RURAL ECONOMY. The Allotment System. The following is an abstract of a paper recently read before the Committee of the Agricultural Society on the above subject, by Mr. Aikin, of Harlington, Beds. As the system of making small allotments of lands is extended very much, and great good is found to result not only to the poor themselves, but also to all those who are in any way interested either as contributors to the parish rates, or in the quiet and orderly behaviour of the labouring classes, it has been thought fit that it might be beneficial to relate what has been done in furtherance of this experiment in the parish of Toddington, Beds. The parish, as appears by the last census, contains 1926 inhabitants, of which number 306 are employed in agriculture. In the year 1830, the poor-rates amounted to about 78. 9d. per acre; in 1831, the rate was 88. 3d. per acre; and in 1832 it was nearly the same. In common with many other parishes the quantity of agricultural labour has greatly exceeded the demand, and for want of a regular, well managed plan for employing the extra hands, they have been turned on the high roads in gangs of twenty or thirty, not to work, but apparently to give them an opportunity of forming plans for midnight depredation. The consequence was, as might have been foreseen, a great demoralization of the men, and an increase of the rates. Under these circumstances, the principal proprietor in the parish resolved to make the experiment, whether this sad state of things might not be meliorated by making small allotments of land to the labourers. In November, 1829, six allotments of half an acre each were made to six men, well recommended for their good conduct, and having large families. The land is a free-working substantial gravel, and at the time was a wheat stubble; it was let as from the 29th of September preceding, but as no profit could accrue to the people for the next half year, their rent was not to begin till the 25th of March following. It was not supposed that they would attempt to put in any wheat; however, they each, by one means or other, collected sufficient manure for a small part of the land, and sowed it with wheat; the rest of the land was in the spring set mostly with potatoes, with some peas, cabbages, turnips, scarlet beans, &c. The men took great pains, and kept their land very clean; they were repaid by good crops, which caused them to redouble their exertions to procure manure, so that the streets were cleared of whatever could be made convertible to that end. As a proof of the benefit derived, one of the men having a very large family, and who had heretofore been obliged to go to the overseer for money to pay the rent of his cottage, was able to pay it himself, to his no small satisfaction. This experiment appearing to succeed so well, the labourers generally were very importunate to have land also. Accordingly, at Michaelmas, 1830, a large field was divided amongst forty-one labourers, in pieces varying in size according to the ridges into which it was accustomed to be ploughed, giving the larger portions to those with the largest families. This land was of the same quality, and was let upon the same terms as the former; but as it was for the most part extremely foul and out of condition, very little wheat was put in; and, indeed, it was apprehended in the spring that the men would hardly get their potatoes in; but they turned to with hearty good will-they were working for themselves; and the farmers having ploughed the land for them in the autumn, they set most of it with potatoes, and some corn and vegetables; their crop of potatoes was abundant, some of the lots having yielded from sixty to eighty and ninety bushels. That the people receive benefit from these allotments is evident from the labour they bestow not only in getting out the twitch grass and other weeds, but also from their actually making good and substantial hollow drains. It is further shown by their good and orderly conduct. In summer evenings, instead of idly lounging about the place, or doing mischief, they are occupied about their land. It is a heart-cheering sight to see from forty to fifty persons, after their master's work is done, labouring upon their own little farms, weeding and clearing their crops till daylight fails, and then going quietly home, doubtless with the pleasing anticipa tion of their labour eventually making them independent of the parish-as their fathers, or rather their grandfathers, had been formerly. In addition to the forty-seven allotments already spoken of, and two good gardens, thirty-four more pieces have been allotted this Michaelmas, making a total of eighty-three, which will nearly meet the demand. The land thus employed, as well as that of the whole parish, is tithe free; and it was thought advisable, instead of making a separate charge on each allotment to the parish rates, to include such rate-namely, about 8s, an acre in the rent, which varies according to the quality of the soil, and other circumstances, from 32s. to 36s. per acre. The wills and terms upon which the land is held are very few and simple, and cannot be misunderstood or forgotten. In the first place, the rent is to be paid punctually on each quarter day, under a penalty for default of immediate loss of land with crop on it. Secondly, if any of the men are convicted before a magistrate of any breach of the law, the land and crop are in like manner forfeited. Lastly, it is particularly insisted upon that they shall be watchful over the morals of their families, and regularly frequent some place of public worship, and especially that the children be not permitted to be idling about the streets after night-fall. In granting the allotments, regard was of course had to the characters of the applicants, and those who were notoriously bad, objected to. This rule was well enough to begin with, but upon reflection it was thought right to give those whose characters did not stand very well, a chance of retrieving themselves, as one of them said, "I know, Sir, that you have not a very good opinion of me, but give me an opportunity of honestly employing my time, and you shall see that my land shall be as well culti vated as the rest, and no fault shall be found with me in other matters." He has hitherto kept his word. He has hollow-drained his land, and bestowed as much pains upon it as if it were his own freehold. The labourers now all reside in the town, and the rents are paid punctually as they become due. Mr. J. H. Payne, of Bury, has made the experiment of applying a solution of common soda as a manure, with great success. The difference between vegetables so treated, and those watered with common water, is very conspicuous; and the vegetable marrow, in common mould, to which the alkali has been applied, surpasses in vigour plants placed on a bed of dung. The proportion used is one pound of soda to 12 or 14 gallons of water.-Bury Post. A correspondent of the same paper has since recommended to farmers, who may be induced to follow the above example, " to make use of the dry carbonate of soda, as the crystallised soda (that is, the soda of the shops) contains from 60 to 70 per cent. of water, which can be well supplied from the well at home, with a saving of more than half the expense of carriage." He affirms that one hundred weight of the dry will go as far nearly as two-and-a-half hundred weight of the crystallised. The former, too, costs about 21s. per cwt., and the latter only 13s. 6d. USEFUL ARTS. Medical Invention.-At one of the last sittings of the Académie des Sciences in Paris, Dr. Majendie made a report upon an instrument in vented by Dr. Herisson, called the Sphygomomètre, which shows the rate of the pulse, its rhythm, and anomalies. In pursuance of the conclusions of the eminent reporter, the Academy passed a vote of thanks to the author of this most useful and ingenious discovery. Dr. Herisson has published a memoir showing the results of his several applications of this instrument in studying the diseases of the heart. After six years of clinical researches, supported by numerous anatomical proofs, it is found capable of distinguishing organic affections from cases which only assume the appearance of such affections. As the Sphygomomètre gives the numerical force of the pulse, it has now become possible, according to the observations of Dr. Herisson, to prevent such attacks of apoplexy as arise from a too great determination of the blood towards the head. By this instrument, also, may be calculated the effect of blood-letting upon the strength of a patient. It is therefore a most important invention, and must excite the attention of all persons, whether French or foreigners, who are capable of appreciating its qualities. Silk from Spiders.-The following curious paper will be read with some interest. A specimen of the silk was deposited with the Society of Arts, whose silver Isis medal was awarded to Mr. Rolt, of Friday-street, Cheapside, for the discovery. In the early part of last century, the attention of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris was called to a memoir of M. Bon, of Montpelier, on the silk which he had obtained from the bags in which the common house spider deposits its eggs. These bags were carded and spun into thread, and a few small articles, such as gloves and stockings, were made of it, rather as objects of curiosity than use. The further investigation of the subject was committed by the Academy to M. Réaumur, who, after many trials, gave it as his opinion, that this kind of silk could never be worth collecting, on account of the small quantity yielded by each spider, its inferiority in lustre to that of the silkworm, the impossibility of making the spiders live in quiet with each other, and the great difficulty of providing them with suitable food. The subject of Mr. Rolt's experiments has been the garden spider (Aranea diadema), the webs of which in autumn are so conspicuous on the surface of shrubs, and in other similar situations. On allowing one of these animals to crawl over his hand, he found that it drew a thread with it wherever it went; he likewise, without any difficulty, wound some of his thread over this hand, finding that the spider continued spinning while the thread was winding up. On this hint he connected a small reel with the steam-engine of the factory in which he is occupied, and putting it in motion, at the rate of 150 feet a minute, found that the spider would thus continue to afford an unbroken thread during from three to five minutes. The specimen of this silk which accompanied Mr. Rolt's communication was wound off from twenty spiders in about two hours. He estimates its length at 18,000 feet; its colour is white, and its lustre is brilliant and completely metallic, owing probably to its great opacity. No attempt has been made by him to combine two or more filaments into one by winding, nor, of course, to form it into thread by throwing. The thread of the garden spider is so much finer than that of the silk-worm, that the united strength of five of the former is, according to Mr. Rolt, equal only to one of the latter; and assuming that the weight is in proportion to the strength, and that a spider will yield twice a year a thread 750 feet long, while that produced by a single silk-worm is 1900 feet, it follows that the produce of one silk-worm is equal to that of 6.3 spiders. Now, as, on an average, it takes about 3500 silk-worms to produce a pound weight of silk, it would take about 22,000 spiders o produce an equal quantity. Besides, spiders are not so easily confined as silk-worms, and whenever two come in contact, a battle ensues, which ends in the destruction of the weaker one. Spiders kept for silk must, therefore, be each in separate dens or cells; and the apparatus contrived by Mr. Rolt for this purpose, although very ingenious, and well adapted to carry on an experiment with a hundred or two, would manifestly be wholly inapplicable to any purpose of commercial utility. Mr. Rolt has, however, made some interesting additions to the history of the garden spider, and has obtained the silk in its natural state, exhibiting all its peculiar lustre. His method, likewise, of winding the silk directly from the animal is, to say the least of it, effectual and ingenious. BANKRUPTS, FROM AUGUST 26, TO SEPTEMBER 19, 1834, INCLUSIVE. Sept. 23. J. R. PIDDING, George-yard, Lombard-street, merchant. R. DAVIS, Watlingstreet, linen-warehouseman. E. DENMAN, Mark-lane, watch and clock-maker. T. HUTTON, H. W. LEPINE, and C. E. LEPINE, Newgate-street, fringe-manufacturers. W. MILLS, Adam-street West, Bryanstone-square, cheesemonger. W. PROSSER, sen., and W. PROSSER, jun., Pitfield-street, Hoxton, linen-drapers. J. EDWARDS, Liverpool, cheesemonger. J. EADES and W. BREARLEY, Birmingham, chemists. R. W. BURNLEY, Leeds, cheesemonger. J. JAMES, Walbrook, City, hardwareman. J. MEREDITH, Llanelweth Hall, Radnor, coal-merchant. Sept. 26. W. ECCLES, Union-court, Old Broad-street, City, apothecary. J. M. HOLL, W. OSWALD, and H. HOAR, Feather's-court, Milk-street, City, Irish linen-factors. J. BENTLEY, Cheapside, silk-warehouseman. S. WELLS, Wood-street, Cheapside, hatter. M. MILLER, Sackville-street, Piccadilly, hotelkeeper. J. BETTELEY, Liverpool, plumber. W. COMER, Liverpool, cotton-broker. DYBALL, Cambridge, oil and colourman. D. J. Sept. 30. T. F. NORTON, Palatine-house, Stoke Newington. J. LEWIS and S. PALMER, Coventry, drapers. E. MOGRIDGE, Tipton Mills, Devonshire, miller. J. W. DEACON, Barnack, Northampton, maltster. M. BINNS, Harrowgate, Yorkshire, innkeeper. J. SHARMAN, Ringstead, Northamptonshire, miller. T. KINGSTON, Bristol, cabinet-maker. MARTIN, Callington, Cornwall, ironmonger. Oct. 3. J. BARROW and R. W. VIZER, Bristol, merchants. J. GRIFFITH, Cateatonstreet, wool-broker. R. M. MOORE, Bishopsgate-street, oil and colourman. J. MILLETT, sen., Fulham, market-gardener. J. BENTLEY, C. DEAR, and J. M. RICHARDSON, Cheapside, warehousemen. H. BONSOR, Stewart-street, Spital-fields, silk-manufacturer. R. PARKER, Rupert-street, Haymarket, harness-maker. J. DAVIDSON and J. DAVIS, Garratt-lane, Wandsworth, calico-printers. W. A. GROOCOCK, Kentish Town, merchant. T. NICHOLLS, Lowther-arcade, Strand, linendraper. H. GEORGE, Bathwick, Somersetshire, stationer. T. HINGSTON, Bristol, cabinet-maker. W. and A. HORTON, Sheffield, Yorkshire, button-manufacturers. POOLE, Carlton-street, Nottingham, boot and shoemaker. R. MORRIS, Carnarvon, dealer. Oct. 7. G.IN, GOODWYN, Tavistock-row, W. R. M. RAIKES, Covent-garden, hair-dresser. Oct. 10. H. F. FOLEY, Windsor, surgeon. J. SEDDON, Radcliffe, Lancashire, fustianmanufacturer. W. MOODY, Caistor, Lincolnshire, scrivener. W. P. CAREW, Newcastle-under-Lyme, surgeon. W. LONG, New Sarum, Wiltshire, grocer. T. MULLINS, Bridgewater, Somersetshire, scrivener. The Hon. G. L. MASSEY, Brighton, lodging-housekeeper. J. BRADLEY, Clown, Derbyshire, cabinet-maker. Oct. 14. W. REDHEAD, jun., Lime-street, City. P. WOOTTON, Birchington, Kent, grocer. J. HARDISTY and W. BECK, Liverpool, druggists. J. HODGKINS, Liverpool, brush-manufacturer. F. H. MAIR, King's Lynn, Norfolk, beer-brewer. J. MITCHELL, Higgin-Chamber, Sowerby, Halifax, cottonspinner. S. MANN, Norwich, grocer. MEREDITH, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, maltJ. BELLAMY, Ross, Herefordshire apothecary. T. HOLDSWORTH, Armley, Yorkshire, wheelwright. G. REED, Congresbury, Somersetshire, corn-merchant. ster. T. Oct. 17. W. PORTER, Gower-street, Middlesex, surgeon. S. D. EVANS, High Holborn, upholsterer. W. J. RUFFY, Budge-row," Watling-street, printer. W. FULLER, jun., Beckenham, Kent, carpenter. J. PAULSON, J. SERJEANT, and C. DENTON, Albion Wharf, Bankside, Southwark, stone-merchants. W. GREEN, Cheapside, City, silk-warehouseman. F. P. JERVIS, Rathbone-place, upholsterer. J. WESTLEY, Great Winchester-street, Broadstreet, City, stationer. R. OUTTERSIDE, Liverpool, tailor. T. EYTON, F. CARLILE, and H. DYSON, Liverpool, manufacturing chemists. J. J. RULMAN, Coxlodge-cottage, Northumberland, dealer. (T. ROBINSON, Hexham, Northumberland, innkeeper.. T. RROWN and R. BROWN, Jarrow, Durham, canvas-manufacturers. R. HARRISON, Lud, ham, Norfolk, farmer. COMMERCIAL AND MONEY-MARKET REPORT NOTWITHSTANDING some 'failures to a considerable amount which have recently occurred, the state of trade is tolerably satisfactory; though more so perhaps in the out-ports and in the large manufacturing towns than in the metropolis. Of these failures, two are in the Yorkshire woollen trade, and it is apprehended that some of the smaller manufacturers in that county will suffer severely in consequence; another is that of an oldestablished firm trading with British North America, and possessing, at Halifax, one of the largest ship-building establishments in the world; a fourth is in the case of an eminent colonial produce broker in Mincing-lane, and is said to have been mainly brought about by extensive speculations in coffee. The Colonial Market has been generally heavy of late; in British Plantation Sugars, where sales have been effected, it has been at a reduction from the prices obtained a short time ago of 18. 6d. to 2s. per cwt. in low and middling descriptions, and 6d. to 1s. in the finer qualities. Jamaica, brown, is quoted at 52s. to 54s.; middling, 53s. to 56s.; good 58s. to 60s. ; fine to very fine, 61s. to 63s.; the other sales have been chiefly in low brown qualities. In Mauritius Sugars there is little alteration in price; good and fine brown bring 48s. to 49s.; low to good bright yellow, 52s. to 55s. 6d. In East India Sugars the transactions have been principally in Java, which has brought, for low to fine greyish yellow, 248. to 26s.; and for strong greyish white, 268. 6d. to 27s. 6d. Foreign Sugars have maintained their quotations with some firmness; 400 boxes of Havannah were readily disposed of by public sale at 25s. to 26s. 6d. for middling parcel ordinary to middling yellow; a lot of white at 30s. 6d. A parcel of Bahia, good strong brown, was bought after the sale at 22s. to 25s. The Refined Market is very dull; the price asked for fine crushed is 31s. 6d. per cwt., but there are few purchasers at that price; and, on the other hand, the refiners reject offers of 3d. to 6d. less. Some disposition to improvement has latterly been manifested in British Plantation Coffee; Jamaica, by public sale, has brought, for middling, 87s. 6d. to 88s. 6d. ; for fine ordinary dingy unclean, 70s. to 73s.; Dominica fine ordinary, 81s. to 82s. 6d. The prices realised for foreign Coffee have been as follows:-Good ordinary St. Domingo, 46s. to 46s. 6d. ; fine ordinary Brazil, 47s.; low middling Porto Rico, 65s.; fine yellow Batavia, 54s. to 54s. 6d. ; inferior, 51s. to 52s. A large lot of Ceylon was taken in at 47s. 6d., showing a depreciation of 2s. per cent. There is little doing in the Spirit Market; the failure of a broker who had large dealings in West India Spirits having caused considerable confusion. The nominal quotation for proof Leewards is 2s. 2d. per gallon. Brandy maintains its price firmly. Indigo has furnished the opportunity of a profit of about 2d. per lb. to those who bought at cheap rates at the late merchants' sales in Mincing-lane, but the general tone of the market is not improved. The Cotton Market is very brisk, and with a continued ascendancy upwards. The prices which have been recently obtained are for Surat, ordinary, 634., fair to good 74d. to 7 d., fine 8d.; Pernams, fine to good fair, 12ąd. to 13}d.; Bowed, middling to good fair, 81d. to 9d.; Madras, good fair, 8d. The East India Company's sale of Silk, which has just terminated, has been well supported throughout; and the prices obtained show an advance of 10 to 15 per cent. upon those of the preceding sale. The Wool sales, notwithstanding some late failures, have gone off with considerable spirit; and, taking the qualities into consideration, the prices are but little below those of the September sales. The importations of Tea under the free-trade system have not hitherto been of a character to do honour to the selectors of it or to give satisfaction to the public; as not only are the qualities much lower than any which the Company had been in the habit of importing for several years past, but a large quantity of the stuff brought in under that name is not Tea at all. It appears that, with respect to a portion of it, the inspectors do not know in what manner it should be dealt with, and have submitted the matter to the consideration of the Board of Customs: there can be little question that the Government will see the necessity of altering their course, and of subjecting all descriptions of Tea to one uniform rate of duty, as the only effective source of security both to the consumer and to the revenue. The Tallow Market is, and has been, steady for some time past; it appears, |