varying in depth from six or seven to at most nine or ten inches . At the bottom of this tillage the plough leaves , in most strong soils , what is termed a " pan , " or hard crust , through which the fibrous roots of delicate plants find some difficulty in penetrating . The roots , consequently , strike out in a lateral direction , and the plant becomes stunted in growth from lack of food . Break through this crust with the point of a spade or fork and the finest roots descend to a depth nearly equal , in many cases , to the height of the stems above the ground . It is true that by the free use of the sub-soil plough this facility may be given , but it is weary work , dragging along a heavy implement through a tenacious clay , and farm horses bitterly complain of being called upon in this case to perform what might be more efficiently done by the men who drive them . Let us see how the account would stand as far as money expended is concerned . A sub-soil plough requires , in ordinary land , from four to six horses to draw it , with a man to guide it , and at least one boy to drive the team ; frequently another attends to clear away roots , & c . from the coulter . After this operation is effected , tho ground has to bo levelled down by heavy drags , rollers , clodcrushers , and the thousand and one implements in which agricultural machinists take their delight at county exhibitions . Then it has to bo re-ploughed , harrowed , and rolled—the seed sown and harrowed and rolled again . ( Our readers must remember that wo are not describing tho ordinary mode of preparing land for flax with tho common plough , but that wo aro speaking of the operations usually adopted by farmers when it is necessary to arrive at a tillage of from fourteen to eighteen inches by sub-soiling . ) We believe wo aro within tho mark when wo fix tho cost of all those operations at 30 * . per acre at tho very lowest , without charging for wear and tear of horses or implements . Wo havo already said that flax rejoices in a sound loam or a clay subsoil . Tho former wo will supposo to bo about ton inches in depth , and tho latter to bo of a friable nature , capablo , after exposure to tho atmosphere , of boing , by gradual cultivation , mixed up with it—the depth , agriculturally considorcd , being unlimited . Now for our estimate of tho cost of digging an ncro of this land with a fork weighing seven-and-a-half pounds , with threo stout prongs fourteon inches long , and steeled nt tho points . * We shall . not bo dealing illiberally with tho labourer if we require him to earn , by picco-work , 2 s . in ton working hours . An able-bodied man will turn over , to the full depth of tho fork , on the average , ton poles of ground per day , and , at 2 $ < t . # Our readers may loam where to procure thi » fork by applying to Mr . John Billot * , of Koleolo , noor Saxmundhtwn , Suffolk .
per pole , the price at which we have ourselves procured the willing services of stout Middlesex labourers a man ' s daily earnings will amount to 2 * . Id ., altChough by working extra hours , which he will readily do if permitted , he may , in some soils , make a considerable addition to his gains , which the farmer ought not to grudge ; At this rate , the cost of a fourteen-incb . tilr lage , in which every clod is broken and every weedroot thrown out , will amount to -It . 13 s . 4 d . per acre , or only 3 s . 4 d . over that of the laborious and often inefficient operation of subsoiling . As there are 160 poles in an acre , it will take a man sixteen days to finish it , or , in other words , sixteen men will dig an . acre in ten hours . Here there is no hard crust left at the bottom of the work . The point of the fork crumbles such of the subsoil as it does not bring to the . surface , and the roots descend through it , and through , the myriads of imperceptible crannies and holes formed by the labours of the insect world , in search of nutriment and life . It is no less by a process such as this than by the fattening qualities of the linseed that Sir James Graham truly stated that flax is " peculiarly adapted to increase the fertility of the soil . " It is the additional five or six inches of subsoil brought up to be blended with the surface which increases and freshens the whole staple , and augments the produce of the farm . It is thus , indeed , that " in the sweat of his brow shall man eat bread . " We recommend this operation to be performed on land intended for flax , shortly after harvest , and at any rate before Christmas;—during that pinching season when it is the fashion to reduce wages—when the harvest earnings are well nigh spent , and the workhouses begin to fill—when the " odd hands" are directed to be discharged , and when horses , costing 1 * . per day for maintenance , are preferred to honest English labourers , ready to work as hard for the same or even a less amount . Then is it that the hitherto inert subsoil should be thrown upon the surface to receive the " treasures of the hail" and the vivifying influence of frost and snow . Here let it lie , untrodden by man or beast , until the first spring vegetation appears in the longhidden seeds of weeds and natural grasses . Then clean the land by getting more men to " point" it over with the same implements , at Id . per pole * six or eight inches deep , thus bringing up a little . of the original surface-soil once more . By this time the clod-encumbered field will have assumed the appearance of a garden , and in this condition what will not grow in it ? Flax certainly will ; and if there is an additional outlay of 10 * . or 16 * . per acre on this portion of the farm , is there not a crop to be harvested which can well afford it , or more ? But it is not to this crop alone that we look for reimbursement . It is also to the extra quarter of wheat , or the five tons of Swedes , or the extra load of closer per acre , that we look with at least as much confidence as that , in all human probability , the sun will rise early tomorrow morning . The effect is as certain as the cause is just—not more just in the principles of agriculture than in those moral principles which seem to argue a blessing to tho master when the man is fairly waged . And when wo reflect that this is a process which should bo repeated , at least , once in five or six years upon the same land ; and that , in the ordinary rotation of crops , tho entire farm will participate in its accompanying advantages , who shall venture to place a limit to the producing powers of English land ? This is tho true way of preventing a recurrence of such scenes as that described in last week ' s Leader of a Bedfordshire labourer—his wife with a child at lier breast , and threo more youngsters—all emaciated , and tho children alone careless—flying from their country and 7 * . per week as if from a pestilence ! Talk of over-population ! If our theory is an correct as study and practice teach us it ia , tho country is not half populated to carry it into effect ! In ono of tho half-arable , half-grazing , or hay-producing parishes in Middlesex , the poor ' s-rate amountcdtwo or threo years back , to 4 * . Gd . in tho pound . Labourers in regular employment submitted to a reduction from 12 . ? . to 10 * . per week , and tho workhouses were crowded with tho unwilling idle , while tho jails were crammed with poachers and petty thieves . Tho farmers complained no less of tho price of hay than of that of wheat . Many able-bodied men , while they rejoiced in , and wore grateful for " cheap bread , " lacked tho whorowithal to purchase it . Would this state of things have happened—will thoy over happen again , if the mon of MiddleBOx' will cultivate thoir land as Nature intended , and adopt tho growth of flax as an oxcuso , if any bo required P Tho remedy is Bimplo . Let any threo or four influential landlords , or largo farmers , in this or any other county , adopt the motto , for tho nonce , of " flax versus wheat "—lot them publish thoir accounts in tho London or local journals , and
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 5, 1852, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05061852/page/15/
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