premium for good conduct, which he might not have in another service, or which might not be continued another year, if he did not deserve it. When he can refer to experience, as in this case, he is made sensible of its comforts by comparing the present case of his family, his sufficiency of bacon fatted by himself, and his means of procuring beer during his labour, with the want of these advantages, and with that reduction in the prospective comforts of the labourer, which makes him look to bread and water, as almost the only supports of life.

However convenient the produce of the bees may be to the cottager, towards his rent, the great value of them, and of every similar possession, is from the interest he takes in them throughout the year. It turns his mind to observation, and affords him amusement while he is working in his garden; and there is this additional adVantage belonging to it, that it is a great incitement to him to keep his garden in good order; as the bees thrive most if it is

so; and pinks, thyme, and marjoram, with a few other sweet smelling herbs, are the usual accompaniments to bee-hives.

These plans secure the attention of the labourer, every hour of the day. Whether he is in the barn, in the field, in his cottage, or in his garden, he values the comforts arising from them; and his satisfaction is proportioned to the industry, which he has used to attain them. They fill up those hours, in a pleasant and profitable manner, which are frequently spent in idle diversions at best, and too often in habits very injurious to the cottager and his family.

19th Dec. 1893.

No. CVI.

Extract of an account of the introduction of Straw Platt at Avebury. By THOMAS BERNARD, Esq.

IN the severe winters of 1800, and 1801, the parish of Avebury, in the county of Wilts, was in a state of considerable distress. A large body of women and children, deprived of their spinning work by the manufactories in the neighbourhood, were reduced to subsist merely on the parish pay. The allowance to those who had no work (which included almost the whole of the women and children) was from one shilling and sixpence to three shillings a week, varied according to the price of the half gallon loaf; which was thought, upon the average, sufficient for a full grown person. For this they were in general employed in picking stones, repairing roads, and work of the like kind.

In September 1801, MR. DOUGAN, a gentleman who, fortunately for the neighbourhood, was then resident at Avebury, proposed to the inhabitants, to have the poor taught the platting of split straw, and offered to send for a person to instruct them in it. The parish immediately adopted the proposal, and agreed to subscribe ten pounds to the undertaking.

A person was engaged to come from London, and instruct them in the work. Two rooms were hired as school rooms; and all the females of the parish were invited to come, and be instructed. One qualification alone, that of cleanliness, was required for admission. Regular attendance, industry, and improvement, were encouraged all impropriety of behaviour was reprobated; and the incorrigible were banished to their own homes. To introduce personal cleanliness, at that time, among the poor at Avebury, was a task of no little difficulty; the pressure of the scarcity having induced many of them, to dispose of

the little means of personal accommodation and cleanliness, which they possessed.Their bedding and linen were worn out, and nothing remained in some of the families, but a few patched rags. In vain was it, that one or two of a family cleansed themselves and their clothing, and attended the school rooms, apparently decent. They returned at night to their own homes, to their parents and relations, who from extreme poverty could not appear at all, and the next day came to the school rooms with vermin on their clothes. It was truly painful to see these weeping children sent back to their parents on this account. A second application was therefore made to the parish, to furnish some fresh bedding and a little clothing. This was granted; and Mr. Hickley, one of the parish officers, took a very active part in cleansing the cottages, by whitewashing them with quick lime in every part. Such parts of the old bedding as could properly be used, were boiled and then dried in an oven; the rest was burnt, and additional bedding was supplied. To