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THE CLIMATE OF NORTH AMERICA , CANADA , AND CUBA . North America : Tts Ap-icuUure mid Climate . Containing Observations on the AgrisEsiS * * Canada ' the Ul "t » r ^^^^ What Arthur Toung did for France at the end of the eighteenth century , Mr Bofcert liussell , of Kilwiss , has done for North America m the middle of the ' n aetSnd ! . He has literally travelled over it from north to south , * £ k £ r notes , ' testing the capabilities of the soil , the influences of the ewe , the mode of cultivation , and the character and quality of the labour Snoioved A survey of this description , ably and accurately made , must nec ^ ssariiv be of essential service to those who are desirous ot ascertaining the condition of the land , the nature of the country , and other particulars with a view to emigration ; whilst the statician and economist must be ¦ equallv rrrateful for information which supplies them with dates for 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 Itussell 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 Bi-unswick , 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 a 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 , orvalle }' , 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
exciting will be found in these pages unless the subject perse 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 , an < l 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 information on the culture of wheat either in Canada or Michigan , in Mississippi or Ohio , on the prairies , in
Kentucky , Pennsylvania , Virginia , or evei ) 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 through 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 2 Oth 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 pens and beans , ripen soonest on the branches next the ground ; indeed , while the lower bi'anches of the cotton plant have ripe seeds the upper arc bearing flowers . As the seeds ripeit the husks expand , aud the cotton fibre appears attached to the seeds in the form of a round ball as largo as an orange . As soon as the earliest husks are open , which is usually about the eud 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 solo source of supply for this necessary nrticle , 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 holds 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 nt the subject of slavery in the philosophizing mood of a social economist . He does not allow himself to bo carried away by any rhapsodical enthusiasm , whilst nt the same time he records his opinion of facts and the deductions he draws from his observations . The question of freo and slave labour naturally attracts his attention . In Maryland , nn able-bodied slave is hired out by his master to work in the fields nt from 120 to 150 dollars a year , whilst tho person who employs him gives board ; but tbjs , it may safely bo reckoned , is less than what a free labourer would receive . Farm servants in Vermont have 150 dollars a yonr , and their meals at their master ' s table . The nominul hire of a slave engaged in
agricultural operations is , therefore , less than that of a free labourer . Other facts also tend to prove that slavo labour is not dearer , as some have attempted to show , than free , even in those states whore tho two admit of being fairly compared . The labour of tho slavo in tho grain-growing districts is inferior in quality to that of the free man , it is true ; but this inferiority is compensated for in sqixio measure by tho natural increase of tho negroes . The planting of sugar and tobacco , for example , best aiTbvds tho «? cpenso of slave cultivation . Aga ' m , rich land is one of the elements that retard the extinction of alavory . The poorer the soil , other things being equal , the sooner does slavery become unprofitable . Tho great upholder o £ slavery in the northern states , wo arc 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 preparation of the crop for the market . Worms require to be picked off the p lants 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 tcanx of horses would be standing Btill 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 on 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 ° the Coolie apprentices ; we have , however , shown enough of the book for the reader to judge for himself of its merits and usefulness .
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No . 381 , Jtji , y . 11 . 1857 . 1 THE LEADE B ,., 667
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THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM :. Tiiis 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 , Old Brompton , 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 ( a rival to Hyde Park some century and a half ago ) j it is not so unsightly as might have been anticipated ; and the refreshment-room building at the side , with 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 vai -ious galleries , all filled with objects of interest in science and art . For the mere idler there is much to attract attention ; but to the student the worth of the collection must be great . Books , maps , diagrams , and models on subjects connected with the several crafts of the artificer ; inventions 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 , intaglios , seals , mosaics , and inlaying ; furniture and general upholstery ; glass aud pottery ; enamels , works in metals , arms , armour , and accoutrements ; watch and clock work ; jewellery and textile fabrics . — all these objects arc collected under one roof for the guidance of the student and the formatio n 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 arc at present included in the Manchester Exhibition ; and the whole of the Buknai ., collection is 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 are clriefiy works of modern origin purchased at the Paris Exhibition of 1855 , and now for the first time submitted to the English public . The Central Hall ( north ) is entirely occupied by tho larger objects formerly exhibited at MAitLB 01 touc . 11 Houses . 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 objects of furniture , ecclesiastical nnd domestic , " says the official Guide , " are several beautiful carved cabinets , in oak , ebony , walnut , and marquoterio . of coloured woods , &c , oi' Italian , French , uud Flemish origin , dating from tho nrat half of the sixteenth century ; collars of medituval date , llfteontli contury ; and linolycarvod and gilded Italian * linen-chests of cinquo-oouto work . A series of ruslilydeooratcd mirrors , of Various countries and periods ; and two largo iiltar-pieccs , tue one in carved stone , richly painted and gilt ( brought from Troyea , iu Champagne , and dating in the earliest yeare of tho sixteenth contury ) ; the other is carved oak , of somewhat earlier date ( brought from tho Cathedral of St , Bavon , at Ghent ) : tho Jaafc two objects deserve particular attention aa highly important monuments of ocglcscaaticol art . And tho visitor will notice several elaborate specimens of wroug-ut-iron work on a largo scale , window gratings , portions of screens , gutes , &o . ; aud ajao the bronco globe cloqk , in the centre of tho liaU ,- which is tho largest and moat oflooUve specimen of a very numerous series of decorative clocks , tiinopioccs , watches , &c , not yot exhibited . At tho upper part of tho coat corridor , a division pr court is approprlatoU to specimens of ornamental art manufactures in various o « tO ( roHou- —ospeciaUy nuu Indian tissues—Chluoao and Japanoso porcelain and laoquorod work , decoratlvo arms , bronxes , objects in marquotorlo , damascene work , &o . Tiio original specimensj aw « ccompautod by a series of coloured drawings , iUuatraUvo of oriental art gonosoMy .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 11, 1857, page 667, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2200/page/19/
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