LIST OF MR. COBBETT’s BOOKS. 5 “ Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to Cobbett’s poli- “ tical writings, and as to his peculiar views and prejudices, there “ cannot be a doubt that all his works on domestic management, on “ rural affairs, and on the use of language, are marked by strong “ sense, and by great clearness of thought and precision of language. “ His power of conveying Instruction is, indeed, almost unequalled ; “ he seems rather to woo the reader to learn than to affect the teacher ; “he travels with his pupil over the field of knowledge upon which “he is engaged, never seeming to forget the steps by which he him- “ self learned. He assumes that nothing is known, and no point “is too minute for the most careful investigation. Above all, the “ pure mother English in which his instructions are conveyed, “ makes him a double teacher; for whilst the reader is ostensibly “ receiving instruction on some subject of rural economy, he is at the “ same time insensibly imbibing a taste for good sound Saxon English “ — the very type of the substantial matters whereof his instructor “ delights to discourse. Most of Cobbett’s works on rural and do- “ mestic economy, though written for the industrious and middle “ classes of this country, are admirably adapted to the use of settlers “ in new countries. For an old and thickly-peopled country like “ England, perhans Cobbett carried his notion of doing everything “ at home a little roo far ; but in a new country, where a man is at “ times compelled to turn his hand to everything, it is really well to “ know how everything connected with rural economy should be
- ' done, and we really know of no works whence this extended
“ knowledge can be acquired so readily as from those of Cobbett. “ He understood all the operations incidental to the successful pur- “ suit of husbandry, and his very prejudice of surrounding the farm “ with a wall of brass, and having every resource within, prompted “ him to write on rural affairs with completeness. “The little half-crown book, which we now introduce to our “readers, contains a mine of most valuable instruction, every line “ of which is as useful to the colonist as to those for whom it was “ written. We have just read it through, from the title to tire “imprint, with especial regard to the wants of the colonists, and we “do not believe there is a single sentence of the instructional por- “tion that need be rejected. The treatise on brewing and making “ bread are particularly applicable to New Zealand. We observe “ by the published list of prices, that while flour was there selling at “ a moderate price, bread was enormously high. There is nobody “ to blame for this ; it arises simply out of the high rate of retail “ profit which prevails in new countries, and we know no reason why bakers should be expected to keep shop for less remuneration ( than other tradesmen. The remedy then is, not to abuse the ‘baker, but to bake at home. Flow this is to be accomplished 1 Cobbett here points out. Some idea of the saving by means of ‘ home baking in our colonies, where retail profits are high, may ‘ be gleaned from the great difference between the price of flour ‘ and that -uf bread at Wellington, at the same date. When flour ‘ was selling at 20/. per ton, the bakers of Wellington were charg- ing Is. 8d. for the 41b. loaf. Now, one cwt. of flour would make fr? m 12 6lb. to 1341b of bread, that is, on ar. average, 32 loaves of 4ib. each. Ihese would cost flour 20s, yeast Is, salt 6d, with fuel Is— together 22s (id, or something under 9d perdlb loaf. Here’ then, would be an enormous saving to the settler’s family by means of home bread making:— is not Cobbett right when he deprecates the idea of the farm labourer going to the baker’s shop? and, if he be right in England, where the baker works for a small profit, bis
