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^:381..JraE 11; 1857-1 THE MADEB. 687
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Jr* L. ^ CA ^ L „ ^O/lj lr ^l-liJuf * ' +
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THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM. This instit...
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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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A Book Of Epitaphs. 'Chronicles Of The T...
THE CLIMATE OF NORTH AMERICA , CANADA , AND CUBA . ~ -jgti & s * = s ssSHI What Arthur Young did for France at the end of the eighteenth century ill Bobert Russell , of Kilwiss , has done for North America in the middle of the ' nineteenth . He has literally travelled over it from north to sauth , ' takinrnotes , ' testing the capabilities of the soil , the influences of the climatf , the mode of cultivation , and the character and quality of the labour * mnloved A survey of this description , ably and accurately made , must neeesSrily be of essential service to those who - are desirous of ascertaining . ? he condition of the land , the nature of the country , and other particulars * vHh a view to emigration ; whilst the statician and economist nmst . be ecmallv grateful for information which supplies them with dates lor entering upon new calculation and evolving new phenomena . In this respect , then , Mr Russell deserves high encomiums for having undertaken so arduous a task and , having undertaken it , for carrying it through so successfully . Mr Russell sailed from Liverpool in the August of 1854 , and arrived , after a short passage via Halifax , at Boston . Here , in fact , began his real tour , and , as he advanced northward through Maine and Vermont to the shores of Lake Champlain , nothing connected with the object of his journey seems to have been overlooked . He sometimes , however , sidled out of his own immediate province to put a question or two on other subjects . When at the bar of an hotel in Brunswick , state of Maine , for example , he ventures to ask if he might have a glass of brandy . " I guess so , " says , the ' cute drawer . In some towns through which he passed , however , it was necessary to descend the cellar to obtain liquor , but at others it was sold openly , as though the restrictions of the law were not laid upon its sale . Of course in & scientific tour of this kind , events of any stirring moment are not to be anticipated . The reader will find close and pertinent remarks on the nature of . the country , whether hill , or plain , or valley , whether adapted for grazing or for the cultivation of grain , and perhaps casual observations on the character and conditions of the farms . Little , however , that is conventionally excitin " will be found in these pages unless the subject per se be exciting . Occasionally , however , a curious fact is noted down ; sometimes an engrossing subject is introduced ,, such as the value of free as compared with slave labour , and We Canvass the new opinion to consult a fresh authority upon this much-vexed question ; or sometimes , as we are led through the sugar and -cotton plantations , we think upon our own plantations and colonies , and question how long we shall be trusting to foreign supplies for this most necessary article of our manufactures- These are subjects that appear frequently on the surface of Mr . Russell ' s book , though they are not treated of . in a separate chapter or under an individual form . The reader , however , who is anxious to obtain Jriformation on the culture of wheat either- , in Canada or Michigan , in Mississippi or Ohio , on the prairies , in Kentucky , Pennsylvania , Virginia , or even in . Cuba , or what is its average price in different parts of the Union , or the quantity exported annually , will find ample information on the subject scattered here and there as Mr . Russell passes throug h , the wheat regions . It is also interesting to accompany this enterprising gentleman through that large tract of territory devoted chiefly to the growth of the Indian corn ; but we have really less direct interest in this than in following him along the borders of the Atlantic and listening to his observations on the cultivation of the cotton plant . He enters minutely into the mode of sowing , picking , ginning , and preparing this elegant and curious plant . The cotton is planted in ridges four and a half feet wide , with a foot and a half between each plant in the row ; but if the soil is rich , as much as three feet . The cotton seed is sown from the 20 th of March to the 20 th of April , and as the plants rise the soil is thrown up to their roots by the plough and the hoe . The seeds of the cotton plant , like those of peas and beans , ripen soonest on the branches next the ground ; indeed , while the lower branches of the cotton S lant have ripe seeds the upper are bearing flowers . As the seeds ripen the usks expand , and the cotton fibre appears attached to the seeds in the form of a round ball as large as an orange . As soon as the earliest husks are open , which is usually about the end of July , picking commences , This operation is of long continuance , for a succession of pods ripen until the end of November . As the cotton is gathered it is dried and stored up till the end of winter , when the separation of the fibre from the seed is effected . How long Florida and the south-eastern states of the Union are to remain ¦ our sole source of supply for this necessary article , this stamen of our national prosperity , is a question that demands the serious attention of our Government , since every encouragement and stimulus ought to be given to the planting of new fields in our own colonies , especially the fruitful districts of India . It is a question whose solution ought not to be delayed a moment . Mr . Russell looks at the subject of slavery in the philosophizing mood of a social economist . He does not allow himself to be carried away by any rhapsodical enthusiasm , whilst at the same time he records his opinion of facts and the deductions he draws from his observations . The question of free and slave labour naturally attracts his attention . In Maryland , an xible-bodied slave is hired out by his master to work in the fields at from 120 to 150 dollars a year , whilst the person who employs him gives board ; but this , it may safely bo reckoned , is less than what a free labourer would receive . Farm servants in Vermont have 150 dollars a year , and their meals at their master ' s table . The nominal hire of a slave ongagod in agricultural operations is , therefore , leas than that of a free labourer . Other facts also tend to prove that slave labour is not dearer , as some have attempted to show , than free , even in those states where the two admit of being fairly compared . The labour of the slave in the grain-growing districts is inferior in quality to that of the free man , it is true ; but this inferiority ia compensated for in soino measure by the natural increase of the negroes . The planting of sugar and tobacco , for example , best aifords the expense of slave cultivation . Again , rich land is one of the elements that retard the extinction of slavery . The poorer the soil , other things being equal , the- sooner does slavei'y become unprofitable . The great upholder or slavery in the northern states , we are told , is the cultivation of
tobacco , as slavery possesses great advantages over free labour in the cultivation and tending of this plant . The reason seems to be that slave owners , can always command the quantity as well as the quality of labour required to raise this crop economically . The organisation of slave labour in its cultivation merits attention , since both old and young can find' suitable employment in the culture and pi * eparation of the crop for the market . Worms require to be picked oif the plants during their growth , and the leaves are gathered as they become ripe at different periods of the year . These operations can be done as well , and consequently- as cheaply , by women or children as by full-grown men . But often a small proprietor in . a free state can command no other labour than his own , which would be greatly misapplied in most , of the manual operations connected with tobacco culture ; because his team of horses would be standing still in the stable while he was picking the worms off , which would render this very costly work . Thus , through the organisation and division of employment which slave labour admits of , it is virtually cheaper than free . We have the following reflections on the probable extinction of slavery , a result which we have always considered a work of time :- — "The two principal
agents in operation leading to the downfal of slavery are the increase of the slaveholders and the increase of the slaves . Were it not the southern demand for the surplus labourers of Kentucky , Maryland , and Virginia , the institution of slavery could not exist many years in these states ; for if no check were put upon the natural increase of the negroes * their numbers would depress the value of the property in the same manner as the poorrates do in England . So long , therefore , as there is abundance of new land in the United States to carry off the surplus labour ,. slavery remains as profitable as ever it was even in the culture of corn . " We regret we cannot accompany Mr . Russell in his tour of inspection through Cuba . We are , however , spared the narration of a more horrible feature of slavery than that presented oil the continent of America , since , as slaves are obtained by means of the iniquitous system of importation , little care is taken by the Cuban proprietors to preserve those they possess . Hence terrible scenes of suffering and death occur . Neither can we advert to the wretched condition of tlie Coolie apprentices ; we have , however , shown enough of-. the book for the reader to judge for himself of its merits and usefulness . . „ ., -
^:381..Jrae 11; 1857-1 The Madeb. 687
^ : 381 .. JraE 11 ; 1857-1 THE MADEB . 687
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The South Kensington Museum. This Instit...
THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM . This institution has now been opened to the public for two or three weeks , and we owe our readers some brief account of its general character . Seated in a beautiful grovy bit of the most umbrageous of London suburbs '—in point of fact , OldBrompton , though the Commissioners have determined , for some fantastic reason , to call that particular part ' "South Kensington—the Museum has all the advantage of proximity to the heart of town , combined with a comparatively pure air , silence , and the pleasant influences of trees and green sward . Much cannot be said for the building itself , which resembles three steam-engine boilers placed side by side ? but , being ' muffled in dark leaves ' and surrounded by fine old timber trees , belonging to what was once Brompton Park Ca rival to Hyde Park some century and a half ago ) , it is not so unsightly as might have been anticipated ; and the refreshment-room building at the side ,
> vith its open corridor , by which you enter , and its looped-up red curtains , has a pretty Swiss ^ cottage look about it . Inside , the visitor finds some good-sized courts and corridors , with various galleries , all filled with objects of interest in science and art . For the mere idler there is much to attract attention ; but $ p the student the worth of the collection must Tie great . Books , maps , diagrams , and models on subjects connected with the several crafts of the artificer ; in ^ ventions under the Commissioners' patents ; architectural casts ; casts , from sculpture ; carvings in stone , wood , ivory , & c ; art-bronzes ; specimens of walldecorations , such as tapestry and paper-hangings ; painted glass for windows ; cameos , intagli o s , seals , mosaics , and inlaying ; furniture and general upworks and
holstery ; glass and pottery ; enamels , - in metals , arms , armour , accoutrements ; watch and clock work ; jewellery and textile fabrics — all these objects are collected under one roof for the guidance of the student and the formation of better taste among the general public . The design , however , is as yet only partly carried out : further works of . art will in time be added . One thousand original specimens are at present includod in the Manchester Exhibition ; and the whole of the Bbknal collection ia among these . Other objects are being circulated in the various provincial towns where , schools of art established . Those specimens which are already at the South Kensington Museum arc chiefly works of modern origin purchased at the Paris Exhibition of 1855 , and now for the first time submitted to the English
The Central Hall ( north ) is entirely occupied by the larger objects formerly exhibited at Mablbohouoh House . The upper ( northern ) end of the west corridor contains a series of original ancient engravings , illustrative of architecture , pure ornament , designs for manufactures , & c , chiefly of the fifteenth and sixteenth century ; and further on is a small collection showing the history of wood engraving . " Among the qbjects of furniture , ecclesiastical and domestic , " saya the official Guide ., " are several beautiful carved cabinets , in oak , ebony , walnut , a nd marqueterio of coloured wooda , & c , of Italian , French , aud Flemish , origin , dating from tbo first half of tlw sixteenth century ; cofferaof mediwval date , fifteenth century ; and finelycarved and gilded Italian linen-chests of cinque-cento work . A series pf rioUlydecorated mirrors , of various countries and periods ; aud two large altar-pieces , the one iu . carved atone , richly paiuted and gilt ( brought from Troves , in Champagne , and dating in tUe earlioat years of the sixteenth century ) ; the other is carved oak , of 3 t at uuont
somewhat earlier date ( brought from the Cathedral of ( . JUavoo , ; : me joss two objects deserve particular attention as highly important monuments of ecclesiastical art . And the visitor -will notice several elaborate speoioaons of wrought-lron work on a largo scale , window gratings , portions of screons , gales , & o . j and also tuo bromzo globe clock , in the centre of the hall , which ia the largest and most ettootive specimen of a v numerous series of decorative clocks , timopiooos , watouqs , « oc , not yet exhibited . At the upper part of the east corridor , a division ov court is appropriated to specimens of ornamental art manufactures in various outogorios— especially nou Indian tissues—Chineeo and Japweso porcelain and lacquered work , decorative anno , bronzoa , objects In raarquotorlo , damascene work , & o . The original specimensi are Accompanied by ft series of coloured , drawings , illustrative of oriental art fioacrflUy .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 11, 1857, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11071857/page/19/
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